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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2017
141st Year, No. 94
Your Weekend
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WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Hearts in Motion dance
team competition
Joseph & the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat
The Princess and the Pea
in Hermiston Saturday
For times and places
see Coming Events, 5A
State offi cials react to prospect
of federal marijuana crackdown
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon lawmakers
have condemned a White House
statement suggesting the U.S.
Justice Department will enforce the
federal prohibition on recreational
marijuana in states that have legal-
ized it.
When Oregonians legalized
recreational pot in 2014, they
knew there was a risk of a federal
crackdown with future presiden-
tial administrations, said Senate
Majority Leader Ginny Burdick,
D-Portland.
“The approach we’re taking is
to have effective regulations and to
stamp out the black market to the
extent that we can,” said Burdick,
who is co-chairwoman of the Joint
Committee on Marijuana Regula-
tion. “We really want to have the
kind of program that will, if they
do decide to enforce, put us at the
bottom of their list.”
The comment by White House
spokesman Sean Spicer Thursday
marks the strongest indication so
far of a potential crackdown on
recreational use of the drug, The
Associated Press reported. It came
even as a new survey showed most
See MARIJUANA/10A
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
39/21
40/27
38/26
UmCo
expands
drug and
alcohol
treatment
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Umatilla County Human
Services rolled out an expan-
sion of drug and alcohol
rehab programs at the start
of February. Department
director Amy Ashton-Wil-
liams said the moves are
about
providing
more
services to more people.
Ashton-Williams took the
job in July 2016 to head up
a county division that lost
its director and two alcohol
and drug counselors the year
before after an administrative
investigation. She said the
department’s staff was doing
the best it could in the wake
of the turmoil, but she wanted
to explore ways to better
provide intensive outpatient
treatment for people with
drug or alcohol problems.
“It took about four months
of determining what new
curriculum we needed, what
really were the needs of
our clients ... and getting a
couple of clinicians trained
in a specialized parenting
program,” she said.
The expansion provides
a “pretty comprehensive
outpatient program,” she
said, that considered the
needs in Pendleton, Herm-
iston and Milton-Freewater.
Milton-Freewater went
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
BMCC agriculture students Melanie Sederburg, left, and Jessica Smelser spread straw bedding for the lad steers on Thursday
at BMCC in Pendleton.
MOO-VING ON UP
BMCC pursues new animal science facility
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Construction continues on the Facility for Agricultural
Resource Management, or FARM, on the BMCC campus
Thursday in Pendleton.
Blue Mountain Community
College broke ground just last
summer on a new building for its
agriculture programs in Pendleton,
and the school is already thinking
expansion.
The Facility for Agricultural
Resource Management, or FARM,
is one of three construction projects
underway thanks to a $23 million
bond passed in 2015. BMCC is also
building a new Precision Irrigated
Agriculture Center in Hermiston
and Workforce Training Center in
Boardman.
Now the college is partnering
with the Pendleton Round-Up
Association and city of Pendleton
to raise money for FARM Phase
II, which would expand animal
science and veterinary classes and
provide a new arena for the BMCC
rodeo team.
If built, offi cials say FARM
Phase II could lure additional
high-end equestrian events to a city
already known for its Round-Up.
Preston Winn, who heads the
BMCC agriculture department,
See BMCC/10A
See TREATMENT/10A
Day 365: Rebuilding
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
As Oregonians prepare for a Cascadia
earthquake, they face the daunting idea
that someday life will change drastically
for the entire region — without warning.
“FEMA estimated a decades-long
recovery,” Joe Franell said. “When it
happens, it will change the Pacifi c North-
west for our lifetimes.”
Franell, as CEO of Eastern Oregon
Telecomm and chair of the Oregon
Editor’s note: This is part fi ve of a
fi ve-part series about a possible
9.0 Cascadia subduction zone
earthquake in the Pacifi c Northwest.
Broadband Advisory Council, is one of
the many people working to prepare for
the worst.
They know the next Cascadia event
may not happen in their lifetime. Based
See CASCADIA/10A
AP fi le photo
Portland’s four oldest bridges are over 100 years old and
county engineers estimate seismic retrofi ts alone are
expected to cost at least $75 million. As it stands now, it
would take 3-5 years to rebuild all the roads and bridges
damaged in an 8.0 or higher earthquake.
JOB FAIR
Monday, Feb. 27th
10am - 2pm
Pendleton Work Source
408 SE 7th St.
Apply Online Today: sykes.com/Milton