Page 10A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
MARIJUANA: Recreational marijuana has
brought in more than $60M in state revenue
Continued from 1A
Americans believe cannabis
should be legal.
“I do believe you’ll see
greater enforcement of it,”
Spicer said in response to a
reporter’s question at a White
House briefing Thursday,
Feb. 23.
He suggested
enforcement would target
only recreational marijuana,
as Congress has passed laws
to protect medical use.
“I am hoping they come
to their senses because
you know with the recent
election cycle that put
Trump in office it also put
marijuana in place in a
number of states, including
in California, which is the
sixth largest economy in the
world,” Burdick said of the
administration.
Spicer’s
comment
conflicts with the adminis-
tration’s claim that it favors
state rights, said U.S. Sen.
Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon. For
instance, the administration
announced a day earlier it
would allow states to decide
the issue of transgender
restroom access.
“I urge the Trump admin-
istration to follow its own
rhetoric on ‘state’s rights,’
and to respect the voters of
Oregon and the many other
states who have decided
at the ballot to legalize
recreational marijuana use,”
Merkley said.
Oregon Attorney General
Ellen Rosenblum said she
would explore options for
protecting voters’ decision
to legalize recreational pot
and work with attorney
generals in other states with
similar laws.
She said she would prefer
to focus Oregon’s limited
law enforcement resources
on more dangerous drugs
and crimes of violence.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden,
D-Oregon, echoed that
sentiment during a visit to
Medford Thursday.
“Wasting
taxpayer
dollars and burdening our
law-enforcement agencies
to go after law-abiding
recreational marijuana users
distracts from going after
criminals and threats to
our safety. I will fight hard
against ridiculous federal
government intrusions into
our state,” Wyden said via
text message to the Pamplin
Media Group/EO Media
Group Capital Bureau.
In Pendleton, where
voters legalized marijuana
sales in November, four
recreational
dispensaries
are in the licensing process,
including Kind Leaf Pend-
leton.
Kind Leaf co-owner
Brandon Krenzler said he
watched the Spicer press
conference but remained
confident that Oregon’s
legal marijuana market will
remain untouched.
“I think it’s a scare tactic
more than anything,” Kren-
zler said.
Krenzler noted that the
Trump administration has
yet to rewrite a U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice memo-
randum that eased marijuana
enforcement on states that
legalized cannabis, a move
that would elicit more
concern from him.
In the meantime, Kren-
zler said Kind Leaf’s owners
plan to continue their efforts
to open the store within the
next couple weeks.
Just days ago, a bipartisan
team of U.S. representatives,
including Oregon Democrat
Earl Blumenauer, formed
the nation’s first “Congres-
sional Cannabis Caucus.”
The caucus formed with the
intent of reconciling federal
law with state laws that
permit medical and recre-
ational use of marijuana.
Earlier
this
month,
Republican Rep. Dana
Rohrabacher of California
introduced legislation that
would shield people from
marijuana-related
prose-
cutions under the federal
Controlled Substances Act,
provided that they complied
with state laws.
Oregon voters created a
medical cannabis program
through Ballot Measure 67
in 1998. Voters legalized
recreational use of the drug
with Measure 91 in 2014.
Recreational marijuana
has brought in more than
$60 million in state revenue
since the state started taxing
sales in January 2016. The
revenue is distributed to
public education, Oregon
State Police, cities and
counties and health-related
programs. Some cities and
counties have assessed
an additional local tax on
recreational pot. Medical
marijuana is exempt.
BMCC: Will partner with Round-Up,
city to raise money for FARM Phase II
Continued from 1A
said the project would
provide more opportunities
for hands-on learning with
livestock.
“We have our students
learn to do, and then they do
to learn,” Winn said. “They
actually have to get in there
and get their hands dirty.”
BMCC
currently
manages its own 100-acre
working farm behind the
Pendleton campus, where
about 20 students trudged
through a cold and muddy
feedlot Thursday morning to
weigh cattle as part of their
animal nutrition class.
Dave Grimes, a longtime
rancher and lab technician
for the program, said the
students are in charge of
everything, from mixing
feed to providing basic care.
Their grades will depend on
how well the animals are
doing by the end of the term.
“This is the most
hands-on school in Oregon,”
Grimes boasted. “We get a
lot of students because of
that.”
Not far from the feedlot,
construction
workers
continue to hammer away at
the FARM Phase I building,
which will house class-
rooms, offices, shops and
lab space in one location.
The building is scheduled to
open in August.
“I’m looking forward to
it,” Grimes said. “It will be
something to brag about.”
FARM Phase II is the next
step, and BMCC recently
announced it will partner
with the Round-Up Associa-
tion and city of Pendleton to
raise money for the project’s
$10 million price tag. The
Umatilla County Board of
Commissioners and Port
of Umatilla have donated
$150,000 each.
The organizations also
asked the state Joint Ways
and Means Committee to
support half the cost — $5
million — through a capital
construction grant when the
committee met Feb. 17 in
Hermiston. State Rep. Greg
Smith (R-Heppner) serves
as the vice co-chair of that
committee, as well as budget
chairman for the Oregon
Republican caucus.
In an interview with
the East Oregonian, Smith
cautioned that it will be
“extremely challenging” for
the state to fund any capital
construction project given
this year’s budget.
“In order to maintain
services at the level they are
today, the state of Oregon
needs to generate $1.8 billion
in additional revenue,”
Smith said. “This is just one
of those projects we’ll have
to watch carefully, and see if
any dollars are available as
we get into June.”
Pendleton Mayor John
Turner, who previously
served as BMCC president,
said FARM II may draw
more equestrian and live-
stock-related events to town,
which would help bolster the
local economy. Companies
may also be interested in
conducting research or
student programs using the
facility.
“Events held at the
FARM II facility will benefit
the economy of Pendleton,
improve college recruiting
and help offset the costs
of managing the facility,”
Turner said in a statement.
Randy
Thomas,
spokesman for the Pendleton
Round-Up, said the project
fits within their mission of
supporting higher education
while promoting the Western
lifestyle.
“We feel that the program
BMCC will develop here
will support the Western
lifestyle in its contemporary
form, with technical training
for people to engage in the
livestock industry,” Thomas
said.
Winn said the support
from
their
community
partners shows the value
FARM Phase II could bring
to Pendleton.
“I think the community
sees the need for a strong
agriculture program to
teach future (farmers) for
our booming agricultural
economy,” he said. “I think it
also speaks to the possibility
for economic development
in Pendleton and the greater
area.”
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
Friday, February 24, 2017
CASCADIA: Seattle and Portland alone
represent $450B in annual economic activity
Continued from 1A
on geological evidence
of past quakes over 2,000
years, scientists say that in
the next 50 years there is a
one in three chance that a
partial slip of the Cascadia
subduction zone will cause
an earthquake of at least an
8.0 magnitude, while there
is a one in 10 chance of a
full slip that would cause an
earthquake 9.0 or higher.
But they also know they
must act on the knowledge
they have. If the odds are
against us and Cascadia
hits sooner rather than later,
preparation will save lives.
And after the time for saving
lives is over, preparation
could also help save the
economy.
More than 8 million
people live west of the
Cascades in the Cascadia
zone, which stretches from
northern
California
to
southern British Columbia.
The region is home to major
companies including Nike,
Amazon, Boeing and Micro-
soft, and data centers for tech
companies like Facebook
and Google dot the region.
Seattle and Portland
alone represent $450 billion
in annual economic activity,
according to the Cascadia
Rising exercise scenario, and
billions more are generated
through coastal ports that will
most certainly be destroyed
by a major earthquake and
tsunami.
The state estimates that
if Cascadia happened now it
would take three to five years
to rebuild all the roads and
bridges that collapsed during
the earthquake.
The economic impact
of such destruction would
be felt across the country.
When Japan experienced a
magnitude 9.0 earthquake
in 2011, one year later the
Japan Times reported that
644 companies had gone into
bankruptcy because of the
earthquake, leaving behind
$8 billion in liabilities and
shedding 11,412 jobs.
The Oregon Resilience
Plan, written by a state
committee to educate legis-
lators on what needs to be
done to prepare for Cascadia,
estimates $32 billion in
Further reading on Cascadia
If you enjoyed the Cascadia Aftermath series and want
to learn more, here are some of the resources used in the
story that are available online:
1. The Cascadia Rising Exercise Scenario Document
outlines the assumptions made as the state prepares for
Cascadia.
2. The state of Oregon’s Cascadia Subduction Zone
Catastrophic Earthquake and Tsunami Operations Plan
outline’s the state’s plan for responding to Cascadia.
3. The Oregon Resilience Plan was compiled for the
legislature and includes an analysis of the state’s readiness
for Cascadia and what steps can be taken to further the
state’s ability to recover.
4. The website ready.gov describes steps people can
take to prepare for all kinds of emergencies, and includes a
section on earthquakes.
5. The Red Cross’s Prepare Out Loud campaign
encourages Cascadia preparedness, and the Prepare Out
Loud website features resources such as an emergency kit
checklist and instructions for making a family emergency
plan.
6. The Pulitzer-prize winning story “The Earthquake
that Will Devastate the Pacific Northwest,” by New Yorker
reporter Kathryn Schulz was, for many, the introduction to
the idea of Cascadia and helped kick off an increased focus
on earthquake preparedness in the state.
7. The OPB series Unprepared features a documentary
and dozens of articles about current levels of Cascadia
preparedness in Oregon.
8. The Oregon Office of Emergency Management has a
business preparedness section on its website with resources
for businesses that want to prepare for a natural disaster.
economic losses for Oregon
after Cascadia, unless the
state implements major
seismic upgrades to build-
ings, roads, bridges, airports
and utility infrastructure.
“We cannot avoid the
future earthquake, but we
can choose either a future in
which the earthquake results
in grim damage and losses
and a society diminished
for a generation, or a future
in which the earthquake
is a manageable disaster
without lasting impact,”
the report reads. “We need
to start preparing now by
assessing the vulnerability
of our buildings, lifelines,
and social systems, and
then developing and imple-
menting a sustained program
of replacement, retrofit, and
redesign to make Oregon
resilient to the next great
earthquake.”
“We know how to engi-
neer buildings, roads, and
power lines to withstand this
earthquake; the hard part will
be to find the will, commit-
ment, and persistence needed
to transform our state.”
At a Cascadia Aftermath
forum on Tuesday at Blue
Mountain
Community
College, speakers Franell,
Umatilla County emergency
manager Tom Roberts and
BMCC faculty member
Philip Schmitz said it is
critical the state continue to
plan and to invest in seismic
upgrades.
A $25 million retrofitting
of the Pittock Building in
Portland, for example, could
prevent the collapse of the
1913-era building through
which all of the state’s
internet flows.
“This is going to poten-
tially be one of the largest
events in recorded history,”
Roberts told the audience. “It
might not happen in our life-
times, but it is important for
all of us today to know what
to expect so we can pass that
information on to the next
generation, so they can pass
it on to the next generation,
until it does happen.”
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
TREATMENT: Hermiston and Pendleton have groups
meeting twice a week for youth with addiction problems
Continued from 1A
from three drug and alcohol
groups to five, including
two for Spanish speakers
and an English-speaking
group focused on how to
prevent addiction relapses.
Ashton-Williams also said a
third Spanish-speaking group
is likely.
Hermiston and Pendleton
added groups in the mornings
and afternoons to better meet
the needs of swing and day
shift workers. The county
also added a drop-in group at
8:30 a.m. in Hermiston and
one at noon in Pendleton.
She said these are good fits
for those who are not sure
they have a problem or about
treatment but want to check
out the possibilities.
Hermiston and Pendleton
also now have groups
meeting twice a week for
youth with addiction prob-
lems. Ashton-Williams said
there are five clients in Herm-
iston and three in Pendleton,
and she is hopeful those will
draw more youth in need.
“We know in our commu-
nities there are youth who
have struggled with alcohol
and drug use,” she said, and
these groups can help break
those cycles of addiction.
And two human services
workers learned the commu-
nity model of the Parenting
Inside Out program, which
the prison system uses to
teach parenting skills to
offenders. Ashton-Williams
said the community model is
for parents with open cases
in the Oregon Department of
Human Services.
“We have a lot of clients
that come to us from DHS,”
she said, and this program
deals with parenting “from
birth until they leave the
home.”
Ashton-Williams credited
the clinicians with making
the improvements while
still providing stress and
anger management and other
services.
And starting in March,
she said her department is
partnering with county public
health to have an alcohol and
drug prevention worker take
on suicide prevention.
Umatilla County, like
other local governments, is
looking at a tight budget for
2016-17. Ashton-Williams
said her staff know that road
well and know how to do
more with less.
“We’ve seen a small
decrease in our budget from
the state,” she said, “but
not so much that we can’t
continue the services that
we’re currently providing.”
Visit www.co.umatilla.
or.us/AD/index.html to find
out more about the county’s
human services programs,
or call the following offices:
Pendleton — 541-278-6330;
Hermiston — 541-564-9390;
and Milton-Freewater —
541-938-3988.
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