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The latest from the
Malheur Refuge
occupation trial
NATION/4A
SPORTS/1B
NATION/10A
TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017
141st Year, No. 101
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
Commission
plans to take
another pass
at Tutuilla
pot shop
CLASS 1A OREGON GIRLS BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS
‘Repeal,
replace’
package
unveiled
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The future of Thur’s
Smoke Shop could go one of
two ways when the Pendleton
Planning Commission meets
Thursday.
The commission could
grant Thur’s a conditional use
permit, which would make it
the fourth recreational mari-
juana dispensary approved
under Pendleton’s marijuana
zoning rules.
Or the commission could
deny Thur’s application,
marking a fi rst for the city’s
emerging cannabis industry.
Thur’s, a head shop at
34 S.W. Emigrant Ave. that
sells smoking accessories
but not marijuana itself, is
looking to open a dispensary
at 1292 S.W. Tutuilla Road. It
meets all of the city’s zoning
criteria — the proposed store
is in a commercial zone
and is beyond 1,000 feet of
a school, park or another
marijuana dispensary. The
downtown shop does not.
But Thur’s Tutuilla site
has also drawn strong oppo-
sition from nearby property
owners and the Pendleton
School District, which has
argued that the store would
be in close proximity to
a district bus stop and is
inappropriate for a street
that receives heavy juvenile
traffi c to and from Sunridge
Middle School.
The opposition has been
vocal in trying to block the
Thur’s application from
going forward.
Nine people spoke against
Thur’s at a Feb. 16 plan-
ning commission meeting,
including two education
offi cials. Additionally, four
letters were sent to the
commission in opposition to
the store.
Not
including
the
testimony of Thur’s owner
Bryson Thurman, only two
people spoke in favor of the
cannabis retailer.
Thur’s has since circu-
lated a petition in favor of the
Thur’s dispensary, gathering
226 signatures.
After hearing testimony
at the Feb. 16 meeting, the
commission voted to post-
pone its decision until the
next meeting on Thursday.
While Thur’s location
has proven to be contentious
in Pendleton, one pot shop
owner in Astoria said his
store’s proximity to a bus
See MARIJUANA/10A
House GOP plan
swaps tax credits
for subsidies
Associated Press
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Nixyaawii’s Kaitlynn Melton takes her turn cutting down the net after her team beat the County Christian
Cougars in the 1A OSAA state championship game in Baker City.
Skw iishthlma
Golden Eagles undefeated champs
A perfect season requires natural talent, precise execution, an
endless well of determination and unbreakable unity. There are
no shortcuts or lucky breaks that last long enough to achieve it
by mistake.
It is rare, with only six 1A girls teams fi nishing with an
unblemished record since the classifi cation was introduced in
1991.
The Nixyaawii Golden Eagles joined that club Saturday. You
can read more about the game and title in today’s sports section.
The above headline, “skáw iishthláma,” translates roughly
in the Umatilla language to “skilled athletic winners,” a tribute
to the work put in by the players and coaches to develop their
talent, the training to reach peak physical condition and the
drive to fi nish a grueling season.
It’s also a tribute to the cultural celebration of the charter
school on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation. At halftime of the championship game young
dancers performed a powwow, sharing with the crowd a
tradition that goes back for the Umatilla tribe even further than
basketball.
This team will not soon be forgotten by its Eastern Oregon
fans or the teams it played along the way.
Drummers and young powwow dancers accompanied
the Nixyaawii girls basketball team to the 1A OSAA state
championship tournament in Baker City where they did a
halftime dance exhibition.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
WASHINGTON
—
House Republicans on
Monday released their long-
awaited plan for unraveling
former President Barack
Obama’s health care law,
a package that would scale
back the government’s role
in helping people afford
coverage and likely leave
more Americans uninsured.
House
committees
planned to begin voting on
the 123-page legislation
Wednesday,
launching
what could be the year’s
defi ning battle in Congress
and capping seven years of
Republican vows to repeal
the 2010 law. Though GOP
leaders expect a boost from
the backing of the Trump
administration,
divisions
remain and GOP success is
not ensured.
The plan would repeal
the statute’s unpopular fi nes
on people who don’t carry
health insurance. It would
replace income-based subsi-
dies the law provides to help
millions of Americans pay
premiums with age-based tax
credits that may be skimpier
for people with low incomes.
Those payments would phase
out for higher-earning people.
The bill would continue
Obama’s
expansion
of
Medicaid to additional
low-earning Americans until
2020. Beginning then, states
adding Medicaid recipients
would no longer receive the
additional federal funds the
statute has provided.
More
signifi cantly,
Republicans would overhaul
the
entire
federal-state
Medicaid program, changing
its
open-ended
federal
fi nancing to a limit based on
enrollment and costs in each
state, a move likely to cause
funding cuts.
In perhaps their riskiest
political gamble, the plan is
expected to cover fewer than
the 20 million people insured
under Obama’s overhaul,
including many residents of
states carried by President
Donald Trump in Novem-
ber’s election.
Republicans said they
don’t have offi cial coverage
See HEALTH/10A
Sunday fi re ruins
Hat Rock home
Couple and three
dogs survive blaze
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Fire burned a couple out
of their home Sunday evening
near Hat Rock State Park
northeast of Hermiston.
Conni Hull said her parents,
Connie and Kelli Maret, ended
up at Kadlec Regional Medical
Center, Richland, Washington,
after experiencing heart trouble
in the wake of the fi re. Her
father suffered from breathing
in smoke, she added, and her
mother has breast cancer, but
both were stable and in good
condition at the hospital.
The blaze happened Sunday
around 6:30 p.m. at 82276 Hat
Rock Road, space 14. Hull said
her father was cooking dinner
when a lithium battery in a spare
room exploded while charging.
Connie Maret grabbed a fi re
extinguisher, his daughter said,
but it was expired. He then ran
for a garden hose, but that was
See FIRE/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Fire gutted the home of Connie and Kelli Maret late Sunday evening near
Hat Rock sending them both to Kadlec Regional Medical Center, Richland,
Washington.