2 OFFICERS
SHOT IN
SEATTLE
RUSSIA BANS
JEHOVAH’S
WITNESSES
DAWGS
EKE OUT
VICTORY
NORTHWEST/2A
FAITH/7A
SPORTS/1B
FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2017
141st Year, No. 134
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
Your Weekend
•
•
•
Oregon East Symphony
performs Saturday
Eastern Oregon MS
Walk in Heppner
March for science and
science fair event
For times and places
see Coming Events, 5A
Catch a movie
Permit requested for
fi rst marijuana grow
City’s second cannabis retailer opens
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
On April 20, marijuana’s
unoffi cial holiday, Pend-
leton’s cannabis industry
showed more signs of
growth.
The city released the
agenda for the Planning
Commission
meeting
next Thursday where the
commission will consider
granting conditional use for
a marijuana grow, a fi rst
for Pendleton’s budding
cannabis market.
According to a city staff
report, GhostTown Organix,
a Boise company, wants to
start a marijuana grow at
2515 N.E. Riverside Place,
the site of an old Prairie
Market grocery store.
See MARIJUANA/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A Boise company called GhostTown Organix has ap-
plied for a conditional use permit to open a marijuana
grow operation in the old Prairie Market on Southeast
Riverside Place in Pendleton.
Brown
orders
state
hiring
freeze
UMATILLA
Jose Haro/Open Road Films via AP
A love triangle takes center
stage during the Armenian
Genocide in “The Promise.”
For showtime, Page 5A
For review, Weekend EO
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
62/42
66/45
60/43
One dollar
First in series of orders
aimed at cutting expenses,
improving efficiency
Watch a game
vs.
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Hood River vs. Pendleton
Saturday, Noon & 2 p.m.,
at Pendleton
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Many bills
beat deadline
and live on in
Legislature
Students take class outside for Earth Day
TOP: Blue Mountain
Wildlife director Lynn
Tompkins holds up a
raptor scull to a group
of second graders from
McNary Heights Ele-
mentary School during
Earth Day fi eld trip at
the McNary Dam Wild-
life Area on Thursday in
Umatilla.
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Tuesday was
the deadline in the Oregon
Legislative Assembly for
policy bills to move out of the
chamber where they origi-
nated, or into one of a handful
of key committees.
With the exception of
bills assigned to bicameral
committees — or to those in
the rules, revenue or ways and
means committees — bills
that have not been passed by
either the House or the Senate
are effectively dead for this
session.
Legislators
are
still
See BILLS/10A
LEFT: Fourth graders
color animal masks
for a game during an
Earth Day fi eld trip at
the McNary Heights
Wildlife Area on Thurs-
day in Umatilla.
For the full story
see page 3A.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Former Milton-Freewater offi cer
pleads guilty to assault, misconduct
Has 30 days to relinquish
police certifi cation
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Former Milton-Freewater police
offi cer Brian David Scott took a
deal Thursday in the assault case
against him. The movie ended his
law enforcement career.
Umatilla County Circuit Court
records show Scott, 38, pleaded
guilty to one count each of third-de-
gree assault and fi rst-degree offi cial
misconduct. The plea came after a
settlement conference in Hermiston
circuit court.
Misconduct is a misdemeanor,
but the assault conviction is a Class
C felony in Oregon.
Scott faced charges of second-de-
gree assault, unlawful use of a
weapon and fi rst-degree offi cial
misconduct stemming from his
Sept. 26, 2016, arrest of
Jeffery Allen Fields, 46,
of Milton-Freewater, for
theft. Oregon State Police
reported Scott pushed
Fields in the back while
his wrists were in cuffs.
Fields struck his head
on a concrete wall in the
Milton-Freewater Police
Department and suffered
injuries to his scalp and Scott
vertebrae.
State and federal court records
show Fields has not fi led a lawsuit in
the matter. He is serving two years
of probation on domestic violence
charges.
Scott resigned from Milton-Free-
water police in December. He
worked for the department starting
in September 2014. Court records
show he and his family are moving
to Colorado.
Circuit Judge Eva Temple
presided over the closed-door
conference and sentenced
Scott to three years of
probation, which bans him
from possessing weapons,
fi rearms or dangerous
animals and mandates he
must not have any contact
with Fields.
Scott also will have
to undergo an anger
management evaluation
and complete any treat-
ment through a court-ap-
proved provider, complete 100 hours
of community service and pay a fi ne
of $500.
Scott also has 30 days to relin-
quish his police certifi cation from
the Oregon Department of Public
Safety Standards and Training. The
documentation allowed him to work
as a police offi cer.
———
Contact Phil Wright at pwright@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-
0833.
SALEM — Gov. Kate Brown
Thursday ordered a temporary
statewide hiring freeze to help
address Oregon’s $1.6 billion
revenue shortfall.
The executive order was the
fi rst of a series scheduled for
the next several weeks aimed at
cutting expenses and improving
e f f i c i e n c y,
according to
the Gover-
nor’s Offi ce.
“Oregon’s
children
and families
deserve the
chance to lead
healthy and Brown
productive
lives. But the
cuts to the state budget recently
proposed by the Legislature put
the most vulnerable Oregonians
even more at risk than they are
now. This is unacceptable,”
Brown said in a statement.
The hiring freeze goes into
effect immediately and will last
until each state department’s
budget is approved by the
Legislature, according to the
Governor’s Offi ce.
The Governor’s Offi ce is still
calculating how much the hiring
freeze could save, said Brown’s
communications director, Chris
Pair.
This order also pares
spending on state travel
expenses and consolidates offi ce
space.
Senate Republican Leader
Ted Ferrioli of John Day has
been calling for a hiring freeze
for several weeks. The hiring
freeze, if left in effect, could
save an estimated $790 million
in the next two years, according
to the Senate Republican Offi ce.
The offi ce based the number on
consultation with the Legislative
Fiscal Offi ce, according to an
email from Paul Rainey, caucus
administrator for the Senate
Republic Offi ce.
The Department of Correc-
tions, Oregon Youth Authority,
Oregon State Hospital and some
Department of Human Services
divisions would “not be able to
freeze,” the email states.
“If these were excluded, the
See OREGON/10A