Page 8A
East Oregonian
HERMISTON
Thursday, June 22, 2017
OFF PAGE ONE
MARIJUANA: Hospital has seen more
1,400 cases of cyclical vomiting syndrome
Police have trained
in active shooter response
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
It’s something no one likes
to think about, but Hermis-
ton’s police department is
trying to train as many people
as it can about how to respond
in the case of an active
shooter.
In just over a year,
Edmiston said, the department
has trained more than 1,400
people from several groups
around town through CRASE
— Civilian Response to
Active Shooter Events. Those
trained so far include 700 staff
members from Hermiston and
Umatilla school districts, as
well as staff from Umatilla
County, the Umatilla Electric
Cooperative and the city of
Hermiston.
The training is still
available, he said, both to
individuals and groups who
want to enroll.
Edmiston said that in light
of continued events across the
nation, he feels it’s important
for people to know how to
respond.
“With regard to active
shooter-type events, our
intention is not to promote
violence or gun rights,” he
said. “Our intention is to
educate people.”
He noted the three basic
components of the training.
“If you’re in a situation
where you can avoid it, avoid
it. If you have to deny entry
into a room, deny it. But if
you have to go on the offen-
sive, then you should defend,”
said Edmiston.
The training can vary
slightly, and can include
simulations or hands-on expe-
riences, where instructors will
use Nerf guns as props. Some
components of the training
also look at the psychology
of people who commit those
acts.
“It talks about how a simple
distraction can increase time,”
Edmiston said. “It’s OK if
someone comes in and your
last resort is to dog pile them.
There’s strength in numbers.
The whole point is to create
a little bit of time for law
enforcement to respond.”
Edmiston said he and Fred
Maiocco, the superintendent
of Hermiston schools, have
been talking about school
safety for several years, and
this training was one compo-
nent.
“Our school district has
been out in front in terms
of training,” Edmiston said.
“Teaching the administration,
teachers and staff these
concepts and giving addi-
tional tools to those in charge
of students is imperative.”
Maiocco said the district
feels it’s important to be
prepared for these types of
scenarios.
“By the end of the 2016-
2017 school year, all teaching
staff and administrators had
completed the training,” he
said via email, adding that
next year, the district will train
all new staff and classified
support staff.
Edmiston said he is also
interested in expanding the
training to the student popu-
lation.
“At least in a voluntary
capacity,” he said, “I do want
to get to a point where we
offer this training, especially
to graduating classes.”
Maiocco said the district
is looking into a modified
training for students, as well,
once they’ve trained all staff.
“The safety of our students
and staff is of utmost impor-
tance,” he said. “As staff we
need to know what to do in
the event of an emergency,
especially in the event of an
active shooter, to continue to
provide a safe environment
for our students and for each
other.”
Trainings
like
these
happen throughout the United
States, Edmiston said. The
most common ones are
CRASE and ALICE, or Alert,
Lockdown, Inform, Counter,
Evacuate.
“We felt this one was more
narrowly focused, and in tune
with how our officers interact
in any kind of a response,”
Edmiston said.
Edmiston said those inter-
ested in signing up for training
can contact Training Officer
Tim Miears, at 541-667-5112.
“It’s as simple as just
trying to educate people to be
aware of their surroundings,”
he said.
–——
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan at 541-564-
4534 or jramakrishnan@
eastoregonian.com.
Continued from 1A
Roberts said experienced
growers can produce a
few pounds of cannabis
with each plant. If a person
bands together with family
and friends who each grow
their own plants, they could
produce enough marijuana to
supply a local criminal oper-
ation and sell it at a fraction
of a legal dispensary’s cost.
Although
Pace
is
concerned
about
the
longterm viability of his
business, Krenzler saw an
upside to the BENT bust.
Krenzler said some of
the customers who came
to Kind Leaf looking for a
new source for marijuana
became repeat visitors once
they realized the variety and
knowledge that comes with a
professional establishment.
With the Oregon Liquor
Control
Commission
already imposing strict
security guidelines, Roberts
said he had no complaints of
either dispensary.
Roberts said the manage-
ment for both stores were
open and communicative
and anticipated the legal
industry would police itself
to avoid the criminal repu-
tation currently associated
with drug sales.
Along with public safety,
opponents of legal mari-
juana also worried about the
health implications.
Although he couldn’t
recall reports of children
consuming marijuana, St.
Continued from 1A
totaled vehicle.
He said he was relieved
that his accident didn’t affect
anyone else.
“I was in an accident years
ago,” he said. “The car next
to me spun out, and I hit them
head-on at 60 miles per hour,
and they bounced off the
road. I got out and looked
inside, and it was a mom and
three little girls. That broke
my heart.”
Fortunately, he said, the
mom had strapped her chil-
dren into their seats.
“The mom got a fat lip
and the girls were good,” he
said with a laugh.
Luckily, this time there
was no one else around.
“I have to live with that,
but I’m glad no one else got
hurt,” he said.
UCFD #1 Battalion Chief
Jimmy Davis agreed that
Mike was fortunate.
“I was expecting some
heavy extrication,” he said.
“But he was out of there
before we got here.”
Stopped in its tracks
Earlier in the day, the
driver of a semi truck died
after colliding with a train
across the river in Plymouth,
Washington.
The Benton County
Sheriff’s Office reported
the driver, a male in his 60s,
was making a delivery and
had turned off Christy Road
into a driveway. Around 2:28
p.m., the driver was headed
northbound and was slowly
crossing railroad tracks when
a train, headed westbound,
came toward it. The driver
failed to clear the tracks
before the train hit.
“It’s a private track, so
there were some stop signs
but no bars,” said Sgt. Jason
Erickson of Benton County
Sheriff’s Office.
He said the train conductor
and engineer seemed to be
uninjured, and the BNSF
train did not appear to have
any significant damage.
UMATILLA
A small fire that started in
nearby brush was put out by
firefighters, according to the
Associated Press. Authorities
are investigating.
Minivan vs. Semi
In Umatilla, a semi
collided with a minivan at
4:08 p.m., sending one person
to the hospital for evaluation.
Sgt. Bill Wright of
Umatilla Police Department
said they were still unclear on
how the accident happened
because
of
conflicting
reports, but a minivan was
resting at the intersection of
Highway 730 and I-82 after
colliding with a semi. Several
windows of the minivan were
shattered, the windshield
badly cracked and the front
end and passenger door of the
vehicle had major damage.
Wright said the driver,
a woman in her early 50s,
was sent to the hospital as a
safety precaution, but had no
evident injuries. The driver
of the semi truck, he said,
appeared to be unhurt.
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Anthony Hospital Larry
Blanc said they are seeing
more adults checking into
the emergency room after
using it.
Blanc said some marijuana
users suffer from cyclical
vomiting syndrome, which
causes nausea and continued
vomiting
and
requires
medical treatment to stop.
Since the dispensaries
established themselves in
March and April, Blanc said
the St. Anthony emergency
room has seen three to four
more cases of the syndrome
per week than before they
began operating.
Blanc said the syndrome
can affect experienced
users, who have to be
convinced that consuming
more marijuana won’t help
with their nausea.
“You could have been a
marijuana smoker back in
the 60s, but now it makes
you sick,” he said.
While the larger health
and public safety implica-
tions are still being sorted
out, entrepreneurs aren’t
hesitating to enter Pendle-
ton’s cannabis market.
Roberts said he just
signed off on a third mari-
juana dispensary at 2003
S.W. Emigrant Ave. called
High Desert Cannabis.
There might have been a
fourth recreational marijuana
store readying to open on
Southeast Court Avenue, but
its owner, Bryson Thurman,
was one of several people
arrested in the BENT bust.
If convicted, Roberts said
it would impede Thurman
from opening the dispen-
sary. According to court
records, Thurman has yet to
be charged with any crimes
following his arrest.
ROCKS: Painter-to-hunter ratio in good balance
Continued from 1A
ACCIDENTS: Semi truck collided
with a minivan in Umatilla
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Kind Leaf was the first marijuana store to open
its doors in Pendleton and it now sees more than
200 customers per day.
with clues that they hid them
on the Hermiston Butte or
elsewhere in town.
She said luckily right now
the painter-to-hunter ratio
has been in good balance
and people have been able
to enjoy both activities.
The fad calls to mind
a low-tech version of the
Pokemon Go craze last
summer, which got young
people outdoors together in
unusually high numbers to
hunt digital monsters that
appeared on their smart-
phones when they visited
certain locations. Evens said
she hopes finding and hiding
rocks gets families out
together in the nice weather.
She said she has enjoyed
painting with her niece and
nephew and two-year-old
son.
“I had him in mind
because he loves rocks,”
she said. “Every day I walk
inside and there are rocks
lining my coffee table and
shelves and everywhere, so
if he found a painted rock
on the trail he would be
ecstatic.”
She said she had some
ideas for future activities to
keep interest in the group
going, including rock-
painting parties at the park
and prizes for finding certain
rocks pictured on the Herm-
iston Rock Hunt Facebook
page.
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