REGION
Thursday, July 20, 2017
PENDLETON
East Oregonian
Umatilla County approves new
tax district to fund OSU extension
Board also sets
non-ag burn ban
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
High Desert Cannabis is the third marijuana retailer to open its doors in Pendleton.
High Desert Cannabis is city’s
third marijuana dispensary
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Although Pendleton’s first
two recreational marijuana
dispensaries opted for more
sedate decor, High Desert
Cannabis is far from incon-
spicuous.
Located near one of
the busiest intersections in
town, the 341 S.W. 20th St.
cannabis store is painted
with a bright green that
matches the color scheme of
the medical crosses adorned
across the business’ sign.
High Desert Cannabis
isn’t hiding the fact that it’s
a dispensary and one of its
owners is also adamant that
the new business has no
association with the former
owner of a medical marijuana
dispensary near Hermiston.
Once customers go inside
the store, most of the green is
concentrated in the products
behind the glass at the small
and tidy sales floor.
Manager Chris Hasen-
bank said sales have gone as
expected since High Desert
Cannabis opened its doors
July 7. He said last week-
end’s Pendleton Whisky
Music Fest brought an uptick
in business and they’re
preparing for more customers
in town for Pendleton Bike
Week.
According to co-owner
Michael Ekblad and his father
William Reuter, Pendleton’s
growing tourism industry
was one reason High Desert
Cannabis was established in
the Round-Up City.
Getting in on the ground-
floor of the burgeoning
recreational pot industry was
another.
“What a great opportunity
for someone who is moti-
vated and wants to pursue
a business that has a great
potential to succeed,” Reuter
said.
High Desert Cannabis’
ownership group shares some
connections with convicted
felon
Michael
Parker,
the former owner of the
Columbia Basin Compassion
Center medical marijuana
dispensary, although both
sides are adamant that Parker
is not involved with the
business.
An ardent proponent of
medical marijuana, Parker
ran a dispensary until a
Umatilla County moratorium
shut it down in 2014.
Ekblad’s business partner
with High Desert Cannabis
is Parker’s daughter, Aimee
Parker. Also, Ekblad listed
the same unincorporated
Hermiston home address on
his zoning application that
Parker listed as his home
address for the Columbia
Basin Compassion Center in
2011 and 2012, according to
the Oregon Secretary of State
business registry.
Reuter said he owns the
Hermiston property and
rented it out to Parker several
years ago and now uses it to
provide housing for his son.
For his part, Parker also
denied being involved in
High Desert Cannabis.
Despite reaching out
to the East Oregonian to
apprise the newspaper of the
store’s opening, he said he’s
not involved in his daughter’s
business and waved away the
address connection.
“A lot of people live
there,” he said.
Parker has a long rap
sheet, having been convicted
of several felonies and misde-
meanors, including second
degree disorderly conduct,
second degree burglary and
first degree criminal mischief.
Reuter said Parker’s
history was a factor in Aimee
Parker and Ekblad’s decision
to strike it out on their own.
“That’s why the kids
didn’t want him involved
in any way, shape or form,”
Reuter said. “They didn’t
want that following them.”
Pendleton Police Chief
Stuart Roberts said it isn’t
uncommon to see marijuana
business owners or associates
with criminal records.
Roberts said he looks
at these applicants under
a limited scope, focusing
on whether they’ve been
convicted of a drug-related
crime in the last three years.
Given that scope, Roberts
said he meets with each mari-
juana business owner and
goes over the police’s role in
enforcing the rules and laws.
Although
he
didn’t
comment specifically on
Parker’s connections to High
Desert Cannabis, Roberts
said marijuana businesses
are prohibited from using
someone with a clean record
to act as the official owner
while someone with a more
extensive criminal record
runs it unofficially.
Roberts said this practice
is called “hidden ownership,”
and while it’s previously
been used for businesses that
sell alcohol, it would apply to
marijuana businesses, too.
Although
difficult
to prove, if a marijuana
business failed to disclose
someone who was involved
in ownership with a relevant
criminal record, it could lead
the OLCC to suspend the
business’ license.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
Wallowa County joins Lostine Corridor lawsuit
By STEVE TOOL
EO Media Group
Wallowa County Board
of Commissioners has voted
to file as an intervenor in
the lawsuit filed by envi-
ronmental groups Oregon
Wild and Hells Canyon
Preservation Council to stop
the Lostine Corridor Safety
Project.
The project is an attempt
by the U.S. Forest Service to
remove hazardous trees and
allow some logging while
also performing prescribed
fire treatment along the
11-mile corridor, which the
Forest Service contends is
at high to extreme risk for
wildfire.
The suit alleges that
the Forest Service project
violates the law on several
counts: The Forest Service
violated the National Envi-
ronmental Policy Act by
categorically excluding the
project from environmental
analysis and not using a
collaborative process to
develop the project, which
they contend is mandated
under the categorical exclu-
sion.
Western Resources Legal
Center will file the petition
on the county’s behalf and
represent the county if
the petition is successful.
Intervenor status will allow
the county to participate in
the lawsuit process without
permission of the litigants.
Commissioner Todd Nash
said following the July 3
vote that the commissioners
“That corridor needs something done,
and this is a pretty good cross-section
of folks who worked on it.”
— Susan Roberts, Wallowa County Commissioner
are grateful for the legal
center’s efforts on the coun-
ty’s behalf.
Nash also said the
lawsuit made him question
the legitimacy of the two
environmental groups as
collaborators.
“These two groups do
not deserve a seat at the
table when it comes to real
solutions for our forests and
community well-being,” he
said.
Commissioner
Susan
Roberts said the initial suit
left the county with little
choice but to petition the
court. The county has done
it in other matters, such as
wolf delisting.
“The Lostine Corridor
Project is an issue of the
same import to the folks and
visitors in Wallowa County,”
Roberts said. “That corridor
needs something done,
and this is a pretty good
cross-section of folks who
worked on it ... We really
need to do something in that
corridor to preserve human
life and animal — and the
scenery itself.”
Roberts added that the
commissioners are there to
serve and protect the people
they represent, and the peti-
tion is one way they can do
that.
“We would be derelict if
Page 3A
we did not do it,” Roberts
said.
She said that during the
2005 Community Wildfire
Protection Plan, the Lostine
Corridor was at the top of
the list to receive fire treat-
ment.
“I would guess that we
have thousands of people
that go up that corridor
every year, and their safety,
and the safety of the people
who live in the corridor is
important,” she said. “Here
we are in 2017 updating the
plan and nothing has been
done in all these years. It’s
in worse shape.”
In Roberts’ opinion,
the two environmental
groups that filed the lawsuit
seem to care less about the
community than their own
opinions. She said if the
groups wanted no one to live
in or go up the canyon, they
should just say so.
“I don’t believe they are
true conservationists, nor do
I believe they’re environ-
mentalists or collaborators
–– they’re obstructionists,”
she said.
Roberts believes the
county will gain the inter-
venor status it seeks.
“This is in Wallowa
County. If we don’t have
status, then no one does,”
she said.
The Umatilla County
Board of Commissioners
gave its approval Wednesday
for a plan to form a new
taxing district to fund the
Oregon State University
Extension Service.
OSU Extension wants
to form a district covering
Morrow and Umatilla
counties to fund its work,
including two research
centers, at a rate of 33 cents
per $1,000 of assessed prop-
erty value. Morrow County
commissioners must also to
give their approval, and the
17 city councils in the two
counties have to give their
support. The process will
also include public hearings
before going to the voters.
Mary Corp is helping
lead the charge for the
district. She is the OSU
Extension regional admin-
istrator and director of the
Columbia Basin Agriculture
Research Center near Pend-
leton. She told Umatilla
County commissioners 25
of Oregon’s 36 counties
have extension districts,
and forming this one has
community support.
She said a citizen
advisory committee recom-
mended the two-county
district to ensure consistent
funding. Corp and other
extension leaders also
provided the board with a
letter stating a recent phone
survey found 50 percent
were in favor of the taxing
district, 31 percent were
against and 19 percent were
not sure. The survey also
had an error rate of plus or
minus 5 percent.
County commissioners
voted 3-0 to initiate the
formation of the new service
district.
The board also approved
a $10,000 economic devel-
opment grant to mental
health provider Lifeways
Inc. for its new 16-bed
psychiatric facility, which
is under construction in
Hermiston.
Lifeways
director Rick George said
the plan is to open the
center in November, barring
construction delays, and
Lifeways expects “about
45 jobs out of this for the
community.”
Lifeways’ grant applica-
tion noted the $6.7 million
center would create 30 new
jobs at an annual salary of
$45,000 each.
The board also backed
a four-year, county-wide
preventative maintenance
plan which has a total
estimated cost of $807,760.
It includes tree trimming,
sidewalk
repairs
and
replacing the flooring in the
sheriff’s office. Commis-
sioner George Murdock
said the there was nothing
“glitzy” on the list of proj-
ects, but this will help keep
more than a dozen county
properties in the trim and
avoid costly repairs later.
And six local teenage
boys received a commenda-
tion from the board for their
bravery and swift action.
Ben Combs, Austin
Kendall,
Tovias
Niel,
Quinton
Orr,
Khai
Robertson and Colton
Schock work in the United
States Youth Conservation
Corps. On July 6 they were
helping set up a greenhouse
for the Ukiah School
District when they saw a fire
at a nearby home.
The crew found the
porch was aflame and
extinguished the blaze with
minimal damage to the
home. The babysitter and
young girl inside the house
were unharmed.
And commissioners also
banned open, non-agricul-
tural burning within the
unincorporated areas of the
county. The temporary ban
went into effect Wednesday
at noon and usually stays in
effect until the late fall.
The ban only applies to
areas under the jurisdiction
of the county’s smoke
management regulations,
according to a written
statement from Gina Miller,
the head of the county’s
code enforcement program.
The ban does not apply to
state or federal government
lands, the Umatilla Indian
Reservation or rural fire
districts.
The ban covers burn
barrels, yard and garden
debris piles, small scale
residential burning and
more. The county still
allows agricultural burning
but could impose more
restrictions depending on
weather conditions.
Burn bans are common
this time of year due to
dry conditions, wildfires
affecting air quality and
regulations to reduce haze
for community events,
including the Umatilla
County Fair, Milton-Free-
water’s Muddy-Frogwater
Festival, and the Pendleton
Round-Up.
For more information
about the non-ag burn ban
or to report illegal burning,
call the Umatilla County
Planning Department at
541-278-6252 or Umatilla
County dispatch center at
541-966- 3651 after 5 p.m.
and weekends. And for
more information about the
county’s smoke manage-
ment ordinance, call the
planning department.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0833.
SUBMIT COMMUNITY NEWS
Submit information to: community@eastoregonian.com or drop off to the attention of
Tammy Malgesini at 333 E. Main St., Hermiston or Renee Struthers at 211 S.E. Byers
Ave., Pendleton. Call 541-564-4539 or 541-966-0818 with questions.
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