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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2018)
Fri Sat Sun 34/31 45/31 42/32 OREGON SUES MONSANTO OVER POLLUTION TRUMP MOVES TO EXPAND OFFSHORE DRILLING NORTHWEST/2A NATION/6A FRIDAY, JANUARY 5, 2018 142nd Year, No. 57 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Cliff Bentz Rep. Bentz picked for Senate seat SALEM — Rep. Cliff Bentz, an Ontario Republican, was selected Thursday to fi ll the Senate seat for District 30, the largest in the state. Commissions and courts in Baker, Deschutes, Jefferson, Lake, Wasco, Grant, Harney, Malheur and Wheeler coun- ties voted to appoint Bentz to fi nish the remainder of Sen. Ted Ferrioli’s term. Ferrioli, a Republican from John Day, offi cially resigned from offi ce Nov. 22 to begin his appointment as a member of the power council, which oversees electrical energy co-operatives, public utility districts and hydroelectric generation facilities, along with planning, conservation and management of other renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and geothermal. The vote took place at the Grant County Regional Airport in John Day after the commissioners interviewed Bentz and another candidate, Dr. Eric Wattenburg, a family, emergency and urgent care doctor, small business owner and medical radio show host from Bend. Suzan Ellis Jones, a rancher and Baker County Republican Party chair from Bridgeport, was also nominated as a candidate but did not participate in the inter- view process. Republican precinct committee persons from District 30 nominated the candidates. Bentz, a rancher, farmer and attorney, joined the Oregon House of Represen- tatives in 2008. He has been on the revenue committee since he was fi rst elected, and was vice chair in the last two sessions. “The Senate Republicans are excited to welcome Representative Bentz to our caucus,” said Senator Jackie Winters, R-Salem, in a press release. “Rep. Bentz will be a tremendous addition to our team, and I look forward to working with him in the sessions to come.” Ferrioli was fi rst elected in 1996 and his term expires in 2021. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Budtender Janice Garrett weighs an order of marijuana for a customer at Kind Leaf on Thursday in Pendleton. AG takes potshot at pot shops Pendleton dispensary owner says ‘business as usual’ after DOJ policy change By ANTONIO SIERRA and CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE EO Media Group Although U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reopened the door to enforcing the federal prohibition on marijuana in Oregon, Pendleton marijuana entrepreneur Brandon Krenzler isn’t sweating it. As Oregon’s top politi- cians issued terse statements condemning Sessions’ rescis- sion of a 2013 Department of Justice memo that eased enforcement on states where the drug is legal, Krenzler, the co-owner of the Kind Leaf Pendleton marijuana dispen- sary characterized the decision as a “scare tactic.” “I don’t fi nd it to be very worrisome,” he said. He said it will be “business as usual” at Kind Leaf, Pendle- ton’s fi rst recreational marijuana retailer, and will proceed with plans to start Burnswell Family Forum to discuss marijuana Staff photo by E.J. Harris U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday rescind- ed the Cole memo, set out guidelines for federal prosecu- tors in states that had legalized marijuana to focus their resources on larger-scale concerns. Farms, an affi liated cannabis grow recently approved by the city’s planning commission. Although marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the Obama-era policy, referred to as the Cole Memo, set out guidelines for federal prosecutors in states that had legalized marijuana to focus their resources on larger-scale concerns such as traffi cking See MARIJUANA/8A PENDLETON — Brandon Krenzler will share more of his thoughts on the cannabis industry and marijuana legalization at the 2018 Eastern Oregon Forum opener. Krenzler, partner/owner of Kind Leaf, a cannabis dispensary; Steve Hardin, manager of emergency services at CHI/St. Anthony Hospital; and Dr. David Conant-Norville, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with Mind Matters clinics in Pendleton and Hillsboro; will tackle the topic of “Legal Marijuana in Pendleton: One Year Later.” The forum is Tuesday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. in Science and Technology Building Room ST-200 at Blue Mountain Community College, 2411 N.W. Carden Ave., Pendleton. The forum is open to the public and tickets are $5 at the door and free for students. People can purchase a $15 membership ($25 for couples) for admission to all four forums for the season. The Eastern Oregon Forum is a collaborative effort between BMCC, InterMountain Education Service District, East Oregonian, American Association of University Women and Harriet Isom, a former United States ambassador. For more information contact Karen Parker at 541-966-3177 or karen.parker@imesd.k12.or.us. Local libraries work to stay relevant By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian Almost everyone now has a smartphone in their pockets — a portal to random facts or the president’s stream of consciousness. As information becomes easier to access, public libraries have had to examine the services they provide and prove to patrons that they remain relevant. Proof of relevance is clear for many rural librarians. “We may be the only internet access people have, so we provide that,” said Kristin Williams, the director of the Athena Public Library. “I’d defi nitely say we’re seeing a lot more people use digital items. We check out books to people’s iPads and Kindles. Digital circulation has gone up.” Several rural librarians in Umatilla County said print media is still the most popular resource at their libraries. Echo City Administrator Diane Berry said each town has had to assess its own needs, and the library adapts accordingly. “As the economy declined, people had let their cable TV drop,” she said. “We had a large video collection because there’s no See LIBRARIES/8A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Patrons of libraries in the SAGE system, like the one here in Pilot Rock, can look up and order any material offered in the system and have it delivered to their local library branch.