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OREGON SUES
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TRUMP MOVES TO
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DRILLING
NORTHWEST/2A
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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.