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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 2018)
MARINERS START SEASON WITH A WIN AREA EASTER CHURCH SERVICE SCHEDULES MLB OPENING DAY/1B FAITH/8A FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2018 142nd Year, No. 116 Oregon secretary of state visits east side Your Weekend • • • One dollar WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Easter egg hunts all weekend long Steak and live music at Pendleton Eagles Frostbite golf tourney Saturday at Willow Creek For times and places see Coming Events, 5A Catch a movie Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP Ready Player One For showtime, Page 5A For review, Weekend EO Weekend Weather Fri Sat Sun 63/40 59/41 60/39 Pot-friendly states want meeting with AG Sessions By MICHAEL R. BLOOD Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Cali- fornia, Oregon and other marijuana-friendly states are seeking a meeting with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in hopes of resolving the conflict between federal and state laws that has left the nation’s cannabis industry in legal limbo. Marijuana is illegal at the federal level, even as 29 states have legalized pot in some form. State trea- surers from Cali- fornia, Oregon, Illinois and Pennsylvania told Sessions in a letter Thursday that businesses and banks need greater clarity on how federal law enforcement will respond to the growing legalization trend. The Trump administra- tion lifted an Obama-era policy in January that kept federal authorities from cracking down on the pot trade in states where the drug is legal. See POT/10A Staff photos by E.J. Harris Umatilla County elections manager Kim Lindell shows off the new ballot-counting machines to Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson on Thursday during a tour of the elections division at the Umatilla County Courthouse in Pendleton. Voter turnout, secure ballots top Richardson’s priorities By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian O regon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson said he wants to help turn around Umatilla County’s low voter turnout. Richardson arrived earlier this week to Pendleton and participated in Wednesday night’s local GOP fundraiser, and Thursday morning he was at the Umatilla County Elections Division in a smart blue blazer and cargo pants. He said he is visiting elections offices in all 36 counties to gain a first-hand understanding of the process, from how ballots come in to when officials submit results to the state. He asked elections manager Kim Lindell several questions, including about turnout. Lindell, manager since 2014 who also worked in the division in the late 1990s, said the county used to hover around the 80 percent mark but now the rate is around 30 percent and routinely last in the state. “I feel very strongly that as citi- zens we have an obligation to partic- ipate in the system,” Richardson responded. The January special election saw Staff photo by E.J. Harris Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson presents a medale to Umatilla County elections manager Kim Lindell during a visit Thursday in Pendleton. statewide turnout at a meager 39.5 percent. Umatilla County voters managed a rate of 31 percent. State- wide turnout in the 2016 general election reached 80.3 percent of registered voters, while Umatilla County’s turnout was 73.3 percent, the lowest in Oregon. Lindell said the county is working on ways to turn up the turnout. She started a county elections Facebook page, and Commissioner George Murdock has pushed for more ballot drop boxes. Lindell said now only three communities lack those boxes — Adams, Helix and Ukiah. Richardson said he and his office would help however it could and offered the possibility of robocalling to encourage voting. He even said local billboard companies might be willing to offer vacant space as public service announcements to get out the vote. Maybe, he said, the key lies in finding a way to show voting is the right thing to do. The county’s voter registration, meanwhile, is trending up, from 41,756 in January to 42,135 as of Thursday morning, with 8,903 Democrats, 13,990 Republicans, 1,859 Independents, and 17,383 as non-affiliated or with other parties. The county also has seen an increase in 16- and 17-year-olds registering now to vote in the future. Lindell also showed off the county’s ballot tabulation machines. He said they cost $98,000 new and her division bought two — one for a backup — used from Lane County for a total of $25,000. The Election Systems and Soft- ware 850s are fast and make digital scans of ballots, Lindell said, and can detect write-in votes and over- and under-votes. When the machine identifies an over-vote, for example, she said it displays a digital copy of the ballot in question so a real person See RICHARDSON/10A Walden talks opioids with county law enforcement Potent drugs endanger users as well as police By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Umatilla County sheriff’s Sgt. John Schafer holds up a box with a dose of the anti-opioid NARCAN while briefing U.S. Rep. Greg Walden during a round-table discussion on opioids Wednesday in Pendleton. Rep. Greg Walden stared at a photo projected onto a large screen and shook his head slowly. The slide showed three vials, labeled with names of different opioid drugs. Each vial contained a dose lethal to humans. The bottom of the heroin vial was covered with a white powder. Another vial, containing the powerful synthetic opioid called fentanyl, contained what appeared to be a pinch of the drug. The vial of carfentanil, a even-more-potent chemical cousin of fentanyl, held what looked like a grain of sand. The Republican congressman from Oregon sat in a conference room Wednesday at the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office with Sheriff Terry Rowan and other county law enforcement leaders, along with a couple of state legisla- tors, Rep. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, and Greg Barreto, R-Cove. Infor- mally, they chatted about what has become one of Walden’s favorite See OPIOIDS/10A