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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2018)
REGION Tuesday, April 3, 2018 PENDLETON Marijuana farm application kicked back to city council By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian The conditional use application for Burnswell Family Farm seems to be caught in a perpetual loop of public meetings. One of the owners of the Pendleton pot farm will be before the Pendleton City Council for the second time in four months as he tries to get zoning approval from the city to proceed with his marijuana grow. Burnswell, a subsidiary of the Kind Leaf Pendleton cannabis dispensary, had its first hearing from the Pend- leton Planning Commission for conditional use approval on Aug. 14, 2017. When the commission denied Burnswell’s appli- cation citing a lack of infor- mation, Kind Leaf co-owner Brandon Krenzler appealed the commission’s decision to the city council. The council heard Krenzler’s appeal at a Dec. 5 meeting before agreeing to refer the application back to the planning commission for a second verdict. Getting another look at the Burn- swell application on Dec. 28, the commission felt it had enough information to unanimously approve the application. But a Pendleton resident living near Burnswell’s proposed Riverside location is appealing the commis- sion’s decision back to the city council, according to a staff report from the city’s planning department. The resident opposed the marijuana grow for a number of reasons, including concerns an expected abundance of marijuana on the market, odor abatement, the farm’s water source and flooding from the nearby Umatilla River. City staff wrote that they have amended Burnswell’s conditions of approval to include specifications over the type of carbon filter used on the facilities and the exact water source. Staff also countered that the city’s zoning codes don’t require proof of market support and the greenhouses on the Burnswell property lie outside the flood area. ——— The council will also receive a return visit from the Pendleton Downtown Association, which will present another proposal to permanently fund the nonprofit. The association’s latest request is to have the city provide $55,000 in funding per year for the following two years. The city’s yearly contribution will decrease by 10 percent each year from Year 3 to Year 5 and from the sixth year onward, the city would pay the asso- ciation $25,000 annually. In exchange, the association will help the city implement plans like the Pendleton Downtown Plan and the Community Assessment Findings and Suggestions, City Manager Robb Corbett wrote in a staff report supporting the proposal. Corbett recommended the city split the costs with the urban renewal district, which would require further approval from the council acting as the Pendleton Development Commission. The downtown associ- ation received a one-time sum of $55,000 in early 2017 to cover a year’s worth of executive director Molly Turner’s salary plus other operational expenses by a 5-4 vote from the develop- ment commission. When Turner returned to the council in January with a longterm funding plan — $55,000 annually for the first two years and $40,000 per year in every year after — the council was noncommittal about funding the association again and instead formed a committee to look at the issue. The council will meet at 7 p.m. at the council chambers in city hall, 500 S.W. Dorion Ave. Sherwood Heights principal announces plans for retirement East Oregonian The Pendleton School District will have at least two new principals when schools reopen in August. At a Tuesday meeting, the Pendleton School Board will accept Sherwood Heights Elementary School Principal Theresa Owens’ resignation, putting an end to her 34-year career in education. In an interview Monday, Owens said she plans to retire and move closer to her parents in the Portland area. She has no plans to resume full-time work once her contract ends over the summer, although she may explore opportunities in educational consulting. She was hired by the district in 2014 after spending five years as an elementary school principal in Anchorage, Alaska. Over her four years at Sherwood Heights, Owens said she was proud of the academic progress her school has made and praised students for being well-behaved. As a part of a $55 million bond, Sherwood Heights was replaced with a new facility, an experience Owens said she’s never been a part of before. Owens joins Pendleton High School Principal Dan Greenough as an adminis- trator departing the district at the end of the school year. Greenough submitted his letter of resignation in January and eventually took a job as the principal of Desert View Elementary School in Hermiston. He will be replaced by Rainier Junior/Senior High School Principal Melissa Sandven for the 2018-2019 school year. The Pendleton School District is already advertising for the open Sherwood Heights prin- cipal position, which will pay between $100,793- $102,463. The application period will close April 20. Put a smile on the heart with the power of flowers. HWY 395, HERMISTON 541-567-4305 Mon-Sat 8am-6pm • Sun 12pm-5am www.cottagefl owersonline.com Page 3A Wagon master to lead Westward Ho! Parade East Oregonian The man behind many of the wagons featured in the Westward Ho! Parade will be front and center this year. Bill Dawson, the wagon master for the Pendleton Round-Up, was announced Saturday as the grand marshal for the 2018 parade. Considering it an honor to be named grand marshal, Dawson said he was continuing a tradition that was carried on by his three prede- cessors, whose experience spans the past 70 or 80 years. As wagon master Dawson has maintained the historic wagons, stage coaches and other non-motorized trans- ports, according to a press release from the Round-Up, and has restored wagons with historic parts to add to the inventory. His team of volunteers prepare the vehi- cles for the parade with wheel replacements and safety checks. He has done similar work for Happy Canyon’s wagons. Dawson first volunteered for the Round-Up in 1965, starting as a member of the hay crew as a student at Pendleton High School. After returning from service in the Navy during the Vietnam EO file photo Bill Dawson, the Pendleton Round-Up wagon master, seen here Aug. 4, 2011, has been selected as the grand marshal for the 2018 Westward Ho! Parade. War and his graduation from Oregon State University, he provided telecommunications support for the Round-Up from 1977-2014. Dawson grew up working with wood and metal, and he was already an established volunteer when former wagon master Pat Dugan asked him to help him out with working on one of the Round-Up’s horse-drawn vehicles. “I said, ‘Sure,’ and that was the end of that. ... It was way too much fun,” Dawson said. Dugan died in 2003, and Dawson has used his time as wagon master to further hone his craft, obtaining welding certification from Blue Moun- tain Community College and learning some of the basics of blacksmithing. Since he retired as a regional manager from U.S. West Communications in 1999 he has become nearly a full-time volunteer for the rodeo. He won the Round-Up Outstanding Volunteer award in 1997 and the Orville Gerberding Memorial Award in 2001 for his work with the Round-Up. By choice, Dawson said he goes into the wagon shop five days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to work on the Round-Up’s stable of wagons. Dawson said two to three volunteers come in to the shop to help him build wagons, and during the Westward Ho! Parade, his team expands to 12-15. As he fulfills his duties as grand marshal, Dawson said he won’t be able to help manage the “controlled chaos” of the parade in its entirety, leaving it up to the other volunteers to keep the 80-90 parade teams running smoothly. He also has a long resume of volunteer work aside from the rodeo, including the Pend- leton Chamber of Commerce, Umatilla County Heritage Station and the Red Cross. Amongst all of his volunteer work, Dawson said he’s looking for a longterm successor to become the next wagon master. Young people are interested in wagon work, he said, but they have jobs and other commitments that make it difficult to take on all the responsibilities of the position. “There’s only one way out of this job,” he said. “Every- body goes out feet first.” The Westward Ho! Parade, the largest completely non-motorized parade in the country, is Friday, Sept. 14 at 10 a.m. Highway 11 rollover injures man, local boy East Oregonian Photo contributed by East Umatilla County Rural Fire Protection District Firefighters from the East Umatilla County Rural Fire Protection District free a victim after a one-vehicle roll- over Friday evening on Highway 11 near Weston. Oregon State Police is recommending intoxicated driving and felony assault among charges against a Washington man following a crash Friday evening near Weston. Blake Alan Walters, 25, of Richland, required an air ambulance to fly him from the scene to St. Mary Medical Center, Walla Walla, state police reported, while a ground ambulance transported the passenger, a 12-year old Athena boy, to the same hospital. The rollover occurred around 5:50 p.m. near milepost 20 on Highway 11. State police, East Umatilla County Rural Fire Protection District and other agencies responded. Firefighters used a hydraulic extrication tool to tear open the driver side of the Lexus IS sedan, according to fire district spokesperson Suzie Reitz and state police, then worked with the Medic 400 ambulance crew to remove Walters from the car to a backboard to ready him for flight. Kathleen Obenland, St. Mary spokesperson, said the hospital released Walters on Saturday. The authorities have not provided the name of the 12-year-old victim. State police also reported citing Walters for failure to drive within the lane and recommending the district attorney’s office charge Walters with the following: driving under the influence of intoxicants (alcohol and other drugs), reckless driving, reck- lessly endangering another person, all misdemeanors, and third-degree assault, a felony. The last two charges, according to state police, refer to the 12-year old victim. OREGON CAPITAL Hermiston police arrest 34-year-old Meacham man in pickup theft case HERMISTON — Herm- iston police arrested convicted burglar and identity thief Bryce Devon Dickinson of Meacham for stealing a pickup and injuring its owner. The department just before 7 a.m. received a report of a vehicle theft on the 1000 block of Southwest Larkin Court. The victim, a 34-year-old Hermiston man, started his pickup and hitched to a flatbed trailer carrying another vehicle, then stepped into his house, according to Hermiston police. When he came out a moment later, a masked man was in the driver’s seat of the pickup. The vehicle’s owner stood on the pickup’s running board and ordered the unauthorized suspect to get out. use of a vehicle, Instead, according second-degree to police, the thief assault, reckless sped away, throwing driving, two counts the owner from of first-degree the running board. theft and one of He suffered minor third-degree theft. injuries and received Lt. Randy treatment at Good Studebaker said Bryce Devon Shepherd Medical the victim and Dickinson Center, Hermiston. Dickinson did not The victim’s know each other. surveillance system captured Hermiston police recov- video of the crimes, and ered the victim’s vehicles and officers tracked down the also found other items that 24-year-old Dickinson and could be related to more theft arrested him just after 11 a.m. cases. Court records show Dick- near Southwest Seventh Street and West Orchard Ave., and inson has convictions since booked him into the Umatilla 2013 for theft, burglary and County Jail, Pendleton, for identity theft. 66th Annual Pendleton Lions Radio Auction Get Ready for Spring! East Oregonian Tuesday April 3rd 7:00 to 11:00 PM KUMA 1290 AM KUMA 96.5 FM 541-276-1511 To view items up for auction, pre-register or bid on-line, visit www.pendletonlionsclub.org INSIDER Get the inside scoop on state government and politics! We’re investing in Salem coverage when other news organizations are cutting back. 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