MOM, SON
RECOVERING
IN S. AFRICA
WA-HI
OVERPOWERS
BULLDOGS
DOW SETS
NEW HIGH
RECORD
REGION/3A
SPORTS/1B
NATION/7A
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
142nd Year, No. 230
Your Weekend
•
•
•
FIRE SEASON
ISN’T OVER YET
Don Horneck Benefit
Fun Run on Saturday
Open house, Umatilla
Fire Station, Saturday
Free art classes for ages
12 and under, Saturday
Photo courtesy of the Kansas City Star
Retired Kansas City Fire Chief
Paul Berardi will become the
interim Pendleton fire chief on
Oct. 15.
For times and places
see Coming Events, 6A
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
81/56
71/49
66/43
Retired
K.C.
fire chief
comes to
Pendleton
Watch a game
vs.
La Grande vs. Mac-Hi
Friday, 7 p.m.,
Milton-Freewater
Staff photos by E.J. Harris
Medical
marijuana
patients
push back
A U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife firefighting vehicle drives towards a burning stand of trees off
the Old Emigrant Highway on Thursday west of the Deadman Pass rest areas outside of Pendleton.
Will hold interim
position through 2018,
can apply for permanent
job after that
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
By NOELLE CROMBIE
The Oregonian/OregonLive
PORTLAND — In
August, a state analyst
spotted dozens of suspi-
cious transactions when he
crunched cannabis sales
data: a small number of
medical marijuana card-
holders bought unusually
large quantities of marijuana
flowers on consecutive days.
Oregon regulators sus-
pected medical marijuana
patients and caregivers were
exploiting the system by
buying cannabis to sell on
the illicit market.
The response was swift.
The Oregon Liquor Control
Commission, under pres-
sure from federal officials to
tackle the robust black mar-
ket for marijuana, quickly
issued a temporary rule that
dramatically reduced the
amount that medical mari-
juana cardholders could buy
in a day.
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
An Oregon Department of Forestry firefighter
uses a hose line to douse some flames.
A vehicle stops to watch as a helicopter makes a
bucket drop on a fire.
Wind drives Cabbage Hill fire near Pendleton
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
irefighters battled a fire Thursday
afternoon six miles southeast of Pendleton
on Cabbage Hill that threatened several
homes.
The fire, located on the Umatilla Indian Reser-
vation, grew to about 80 acres and Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry spokeswoman Jamie Knight said
15 mile-per-hour winds caused it to spread through
grass and timber stands.
Knight said eight residences and 16 outbuild-
ings were threatened by the fire, which ODF
responded to just before noon.
Chuck Sams, spokesman for the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, said the
fire started with a prescribed burn near Poverty
Flat before wind expanded the blaze.
As of Thursday afternoon, Knight couldn’t pro-
F
vide a containment level for the fire.
Agencies responded to the fire with 10 engines,
seven aircraft and three bulldozers. Responding
agencies including, ODF, U.S. Forest Service,
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Umatilla Tribal Fire
Department, Pendleton Fire Department, and East
Umatilla Rural Fire District.
The Oregon Department of Transportation is
encouraging drivers traveling on Interstate 84 at
milepost 225 to drive cautiously due to smoke from
the fire. The roadway shoulders could be closed for
emergency vehicles and ODOT cautions that there
could be long delays if conditions worsen.
ODOT has closed Old Highway 30 frontage
road from mileposts 224 to 228 and Sams said
Emigrant and Poverty Flat are closed.
According to the National Weather Service,
winds will pick up going into Friday before a cold
front sweeps through the area and brings possible
isolated showers over the Blue Mountains.
See CANNABIS/8A
The new interim chief for the
Pendleton Fire Department is
downsizing in a big way.
The city of Pendleton announced
Thursday that it hired former Kan-
sas City, Missouri, Fire Chief Paul
Berardi as the department’s new
leader.
According to a city press
release, Berardi spent his entire
31-year career with the Kansas
City Fire Department, serving the
last five years as chief before retir-
ing at the end of 2017.
“The City of Pendleton is very
fortunate to have retained the ser-
vices of someone so highly accom-
plished in his profession as Chief
Berardi,” City Manager Robb Cor-
bett said in a statement. “He and
his wife want to be in Oregon and
Pendleton in particular.”
Although Berardi grew up in
Kansas City and spent his profes-
sional life there, he said in an inter-
view with the East Oregonian that
he’s spent time in the Northwest
before and is excited to work in
Pendleton.
In an interview, Corbett said
Berardi never formally applied to
the job but was instead connected
with Pendleton through the West-
ern Fire Chiefs Association.
See CHIEF/8A
Maxwell Market wrapping up season
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Hermiston residents have
one last chance to hit up
their local farmers market.
The Maxwell Market’s
last day will be next Thurs-
day, from 4-7:30 p.m.
The market has grown
since its start earlier in the
summer, with more than
two dozen vendors under
the giant canopy on the cor-
Receive Care
Whenever
and Wherever
You Need it!
ner of First Place and West
Locust Avenue.
Quarters are a little tight,
but Nikki Brown, who has
been coordinating the mar-
ket this summer, said by the
end of the summer she had
more than 30 vendors she
had needed to turn away for
lack of space.
“We had as many as
we had in the market that
couldn’t get in,” she said.
Brown said vendors
interested in participating in
next year’s market should
keep an eye on the Maxwell
Market Facebook page for
future announcements about
vendor meetings and early
sign-ups.
There may be slightly
more room next year when
the market moves across the
intersection to the Maxwell
Pavilion, a large, perma-
See MARKET/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pepper wreaths from Bautista Farms sit in the sunlight
Thursday at the Hermiston Farmers Market.
ONLY $35 PER VISIT!
• COUGH • COLD • FLU
• SORE THROAT • EAR ACHE
• PINK EYE • RASH
• URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS
• AND SO MUCH MORE!
Virtual Care
844.724.8632
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT
WWW.SAHPENDLETON.ORG