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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 2018)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian Page 2A Thursday, October 18, 2018 Actor Jim Belushi’s happy place is growing pot in Oregon By DAMIAN MANN The Mail Tribune MEDFORD — Jim Belushi has a lifetime of memories shaped by cannabis. When he talks about Oregon’s favorite weed, he reflects on his family, the fun times at “Saturday Night Live” and, yeah, his rocking 2018 harvest party. The famous actor, singer and community supporter describes a spiritual con- nection to the marijuana he’s growing on his 93-acre spread near Eagle Point, known as the Belushi Farm, and its 22,000-square-foot state licensed grow. He’s even got “Captain Jack” on board cultivating from seed the same strain of “Afghanica” that he pro- vided to help inspire the cast and writers of “Satur- day Night Live” — dubbed “the smell of SNL.” Cap- tain Jack, as he likes to be called, went to Afghanistan in the 1970s to bring back the special seeds that pro- duce a strain enjoyed by Belushi. “Where do you think Coneheads came from? That weed,” said the 64-year-old Belushi, his voice hoarse from singing at his party last weekend. The Coneheads depicted Jamie Lusch/The Medford Mail Tribune via AP Jim Belushi checks out a plant at his pot farm on the Rogue River near Eagle Point. The famous actor, singer and community supporter describes a spiritual connection to the marijuana he’s growing on his 93-acre spread near Eagle Point, known as the Belushi Farm, and its 22,000-square-foot state licensed grow. He has painstakingly restored old barns and out- buildings, and built a dra- matic timber-framed house with views of the Rogue River. Besides a wide-ranging career, Belushi has lent his name to restoring histori- cal buildings in the valley, including the Butte Creek Mill in Eagle Point and the Holly Theatre in Medford. With his ever-present stogie dangling from his an alien family with cones for heads that was a popular skit on “SNL” in the 1970s. Belushi started his can- nabis enterprise three years ago with a 48-plant medi- cal marijuana grow that has expanded into the green- houses, equipment and manpower to compete in an ever-changing cannabis industry. He’s undergoing a brand change from Rogue’s Lair to Belushi’s Private Vault. mouth, Belushi jokes that his day job pays for this lat- est venture. Belushi and other local cannabis growers have invested heavily in this new industry, watching with concern in a market glutted with product and plummet- ing prices. “It’s worrying every- one,” Belushi said. But the worrying went out the window last week- end for his harvest party. “We had 500 guests, and 490 of them were smok- ing,” he said with a grin. Belushi’s Private Vault is being sold at dispensaries in Southern Oregon, and the label will feature his 1,200 pounds of premium quality flower, includ- ing Captain Jack’s Gulzar Afghanica and Belushi’s favorite, Cherry Pie, which he said makes him a better husband. “It’s the marriage coun- selor,” he joked. Captain Jack said he collected the seeds from Afghanistan and brought them back to the states for cultivation. While many growers prefer to clone plants, Captain Jack grows from seed. “Most other people have gone in a different direction and hybridized,” he said. Captain Jack describes his plant as having a very wide leaf, joking that it resembles cabbage leaves. “I defy most people on this planet to tell me it’s a pot plant,” he said. When Belushi talks about marijuana, he often mentions his brother, John Belushi, who died in 1982 after a battle with drugs and was known for his outra- geous comedic abilities. “I wish we’d known then about marijuana being Forecast for Pendleton Area BRIEFLY TODAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY Brilliant sunshine and pleasant Nice with plenty of sunshine Pleasant with plenty of sunshine Plenty of sunshine Plenty of sun 68° 41° 69° 40° PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 69° 39° 68° 40° 69° 43° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 70° 37° 69° 37° 69° 39° 69° 40° OREGON FORECAST 71° 40° ALMANAC Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Seattle Olympia 65/44 65/40 69/37 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 67/45 Lewiston 72/43 68/37 Astoria 63/44 Pullman Yakima 67/35 69/38 69/42 Portland Hermiston 73/44 The Dalles 69/37 Salem Corvallis 74/39 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 69/37 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 77/40 73/38 71/40 Ontario 69/35 Caldwell Burns 63° 32° 65° 38° 80° (2003) 20° (1948) 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date Albany 75/40 0.00" 1.14" 0.30" 6.29" 7.19" 6.86" WINDS (in mph) 68/35 68/26 0.00" 1.39" 0.56" 7.91" 12.55" 9.50" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 68/35 76/42 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date HERMISTON Enterprise 68/41 73/41 63° 36° 63° 39° 82° (2003) 23° (1897) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 68/40 Aberdeen 63/38 65/43 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 69/49 Today Medford 80/43 SUN AND MOON 72/31 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018 Fri. S 3-6 NW 4-8 Boardman Pendleton Klamath Falls NE 3-6 NNW 4-8 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 7:15 a.m. 6:04 p.m. 3:45 p.m. 12:47 a.m. Full Last New First Oct 24 Oct 31 Nov 7 Nov 15 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 95° in Tampa, Fla. Low -1° in Dillon, Colo. NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Homeless woman sues city over anti-camping ordinance GRANTS PASS (AP) — A class-action lawsuit claims the city of Grants Pass is running homeless people out of town, vio- lating their constitutional rights. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the suit, filed Monday by plaintiff Debra Blake, alleges the city’s anti-camping ordinance and criminal trespass laws rep- resent cruel and unusual punishment and are selectively enforced against the home- less population, violating their Eighth and 14th Amendment rights. Blake, identified in the suit as “an invol- untarily homeless resident,” says the only shelters in the city are nearly always full. Blake says Grants Pass police often tell her to “move along,” and she has faced repeated fines for sleeping in an alley or for prohibited camping. Blake argues there’s no alternative housing or shelters where she can stay. Grants Pass attorney Mark Bar- tholomew and Mayor Darin Fowler did not immediately return messages for comment. Police: Man ambushes firefighters as they fight blaze SPRINGFIELD (AP) — Authori- ties say a 60-year-old man in Springfield ambushed firefighters who showed up to put out a blaze at a house in a residential neighborhood before he turned the gun on himself. Springfield police Lt. Scott McKee tells The Register Guard Wednesday that police believe the man set the fire, and then began shooting at firefighters when they showed up. McKee says the suspect had the fire- fighters pinned down behind their truck as the blaze spread to three other homes. A police officer who was under fire and hiding behind a car had to be rescued by an armored vehicle. Three homes were destroyed and a fourth damaged. No residents were hurt. It’s not immediately clear if the man lived in one of the houses that burned. Oregon dog survives getting lost, shot in forest Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -10s -0s 0s showers t-storms 10s rain 20s flurries 30s snow 40s ice 50s 60s cold front — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays www.eastoregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to www.eastoregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Copyright © 2018, EO Media Group a medicine,” Belushi said. He remembers his older brother practicing for his role as Samurai, trying to get the character just right while swinging a sword. “He would literally exer- cise his eyebrows in front of a mirror,” he said. Belushi thinks a lot about his mother and father, both of Albanian descent, who raised him in Chicago. “It’s funny, the older I get the more I miss them,” he said. “I miss my dad more than anything, espe- cially being out on the farm. He would have liked riding horses. He had a little ranch up in Julian, California.” Belushi has a lot of dif- ferent views about the ben- efits of marijuana as medi- cine and his own personal relationship with it. He likens his affinity to cannabis to the way flowers attract bees, and some flow- ers will actually enclose their petals around the bee to help it extract as much pollen as possible. “I feel like that bee that is brought in and held until I get everything about it,” Belushi said. “It has come really deep into my heart, my body and my spiritual nature. It’s brought me to the medicine. It’s brought me full circle to my brother John.” 70s 80s 90s 100s warm front stationary front high 110s low PORTLAND (AP) — An 8-year-old husky is recovering after being lost for two weeks in the Mount Hood wilderness, get- ting shot and possibly chewing off its own injured leg. KATU-TV reports Hatcher was found Monday suffering from severe injuries. Hatcher disappeared Sept. 29 when Subscriber services: For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Local home delivery Savings off cover price EZPay $14.50 41 percent 52 weeks $173.67 41 percent 26 weeks $91.86 38 percent 13 weeks $47.77 36 percent *EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge Single copy price: $1 Tuesday through Friday, $1.50 Saturday Circulation Manager: Bonny Tuller, 541-966-0828 ADVERTISING Regional Publisher and Revenue Director: Christopher Rush 541-278-2669 • crush@eomediagroup.com Advertising Services: Grace Bubar 541-276-2214 • gbubar@eastoregonian.com Multimedia Consultants: • Kimberly Macias 541-278-2683 • kmacias@eastoregonian.com • Jeanne Jewett 541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com • Dayle Stinson 541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com • Angela Treadwell 541-966-0827 • atreadwell@eastoregonian.com • Audra Workman 541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com AP Photo/Don Ryan A person dressed as a Tyrannosaurus rex holds a sign during a rally by Or- egon Democratic Gov. Kate Brown in Portland on Wednesday. Wednesday was the first day that ballots went out in the mail for Oregon’s vote-by-mail election. Shae Kosmalski took him and 14 other sled dogs on a trip to Frog Lake from Southern Oregon. Hatcher somehow got away from the pack, prompting an intensive search. Kosmalski eventually returned home, but a volunteer found the dog Monday about 5 miles from where Hatcher was lost. The dog was taken to VCA Southeast Portland Animal Hospital where a vet said it seemed Hatcher had been shot in the leg and that Hatcher likely had chewed off what was remaining of it. Hatcher is expected to fully recover. Ballots go out to Oregonians for midterm election PORTLAND (AP) — Wednesday marked the first day that ballots were being mailed to Oregonians for the Nov. 6 election. Oregon’s vote-by-mail system means that ballots must be mailed well ahead of election day. Ballots will be distributed by the U.S. Postal Service to registered voters until Oct. 22. 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