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East Oregonian
Friday, January 25, 2019
Hemp: CBD described as an elixir Shooting: Status hearing set for Feb. 4
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
They decided to forge ahead, plant-
ing on land that McCormmach’s family
previously had farmed organic alfalfa.
McCormmach and Heger decided to stay
organic, using no pesticides, herbicides or
fertilizers. They braced for an agricultural
adventure.
“By going organic, you deal with what-
ever challenges the field presents,” Heger
said. “You’re hands-on.”
The entire clan, which includes Heger’s
four children (ranging in age from 8 to 15)
got involved.
“It’s a family farm,” Heger said. “Our
kids were out in the field.”
They laid down plastic to keep the
weeds at bay, but later had to remove it
when plants started going missing.
“The plastic was a natural tunnel for
the gophers,” McCormmach said. “They
were running up and down the rows hav-
ing a heyday.”
Without the plastic, the weeds came
on. To beat the heat, the family arose at
around 4:30 a.m. and got out the door by
5 or 6. They hoed and weeded and fixed
leaks in the water lines. Jack, who is 8
years old, ferried drinks from the house
to the field on his Honda 50 motorbike.
Heger said the hemp farming experience
brought satisfaction.
“There’s something about being out in
a field watching things grow,” Heger said.
More fulfillment came after harvest.
They shipped their entire crop to a pro-
cessor who used an expelling process to
extract the CBD oil.
Heger started her business slowly, first
selling oil to a handful of people who had
horses with health issues.
“One of the ladies had trouble with her
horse not eating,” Heger said. “Within one
day (of taking CBD oil), the horse ate and
performed better.”
A woman whose horse had inflamma-
tion also noticed marked improvement
after using the oil. When she failed to give
the oil for a few days, swelling returned.
Heger gives CBDs to her own family
members and animals, including their
quarter horse, Apple, that has cancer.
The pendletoncbd.com website offers
1-ounce and 2-ounce bottles of equine
CBD. The website will soon feature oil for
people, too.
With CBD being touted as a magical
cure-all for a variety of conditions, one
might wonder if it’s just the latest form of
snake oil. Heger said the more she learns
about CBDs, the more she thinks it’s the
real deal, an elixir for everything from
anxiety to arthritis.
“There’s a reason it’s good for so many
things,” Heger said. “Your body has an
endocannabinoid system with receptors
literally from head to toe.”
The web of nerves runs from the brain
all the way through the body, she said. It’s
connected to all vital organs and generally
controls the state of homeostasis in your
body.
The legislative climate is finally
the evidence against her cli-
ent. That hearing could put
Umatilla County sheriff’s
detective Kacey Ward on the
stand. Ward investigated the
homicide and wrote the affi-
davit for warrants to search
cellphones, phone provider
data and social media data
of Vasquez-Vargas and his
girlfriend.
The shooting occurred
around 6:15 on the morning
of Nov. 26, 2018, at the dairy
at 50924 Umapine Road near
the community of Umap-
ine. Witnesses reported hear-
ing gunshots from the barn,
according to the affidavit,
which is a public record. The
ensuing statements and infor-
mation about the homicide
and the investigation are from
Ward’s affidavit.
Luiz-Antonio was shot
three times. Bullets struck
his right thigh and chest,
and he died on the tractor
he was operating. Witness
statements and video foot-
age pointed to Vasquez-Var-
gas as the suspect. He arrived
to work around 2 a.m. and
was gone moments after the
shooting.
Detectives
learned
Luiz-Antonio
and
Vasquez-Vargas were beef-
ing and the investigation soon
turned up cellphone numbers
for Vasquez-Vargas, his girl-
friend and the location of his
apartment in Walla Walla.
Ward also asked special
agents with the FBI for help
in tracking Vasquez-Vargas’s
cellphone.
The cellphone communi-
cations led law enforcement
to pinpoint Vasquez-Vargas
and his girlfriend at the Clo-
ver Island Inn, Kennewick.
The two FBI agents headed
there to look for Vasquez-Var-
gas. They found the girl-
friend’s blue Toyota Corolla
in the parking lot and saw the
couple remove items from the
vehicle and head into room
41. They came out to walk
their dog. One agent spoke to
them for a moment about the
dog.
The agent identified the
girlfriend and Vasquez-Var-
gas but could not make an
arrest because there was no
violation of federal law or a
federal warrant in this case.
Ward next contacted the
Kennewick Police Depart-
ment, which sent cops
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Rebecca Heger demonstrates the viscosi-
ty of her CBD, or cannabidiol, oil.
going the way of the hemp farmers like
McCormmach and Heger.
Last month, as part of the $867 bil-
lion farm bill, Congress removed hemp
from the list of federally controlled sub-
stances, which made hemp like any other
agricultural crop. Oregon legalized hemp
in 2015, but now growers can deal across
state lines. Hemp farmers can get credit
lines, write off business expenses and buy
crop insurance. More Oregon farmers are
jumping in, according to Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture licensing numbers.
“We had 13 (registered hemp grow-
ers) in 2015. We had 584 last year,” said
ODA Cannabis Policy Coordinator Sunny
Summers. “I consider that exponential
growth.”
The market keeps expanding. There
are CBD-infused smoothies, coffee, beer
and even lip balm. Coca-Cola is consider-
ing offering a CBD drink.
Summers expects another large jump
in hemp grower registrations in Oregon
this year.
Part of the reason, Summers said, is
a saturated marijuana market compared
with the sky’s-the-limit CBD market.
Also, there are fewer barriers to entry.
Plus, “you don’t have to have security
cameras,” she said, “and you can grow
pretty much anywhere as long as it’s
zoned for agriculture.”
Heger and McCormmach might argue
about the security cameras. They dealt
with thefts from both the field and from
a barn where hemp hung drying. The
thefts came despite signs on the fence line
informing that hemp grew in the field, not
marijuana. The experience made them
guarded about sharing their farm’s exact
location.
On balance, though, the couple consid-
ers their hemp growing experience a suc-
cess. They’ll plant again this spring. This
time, McCormmach said, instead of 10
acres, they will plant 20.
and vehicles to make sure
Vasquez-Vargas could not
flee. The sheriff’s office
issued a temporary warrant
for his arrest on the charge of
murder.
But Kennewick police
told Ward they needed a war-
rant with a judge’s signa-
ture. Ward obtained that at
about 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 27
from Umatilla County Circuit
Judge Eva Temple. Kenne-
wick police reviewed the war-
rant and took Vasquez-Var-
gas and the girlfriend into
custody.
Officers brought the cou-
ple to the Kennewick Police
Department. The cop trans-
porting Vasquez-Vargas had
orders not to ask the sus-
pect any questions. Still,
Vasquez-Vargas stated he
killed Luiz-Antonio “out of
vengeance.”
Detectives questioned the
couple separately. The girl-
friend admitted Vasquez-Var-
gas told her about the shoot-
ing. She said she warned him
not to go to their apartment.
She said she packed clothes
for him, picked him up at an
auto repair shop and they took
off to the Kennewick motel to
talk because, “That’s where
we always go.”
Ward noted Vasquez-Var-
gas understood English
and could “articulate him-
self in English very well.”
Vasquez-Vargas said he shot
and killed Luiz-Antonio with
a black .38-caliber handgun.
He claimed he dealt with
“abuse” from Luiz-Anto-
nio for more than a year. He
blamed Luiz-Antonio for
slashing his car tires. He said
Luiz-Antonio’s relative forced
him off the road and shot his
car door in an attempt to mur-
der him. Three weeks earlier,
Vasquez-Vargas told police,
Luiz-Antonio and the rela-
tive again tried to force him
off the road, but he floored
the gas pedal and got away.
He said he believed Luiz-An-
tonio would kill him in a way
that left no witnesses.
Ward early in the inves-
tigation spoke to Luiz-An-
tonio’s fiancé. She reported
Luiz-Antonio
complained
for three months about a
co-worker who threatened
to kill him. The co-worker
accused Luiz-Antonio of
shooting his car and slash-
ing his tires, she said, but
Luiz-Antonio told her he
knew nothing about that.
She said the trouble started
when Luiz-Antonio became
a supervisor and earned more
money, she said, and she and
his boss told him to ignore
the co-worker. She said she
did not know the co-worker’s
name, but she was sure it was
the shooter.
The cops also asked
Vasquez-Vargas about the
gun. He is from Mexico and
federal court records show
the United States District
Court of Eastern Washing-
ton convicted him in 2004 of
felony reentry into the coun-
try after deportation and sen-
tenced him to three years,
three months in prison. All
of that would have prevented
him from purchasing a gun
legally. The affidavit states
Vasquez-Vargas told police he
paid $200 to “some guy” in
September for the handgun he
used to shoot Luiz-Antonio.
The morning of the shoot-
ing, Vasquez-Vargas said he
arrived to work at 2 and he
thought about everything
Luiz-Antonio had done to
him during the past year.
He became angry. He saw
Luiz-Antonio and the ire
grew. He asked Luiz-Antonio
for help moving some cows,
and Luiz-Antonio ignored
him. That made him angrier
still. He confronted Luiz-An-
tonio, who continued to
ignore him.
Vasquez-Vargas said he
took out the gun from his
waistband and dropped it. He
picked it up, told Luiz-Anto-
nio, “You know what? You
want me dead. I’m going to
kill you first.” He told detec-
tives that’s when he pulled the
trigger.
Vasquez-Vargas said he
took off on foot, got lost and
threw the gun into a body of
water. He made it to Stateline
Road and flagged down a ride
into Walla Walla.
Luiz-Antonio
never
showed
any
weapon,
Vasquez-Vargas said, nor
threatened him right before
the shooting.
“Antonio repeatedly said
that he knew what he did was
wrong and he knew that he
probably ruined his life,” the
affidavit states, “but he indi-
cated he felt justified.”
Judge Brauer set the next
status hearing for Feb. 4.
Davis affirmed for the judge
she would know by then
whether she would want the
bail hearing.
2019: ‘I started with $150 of my own money ... I’ve now turned that into nearly $1,000’
Continued from Page A1
will eventually turn into a
career.
Chavez began trading
stocks, an interest he devel-
oped only recently.
“I found out about it in
December,” he said. While
browsing on the internet
one day, he read an article
about the stock market that
caught his interest.
Chavez had attempted to
start college twice, but both
times, it didn’t work out.
“I decided that may not
be my route,” he said. “And
when I found out about
stocks, it felt like perfect
timing.”
Since then, Chavez has
thrown himself into learn-
ing about the stock market,
taking online classes on
investing. The stock mar-
ket is only open for a few
hours, Monday through
Friday, and Chavez spends
much of his time outside
of that doing independent
research.
In the first few weeks
of trading, he said he has
focused mostly on natural
gas stocks.
“I started with $150 of
my own money, and I’ve
now turned that into nearly
$1,000,” he said.
He said he hopes he will
someday be able to make a
career out of his newfound
interest, and has a timeline
for doing so.
“Within the four years
I’d have used to go to
school, I can use those four
years to make a living,” he
said.
Dustin Harper, who
works in IT for Chateau Ste.
Michelle Winery, has made
it his goal to write a book
about Windows 10 security.
“I’m big into Windows,
and I do security for work,”
he said. “I’ve been doing IT
for 25 years.”
Harper began research-
ing the subject, and felt he
could contribute a book
that consumers would find
helpful for understanding
the basics of the computer
operating system.
“It will go through the
various applications in
Windows,” he said. “The
best practices for research-
ing each topic, the built-in
firewall, antivirus.”
He said he has tried to
help family and friends
with computer security, and
hopes that the book will be
easy for anyone with mini-
mal knowledge of Windows
to use.
Harper said he has
started writing a book
before, but this time, he has
a plan in place to get it pub-
lished by this summer.
“This time I have people
interested in it,” he said.
Hannah Young Wil-
liams plans to expand her
volunteer duties at Umatil-
la-Morrow Head Start.
It won’t be hard for Wil-
liams to keep her resolu-
tion, as she’s already been
involved with the program
for a few years. She started
as a member of the pol-
icy council, but recently
decided she wanted to do
more.
“I have six kids, and they
all went through Head Start
for at least two years,” she
said.
For her resolution, Wil-
liams decided to start work-
ing as a coordinator for the
SMART reading program,
where adults read to chil-
dren to help them develop a
habit and a love for reading.
She supervises about
four other volunteers, and
said they are always look-
ing for more people to come
read to children. Young
said when she started vol-
unteering, she encouraged
a friend to try it out — and
that friend now coordinates
a SMART reading program
at another school in the
district.
“We make sure there’s
readers every week, and
that they’re qualified read-
ers,” she said. “They have
to make it child-led, and let
the children pick the books
that get read to them.”
St. Anthony Provider Spotligh t
Dr Schwartz is
now accepting
new patients.
Family Medicine Physician
U ndergrad:
University of Rhode Island
February 13, 2019
Medical School:
Ross University School of Medicine
Residency:
Family Medicine Residency at
Wheeling Hospital in Wheeling WV
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