WEEKEND EDITION Police chase in Pendleton ends with crash into OSP car
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REGION, A3
JUNE 4 – 5, 2022
146th Year, No. 72
$1.50
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
MEASURE 110
BLUE MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Auditors
identify
problems
in grants
Negotiations with
grant winners to take
until late July, early
August to complete
By EMILY GREEN
The Lund Report
SALEM — State auditors issued
a “risk” letter flagging issues even
as the drug decriminalization act’s
oversight council finished approving
grant applications.
After nearly six months of delays,
funds are closer to reaching addic-
tion services providers in Oregon.
The council overseeing Measure
110′s rollout finished approving grant
applications on Thursday, June 2, and
grantees should have their money by
the end of the summer.
The milestone comes one day
after the Oregon Secretary of State’s
Office, which is conducting an
audit, sent a letter to Oregon Health
Authority calling out “areas of risk”
in the way the program has been
administered so far.
OHA Director Patrick Allen
noted his agency’s “missteps” on
Measure 110 in presentations to
legislative committees on June 1
and 2.
“There’s been some chal-
lenges, and not least of which we’ve
certainly made some mistakes as
we’ve done this work,” he told the
Senate Judiciary and Ballot Measure
110 Committee on June 1. He said
the agency “vastly underestimated
the complexity” of reinventing the
behavioral health system and the
pandemic has placed additional
stresses on the agency’s workforce,
which led to competing priorities.
Oversight council
‘optimistic’ on review
process
When voters passed Oregon’s
landmark drug decriminaliza-
tion law in November 2020, they
diverted about $300 million in mari-
juana tax dollars to pay for drug
and alcohol treatment and recov-
ery services every two years. The
bulk of this biennium’s Measure 110
funding, about $276 million, was
initially stalled as the inexperienced
community council tasked with
distributing the funds struggled to
design and execute a complicated
grant program with little assistance
from the state. Then, after more than
130 Oregon Health Authority staff
stepped in to take over application
reviews, bureaucratic processes
further delayed the release of funds.
See Grants, Page A8
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
About 100 Blue Mountain Community College faculty, students and community members gather Wednesday, June 1, 2022, on the Pend-
leton campus to protest proposed budget cuts before a meeting of the BMCC Board of Education.
Layoff decision postponed
Faculty supporters
rally before meeting
on 2022-23 budget
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
P
ENDLETON — The Blue Moun-
tain Community College Board
of Education at its meeting
Wednesday, June 1, postponed
action on a 2022-23 budget
proposing faculty layoffs.
The board’s reading of state law requir-
ing seven day public notice was responsi-
ble for the delay, BMCC President Mark
Browning explained.
The board plans to reconvene in a
special meeting June 6 to consider approval
of the budget. The budget committee
agreed to the BMCC Faculty Association’s
request to resume talks on teacher layoffs
June 3.
“I don’t ever want to close that door,”
Browning said. “We have a plan, but of
course (the administration) is willing to
listen. The (BMFA) came up with some
good ideas before talks broke down. I give
them credit for that.”
Before the final decision to delay the
budget vote, the faculty union went ahead
with its rally outside Pioneer Hall. The
demonstration of support for teachers
attracted about 120 attendees, according to
new BMFA President Sascha McKeon. She
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Greg Schulberg, Blue Mountain Community College math and science instructor, plays
drums with a faculty band during a rally Wednesday, June 1, 2022, on the Pendleton cam-
pus to protest the college administration’s budget proposal that would cut several teach-
ing positions.
has been on the union executive team for
two years and a biology instructor for 10.
“The other faculty and I are grateful
for the extraordinary support we have
had from our students, alumni and the
community at large,”she read in a state-
ment to the board. “As of this afternoon,
our petition to save BMCC faculty has
garnered over 1,900 signatures between
our Google sheet and Change.org.”
The event featured sign-carrying union
supporters in blue T-shirts emblazoned
with “Save BMCC” in yellow, a band of
instructors playing classic rock and stacks
of pizza boxes and water bottles. Public
speakers’ comments began at 5 p.m.
See BMCC, Page A8
Profits on the line
Local farmers, orchardists paying premiums
for necessary petroleum-related goods
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
UMAPINE — Agricultural
producers are paying record-high
tabs for crucial fertilizers.
The agricultural data analysis
service DTN reported import-
ant fertilizers doubled from the
first week of May 2021 to 2022.
Anhydrous ammonia reached an
all-time high of $1,534 per ton in
April and stayed the same in May.
Urea also hit a record of $1,031 per
ton in April then dropped slightly
to $1,001. Anhydrous was barely
above $400 in September 2020,
but has zoomed upward more than
250% in less than two years.
Fertilizer inf lation has
outpaced even gasoline, diesel
and natural gas price hikes.
Producing nitrogen fertilizers
ammonia and urea requires natu-
ral gas feedstock. Despite high
prices for fuel, fertilizer and other
petroleum products, though, some
local farmers and ranchers remain
cautiously optimistic.
“As long as wheat prices stay
up, I’m OK with high inputs,”
Wheat and cattle rancher Tim
Leber of Umapine said. “Where
I get nervous is if wheat crashes,
while we’re stuck with high
inputs, as happened in 2008 to
2010.”
In 2008, soft white wheat
prices were almost as high as
2022.
Leber already has top-dressed
his fields, to take advantage of the
See Profits, Page A8
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Umapine farmer Tim Leber on May 31, 2022, leans against the Case Quadtrac
tractor he uses to fertilize and seed his crops. Fertilizer prices have doubled
in the past year.