BAKER CITY HERALD • SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2022 A5
LOCAL & STATE
Oregon cartels morphing their pot-growing ops
BY ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM — Foreign drug
cartels that established illegal
outdoor marijuana farms in
Oregon last year are adapting
as pressure on them begins to
mount, law enforcement offi-
cials said Thursday, May 12.
New challenges are emerg-
ing as a task force created by
the Legislature met for the
first time to figure out how to
combat cannabis-related prob-
lems, some of which threaten
Oregon’s legal, regulated recre-
ational marijuana industry.
The Task Force on Canna-
bis-Derived Intoxicants and
Illegal Cannabis Production
is also responsible for recom-
mending funding and com-
mand structure to enable law
enforcement to combat illegal
cannabis production, changes
to state laws to address labor
trafficking and water theft by
the cartel-financed pot farms
and regulations on genetic en-
gineering of cannabis, among
other issues.
“It started with a simple ask
of help and it’s turned into,
‘Oh, my goodness, there’s so
much to deal with.’ And so I
think we just have to kind of
take one at a time,” said state
Rep. Lily Morgan, a Republi-
can from the southern town of
Market
Continued from Page A1
The event, hosted inside the
gym for weather’s sake, had a
students only block in the af-
ternoon. From 5:30 p.m. to
7:30 p.m., the public, along
with students’ families, had a
chance to check out the wares.
Student entrepreneurs de-
signed their own logos, ar-
ranged product displays and
put their crafts on sale.
The kids pulled out all stops,
with plant starts, apparel, weld-
ing art, food, 3D prints and la-
ser etchings.
“Yes, we get to use the laser,”
said Kai Ogan, who used them
to make cutouts and keychains.
Anthony Christopher, who
sold graphing squares and cus-
tomized water bottles, said he
used the school’s 3D printer.
Some students worked as
groups, while others were in-
dividuals, all setting out to
make an exhibition of their
talents and business savvy.
All of them brought charm —
and exact change.
“I didn’t make everything,
my sister made the stickers,”
said Gracie Morris, gesturing
at a range of colorful designs at
her booth, “But I did make the
jewelry myself.”
Campbell Vanderwiele’s
confections were immedi-
ately popular, and kept her on
her feet as students queued to
be served.
The market featured several
students from the BHS Market-
ing and Design class.
“I knew we had a lot of
young artists and entrepre-
neurs in the building,” said
teacher Toni Zikmund, who
coordinated the Market Day.
“And I wanted to give them a
place to advertise their talent/
business and hopefully make
some sales.
“I would be thrilled if some
of the vendors decided to set
up for events around town, as
we have some very talented
students,” Zikmund said. “I
did have someone approach
me about next year possibly
having the kids set up at a
downtown event, so maybe in
the future we can work some-
thing out.”
Shaun Hall/Grants Pass Daily Courier via AP, File
Josephine County Sheriff Dave Daniel stands amid the debris of plastic hoop houses, used to grow can-
nabis illegally, destroyed by law enforcement near Selma on June 16, 2021. Over 100 workers, most
or all of them immigrants, were found at the site. Foreign drug cartels that established illegal outdoor
marijuana farms in Oregon last year are expanding to large indoor grows, a state police official said
Thursday, May 12, 2022.
Grants Pass, as the task force
met via video link.
One of the biggest problems
is the recent proliferation of
illegal, industrial-sized mari-
juana farms.
In early 2021, hundreds of
greenhouses began cropping up
in southern Oregon’s Josephine
and Jackson counties — some
within city limits, others bra-
zenly established along highways
or tucked into remote valleys.
They were not licensed by
the Oregon Liquor and Can-
nabis Commission and are
financed by foreign criminal
cartels, from Latin America,
Europe and Asia, authorities
have said. There were more
pot farms than overwhelmed
law enforcement officials could
take down. Indoor illegal grow-
ing operations have long ex-
isted indoors, but now criminal
gangs are pushing more in that
direction, enabling them to
grow year-round, a task force
member said.
“We’re starting to hear
about Josephine County, a
lot of operations moving in-
doors,” said Oregon State
Police Sgt. Tyler Bechtel. “It
makes it all that much harder
to see it from the street, see it
from the air, just smell it. And
it’s not a seasonal problem
when you move indoors. It’s a
year-round problem.”
Josephine County Sheriff Dave
Daniel, though, said he hasn’t
heard of cartels operating in his
county moving to indoor grows
and are instead lowering their
profile by establishing more nu-
merous smaller grow operations.
“They seem to be diversi-
fying and spreading out op-
erations to many small grows
to avoid the attention,” Daniel
said in an email to The Asso-
ciated Press. “We anticipated
this change as we have primar-
ily been focusing on the large
grows and now smaller ones.
It is a good business move for
them and will slow us down.”
The state police have iden-
tified dozens of ethnic-based
drug trafficking organizations,
each operating between five
and 30 marijuana grow sites,
Bechtel said.
Giving an idea of the scope
of the problem, the Oregon
Criminal Justice Commission
says 551,000 marijuana plants
were seized in Jackson County,
Josephine County and central
Oregon’s Deschutes County
from July 1, 2020, to June 30,
2021. And that was a tiny frac-
tion of the illegal crop. Author-
ities also seized almost $3.4
million in cash in the raids.
“Despite legal avenues for
purchases and sales of mari-
juana within Oregon, an illegal
marijuana market continues to
cause public safety concerns, in-
cluding diversion of marijuana
to other states, sales of mari-
juana to underage buyers, ille-
gal cultivation of marijuana on
private, state, and federal prop-
erty, and enrichment of orga-
nized criminal operations,” the
commission said in a report.
The report examined results
after an outlay of millions of
dollars in grants to the three
counties to address increasing
unlawful marijuana cultivation
and distribution operations in
Oregon. The commission said
it could not judge the effec-
tiveness of the grant program
“because the illegal marijuana
market is an especially nebu-
lous sector to evaluate.”
The Task Force must pro-
vide its findings to an interim
committee of the Legislature by
Dec. 31, 2022.
Rappelling firefighters train at Grant County Airport
BY STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
Helicopters hovering over
the Malheur National For-
est are a telltale sign that
fire season has arrived in
Grant County.
Last week, the Grant
County Regional Airport
was the jumping-off point
for essential training for
a select group of wildland
firefighters as the U.S. For-
est Service hosted its yearly
rappel certification train-
ing course.
Roughly 60 returning
rappelers from Oregon and
Idaho dangled from helicop-
ters hundreds of feet in the
air to practice rappeling, a
method of descending rap-
idly using ropes and climb-
ing hardware. They also par-
ticipated in mockups and
reviewed emergency proce-
dures.
Adam Kahler, a na-
tional rappel specialist who
started as a rappeler in Grant
County in the early 2000s,
said the training from May
2-7 was one of two annual
recertification events the U.S.
Forest Service hosts each
year. There’s also a rookie
training in Salmon, Idaho.
Rappel-trained firefighters
are an elite group. According
to Kahler, there are just 300
Forest Service rappelers na-
tionwide.
Last week’s training was
for veteran rappelers. Some,
Kahler said, were coming
back for their 15th year,
while others were coming
back for their second or
third season.
The training session, he
said, is a chance not only
to come back and do crew
training but it also provides
an opportunity for multiple
crews — rappelers, helicop-
ter spotters, and pilots — to
work together again.
Kahler said a rappel crew’s
specialty is roping into small,
remote, quick-response fires.
All of the training is stan-
dardized. So, when a crew is
called out, depending on the
location, they can be on a fire
in as little as an hour. That’s
why the training is so im-
portant between the multiple
crews, Kahler said.
“(Rappelling) is just a very
quick, efficient way to get
people on the ground where
they need to be,” he said.
Kahler said the rappel
crews do not bring on new
firefighters. Instead, they
look for experienced fire-
fighters who bring a solid
skill set with them.
When the Forest Service
dispatches a crew to a re-
mote area, they have limited
supervision.
Typically, he said, each
crew is between two and
four people, and they go out
in the woods and make deci-
sions on their own.
“We’re looking for very ex-
perienced, very fit people,”
Kahler said.
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle
Rappel crews participate in Forest Service certification training at the Grant County Regional Airport on
Thursday, May 5, 2022.
Then
NOW
2022 Graduates
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49
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Includes full color. Three line maximum message.
Baker Baker
County
Veterans
County
Service Office will be
Veterans
closed from
Service Office
December 20, 2021
will through
be closed
May
12th-20th,
2022
December
27, 2021
Jennifer Smith
High School Name
Congratulations Jen!
We are so proud of you!
Love, Mom & Dad
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Name of graduate:
School:
Message:
Call Julie 541-406-5275 or email
jferdig@bakercityherald.com