A6 News Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, July 8, 2015 $15 minimum wage FamSaign Tuali¿eV for ballot title By Peter Wong Capital Bureau Quality Healthcare Close To Home 170 Ford Road, John Day • 541-575-1311 • www.bluemountainhospital.org Funding Awarded for New CPR Training by Kara Kohfield It is with great pleasure to announce that the Blue Mountain Hospital Volunteer Ambulance district was awarded funds to purchase a “QCPR Annie” mannequin. Funding of this mannequin on our current project will help healthcare workers (nurses, doctors, EMTs), law enforcement and fire fighters learn how to do exceptional CPR. It also enables us to show regular by-standers what a more realistic CPR situation can be like, projecting compression depth, rate and breaths to a screen telling you if you need to push harder or faster or give a little more breath. It’s fascinating what you learn about your abilities to perform CPR and what we might need to correct. This training is planned as a county wide project; we will be incorporating all the agencies that we can - Law enforcement, Fire (city and wildland), public entities and all the school districts of Grant County. AHA recently passed in legislation, Oregon being the 23rd state mandating kids 7th-12th grade to have CPR before they graduate. We will diligently work with everyone on scheduling, logistics and training. We are a county that lacks resources and we need to push education out to everyone about how to save lives - any action you can do can make a difference in what we consider a “frontier” county. The foundation’s donation to this project will help further the education of the county but will be responsible for having helped save lives! We can’t say “thank you” enough for such a consideration in helping with the public safety of Grant County! Blue Mountain Hospital Foundation would like to thank all of our donors who made contributions in June 2015 SALEM — Disappointed with legislative inaction, labor and other advocates took the ¿rst step Tuesday toward a 2016 ballot measure proposing a $15 statewide minimum wage by 2019. Oregon’s current statewide minimum is $9.25 per hour, sec- ond only to Washington’s $9.47 among the states. But several cities — Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles — are gradu- ally raising their minimums to $15. Advocates ¿led preliminary paperwork for the measure sev- eral weeks ago, but on Tuesday, they ¿led with state elections of- ¿cials the 2,000 signatures that will trigger a ballot title from the attorney general. The title is an of¿cial summary required before advocates can collect the 88,184 signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2016 ballot. Those petition signatures are due in about a year. If voters approve it, Oregon’s minimum wage would go to $11.50 in 2017, $13.25 in 2018 and $15 in 2019. Afterward, an- nual increases would be linked to the Consumer Price Index, as has been the practice since vot- ers approved it in 2002. Meanwhile, House Speak- er Tina Kotek, D-Portland, told reporters that lawmakers are un- likely to pass a minimum-wage increase this session. Lawmakers heard several bills on April 13. Kotek had offered a com- promise plan to raise it in stages to $13 by 2018, coupled with a provision to let cities and counties set it even higher. The House Rules Committee con- ducted two hearings but has not advanced it. “Democrats said if we gave them a majority in the Legisla- ture, they would take bold action to ensure that every Oregonian had the opportunity to succeed,” said Kristi Wright, statewide organizing director for 15 Now Oregon. “Pressure from big business and their allies who pro¿t from poverty wages, and inaction from Democratic Party leaders, killed the bill. Democratic lead- ers have neglected their promise to the working people of this state. But even though they killed the bill, they cannot kill this movement.” Diana Pei Wu, executive director of Portland Jobs with Justice, said her coalition is working with employers to raise the minimum pay of as many as 30,000 of the estimated 120,000 metro-area workers who make less than $15 per hour. Fast-food restaurant workers spearheaded the national move- ment for a $15 minimum a few years ago. “Everyone thought $15 was pie in the sky; no one thought we would get to $15,” Wu said. “But over the past two and a half years, tens of thousands of workers and organizations and unions all over the United States have made this a reality — it’s the most reasonable minimum wage we expect.” Tom Bridges, Brian Donahue, Tony & Carmen Gardner, Dan & Jen Goldblatt, Patricia J. Keith, Kara Kohfield, Ansel & Judy Krutsinger, Angela Lusco, Tami L. Manderscheid, Craig W. Maxwell, Mark & Jenelle Moulton, Barbara Oliver, Leslie K. Ricker, Sarah Russ, Loren & Piper Stout, Keith Thomas, Cyndy Fox, Julie & Mark Witty, Deanna Fox and Barbara Pollak Dan & Jen Goldblatt Ken & Pat Holliday Tom Winters Ken & Cici Brooks Mary Ellen Brooks Eva Harris Keith Thomas Deanna Fox Cyndy Fox Randall & Mercedes Mee Dennis & Barb Smith Grosia Wozniacka/Associated Press In this Friday, June 26, 2015 file photo, Bear Westerlind, an employee at the medical marijuana dispensary Kaya Shack, displays different types of marijuana flowers sold at the shop in Portland, Ore. A bill awaiting Gov. Kate Brown’s signature would allow dispensaries to sell to recreational customers on Oct. 1. Mary Ellen Brooks, Keith Thomas, & Cyndy Fox Keith Thomas & Cyndy Fox BLUE MOUNTAIN CARE CENTER Resident of the Month Donna Faye Cox Bill allowing dispensaries to sell recreational pot awaits signature By Hillary Borrud Capital Bureau Donna was born December 27, 1945, in Heppner, Oregon, to Darrel and Oleta Farrens. Donna joined a sister, Dorinda Kaye Harding (Farrens), at home. A few years later, baby brother, Glenn Farrens, was born. Blue Mountain Hospital District Presents July Visiting Specialists 7th - Dr. Rushton - Baker Podiatrist 8th - Dr. McLellan - Bend Cardio 8th - Dr. Takla - Bend Urology 9th - Dennis Sell - Bend Audio 9th - Dr. Petropolous - BMC Cardio 10th - Dr. Sandefur - Baker Ortho 17th - Korrena Farris - Bend Neuro 21st - Dr. Rushton - Baker Podiatrist 22nd - Dr. McLellan - Bend Cardio 24th - Dr. Sandefur - Baker Ortho Donna was raised in the small town of Monument, Oregon, where she attended all of her school years. She played volleyball in high school. During that time, she met her high school sweetheart, Robert (Bob) C. Cox. They were married September 5, 1964, in the Monument Presbyterian Church. Bob and Donna moved to Portland, Oregon, for a short time, where their daughter, Donna (Miss) Michelle, was born on March 19, 1967. A short while after that, Bob and Donna moved back to their home town of Monument, OR. Another bundle of joy, Robert Troy Cox, arrived on February 11, 1970. Donna was a stay-at-home mom with the kids while they were small. She had a huge vegetable garden to take care of every year for her family. After the kids were out of school, Donna went to work for the post office in Monument, following her mother’s footsteps. Donna and Bob celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2014. Donna’s pride and joy are not only her kids, but all five of her grandsons: Tyler, Kurt and Jarett Boyer, and Tell and Reece Cox. 02301 SALEM — Oregon med- ical marijuana dispensaries would be allowed to tempo- rarily sell limited amounts of pot to all adults in Oregon starting Oct. 1, under a bill headed to Gov. Kate Brown for a signature. Lawmakers want to pro- vide a legal way for Orego- nians to purchase marijuana, because the state’s recreation- al marijuana retail system likely will not launch until late 2016. Possession and consumption of marijuana for adults age 21 and old- er became legal in Oregon Wednesday, under Measure 91 which voters passed in No- vember. Senate Bill 460 would al- low recreational customers to purchase cannabis seeds, plants that are not Àowering and up to one-quarter ounce of marijuana Àowers or leaves from medical marijuana dis- pensaries. The Oregon House passed the bill 40-19 on Thursday. It was a busy week for marijuana bills in Salem. Lawmakers also passed a broad bill to regulate the state’s existing medical mari- juana program and set up the new recreational pot regulato- ry system. That legislation, House Bill 3400, also includes a seed-to-sale tracking system for recreational pot and will allow elected of¿cials in cit- ies and counties where at least 55 percent of the electorate voted against Measure 91 to pass bans on recreational and medical marijuana business- es. Brown signed the bill into law this week. A third marijuana bill, which will replace the har- vest tax on pot in Measure 91 with a 17 percent sales tax intended to generate roughly the same amount of revenue, also passed in the Senate this week. House Bill 2041 is also now awaiting Brown’s signa- ture. “These bills represent a session-long, bi-partisan con- sensus that respects the will of the voters and provides the safeguards and funding nec- essary to regulate the recre- ational marijuana industry in Oregon,” said Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, said in a written statement this week. Burdick was co-chair of a legislative committee that drafted the bills. Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, said the bills were some of Oregon lawmakers’ best work. “Marijuana advocates have asked, ‘Why not just implement the will of the people as outlined in Mea- sure 91, passed by voters in 2014?’” Ferrioli said in a written statement this week. “But making cannabis avail- able for recreational use has been the most complex pub- lic policy issue of the decade. I believe the Legislature has done a remarkable job of bal- ancing the interests of recre- ational users with protections for medical users and respect for local control.”