LADY PROS RANKED FIFTH IN STATE – PAGE A8
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EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W edNesday , J aNuary 10, 2018
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Bentz chosen to replace Ferrioli
Former representative moves from House to Senate
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
County commissioners from
Grant, Harney, Malheur, Baker, De-
schutes, Jefferson, Lake, Wasco and
Wheeler counties overwhelmingly
chose Rep. Cliff Bentz to fill the re-
mainder of former Sen. Ted Ferrio-
li’s term in office for Senate District
30.
Bentz received votes from 24
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Dr. Eric Wattenburg, left, and Rep.
Cliff Bentz at the Grant County
Regional Airport in John Day Jan.
4 before being interviewed by
county commissioners.
of the commissioners Jan. 4, while
Dr. Eric Wattenburg received votes
from two and Suzan Ellis Jones re-
ceived one vote, according to De-
schutes County Commissioner Tam-
my Baney, who chaired the group.
Ferrioli officially resigned from
office Nov. 22 to begin his ap-
pointment by Gov. Kate Brown as
a member of the Pacific Northwest
Electric Power and Conservation
Planning Council, whose mission is
to ensure an affordable and reliable
energy system while enhancing fish
and wildlife in the Columbia River
Basin.
Republican precinct committee
persons from Senate District 30
nominated the three candidates. The
district is the largest Senate District
in the state.
Sixteen of the 27 commissioners
met at the Grant County Regional
Airport in John Day to interview
Bentz and Wattenburg. Eleven com-
missioners participated by phone.
Bentz, a Republican from On-
tario, has served in the state House
since 2008 and will take the oath
of office as a senator at noon Jan. 8
in the Senate Chamber. Wattenburg
has been a physician for 15 years,
owns a walk-in clinic in Redmond
and hosts a weekly talk-radio show.
See BENTZ, Page A16
It’s unclear
how state
could block pot
prosecutions
By Claire Withycombe
Capital Bureau
The bill also preserved or im-
proved several key tools for small
businesses, such as cash accounting,
carry-forward of net operating losses
and bonus depreciation, Bushue said.
The latter, also known as immediate
expensing, will allow farmers and
ranchers to write off costs of quali-
fying purchases up to $1 million —
twice the amount previously allowed.
Immediate expensing will also be
allowed for used, not just new,
equipment, he said.
Several legal observers say that there
are limited ways for Oregon officials to
defend state-regulated cannabis businesses
in the courts in light of changes to federal
guidance on enforcement of the drug.
Marijuana has been legal under Oregon
law since July 2015, but it remains illegal
under the federal Controlled Substances
Act.
U.S.
Attorney
General Jeff Sessions
on Thursday rescind-
ed an Obama-era pol-
icy, referred to as the
Cole Memo, that guided
federal law en-
forcement
to focus on
larger-scale
violations of
federal law rather
than target state-com-
pliant marijuana op-
erations. The action
opens even mari-
juana businesses complying with
state regulations to prosecution.
Sessions did not mandate such prosecu-
tions, but instead gave federal prosecutors
in each state authority to decide where they
would focus their enforcement actions.
While it doesn’t appear likely that Bil-
ly Williams, the U.S. attorney for the dis-
trict of Oregon, will pivot in light of that
change, state officials say they are explor-
ing legal options.
In a press conference Thursday, Demo-
cratic Gov. Kate Brown stressed what she
called a coordinated effort among state, lo-
cal, and federal law enforcement to imple-
ment the Cole Memo’s guidance.
“The result of all this collaborative
work is that we have now a thriving mar-
ijuana industry,” Brown said.
However, the governor did not provide
any specifics on what legal recourse might
be available to the state in the event that
federal prosecutors pursue the state’s can-
nabis industry.
On Thursday state Attorney General
Ellen Rosenblum said she would do ev-
erything in her “legal authority” to protect
Oregon’s regulated pot businesses, though
neither she nor Brown proposed a specific
strategy to block federal prosecutors from
enforcing drug laws passed by Congress.
Henry Wykowski, a San Francisco attor-
ney specializing in cannabis, said Oregon
could become a “sanctuary state” for marijua-
na, much like Oregon is a sanctuary state for
undocumented immigrants.
A Democratic state assemblyman in Cali-
fornia has proposed a law there to do just that.
However, the state couldn’t intervene in a
criminal case brought by federal authorities,
Wykowski said.
See TAX, Page A16
See POT, Page A16
FIREWISE WORK
SLOW BUT STEADY
Public lands project approved near Granite
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Establishing Firewise communi-
ties in Grant County has been a work
in progress, Firewise Coordinator
Irene Jerome told the
Eagle. There were a
number of distrac-
tions last summer —
the eclipse, the Rain-
bow Gathering and
the fire season. But
there is some prog-
Irene
ress to report.
Jerome
The Grant Coun-
ty Firewise Communities program
received $40,531 from the federal
Secure Rural Schools program for
this year. Jerome notes that Grant
County’s rural areas lack structural
fire protection services, but more is
needed than just cleaning up fuels
around homes to create defensi-
ble spaces: Communities also need
evacuation plans.
“Fires move fast in some areas,
and resources are limited,” Jerome
said.
Firewise designation
The process to designate a
Firewise community begins with a
risk assessment conducted by a lo-
cal fire chief and an Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry representative, she
said. Jerome writes up a report, the
community develops a timeline and
See FIREWISE, Page A16
Contributed photo/Irene Jerome
Fire professionals share information with the group
on Dayville’s successes, risks and vulnerabilities in
the event of a wildfire during the Dayville Firewise
Community Assessment.
TOP PHOTO: In this Eagle file photo, Howard Gieger,
left, and Phil Bopp tend a burn pile on Gieger’s 40-acre
property in the Pine Creek area May 6. Gieger is the
chairman for the Pine Creek Firewise community.
Tax changes could mean business investments
Ag and timber
sectors see benefits
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Large and small businesses in
Grant County could see immediate
benefits from passage of the Tax Cuts
and Jobs Act in December — from
agriculture to timber — but the hospi-
tal could see increased costs from an
increase in uninsured patients.
The Oregon Farm Bureau
praised the bill.
“This bill lowers
taxes for the vast
majority of our ag-
ricultural families,”
Oregon Farm Bu-
reau President Bar-
Barry
ry Bushue said in a
Bushue
press release.
Bushue noted, in addition to sim-
plifying tax rates, the bill eliminates
the estate tax for families up to $11
million while maintaining annual
indexing for inflation, which covers
most family farms and ranches.
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