NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, October 6, 2021
A3
Pot shops could move into John Day
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
PUBLIC HEARING
JOHN DAY — The John Day
Planning Commission will review con-
ditional use permits for two retail pot
shops on Wednesday, Oct. 6.
Haley Olson, whose family owns
Rocky Mountain Dispensary, told the
Eagle that she plans to relocate to 743
West Street, inside the city limits near
Timbers Bistro.
Rocky Mountain Dispensary, the
county’s only cannabis dispensary,
began selling medical marijuana in
2016. Olson said the existing location,
which is just outside the John Day city
limits, would convert to a distribution
and processing center.
Olson said currently, recreational
sales make up 80% of her business
while medical marijuana accounts for
20%. However, she said over the years
the ratio has fl uctuated because she and
her staff encourage people who might
qualify for a medical card to get one.
She said the up-front cost in Oregon to
get a medicinal marijuana card is $400.
Most people are unwilling to cough up
that expense, she said, but they end up
paying on the back end by way of a 20%
sales tax on recreational cannabis.
She said the distribution center could
move a variety of cannabis products
from larger vendors from diff erent parts
The John Day Planning Com-
mission will meet at 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 6, in the city fi re
station to consider conditional
use permits for two marijuana
businesses and other matters.
The meeting is open to the
public but can also be accessed
virtually via Go-to-Meeting at
this link: https://global.gotomeet-
ing.com/join/891173869.
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle
Cindy Kidd (left) Haley Olson, owners of Rocky Mountain Dispensary could be
relocating their retail marijuana dispensary to John Day should the John Day
planning commission approve a conditional use permit.
of the state. Such operations are heav-
ily regulated by the Oregon Liquor &
Cannabis Commission, Olson said. The
OLCC requires, among other things,
that producers store cannabis in secure
locations with security cameras.
With a three-year backlog on licens-
ing in the state, Olson is seeking a
change in location instead of getting a
new license.
Olson said she hopes to open at the
new location in the winter of 2022, but
the timeline could change as OLCC has
a multi-step inspection and licensing
process.
Burnt River Farms
The Planning Commission will
also review an application for a con-
ditional use permit from the canna-
bis company Burnt River Farms to
open a pot shop at 518 S. Canyon
Blvd., Heart of Grant County’s for-
mer location.
The company, headquartered in
Huntington and Baker County, also
owns a dispensary in Ontario and a
farm in Huntington.
According to the conditional-use
application, the two-story, 750-square-
foot building would operate the store
People can also dial in by phone
at 1 (786) 535-3211, access code
891-173-869.
on the bottom fl oor. The application
lists Mahogany Ridge Properties as
the owner of the location.
Representatives of Burnt River
Farms did not immediately respond to
the Eagle’s request for comment.
Cannabis in Grant County
The Grant County Court banned
weed in the county’s cities in 2015 after
56% of voters in Oregon passed Mea-
sure 91, allowing recreational marijuana
businesses. An initiative to overturn the
ban was narrowly defeated in May
2016, by 1,689 to 1,469 votes. In Sep-
tember of 2016, the county amended the
ban to allow registered patients to pur-
chase medical marijuana.
In May of 2018, voters repealed
the ban by an almost identical mar-
gin, with 1,687 voting to repeal and
1,492 voting to keep the ban in place.
Both attempts to overturn the ban
were led by Olson and her mother,
Cindy Kidd.
“Our family literally began
knocking on doors,” Kidd said, “and
we got out into the community and
got people on board.”
Kidd said that Olson’s father had
cancer, and at the time there were no
medical marijuana providers in East-
ern Oregon.
She said there was a need for
medical marijuana, and they opened
Rocky Mountain Dispensary just
outside the John Day city limits in
2017. In the beginning, they aver-
aged fi ve customers a day. Kidd said
it was exciting for her and Olson, and
the dispensary served a purpose.
They invested in a grow room
after voters passed the statewide
measure to legalize recreational pot,
but then the county passed an ordi-
nance to ban weed sales inside incor-
porated communities.
“In order for us to grow,” Olson
said, “we were going to have to
move or change our local rule. We
thought, ‘Well, we’re just gonna try
to change the local rule.’”
Auction and concert to help local man
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — Grant
County residents are rallying
around a beloved local business
owner and longtime resident
stricken with an ailment that has
bounced him in and out of the
hospital since January.
A dinner and auction to ben-
efi t Tracy Moss will be held
on Oct. 22 in the Trowbridge
Pavilion of the Grant County
Fairgrounds in John Day.
Moss, the owner of Rus-
sell’s Custom Meats in Canyon
City, has long suff ered from a
blood infection caused by a bul-
let that has been lodged in his
back since a shooting incident
when he was 15, according to
his wife, Kathy.
Kathy Moss said the con-
dition did not become severe
until 2008 after Moss stubbed
a toe and doctors amputated
it because the infection had
spread to the bone. About 10
years ago, the condition fl ared
up again and Tracy spent three
months in the hospital. When he
came out of the hospital, Kathy
said, the busy couple processed
400 game animals that hunting
season on top of their agricul-
tural work.
Russell’s Custom Meats, a
Grant County staple, has been
the go-to place for local and out-
of-town hunters to take their big
game animals for processing for
decades. But Tracy and Kathy
HOW TO HELP
The benefi t concert and auction for Tracy Moss, which aslo
includes a pulled-pork dinner, begins at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 22
in the Trowbridge Pavilion at the Grant County Fairgrounds
in John Day. Admission is by donation.
Monetary donations to help with Tracy Moss’s medical
expenses can be made at the Bank of Eastern Oregon.
Contributed photo
Tracy and Kathy Moss, own-
ers of Russell’s Custom Meats.
Moss are not only known as
local business owners. Nancy
Hitz, a longtime friend of the
couple and organizer of the ben-
efi t, told the Eagle that Tracy
and Kathy are always the fi rst
to step up for local causes and
community fundraisers.
Hitz, who said she regards
the couple as family, told the
Eagle that while people some-
times run in large social circles,
at the center of those circles is a
small number of core relation-
ships. Tracy and Kathy Moss,
she said, are at the heart of her
center and have been for more
than two decades.
There’s no doubt that Tra-
cy’s illness has put a strain
on the couple’s business. But
according to Kathy, at a time
when many employers are
struggling to hire enough staff
to maintain regular hours, Rus-
sell’s employees are essentially
running the business and have
been for months now.
Tracy’s most recent fl are-up
started in January and has seen
him hospitalized several times.
At the end of August, Kathy
said, there was nothing more
Blue Mountain Hospital could
do for Tracy and he was fl own
by Life Flight helicopter to
St. Charles Medical Center in
Bend for further treatment.
Kathy said she would get
up, spend four hours at Rus-
sell’s, drive to Bend, spend
two or three hours at the hos-
pital, drive back home to John
Day, and then get up and do it
again the next morning. But as
Tracy’s condition worsened and
he lost the ability to communi-
cate, get around and feed him-
self, she needed to spend all her
waking hours looking after her
husband.
At that point, she said, Rus-
sell’s was going to have to close
unless the employees could
handle all the day-to-day oper-
ations by themselves.
They chose to step up, she
said.
“If it wasn’t for (commu-
nity support) and my employ-
ees,” Kathy said, “I would not
be talking to you coherently
today. There comes a point in
life where you have to do what
you have to do, but it does take
a village.”
Benefi t concert and
auction
Hitz said the benefi t has
come together better than she
could have imagined.
Singer-songwriter Brenn
Hill and Andy Nelson, a
cowboy poet and humor-
ist, are currently touring
in Utah and immediately
agreed to make the trek to
Grant County to perform at
the benefit.
Hitz said donations for
the auction have poured in
and include everything from
an African safari to beef
from the Crown Ranch Cat-
tle Co. She said the orga-
nizers have a lengthy list
of donations from business
owners across the globe.
The event will begin with
a pulled pork dinner from
5:30 to 6:30 p.m., followed
by the auction and concert.
Admission is by donation.
Showing Movies Since 1940!
1809 1st Street • Baker City
October 8-14
NO TIME TO DIE (PG-13)
Friday
3:50, 7:15
Sat & Sun 12:30, 3:50, 7:15
Mon-Thurs 6:45
VENOM
(PG-13)
Friday
4:10, 7:45
Sat & Sun 1:00, 4:10, 7:45
Mon-Thurs 7:10
ADDAMS FAMILY 2
(PG)
Friday
4:20, 7:30
Sat & Sun 1:10, 4:20, 7:30
Mon-Thurs 7:20
**SHOWTIMES SUBJECT TO CHANGE. VISIT
OUR WEBSITE OR CALL AHEAD TO VERIFY**
S262612-1
www.eltrym.com (541) 523-2522
29 th Annual
Carrie Young
Memorial
Silent Auction & Dinner
John Day Elks Lodge
Friday, December 3, 2021
Doors open at 5:30
Proceeds benefit several
assisted-living facilities
and home-bound seniors
throughout Grant County.
This project was supported by Grant No. 2019-WR-AX-0027 awarded by the office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of
Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the
author(s) and do not necesssarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.
Heart of Grant County
541-620-1342
Grant County
Victim Assistance Program
541-575-4026
S263261-1
If you would like more
information or would like to
help, call me or drop donations
at A Flower Shop N More -
my number is 541-620-2098 -
mailing address is PO Box 192,
John Day. We will accept items
for the auction or monetary do-
nations. We will accept
donations up to Nov 10th.
This year the event is on Dec
3rd at the John Day Elks Lodge
S261926-1
