A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
OTHER VIEWS
State must end
cannabis crisis
it helped create
S
even years ago, Orego-
nians were told that by
legalizing marijuana and
hemp they could solve an ar-
ray of problems. Pot smokers
could come out of the shadows
and hemp could take its place
as a legitimate crop. Illegal pot
growers would be put out of
business — or at least forced
to register under the state’s
auspices.
State offi cials correctly
estimated millions of dollars
would come tumbling into the
state’s coff ers that would go to
schools and cover the costs of
regulating the crop.
By 2020, legal marijuana
sales in Oregon topped $1.1
billion a year, and state tax
revenue exceeded $150 mil-
lion. According to the state
Department of Revenue, 40%
was earmarked for the state
school fund, 20% for mental
health, alcoholism and drug
services, 15% for the Oregon
State Police and 5% for the
Oregon Health Authority for
drug treatment.
The problem: No one
knows how much marijuana
is grown and sold illegally,
since enforcement of the pot
and hemp law has taken a
backseat.
Illegal marijuana grows
are overtaking some parts of
the state. It’s gotten so bad in
Jackson County that the com-
missioners there declared a
state of emergency and sent
a plea for help to Gov. Kate
Brown and legislative lead-
ers. They’ve even asked for
the National Guard to be
activated.
Neighboring Josephine
County faces the same prob-
lems. The sheriff there esti-
mated hundreds of illegal pot
grows are spread through-
out the southwestern Oregon
county.
Some legal hemp farms
serve as camoufl age for ille-
gal marijuana grows. Nearly
50% of the registered hemp
farms in Oregon illegally
grow marijuana, according to
the Oregon Health Author-
ity and the Oregon Liquor and
Cannabis Commission. About
25% of registered hemp farms
won’t let state inspectors in.
All of which constitutes
an emergency of the highest
order. Once pot growers —
and hemp growers who culti-
vate pot illegally on the side
— decide to fl out the law, all
bets are off . They are telling
the state of Oregon they don’t
care what the law says and
are thumbing their noses at
the authorities.
And the state is letting
them get away with it. Ille-
gal growers steal massive
amounts of water and use ille-
gal chemicals, threatening the
livelihoods of legal farmers.
To her credit, the gover-
nor is making more cannabis
law enforcement grants avail-
able and told the state police
to increase its eff orts. The
Oregon Department of Agri-
culture is expanding its hemp
program from 4 to 12 staff ers.
Every little bit helps, but
that’s not nearly enough.
Jackson County com-
missioners alone say they
need six more code enforce-
ment offi cers; the sheriff ’s
offi ce needs 34 more staff -
ers, including 18 detectives;
and the state Water Resources
Department there needs three
more staff ers just to handle
water-theft complaints.
And that’s just one county.
Other counties report similar
illegal pot problems.
In Klamath County, sher-
iff ’s deputies earlier this
month discovered $100 mil-
lion worth of illegal mari-
juana fi lling a 27,000-square-
foot potato storage shed. Two
other illegal grows were also
found.
Oregonians, including
growers who follow the law,
are being hurt because of the
state’s lax regulation of pot
and hemp.
Oregon’s leaders have
failed the public. They have
allowed illegal pot growers to
operate at will.
It’s time for the governor
and her administration to fi x
this crisis, which they helped
create.
When Oregonians approved
the legalization of marijuana
and hemp, they were told the
state would do a good job of
regulating the crops and get
rid of illegal growers.
The state at all levels has
failed to live up to its part of
the bargain. It’s time for the
authorities to saddle up and
get rid of this problem, which
they have allowed to overrun
our state.
Editor’s note: This editorial
originally appeared in the Capi-
tol Press.
FARMER’S FATE
Frog leg pie and other delights
E
leanor Roosevelt once said, “If
life were predictable it would
cease to be life, and be with-
out fl avor.” At the rate our summer is
going, we will never have to worry
about a bland life — our home seems
to be built on love, shenanigans, and
unpredictability ... fl avoring it up like
frog leg pie.
Recently, I was planning on a day
in the swather: an audiobook, snacks,
and company from my 5-year-old and
the dog — a pretty enjoyable way to
spend a summer day. I stopped at the
chicken coop to let the chicks and
ducks out before I left — and that’s
when unpredictable hit. One of the
baby ducks, Mrs. Beakley, wasn’t
walking right. She would walk a few
steps then tumble forwards to the
ground. Her wings and legs seemed
fi ne, but she continued to stumble as
the rest of the fl ock headed toward
their mud pond. I called a friend who
off ered some advice, and 20 minutes
later, I was in the fi eld swathing —
with only one small feathered change
to the plan. In the dog’s place sat a
duck in a box.
Every little bit I syringed water with
nutritional yeast into her mouth. The
fi rst few hours were awful. The duck
was getting weaker, and her head was
starting to fl op. Soon she was laying
out fl at and I regretted taking her along.
With a loud crunch the swather sucked
an irrigation pipe through its rollers.
“Welcome to unpredictable farm life,”
I grumbled as I stepped over the dying
duckling and headed out to move an
entire line of forgotten pipes.
Fifteen minutes later, upon open-
ing the door of the swather, I was fl ab-
bergasted to see the baby duck sitting
up — and even more surprised when
she seemed to be hungry, pecking at
the grass in her box. I cut up pieces of
cucumber, and she greedily devoured
every last one. We had a great rest
of the day together. In between naps
she would peck the window as the
bugs swirled safely around outside
the glass. If we hit a
bump or the sound of
the engine changed,
she would jump to
her feet and quack
loudly. For anyone
interested, a swather
Brianna
duck is much more
Walker
entertaining than a
swather dog — but a
whole lot smellier.
Unpredictability at our house isn’t
just relegated to the things that happen
outside our control — we currently
have a cousin living with us who has a
fetish for blackberries. Lucky for him,
many of our fi elds are lined with those
accursed brambles — and he brought
home gallons of the tasty berries each
week.
But what does one do with so
many blackberries? We made black-
berry pies and blackberry cobblers,
blackberry smoothies and blackberry
oatmeal — and one evening I made
a savory blackberry and basil pizza.
Everyone seemed a bit hesitant — but
once you got over the fact that it was
purple, it was quite unpredictably deli-
cious. The success in such a bizarre
recipe emboldened me to try a recipe I
had read years ago in a Great Depres-
sion cookbook: green tomato pie.
Here is where the shenanigans
come in. My husband loathes toma-
toes. Put a diced tomato in his salad
and he gags and chokes and says,
“Tomatoes cause cancer. My mom ate
tomatoes and she died of cancer.” His
idea of a good tomato is one that is
puréed and seasoned and smeared on
a garlic crust under pounds of melted
cheese and olives. So I smiled dev-
ilishly to myself as I rolled out the
dough for a tomato pie.
It smells delicious, but, if I was to
be totally honest, the green goo oozing
out of the pie slits was more than a lit-
tle off -putting.
“What is that?” everyone asked,
sniffi ng the delicious aroma which
seemed incongruous to the green,
goopy glop setting in front of them.
“Dessert!” I declared proudly,
“because I love you all from my head
tomatoes.” I slipped a knife into the
pie — and nearly lost my appetite. I
had followed the recipe exactly, which
directed that the tomatoes be cut in
thick quarter-inch slices. Those big
green tomatoes oozed like cooked
frog’s legs out from under the pie
crust. I snuck a glance up at every-
one’s faces. They looked just like
mine — a little nauseous at the ghastly
sight.
“You’re eating that fi rst,” my hus-
band said defi nitively.
“I’m going to tell you it’s amaz-
ing,” I said, with more bravado than I
felt. “Because if it’s good I’m going to
be soooo proud of myself — and if it’s
bad, well, misery loves company.”
I took a glop of oozy green toma-
toes and watched in horror as they
made slime trails across my plate.
Everyone watched as I took a slow,
apprehensive bite. It tasted surpris-
ingly like a cross between apples and
pears. It was delicious. Everyone
fi nally took a piece — and it was the
consensus that if only one could eat it
blindfolded, the pie could be consid-
ered a success. The next time I mod-
ifi ed the recipe, dicing the pieces
and adding a bit of red food color-
ing. It looked better, but everyone still
referred to it as frog leg pie.
“It’s just backwards to have black-
berry pizza and tomato pie,” my hus-
band said, shaking his head. What can
I say? It’s an unpredictable household
— overfl owing with shenanigans. I
think my kitchen needs a sign warning
our guests of our unpredictable menu:
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato
is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a
fruit salad. Philosophy is wondering if
ketchup classifi es as a smoothie ... and
shenanigans is serving frog leg pie for
dessert.
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate for the
Blue Mountain Eagle.
COMMENTARY
Medical providers discuss vaccines
A
s your local medical pro-
viders, we have been hear-
ing many questions about
the COVID vaccines. We thought it
would be helpful to provide some
information for our community
regarding vaccination. Our fi rst pri-
ority as medical professionals is to
prevent illness and death, and this
letter comes from our desire to keep
our patients, friends and neighbors
healthy. We also acknowledge that
vaccination is a personal choice, and
we hope that this information helps
in your decision making process.
First, a common question is
about vaccine eff ectiveness. Data
from September show that Moderna
is 93% eff ective at preventing hospi-
talization from COVID, while Pfi zer
is 88% eff ective, and J&J is 71%
eff ective. Since the delta variant has
become the dominant strain, unvac-
cinated people are more than 10
times more likely to be hospitalized
or die from COVID and fi ve times
more likely to get the disease.
Another common question about
the vaccines is their safety. Many
have heard stories about vaccine
reactions. However, serious reac-
tions are very rare. Risks for each
vaccine vary by age and gender,
and the CDC website has the most
up-to-date information. You can
also talk to your primary care doctor
about which vaccine would be best
for you.
Another common question: Why
do I need the vaccine if I am low-
risk for serious COVID infection?
Your vaccination helps to slow the
spread of COVID in the community
and protects those around you. Less
spread of COVID also means fewer
chances for mutations and new vari-
ants of the disease.
Others ask: How did they
develop the vaccines so quickly?
Previous research on vaccines for
similar viruses (SARS-CoV-2 and
MERS-CoV) gave scientists a jump-
start on COVID-19 vaccine devel-
opment. Once developed, all vac-
cines undergo three phases of
clinical trials to establish safety and
effi cacy, and some of the phases
were combined given the urgency of
the situation.
Again, we acknowledge that vac-
cination is a personal choice. And
while we think that vaccination is
a good way to protect yourself and
those in our community, we are also
committed to serving all patients
equally and with the most current
treatments available, whether you
are vaccinated or not. And in addi-
tion to vaccines, we always encour-
age good lifestyle choices (healthy
eating, staying active, washing
hands, etc.) to keep you as healthy
as possible. Even now, COVID is
still aff ecting many in our commu-
nity, and tertiary hospitals may be
full. This aff ects patients at BMH
because we may have limited places
to send patients who need ICU or
specialty care.
Our clinic has all three vaccines
available during clinic hours without
an appointment.
And we encourage you to discuss
any questions you have with your
primary care provider. We consider
it an honor to serve the people of
Grant County.
This commentary was submitted
by Dr. Emily Lieuallen, Dr. Zac Bai-
ley, Dr. Robyn Jennings, Dr. Brian
Jennings, Dr. Caitlin Maccoun,
Erika Adams FNP and James Cook
FNP.
L
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