WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017
Parker accused of trying to run
over men at marijuana grow
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
Former marijuana busi-
ness owner and convicted
felon Michael Alan Parker
ended Wednesday night,
Sept. 20, in Umatilla County
Sheriff’s handcuffs, accused
of assault at a Hermiston
marijuana grow.
The sheriff’s office re-
ported deputies Jon Roberts
and Travis Stark responded
to a location on North High-
way 395 near Hermiston for
a report of a driving com-
plaint and assault.
County Undersheriff Jim
Littlefield said the sheriff’s
office would not provide a
more specific address be-
cause there is a marijuana
grow operation at the loca-
tion.
The deputies found two
men who claimed Parker,
57, was not welcome there
but refused to leave.
“The assault victims re-
ported Parker started fight-
ing with them and warned
them that they would need
guns to keep him away,” ac-
cording to the sheriff’s state-
ment.
They claimed Parker got
in his vehicle and tried to run
over one of them, but hit a
fence and became stuck. He
ran away, the sheriff’s office
reported, and the two victims
left to call police. When they
returned, they found several
windows broken out of their
motor homes and several
damaged marijuana plants.
Undersheriff Jim Little-
field said the deputies found
Parker at the scene and ar-
rested him on the following:
second-degree
attempted
assault, fourth-degree as-
sault, two counts of first-de-
gree criminal mischief, one
of second degree criminal
mischief,
second-degree
trespass and two counts of
menacing.
Deputies booked Parker
into the county jail in Pend-
leton late Wednesday, ac-
cording to online jail roster.
Littlefield said Parker soon
bailed out. Circuit court re-
cords show the district at-
torney’s office has yet to file
charges against Parker. The
case remains under investi-
gation.
Parker is the former own-
er of the Columbia Basin
Compassion Center med-
ical marijuana dispensa-
ry. When reached Friday,
Parker would not comment
on the arrest but stressed it
had nothing to do with High
Desert Cannabis, 2003 S.W.
Emigrant Ave. in Pendleton.
He also asserted he has no
interest in the business oth-
er than buying his marijua-
na there. He hung up twice
during questions and did not
answer a third call.
The morning of his arrest,
Parker was at the Pendleton
Police Department. Police
Chief Stuart Roberts said he
was trying to demonstrate
he had some authority over
the High Desert Cannabis
store.
Parker’s daughter, Aimee
Parker, co-owns High Desert
with Michael Ekblad. Both
live in Hermiston, according
to state records. Police Chief
Roberts said the two appear
to be at odds.
Roberts said Michael
Parker came to his office
Wednesday morning up-
set when High Desert staff
would not allow him into
the store. Roberts said Park-
er showed paperwork from
his attorney, Will Perkinson
— who also is the Pendleton
municipal judge — intended
for Aimee Parker to relin-
quish some authority in the
business and give her father
a say in its operations.
Parker said he was about
to head down to the business
and deal with the situation,
according to Roberts, who
said he advised Parker not
to cause trouble. Roberts
said he agreed with Parker’s
request for an officer to ac-
company him to the marijua-
na store.
“We were there on a kind
of peacekeeping mission
more than anything else,”
Roberts said.
Roberts said the officer
at the scene called the local
marijuana compliance agent
for the Oregon Liquor Con-
trol Commission, and the
agent ruled Parker could not
manage the store. Roberts
said Parker was angry when
he left.
While he can’t manage
the store, Roberts said he
vetted Parker as an employ-
ee. Parker has an extensive
criminal history, Roberts
said, but nothing in recent
years that would disqualify
him from working in a mari-
juana retail business.
Council eases residential lot rules
By JADE McDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
Residential properties
that have laid empty in
Hermiston may come to life
after the city relaxed resi-
dential development stan-
dards and approved a new
infill properties program
Monday.
In response to a city
council goal of encourag-
ing more housing develop-
ment, the city’s planning
commission had two work-
shops with members of the
real estate community and
wrote a set of amendments
to the city’s code. City
Planner Clint Spencer said
one of the biggest problems
facing developers in Herm-
iston is the high cost of bare
land, and one developer had
commented that even being
able to put one or two extra
houses into a development
often makes the difference
to whether a project pencils
out.
“We want to help them
recoup their investment,”
he said.
To do that, the city re-
duced lot size requirements
by 1,000 square feet, with
the exception of lots for du-
plexes in R-3 zones, which
went from a minimum of
7,000 square feet to 6,500
square feet. Lot coverage
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
LOCAL NEWS
maximums were increased
by 10 percent in each zone,
with a single family dwell-
ing in an R-1 zone now
allowed to take up 40 per-
cent of the lot instead of 30,
plus another 10 percent for
a porch, gazebo or patio.
Front yard setbacks were
also reduced. While ga-
rages must still be 20 feet
from the front of a property,
other parts of the home can
now come within 15 feet
and covered porches can
come within 10.
Walden discusses immigration,
cybersecurity in Hermiston stop
By JADE McDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
The country’s immigra-
tion system is a “byzantine
mess” that Congress needs
to fix, Rep. Greg Walden
said Thursday at a Hermis-
ton Rotary Club meeting.
Walden advocated for a
comprehensive legislative
package featuring stronger
border security, a better
visa system, an overhaul
of the legal immigration
process and a permanent
solution for recipients of
the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals.
“I’m actually glad the
president put a hot rock in
our pockets to get it done
in the next six months,”
he said, referring to Pres-
ident Donald Trump’s de-
cision to begin phasing out
DACA.
Walden said for a le-
gal immigration system
to work, a country must
be able to control its bor-
ders with a combination of
tactics, including physical
barriers and patrols.
“You’re never going
to have a wall across the
whole thing,” he said.
“That just doesn’t make
sense.”
Not all undocumented
immigrants are walking
across the Mexican bor-
der, however. Walden said
45 percent of undocument-
ed immigrants got into the
country on a temporary
visa, then overstayed that
visa. There are tens of
thousands of immigrants
like that from Ireland
alone, he said.
“We have a broken visa
system,” he said.
There are plenty of
questions that need an-
swered in an immigra-
tion overhaul. As tens of
thousands of jobs in tech-
nical fields go unfilled
because companies can’t
find qualified applicants,
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden speaks during a Hermiston Rotary
luncheon on Thursday in Hermiston.
Walden questioned wheth-
er it makes sense to give
so many of the country’s
legal immigration spots to
people chosen by lottery or
based purely on a family
connection. He also ques-
tioned whether the country
should be “booting out”
young people who could
be helping fill those skilled
jobs.
“What do you do with
kids who, through no fault
of their own, have been
here since they were in
diapers, and have been a
good part of their commu-
nity?” he asked.
Another hot topic
Walden took questions
about Thursday was cyber-
security. After North Ko-
rea’s nuclear weapons, he
said cyber warfare was the
biggest threat to national
security. Much of what is
being done is classified,
Walden said, but he could
say that as chairman of the
Committee on Energy and
Commerce, after “every
one of the briefings I go to,
I feel a little bit better.”
Cybersecurity in the
private sector is more dif-
ficult for Congress to deal
with. Walden said Equi-
fax CEO Richard Smith
has been asked to testify
in front of the Committee
on Energy and Commerce
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“I can’t fix stupid,” he
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During lunch with the
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