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VOL. 131, NO. 44 Serving the Lower Columbia Region since 1891
$2.1M in illegally grown marijuana seized JEREMY C. RUARK Country Media, Inc.
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olumbia County Sheriff’s deputies have confiscated 6,611 marijuana plants and 133.5 pounds of processed marijuana with a street value of approximately $2,181,011, in the agency’s latest enforcement. Search and seizure
The CCSO released this photo of one of the grow rooms found during the search operation.
Courtesy from the CCSO
Courtesy from the CCSO
A total of over $69,000 was confiscated during the enforcement operation.
In a release, the CCSO said the operation was conducted on March 1, with deputies serving search warrants for illegal marijuana grows in Clatskanie, Deer Island and Scappoose. During the service of these search warrants, CCSO deputies also recovered over $69,000 in cash. Specific details about the addresses of the searches and of the suspects have yet to be released following the enforcement operation. Columbia County Sheriff Brian Pixley told The Chronicle that all suspects were referred to the Columbia County District Attorney’s Office for charges. Specific details were also not immediately available about what led to the search and seizure operations. “These are the first of many search warrants that our Street Crimes team will serve over the next few years,” Pixley said. “We appreciate the participation of our partner agencies, including the Scappoose Police Department, Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office,
the Oregon State Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” The Illegal Marijuana Market Grant, awarded to CCSO in 2022, funded this latest investigation. Background
In July 2022, The Chief reported that the CCSO was seeking new manpower to establish an illegal marijuana enforcement team. In that published story, Pixley told The Chief his agency was seeking three enforcement deputies and three corrections deputies. “We recently received a $940,000 grant from the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) to put together an illegal marijuana enforcement team,” Pixley said. “So, we are hiring to back fill spaces for this team and also for an open position.” Public safety concerns Pixley said this specialized enforcement team has been needed for quite some time and the concern is twofold. “The first is the human trafficking component,” he said. “Often times these illegal grows are tied to organized crime from either a Mexican or Chinese cartel. As such, they often will use “indentured servants” to work these grows to pay off some form of debt owed to the cartel. In my opinion, this is the biggest reason
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Is Oregon’s COVID pandemic over? WILL LOHRE Country Media, Inc.
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eb. 28, 2020, was the date of the first COVID diagnosis in Oregon. Three years later, we are still navigating the waters of the pandemic, but the storm has calmed considerably. After three years of uncertainty, lockdowns, masks, and immunizations, a return to normalcy seems within grasp. To find out the state of the pandemic and where we go from here, The Chronicle spoke with Kaiser Permanente Northwest Chief of Infectious Disease Dr. Katie Sharff. “COVID is never really over. I mean, we’re anticipating that this virus will be here, circulating for the next several years, decades; it just may not be at the forefront,” Sharff said. Public health regulations rolling back On Jan. 30, 2023, the Biden Administration announced its intent to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations on May 11, 2023, related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This cessation of the state of
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“If you haven’t been infected, you will probably get infected at some point, and if you’ve already been infected, there’s a very high likelihood that in the future, you will get reinfected; that’s just the nature of this virus. But the tools we have through vaccination and anti-virals do work,” ~ Dr. Katie Sharff, Chief of Infectious Disease for Kaiser Permanente Northwest
emergency does not mean COVID will resolve itself completely, but it marks a new stage for dealing with the virus. “I think the ending of the public health emergency is more a signal that we will start to treat
COVID like a routine illness, such as Influenza or RSV,” Sharff said. “I think that what will happen is that this pandemic will transition to what we call the ‘endemic phase,’ which means that the infection will impact a stable
number of individuals but not be causing substantial illness across the globe all at the same time. It’s going to be a respiratory virus that we manage along with all of the other respiratory viral infections that we’re already currently
managing.” Oregon is seeing policy changes that also reflect the decreasing threat of COVID. On Mar. 3, the Oregon Health Authority announced that it would rescind the mandate that requires workers in healthcare settings to wear masks. The requirement had been in place since August 2021. In some ways, Dr. Sharff feels that these official changes reflect the sentiments of the public. “I think the U.S. population has kind of declared COVID over just by our own behavior. We’re focusing our attention on other risks, other things, and accepting a certain level of disease and risk within the community,” Sharff said. “So, I think the U.S. population has already moved on, and the end of the public health emergency is really just catching up with the current opinion of the U.S. population.” The current scope of COVID Currently, the most common variant is the XBB1.5 Omicron variant. According to Sharff, the CDC is actually reporting that transmission numbers are up
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Celebrating the Donavon Wooley Performing Arts Center JEREMY C. RUARK Country Media, Inc.
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he community gathered Feb. 23 at Clatskanie Middle/High School to celebrate the opening of the schools renovated Donavon Wooley Performing Arts Center. The center is named after former Clatskanie teacher Donavon Wooley. “In the 70s when a new high school bond was proposed one of the selling points to the community was the auditorium, not only for use by the school, but by the community,” Elsa Wooley, Donavon’s wife said. “It has, through the years, been a place where community members could gather for important activities and events.” As the years went by both the sound and lighting systems deteriorated, according to Wooley. “It was sad to have drama groups not heard and music groups not able to see their music,” Wooley said. “The renovation of
the Donavon Wooley PAC brings a new life to the space and honors the hard work and dedication of school performance groups and enables CAC to once again bring professional groups such as the Oregon Symphonic Band back to perform in Clatskanie.” Visitors are now greeted with a new sign and a Donor Wall as they enter the renovated center. A donation drive for the Donor Wall was launched about five years ago and raised about $5,550. Additional funds were collected following the pandemic. CMHS Teachers Tim Kamppi and Deney Flatz and students in the Career Technical Education (CTE) classes created the music notes with each donor’s name for the Donor Wall. The new Donavon Wooley Performing Arts Center sign design was created by CMHS sophomore Hannah Isaacson, according to CMHS Band/Music/ Fire Arts Teacher Jaime Erwin.
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Courtesy from Laurey White
Donovon and Elsa Wooley at the unveiling of the Donovon Wooley Performing Arts Center at the Clatskanie Middle High School.