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Groton Daily Independent
Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 102 ~ 28 of 63
odor of smoke on one block.
The re damage was especially costly because most farmers were about to start harvesting.
Many of the growers who suffered the greatest losses were working to obtain licenses to grow recre-
ational pot once state regulators starting issuing permits on Jan. 1.
Farmers with local permits to grow medical marijuana are expected to receive the rst state licenses.
But those damaged by re are now concerned they may lose out if they don’t get back up and running quickly. Many of them have already paid fees and lawyers in their efforts to go legitimate.
“I did everything right and by the book for the rst time this year,” said Andrew Lopas, who lost 900 plants worth $2 million outside of Santa Rosa next to a popular wild animal park.
Lopas obtained a Sonoma County permit to grow medical marijuana in anticipation of applying for a state license.
“This was the rst time I put a crop in the open,” he said. “This is the rst time I put in that many plants.”
In Mendocino County to the north, growers complained that law enforcement of cials refused to escort them to their farms so they could water plants even though the same courtesy was extended to wineries. A day later, Sheriff Thomas Allman announced that marijuana growers “in good standing” with permits
or applications for permits would be allowed to check on their farms in evacuation areas.
Meanwhile, people in the industry now joke about renaming famous strains to “Camp re Pot” and
“Hickory Kush.”
The damage is expected to have little impact on the state’s overall marijuana economy because thou-
sands of growers were unaffected by the res, especially in the three-county region known as the Emerald Triangle.
“The impact will be pretty modest statewide,” said association President Hezekiah Allen, who put the economic losses in the tens of millions of dollars. “Even though the timing could not have been worst.”
7 historic Tlingit relics returned to Southeast Alaska
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — Seven historic Tlingit pieces that were in East Coast museums for decades have been returned to Southeast Alaska.
The pieces were on display Saturday as part of a conference in Sitka, The Daily Sitka Sentinel reported .
Cultural resource specialist for the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Harold Jacobs, said the three helmets, two hats, headdress and beaded shirt date from as far back as the 1600s to about 1890.
The Raven Barbecuing Hat was made about 1800 in Dry Bay by the carver Kux’laa of the Chookaneidi Clan. It was made for the L’ooknax.adi, Jacobs said. It was acquired from the Sealion House collection by Louis Shotridge in 1918 and had been at the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
The six other pieces were at the National Museum of American Indians in Washington, D.C., Jacobs said.
The relics were brought back to Alaska through the efforts of the council. They will be stored through the National Park Service, with access being granted to the Tlingit clans.
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Information from: Daily Sitka (Alaska) Sentinel, http://www.sitkasentinel.com/
US agency withdraws rule aimed at protecting animal farmers By DAVID PITT, Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Trump administration’s decision to kill a rule designed to protect the rights of farmers who raise chickens, cows and hogs for the United States’ largest meat processors has infuriated farmer advocates, including a Republican senator from Iowa who said he has “violent opposi- tion” to the move.
The rule would have made it easier for farmers to sue companies they contract with over unfair, discrimi- natory or deceptive practices. Called the Farmer Fair Practice Rule, it was rolled out by the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture during President Barack Obama’s nal days in of ce but never took effect. The agency