ONTARIO, Ore. — Idaho and Oregon farmers were given an overview of FDA’s new Food Safety Modernization Act rules April 26 during a meeting hosted by the Idaho State Department of Agriculture.

FDA’s produce safety rule will require farmers who grow fruits and vegetables that are consumed raw to comply with numerous provisions meant to ensure food safety.

It is one of seven rules FDA has developed to comply with FSMA and was the main focus of the meeting.

The rule includes a host of new requirements for these fruit and vegetable farmers and “the produce industry has never been regulated in this manner before,” said ISDA Chief of Staff Pamm Juker.

But she told farmers not to panic because the department and other groups are gearing up to help growers understand and comply with the provisions.

“We’re here to try to find answers for everybody,” Juker said. “The training and technical assistance everyone is going to need to comply with these rules is coming.”

Small operations with $25,000 to $250,00 in average annual produce sales have to start complying in 2019, farms with $250,000-$500,000 in sales have to comply in 2018 and bigger farms have to start complying in 2017.

Juker called the April 26 meeting a “FSMA 101” course and said farmers would be provided more detailed information as FDA releases promised guidance on the rules.

The produce rule will require farmers to test every source of agricultural water on their farm annually for general E. coli.

Farms with less than $25,000 in produce sales annually are not covered by the rule and produce that FDA has identified as rarely consumed raw is also not covered. Produce headed for commercial processing that reduces pathogens with some type of “kill step” is also not covered.

Produce farmers will be required to assess their fields to see if any of their crop has been contaminated by animal droppings and will not be allowed to harvest any part of the crop that has.

Other components of the produce rule include personnel training, worker health and hygiene and the sanitation of equipment, tools and buildings.

Accurate record keeping to prove compliance is critical, Juker said. “Everything you do must be documented.”

Stuart Reitz, an Oregon State University cropping systems extension agent in Ontario, said the scope of the rule seems overwhelming and “not just to the farmers.”

“At this point, I think the lack of guidance from the FDA is confusing and is upsetting people because they recognize they have to comply with these rules but we still don’t know how,” he said. “As soon as we know things, we will pass that information along to people.”

Kay Riley, chairman of the National Onion Association’s food safety committee, said the water testing provision is the part onion growers have the most angst with and they need more guidance on that requirement.

“It’s doable but I think it’s exasperating for sure,” he said of the produce safety rule.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27

The Washington State Department of Agriculture’s spring offensive against gypsy moths passed the halfway point Tuesday, with a second pesticide application over a densely populated Seattle neighborhood.

Meanwhile, the Oregon Department of Agriculture made the second of three passes over Portland.

An airplane spent 15 minutes in the early morning spraying Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki, commonly known as Btk, over 130 acres on Capitol Hill in Seattle

Runners, dog walkers and WSDA observers were out as a fine mist fell, department spokesman Hector Castro said, but there were no street protesters, unlike in 2000 and 2006, the last years the department sprayed in Seattle for gypsy moths.

“We’re definitely hearing from people not happy about the spraying, but it’s not in the numbers as in the past, not even close,” Castro said.

WSDA began spraying more than 10,500 acres in seven cities on April 16. It’s the state’s second-largest spaying campaign ever against forest-defoliating gypsy moths. Each site will sprayed three times to catch caterpillars as they emerge over several weeks. The operation probably will be over by May 9, Castro said.

ODA on Tuesday sprayed 8,800 acres over North Portland neighborhoods and the Port of Portland. ODA also sprayed over the Port of Vancouver on behalf of WSDA.

The final application is scheduled for Sunday or Monday, ODA spokesman Bruce Pokarney said. The department has heard a handful of complaints, he said.

European gypsy moths are established in many Eastern and Midwestern states. Western states, which also must guard against Asian gypsy moths, have aggressively sprayed areas where the moths have been found.

Washington and Oregon both trapped gypsy moths in urban areas last summer.

To prepare residents, WSDA mailed four rounds of postcards to 38,000 addresses with information about the department’s plans. The department also updates weather-dependent spraying schedules online.

WSDA has stressed that Btk is approved for organic agriculture.

“On the whole, social media has been a real benefit,” Castro said. “It allows us to share a lot of information and get information out quickly.”

A streak of warm weather motivated WSDA to compress the spaying scheduled to catch early emerging caterpillars.

WSDA also is spraying over Tacoma, Gig Harbor, Lacey, Nisqually and Kent. Most sites have now been sprayed twice.

BANDON – The Port of Bandon’s, Old Town Marketplace opens on April 29 for its fifth season and will run from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. every Friday and Saturday through Dec. 17, in the big green building at 250 First St.…

BANDON – The Port of Bandon’s Old Town Marketplace opens on April 29 for its fifth season and will run from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. every Friday and Saturday through Dec. 17, in the big green building at 250 First St.…

TUESDAY, APRIL 26

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Scientists say a $67 million rehabilitation effort following a wildfire in southwest Idaho and southeast Oregon is starting off well thanks to good precipitation over the winter.

About $14 million has been spent since October as part of a five-year restoration plan to develop new strategies to combat increasingly destructive rangeland wildfires in the West.

“This fire occurred in an area that has a lot different terrain, different ecotypes,” said Cindy Fritz, a natural resource specialist with the Boise District of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. “There’s a ton of variety out there and we’ll be able to see how our treatments work.”

She said about half of the $14 million has been spent on seed and the other half on labor and operating costs.

The new wildfire approach ordered by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell last year is credited with preventing many small rangeland wildfires from getting big. But the Soda Fire scorched 436 square miles of sagebrush steppe that supports cattle grazing and some 350 species of wildlife, including sage grouse.

Jewell’s order calls for a “science-based” approach to safeguard greater sage grouse while contending with fires that have been especially destructive in the Great Basin. The bird did not receive federal protections under the Endangered Species Act last fall, but various efforts to protect sage grouse habitat have been put in place.

Part of that effort is making sagebrush steppe resistant to wildfire and more resilient should a wildfire occur. On-the-ground specifics of how to actually achieve those goals are being tested in the areas scorched by the Soda Fire.

Among the notable difference with the current wildfire rehabilitation compared to previous efforts, scientists say, is that the plan is five years rather than three.

Another change is that the plan is adaptive, meaning that if restoration efforts appear to be failing in some portion of the burned area managers can go back in with another effort, such as planting native vegetation.

The BLM has also partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey to see what works. Some 2,000 sample monitoring plots are being tracked to measure results of techniques that could become templates for future wildfire rehabilitation efforts.

“We’ve devised a new approach to monitoring that has more sampling rigor in terms of design and the intensity of sampling,” said USGS research ecologist Matt Germino, who specializes in sagebrush ecosystems and is working on the Soda Fire rehabilitation.

The process includes re-treatment triggers if rehabilitation efforts are failing, continued monitoring of areas doing well to make sure progress continues, and monitoring to determine when cattle grazing can return. Experts say returning cattle too soon could hinder rehabilitation efforts.

Another significant change for Idaho is that a herbicide is being used that targets cheatgrass, a fire prone invasive annual that displaces native perennials with wildfire and part of the reason for the gigantic size of the Soda Fire.

KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — Two environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against the federal government over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s plan to recover threatened bull trout.

Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Friends of the Wild Swan filed the lawsuit on April 19 in U.S. District Court in Oregon, accusing federal wildlife officials of not doing enough to help the trout and saying the recovery plan violates the Endangered Species Act with its inadequacies.

The agency released its Bull Trout Recovery Plan in September outlining actions to boost bull trout populations in six recovery units spread over Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana and a tiny portion of Nevada.

A spokesman with FWS said the agency wouldn’t comment on pending litigation, but biologists with the federal agency have defended the plan as realistic.

MONDAY, APRIL 25

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — Proponents of certain water solutions in the Klamath Basin say an energy bill amendment that passed the U.S. Senate provides key support for improving facilities and other initiatives.

The amendment by Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, both Democrats, authorizes measures first proposed as part of the 2010 Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, although it doesn’t address the controversial removal of four dams on the Klamath River.

The provision allows the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to help farmers in the basin deal with reduced water supplies as a result of future water-sharing agreements and to provide reduced-cost power for irrigation, the senators said in a news release.

The provision, which also enables the bureau to do certain upgrades of irrigation facilities, was part of an energy bill that passed the Senate, 85-12, on April 20 and now heads to a Senate-House conference committee.

“It’s really good news,” said Beatty, Ore., cattle rancher Becky Hyde, who represents the Upper Klamath Water Users and is a long-time proponent of the KBRA. “The nice thing is, we’re slowly … starting to put regulatory assurances for species back into place for agriculture. This facilities bill resurrects some of the power stuff (in the KBRA).

“We still have a long way to go on water balance, but we’ve got some good things happening,” she said.

As is often the case in the Klamath Basin, the measure is not without controversy. Lawrence Kogan, an attorney for the Klamath Irrigation District, and representatives of U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., were meeting with Reclamation officials on April 21 to discuss the objections of basin irrigators to some of the plans.

Kogan said the bureau is using coercive tactics to pressure the KID to accept terms of a government loan to replace a nearly 100-year-old flume on one of its main canals by linking future water deliveries to the district’s acceptance of the contract.

“It’s a poison-pill bill that will kill the basin because Congress doesn’t even know what it’s put in the bill,” Kogan said. He accuses proponents of “deception,” arguing their true aim is to turn much of the basin into non-productive wildlands.

But the senators insist that their amendment, along with other parts of the newly resurrected Klamath Basin plan, will benefit agriculture as well as fish and wildlife. The aim is to bring down power costs for basin irrigators, whose electricity costs are higher than those in similar Reclamation projects, officials say.

The plan will “help ensure that Klamath agriculture is a sustainable foundation of the local economy,” Merkley said in a press release.

It’s been a decade since the expiration of a 50-year contract between the U.S. Department of the Interior and PacifiCorp caused power rates in the region to skyrocket from a half-cent per kilowatt-hour to as much as 10 cents, Hyde said. The lower rates were a trade-off for the ability to pump water through the project for its Klamath River hydroelectric facilities.

While the bill doesn’t identify a funding amount, it enables the bureau to find lower-cost power for irrigators with projects that promote energy efficiency and renewable energy, the senators said. One solution could be putting in micro hydro facilities along irrigation canals or the river, Hyde said.

“Micro hydro is a really interesting concept,” she said. “One of the things (the bill) asks for is to study in a really expedited way what’s the best return for dollars invested in energy infrastructure upgrades, so that means solar could play a role or micro hydro could play a role.”

The bill’s passage in the Senate comes two weeks after top state and federal officials gathered in Klamath, Calif., on April 6 to sign the final version of a dam-removal plan they announced in February. The plan calls for a nonprofit organization to take control of the four dams from owner PacifiCorp and seek a go-ahead for their removal from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

In addition, the parties signaled a plan to revive the KBRA, a companion to the original Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement, with federal legislation that would provide money to operate two diversion dams within the basin that PacifiCorp would turn over to Reclamation so irrigators wouldn’t have to pick up the cost, Craig Tucker of the Karuk Tribe has said.

Most of the 42 original signatories have been working for the past few months to revive provisions in the original agreements, which expired when Congress failed to authorize dam removal by the end of 2015. Going through FERC for dam removal could make it more politically palatable for lawmakers to support other aspects of the agreements.

“I’m very hopeful” the amendment will survive the House-Senate conference, Hyde said. “I think it’s a great thing. I’ve been hopeful in the past … but my sense is the thing has got momentum.”

An environmentalist legal challenge against Oregon’s decision to remove wolves from the state’s endangered species list has been dismissed due to legislation passed earlier this year.

Wolves were delisted by state wildlife regulators last year, but three environmental groups — Cascadia Wildlands, Center for Biological Diversity and Oregon Wild — asked the Oregon Court of Appeals to reverse that decision, claiming it wasn’t based on sound science.

Earlier this year, lawmakers passed House Bill 4040, which held that the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife had followed the law in delisting wolves.

Opponents of the bill claimed it would deny the environmentalists their day in court. Supporters, on the other hand, argued the lawsuit was filed to pressure wildlife regulators while Oregon’s wolf recovery plan is updated.

Gov. Kate Brown signed the bill despite environmentalist calls for a veto in March, stating in a signing letter that the “trajectory of wolf populations in Oregon remains strong.”

The legislation was expected to nullify the legal challenge, which proved correct — on April 22, the Oregon Court of Appeals held that HB 4040 rendered the environmentalist petition moot.

Wildly fluctuating April weather sent Oregon’s snowpack up, down and now, in some areas, melted out.

It’s still too early to project water trouble this summer — the return of cool weather could help retain snow or even increase the snowpack a bit — but as the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Portland put it, “What a difference three weeks can make.”

At the first of April, everything looked great for irrigators, fish and wildlife managers and others who monitor and care about streamflows and reservoir levels. Heavy snow and rain blanketed Oregon this past winter, and the amount of water contained in the snowpack was at or above normal in nearly every river basin in the state.

But April brought unseasonably warm weather, include a record-high temperature of 85 degrees on April 7, measured at Portland International Airport. By April 22, the amount of water stored in the snowpack, called the snow water equivalent, was well below the 1981-2010 median.

The Deschutes and Malheur regions of Central and Southeast Oregon measured 11 percent and 31 percent of normal, respectfully. Other river basins measured from 51 to 83 percent of the median for this time of year.

Some NRCS automated monitors show no snow remaining, hydrologist Julie Koeberle said.

“It went fast, because of the warm temperatures,” she said.

Oregon’s snowpacks typically begin to melt in April, but at a slower pace that sustains streams through the hot months.

Koeberle said the NRCS will have a better handle on things within the next couple weeks, as snow survey teams hit the mountains and take a closer look. Sustained cooler temperatures would be helpful, she said.

On-line: Read the USDA’s water and climate update.

Pacific Northwest farmers should scout their winter canola, brassica and crucifer crops for black leg fungus.

“Industry concern is still at a heightened level,” said Victor Shaul, seed program manager with the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

Black leg was found in Oregon and Idaho, but not yet in Washington, which has a crucifer quarantine and accepts only seed certified as black leg-free.

Black leg affects brassica and crucifer crops, including spring and winter canola, rapeseed, mustard, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, turnips and tillage radish.

Also a concern is volunteer canola or mustard. Reports of volunteer canola in fields and ditches are up over past years, said Karen Sowers, an oilseed cropping systems research associate with Washington State University.

Spring canola is being planted, but farmers will want to check their fields shortly, Sowers said.

Fungicides won’t help existing black leg, Sowers said, but will prevent it from spreading.

WSU, University of Idaho and Oregon State University researchers are available to answer grower questions or test possible instances of black leg, Sowers said.

OSU recently held a workshop to train people to spot black leg symptoms in canola. Symptoms first appeared on trials in February, which means they were infected at some point last fall, OSU extension soil scientist Don Wysocki said

Black leg could have been around a while before people started noticing it, Wysocki said.

“That suggests to me it hasn’t been a big bust on yield — we would have noticed huge yield losses, and we haven’t seen that,” he said. “We’ve had it, but maybe it’s a tolerable level.”

Wysocki would like to research fungicide treatments, to determine if a preventive fall or spring treatment would prevent the infection, including the costs and benefits.

“How much more seed would you get by putting on a fungicide at those times?” he said. “Those are questions we can’t answer at this time.”

Sowers recommends awareness.

“It’s not a fear factor at all,” she said. “It’s a treatable thing, but we need to keep it under control so it doesn’t get to Washington state.”

A WSDA public meeting in Yakima, Wash., on the crucifer quarantine, slated for May 12, was postponed. Researchers expressed concern over language proposing variety trial ground be isolated from crucifer production, said Shaul, the WSDA seed program manager.

“Certain trials need to be in a production field so it’s treated just like commercial canola would be,” he said. “Having that requirement kind of negates the point of having a trial.”

Introducing black leg through trials is not a concern, Shaul said.

Sowers recommends a four-year crop rotation between brassica or crucifer crops and planting only seed certified as free of black leg.

Shaul asked industry members to alert the department if they find a seed lot that isn’t certified.

“At this point, we’re strictly at an educational level working with seed suppliers,” he said. “As we encounter companies that may not be aware of the quarantine, we’re working with them so they understand our rules.”

Several warehouses are caught in the middle of a legal dispute over radish seeds between Oregon farms and an out-of-state bank.

Both the farms and the bank claim to own the radish seeds, which are currently stored at five Oregon warehouses.

Whether those warehouses are acting as “agents” of the farms or the bank will be a key legal question in a lawsuit that’s scheduled to go to trial on June 7.

“The core question is the agency question,” U.S. Chief District Judge Michael Mosman said during an April 20 court hearing in the case.

The lawsuit involves multiple Oregon farms who are fighting for the right to sell off radish seeds they initially grew in 2014 under contract for Cover Crop Solutions, a Pennsylvania company that was unable to pay for the crops due to weather-related demand disruptions.

The Oregon farms filed liens to ensure they’d be treated as secured creditors with collateral in the company’s assets if it went bankrupt.

Meanwhile, Northwest Bank of Warren, Pa., also claimed the radish seeds served as collateral for a $7 million loan taken out by Cover Crop Solutions.

The dispute prompted the bank to file a lawsuit against numerous Oregon farms in federal court, seeking a declaration that it had a priority security interest in the seed.

As the June 7 trial date approaches, it now appears the role of warehouses used to store the seed will be pivotal in the litigation.

The farmers say they merely turned over the seeds for cleaning and storage, meaning they retained possession of the crop at the warehouses.

Farmers don’t “wash their hands” of responsibility for the seed when it’s taken for cleaning and storage, so they continue to own it until it’s accepted by the purchaser, which never occurred in this case, said Paul Conable, an attorney for the growers.

“If the warehouse had burned down or the seed had been stolen, the risk of loss is borne entirely by the grower under the contract,” Conable said.

The bank, on the other hand, claims the warehouses acted as agents of Cover Crop Solutions, so the seeds were part of the company’s inventory and served as the bank’s collateral.

Jonathan Radmacher, an attorney for Northwest bank, argued “there is nothing more for the growers to do” once the seed is accepted by the warehouse, which performs cleaning, packing and shipping based on instructions from Cover Crop Solutions.

“It’s not as if the seed is ever going to the CCS office. It’s always going from the warehouse to the buyer,” Radmacher said.

Several important legal question hinge on who owns the seed at the warehouse facilities.

For example, farms claim to have “possessory liens” on the crop, even if it was stored at a warehouse, that are superior to the bank’s security interest in the crop.

Several growers who never delivered their radish seed to a warehouse have already won this legal point.

In February, Mosman ruled that Hawman Farms, one of the defendants, had a valid priority lien due to its continuous possession of the crop. Since then, other farms in a similar position were also found to have valid priority liens.

Northwest Bank says the remaining farmers don’t have possessory liens because the radish seed became the inventory of Cover Crop Solutions once it arrived at the warehouses.

While those growers did file grain producer liens to retain a security interest in the crop, their liens have all since expired, the bank claims.

Farmers counter that the grain producers liens could not have expired because they haven’t yet “attached” to the crop, which would only occur if it were actually purchased.

The bank also claims grain producers’ liens don’t apply in this situation because the crop was produced under contract, with Cover Crop Solutions supplying farmers with radish seed.

The farmers were paid for growing and harvesting the seed, then returning it to Cover Crop Solutions, so they didn’t have actual ownership of the crop, the bank claims.

Attorneys for the farmers counter that the liens are valid under Oregon law and that contractual terms make it clear Cover Crop Solutions was supposed to purchase the radish seed.

EO Media Group

ECHO, Ore. — As small towns test strategies to attract economic development, Echo’s approach might best be described as “Plant it and they will come.”

It’s a sort of reversal of many cities’ strategy: Instead of focusing on attracting businesses in order to grow the tax base and have money to beautify the city, Echo is focused on beautifying the city to attract more growth.

“Basically, is the chicken first or the egg?” asked Diane Berry, city manager.

Berry, supported by the city council and private and public partners, has aggressively sought grants for art, trees, flowers and historical preservation in the city of 715 people. The city has also worked to extend that beautification to residences through programs like Christmas light contests and tree giveaways.

It hasn’t brought a grocery store or gas station to town, or allowed the few Main Street businesses to open more than two or three days a week. But it has gained Echo a reputation as a “hidden gem” of Eastern Oregon, complete with vineyards, tasting rooms, a golf course, camping, a museum, antique store, highly rated eateries and a historic downtown.

“People come here and they rave,” Berry said.

Arguably the biggest partners with the city in developing Echo’s downtown have been Lloyd and Lois Piercy. The pair, who own Echo West Vineyard and Sno Road Winery, have renovated several of Echo’s historic buildings and are in the process of restoring more. Their projects — past and present — include the old one-room schoolhouse, the former grocery store, a downtown garage, the historic Koontz Building and the former Echo Hotel. They also hold several events each year that draw tourists in, including the Red 2 Red bike race across their land and an annual car show that benefits the high school shop class.

“We love Echo, we love the historical aspects of Echo, and it just kind of snowballed from there,” Lois Piercy said.

She said preserving the buildings’ historical aspects while also adapting them to modern — uses like the winery — take a lot of time and money. But the Piercys enjoy hearing from past and present Echo residents who remember the buildings in their glory days.

“I love the memories and the nostalgia that just pour in,” Lois Piercy said.

The Piercys also love the rich soil around Echo, which Lois Piercy said has produced “wonderful” grapes in the vineyard.

In addition to being good for growing grapes, Echo has also proved fertile for trees and flowers. The city regularly wins awards from the America in Bloom and Tree City U.S.A organizations, some of which are almost unheard of for a town so small.

“We’ve played on that and tried to build up community pride,” Berry said.

One of the many events focused on building up that community pride was Wednesday afternoon at the Echo Tree Fair. It seemed to be working, too. As elementary school students played leaf identification bingo, answered questions about trees and made rubbings of bark, they demonstrated a sound knowledge of trees and a pride in Echo’s beauty.

“Trees are used to make lots of things,” fourth-grader Abby Gaede said in answer to a question about why it’s good for a city to have trees. “We’ve actually won Tree City U.S.A.”

Echo School fifth-grade teacher Rick Thew, who on Wednesday was in the city hall ballroom teaching students about the effects of forest fires, said those types of community events were one of the things he enjoyed about Echo.

“I like the small-school community aspect, where everyone is watching out for everyone,” he said.

Thew doesn’t actually live in Echo, however, because when he began working for the school district he and his family couldn’t find a house in Echo that fit their needs. Now they commute to the school every day from Stanfield.

Thew’s living situation points to one of the ironies of Echo: It’s a “bedroom community” with a scarcity of bedrooms.

Berry said some people don’t like hearing Echo categorized as a bedroom community, but the fact that the majority of its residents are either retired or working in a different community means it’s “just a fact of life.”

However, Echo isn’t really seeing new housing development other than a new house or two a year on Echo Heights, north of the city. That means people like Thew — attracted to Echo for its beauty, amenities and small-town vibe — can find themselves out of luck when looking for housing that fits their needs.

Fortunately, Berry pointed out, Stanfield is less than five miles away and Hermiston is about a nine-minute drive in good conditions.

It’s a good thing, because even though Echo residents can get a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from Echo Ridge Cellars or duck gnocchi from the Wheat & Barley Pub, there’s nowhere in town to buy an egg or a chicken breast.

Peggy Haines, an Echo resident who shops at the Main Street Market in Stanfield, said as much as she loves Echo’s quaint, small-town feel that’s the one thing she would like to see change about it: a market or grocery store.

“It would be nice if you’re cooking and need some flour or sugar to just run to the store,” she said.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal magistrate judge in Las Vegas decided Wednesday that two sons of rancher Cliven Bundy who are accused of leading an armed confrontation with government officers in Nevada should remain in custody pending trial.

Like 17 other co-defendants before them, Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy were deemed to be a danger to the community and a risk not to abide by court orders or return for hearing dates.

Both refused last week to enter pleas to conspiracy, obstruction, weapon, threats and assault charges in the April 2014 standoff with federal Bureau of Land Management agents near Bunkerville, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Their father also balked March 10 at entering a plea, in an act of defiance that his lawyer said reflected an unwillingness to recognize federal authority over state lands.

Magistrate judges have entered not-guilty pleas on behalf of defendants who’ve refused.

Magistrate Judge George Foley’s detention ruling on Wednesday came with all 19 defendants and their lawyers gearing up for a Friday hearing to set a schedule ahead of trial. The date could be pushed back from May 2.

Seven of the Nevada defendants — Ammon and Ryan Bundy, Brian Cavalier, Blaine Cooper, Joseph O’Shaughnessy, Ryan Payne and Peter Santilli — also face federal trial Sept. 7 in Oregon. They’re among 26 people accused of taking part in the armed occupation of a U.S. wildlife refuge there for 41 days in January and February.

Family matriarch Carol Bundy emerged sad but resolute from the latest of several court hearings she’s attended since Ammon and Ryan Bundy were arrested Jan. 26 near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon and Cliven Bundy was arrested Feb. 10 at Portland International Airport on his way to visit them. Two other sons, David and Mel Bundy, are also in custody.

“It breaks a mother’s heart,” she said. “I raised a good family. We’re nothing like what the government portrays us to be.”

BANDON — The Bandon School District has received an almost $1.5 million grant from Business Oregon to rehabilitate Ocean Crest Elementary School to better prepare it to withstand a major earthquake.

THURSDAY, APRIL 21

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward says he was dealing with armed militants for months before they occupied a national wildlife refuge in Oregon in January.

Ward was in Spokane Tuesday at the invitation of the FBI to speak to law enforcement officials about his experiences during the takeover. He was also interviewed by Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich for his weekly podcast.

The Spokesman-Review reported Wednesday that Knezovich was impressed at how the Oregon sheriff, on the job for less than a year, handled the high-profile standoff.

The federal government has charged 26 people with taking over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for 41 days this winter in a protest over land policy.

Ward, who has just four deputies, said the militants first requested a meeting on Nov. 5.

An Oregon essential oil supplier has filed a lawsuit claiming its unique mint variety is being grown without permission by a competitor in Washington state.

RCB International, a mint oil company in Albany, Ore., alleges that Labbeemint of White Swan, Wash., has unjustly enriched itself by cultivating the low-menthol mint plants.

According to the complaint, RCB sells more than $1 million worth of oil from the special Erospicata mint each year.

Menthol irritates oral, nasal and gastrointestinal passages, so the low-menthol variety provides the benefit of tasting and smelling like peppermint without causing inflammation, according to the plant patent for Erospicata.

George Sturtz, the breeder who developed the variety, said its primary advantage for growers is resistance to verticillium wilt, a fungal disease.

The plant is vigorous and its oil can be substituted for peppermint oil, he said. “It’s a spearmint with a peppermint taste.”

RCB licensed the plant patent from a company that employed Sturtz.

That patent has since expired, but RCB requires growers and universities to sign contracts prohibiting them from selling or transferring the seeds, cuttings or other progeny.

“RCB takes steps to keep its plants under its lawful ownership and control,” the complaint said. “RCB propagates the plant with the assistance of fewer than ten select growers.”

The complaint alleges that Labbeemint obtained the Erospicata variety without authorization from RCB, which could be quickly confirmed with a genetic test of its crop.

Earlier this year, Labbeemint acknowledged that it was growing the cultivar and agreed to consider destroying those plants, but later changed its mind, the complaint said.

The complaint cites an email from Labbeemint claiming it’s “within our rights” to use Erospicata because the work has occurred after the plant patent’s expiration six years ago.

Labbeemint said it’s not bound by any “material transfer agreement” between RCB and other parties and “we believe it is in the best interests of our industry to have access to this and any other mint plant that is not under patent. Accordingly, we are planning to move forward,” according to the cited email.

RCB’s complaint requests that a federal judge declare that Labbeemint unjustly enriched itself and has no legal title to the cultivar.

The lawsuit also seeks an injunction barring Labbeemint from selling or transferring the Erospicata cultivar and ordering the plants to be destroyed or returned to RCB.

Any profits that Labbeemint earned from the variety should also be turned over to RCB, the complaint said.

A representative of Labbeemint said the company can’t comment on the allegations because it has yet to be served with the lawsuit.

The complaint was filed on April 14, according to court records.

An attorney for RCB said he couldn’t discuss the lawsuit without permission from his client.