Weed Oct 25, 2017 at 4:00 am

In parts of this state, pesticide poisoning is par for the course, but the smell of a pot farm? That crosses the line.

The old Collins Fruit Co. building where Josh Bitterman invested $1 million to start a pot farm. Photos by Lester Black

Comments

1
I know the Stranger loves to use the term "Eastern Washington" as a pejorative, but no amount of geographical gymnastics qualifies Chelan County as "Eastern WA".
2
@1: According to the Washington State Department of Ecology, Chelan County is in Eastern Washington:

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites…

Wikipedia’s entry for “Eastern Washington” also agrees that Chelan is in Eastern WA.

Maybe Ecology and Wikipedia are just being “pejorative?”
3
@2 the map in the link you provided clearly has Chelan county in the green "central region".

Look at a map, Chelan and Okanogan counties are obviously North-Central Wa, not estern.

So you and Wikipedia are both wrong
4
@3 lol, you’re just mad cause you live in Eastern Washington. Every county on that map is part of the EASTERN Washington Clean Sites Initiative, Chelan included. Ecology and Wikipedia agree: if you’re east of the crest, you’re in Eastern WA.
5
Here's hoping those farmers successfully sue the crap out of Chelan for their damages. Politicians are spineless morons.
6
I second #5, and add in all the other counties pulling this crap, and not just because I use cannabis. I am a retired attorney, and this is the most tortured legal logic I have read in years. They deserve to have their asses sued. "Code of the West" indeed.
7
Let's make it illegal to sell Washington State apples to China and see how fast these fuckers start whining.
8
Does it make sense to keep calling any of this self-destructive spite ironic?

They want to abolish the only heath insurance they could have afforded. They want to deport the labor force agriculture depends on, and wall them out. They want to deregulate the pharmaceutical companies that fed the opioid addiction that is ravaging their population. They want to abolish any efforts to protect the air and water and soil, the things agriculture is made of. They have widespread poverty and want to lower the minimum wage. They want their representatives in Olympia do defund education, the only hope for their next generation.

At some point you have to admit that these Easter Washington right wingers are nihilists. There's nothing ironic at all about them driving out farms that were reinvigorating their dying economy. For a people bent on wrecking themselves (while working furiously hard to cut the taxes of us urban liberal elites in the upper brackets, because they 'hate' us?) it would be ironic if they didn't reject a viable new industry like cannabis production.
9
Does it make sense to keep calling any of this self-destructive spite ironic?

They want to abolish the only heath insurance they could have afforded. They want to deport the labor force agriculture depends on, and wall them out. They want to deregulate the pharmaceutical companies that fed the opioid addiction that is ravaging their population. They want to abolish any efforts to protect the air and water and soil, the things agriculture is made of. They have widespread poverty and want to lower the minimum wage. They want their representatives in Olympia do defund education, the only hope for their next generation.

At some point you have to admit that these Eastern Washington right wingers are nihilists. There's nothing ironic at all about them driving out farms that were reinvigorating their dying economy. For a people bent on wrecking themselves (while working furiously hard to cut the taxes of us urban liberal elites in the upper brackets, because they 'hate' us?) it would be ironic if they didn't reject a viable new industry like cannabis production.
10
They pulled it off in Spokane county. They changed "downwinder" meaning someone who lives downwind from a pot farm. Then used none scientific fear as evidence to shut down further outdoor operations. I worked with the "downwinders" because of Hanford. Spokane was also heavily dosed with radiation. Women after long term exposure here end up on thyroid medication. But it is high denial here and is considered rude to talk about.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?163582-1/a…
11
Answer: too many Trumpzillan dumbfucks and their equally uneducated apologists have been misled by RepubliKKKan lies, hatred, and bigotry propaganda to trust their actual brains anymore. Make America THINK, dammit!
12
Trumpzillan dumbfucks: YES--fear me and fuck you-- I am cis female, I'm educated, and I VOTE!!!
13
@1 That's like disagreeing that everything north of NYC is "upstate." These terms don't come from drawing an imaginary line down the middle of the state. Everything that makes Chelan great for farming is why it's "Eastern WA."
15
Isn't that interesting. I have been a conscious consumer of organically grown Washington produce for years. Maybe I should start buying all those imported New Zealand apples instead.
16
Wow, #9, you nailed it. Preach!
17
I have only this to add to the excellent comment at #9:

Doug England, one of the commissioners who voted for the new law, and a tree fruit farmer himself, said he voted on the ordinance with no regard for how it impacts farms like Bitterman's.

Perhaps future State Rep. England will harangue his legislative colleagues on how Seattle liberals -- you know, folks who've never run a business? -- simply don't understand or care how their regulations may negatively impact fruit farmers like himself.
18
Personally, I'd like to see a shutdown of wheat farms.
19
Yep--@9 Ph'nglui' mglw'nafh Cthulhu' R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn: Bravo. You summed everything up beautifully. I declare you the winner of this thread.

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