DESPITE RISK, CITY GOES AHEAD WITH LEGAL ACTION

Owner of Old School Says She May File Her Own Lawsuit Against Ontario

Ontario - Even as Ontario City Council members explained Wednesday
why they felt it was necessary to approve a move to file a civil
complaint against a local merchant, the owner of the business in
question said she may file a counter suit.

The city is preparing to file a civil complaint in Malheur County
Circuit Court to force the Ontario business Old School to operate
within the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS). The city asserts Old School
is a drug paraphernalia shop and that the owner, Victoria Miller,
sold, delivered and possessed with intent to sell numerous products
constituting drug paraphernalia.

Miller, though, said she will talk to her attorney about filing a $10
million counter suit against the city.

City Council members admitted they are well aware the city could be
at some financial risk regarding the complaint against Old School.

Mayor Joe Dominick, though, said risk is worth taking.

"We need to send a message that it is unacceptable in this community
to sell drug paraphernalia under the guise of a legitimate business,"
he said. "As far as the community as a whole, I don't believe the
citizens of Ontario want a business that sells drug paraphernalia."

As to what constitutes drug paraphernalia, Dominick said, he will
rely on the expertise of the city's law enforcement officers. The
City Council members who spoke with the Argus Observer Wednesday said
their decision was based heavily, if not entirely, on Ontario Police
Chief Mike Kee's evidence about Old School delivered in three
separate City Council executive sessions.

None of them, in fact, ever visited the shop to see for themselves
what was being sold there. Ontario City Councilman Dan Cummings said
doing so might have been considered the kind of contact that would
render them unable to vote on the issue.

"My main reason (for voting for the suit) is the recommendation from
Chief Kee that we're trying to clean up the community," he said.

He said recommendations from Malheur County District Attorney Dan
Norris and City Attorney Larry Sullivan also convinced him the suit
needed to be filed.

"I've seen too much real damage done to society from drugs," Cummings said.

He said he understood anything can happen in court, but the suit is
worth the financial risk to the city.

"What's a kid's life worth?" he said.

Ontario City Councilman John Gaskill called it a calculated risk but
said Ontario is a different type of community from most in Oregon,
with its own values.

"I just feel we don't need this here," City Councilman Bruce Tuttle
said. "If you took a straw poll around town, of business people,
teachers, the clergy, there would not be many in favor of a drug
paraphernalia shop in town."

A big problem, Tuttle said, is that Miller's advertising brings many
people over from Idaho to buy drug paraphernalia here because a lot
of it is illegal in Idaho. He said when Kee and Norris came to the
council with the facts, "we said just go ahead and do it."

Sullivan said a large percentage of what is sold in Old School is
attractive to those who use illegal drugs. The goal of the lawsuit,
he said, is to get Miller to stop selling those types of items.

When the City Council decided it was important for the city to do
something about the problem, Sullivan said, he felt as the city
attorney he should assist in the case. He said he volunteered his
services but will be compensated out of the settlement if the city
prevails in court.

Kee said one of the reasons for investigating Old School was
complaints from other downtown merchants about the activity there.
Jim Griffith, president of the Downtown Ontario Business Association,
said he did not recall it being an issue raised in meetings but said
his group is focused on downtown development right now, and the
current members do not complain to the association about what other
merchants might be doing.

The City Council members might be surprised to find that Miller
agrees with them about the use of illegal drugs.

"I don't necessarily condone marijuana because I've seen the effects
marijuana has on people," she said.

In another, related twist to the story, Darrell Tennant, the owner of
New Vizions - a downtown business that sells some of the same items
as Old School - said he has sought advice from his attorney about the
Old School legal action, in case he becomes the city's next target.
He said the city closed him down previously because he did not have
sidewalks or enough greenery around his store.

To those who wonder what else a glass hookah could possibly be used
for, Tennant said a single stage water pipe removes 50 percent of the
carcinogens from tobacco, and a multi-stage can remove 70 percent.
Such devices can cut down on the danger of cancer from smoking, he
said. His shop also sells flavored tobacco from Egypt that customers
like to use in the pipes he sells.

Tennant admits to being an advocate of the health benefits of medical
marijuana and said he knows three of the attorneys who wrote Oregon's
medical marijuana law. He said some of his customers do use marijuana
for legal medical purposes, but that he cannot legally ask them for
proof of their registered status just to sell them a water pipe. Like
Miller, Tennant said he checks all customers for identification to
make sure no one under 18 gets in his store.