Candidate proposes hemp as economic solution

By Samantha Tippler

Source: heraldandnews.com

The latest candidate to file in the Klamath County commissioner race is kicking off her campaign with a “controversial” and “outside-the-box” economic idea.

“I would like to expand the agriculture industry with hemp production,” said Pati Horton. “My outside-the-box idea is to figure out how to create another industry in Klamath County that will go along with everything that we have.”

Horton filed for candidacy Friday. She joins the race against sitting commissioner Tom Mallams, along with three other challenging candidates. The primary election is in May 2016.

Petitioners are gathering signatures in a recall campaign against Mallams.

Horton, 48, has lived in Klamath County for 28 years and is the owner of All About Shipping & Wireless, a downtown Klamath Falls business. She also holds a degree in education from Oregon State University.

Farming solution

She called her idea for hemp farming in Klamath County controversial because it is included in the Oregon law legalizing recreational marijuana.

But, she emphasized, hemp is not the same as marijuana. It is not a drug. Hemp is harvested for seeds, fiber and oils. Those go to make cloth, fiberglass, rope and beauty products.

“Hemp has no THC,” Horton said. “It will not make someone high.”

Klamath County commissioners outlawed producing, processing and distributing marijuana earlier this year. Horton said she would have to challenge the ban to encourage the hemp industry in Klamath County.

“I’m not saying our potato farmers, and our onion farmers, and our horseradish and mint farmers should switch over and start growing hemp. I want them to keep doing what they do best,” she said.

Public to private

Rather, she suggested the county kick-start growing hydroponically on vacant land to preserve water, and capitalize on local advantages like geothermal and solar energy sources. Then turn it over to private industry and tax it like a utility.

“Private industry works better than government. It’s more efficient, it’s more cost-effective,” Horton said. “We’re not expanding government, but we’re expanding an industry that is $500 million a year. I think we can grow that pie and take a bigger slice out of that pie.”

Horton previously ran for city council in 2002, but lost that election by 21 votes, she said, after suffering a family tragedy. Now she feels it is time to run for office again.

“It’s about time that people my age, in my generation, step up to the plate and put ourselves out there,” she said, “put ourselves out there with some ideas to the county and propose them.”

She hopes creating a new hemp industry will provide jobs, boost the economy and increase the county’s ability to provide infrastructure like the jail, roads and schools.

“People will come to Klamath. But if we continue on the path we’re on, Klamath Falls is going to die on the vine,” Horton said. “My goal is to help Klamath Falls become a vibrant economic source in Oregon again. When we had timber, we were the second wealthiest county in the state of Oregon. Now we are the second poorest in the state of Oregon. I want to see Klamath County come back and my idea is a different type of agriculture.”