Charitable Controversy

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]O[/dropcap]ntario, Oregon is anxiously awaiting a splash pad for its younger residents to enjoy during hot summer months. However, residents complained about a generous donation to the project by a Huntington cannabis company.

Getting funding for the project was a time consuming endeavor, which took almost two years to complete. The majority of the funding for the over $300,000 project came from the Transient Occupancy Tax, which will fund $262,670 of the project’s budget. Friends of the Aquatic Center, the group responsible for constructing the splash pad, also received a $25,000 grant from Saint Alphonsus Foundation. Additionally, over $41,000 in funding was donated privately. The largest private donor, by far, was Huntington cannabis retailer Hotbox Farms. The business gifted the project $25,000.

In honor of this generous donation, Hotbox Farms was listed on the project’s banner and some other publicly displayed signage. This inclusion was not appreciated by a group of Ontario citizens, who requested the city remove the business name from the banner, and replace it with either the names of the owners of the business, or with anonymous. The group of citizens wrote a letter to the city council with these requests.

“Friends of the Aquatic Center request the council to ask Steve Meland / Jay Breton / Hot Box Farms, LLC be recognized as an individual donation by its owners or, in the alternative, anonymously,” reads the letter, which was written by a group of citizens, headed by the group’s chairwoman Megan Cook. “Out of respect for our other generous donors and, more importantly, because the splash pad is an attraction being built for the children of our community, consensus was reached that it would be inappropriate to brand the project with any businesses that cannot legally serve youth.”

The motion to change the name was made by City Councilmember Betty Carter, and seconded by Councilmember Dan Capron. On Sept. 6, the motion was rejected by the Ontario City Council with a 5-to-1 vote, with Carter the only affirmative vote.

Councilmember Marty Justus in particular was a staunch supporter of Hotbox Farms. Justus is a broker for Hotbox Farms’ real estate holding company, S&J Online, as was made public knowledge during a city council meeting. In December, Justus reached out to Hotbox Farms owners Steve Meland and Jay Breton in response to an email from Cook, regarding the matter of publicly acknowledging the donation. After conferring with Breton and Meland, Justus was resolute in his belief that the fair and right thing to do, was honor their business’ donation as they would any other.

“I respectfully ask that the Committee accept this donation, adopt formal rules regarding future donations and if they see fit, make a statement that says future donations will be subject to the new guidelines.”

In March, Justus responded to Cook via email, explaining his stance on the subject. “Again, I like to reemphasize that we have taken their money, we have used their names along with all the other sponsors on printed and digital materials and we have sent out thank yous. I respectfully ask that the committee accept this donation, adopt formal rules regarding future donations and if they see fit, make a statement that says future donations will be subject to the new guidelines.”

Some of the controversy comes from the belief that this public acknowledgement violates state law that bans advertising for cannabis in a children’s areas. In a public meeting in September, Cook addressed these concerns. “Yes, these are advertisements,” Cook said about the public acknowledgement. “Kids will see these advertisements.”

The law however, disagrees. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission sees these public acknowledgements of donations, listed alongside other businesses, as a sort of grey area that isn’t inherently problematic.

While the citizens of Ontario may well choose to setup more stringent donation guidelines in the future that would prevent the acknowledgement of cannabis businesses donations, it seems unproductive, to say the least.