Judge says Ashland church can brew hallucinogenic tea

– A federal judge says members of a Brazilian-based Christian church in Ashland can import, distribute and brew hallucinogenic tea.

U.S. District Judge Owen Panner issued a permanent injunction barring the government from prohibiting or penalizing the sacramental use of “Daime tea.”

It is brewed from two Amazonian plants that contain the hallucinogenic drug dimethyltriptamine, or DMT. The tea is also known as ayahuasca (aye-yah-WAS-ka) tea.

Panner’s order, issued Thursday, said activities of The Church of the Holy Light of the Queen, an Ashland-based branch of the Santo Daime (pronounced die-may) sect, are legal.

Sheen may be from vessel

The Coast Guard says it is investigating a sheen on the Columbia River near Vancouver, Wash.

The agency said Friday the suspected source of the roughly 10-foot-by-200-foot sheen is a vessel moored at the Port of Vancouver.

Samples of the sheen have been taken by the Coast Guard for analysis.

BILLINGS

Killed pilot was revisiting site

A veteran pilot killed in a Tuesday crash near Helena had set out that afternoon to take photographs of a site where he was involved in a crash two years ago, his friends said Friday.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived Friday to begin investigating the crash that killed Sparky Imeson, a Helena flight instructor with more than 40 years experience.

Imeson, 64, took off alone from the Bozeman airport at 2:11 p.m. Tuesday. Searchers on Thursday found the wreckage of his Cessna 180 about two miles southwest of the Canyon Ferry airstrip.

Two friends, Gary McDonald and Galen Hanselman, said Imeson had intended to document the site of a 2007 crash in the Elkhorn Mountains in which he was a passenger.

FLORENCE, ORE.

Gray whales begin migration

The annual northern migration of more than 1,000 gray whales has begun, making it whale watching season on the Oregon Coast.

Some 13,000 people are expected to head for the coast in hopes of spotting whales migrating from breeding lagoons along Baja, Mexico, to feeding grounds in the Bering Sea.

Starting Saturday, more than 400 volunteers will be at 26 different locations each day to help whale watchers look for the giant mammals. Officials say to watch for “Whale Watching Spoken Here” signs along Highway 101.

Oregon’s whale watching season runs from March 21 through May 28.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYO.

Park roads open to cyclists

The interior roads in Yellowstone National Park have closed to snowmobile and snowcoach travel for the season, but, beginning day morning, bicyclists will be allowed to ride between West Yellowstone, Madison, Norris, and Mammoth Hot Springs.

During the time employees are clearing and preparing park roads for motorized, wheeled vehicles, adventurous bicyclists have an opportunity to experience the change from winter to spring firsthand without other visitor traffic.

Park officials say it will be a month or more before some of those roads are ready for cars, trailers, RVs and buses.

Cyclists are invited to call (307) 344-2109 on weekdays for updated road access information, or (307) 344-2113 for 24-hour weather information before traveling to the area.

Weather permitting, park roads will begin opening to motorized vehicles on April 17. Some interior park roads don’t open to automobile travel until Memorial Day weekend.