The Oregon Progressive Party has taken the lead in arguing against drones. See http://progparty.org.

No idea about the Clack SO, but OSU is real simple.

Forest management classes / degree programs, agriculture / crop management classes / degree programs and computer engineering classes degree programs.

Not everything is a Great Conspiracy by Big Brother to infringe your "civil liberties"..

Thanks for that smart-mouthed political rant, but you haven't answered my question. They don't need drones to teach any of that stuff.

Just a hypothesis, but a drone could be a good tool for search parties on Mt Hood.

Clackistan Sheriff could use drones to watch for Multco/Metro/PDX insurgents.

Farmers may become the biggest domestic customers for UAVs in the very near future.

It looks like R/C meets remote photography meets applications in agriculture, forestry, and probably search and rescue.

Of course, a valid reason also serves as a handy cover for alternate uses, including unsavory ones.

Multco/Metro/PDX insurgents

Once they cross the Clackamas county line, they're outsurgents. Except for Metro, of course.

A fair amount of technology began with the intent to use it for peaceful or domestic business applications. The the military and the government decided that other applications could be applied.

A drone can be employed harmlessly and profitably. My objections come when they are used, as the latest hearing suggest, to kill "suspected" terrorists. The idea that our government currently invades other countries via drones and kills people it merely suspects of being a threat, and the possibility that it might do the same here reeks of "Minority Report" politics.

Terrorism is the new Communism when it comes to a lucrative and insane enemy. I've said again and again that you can't wage a war on a noun. But you can spend a lot of money and cause a lot of grief trying.

My guess is the sheriff wants one for something like this.

From googling "sheriff office using drones"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/alameda-drone-use-sheriff_n_2271570.html

"Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern said Tuesday that a drone his department is pursuing would be used for search and rescue missions, responding to wildfires and to capture fugitives, not for surveillance and intelligence gathering on civilians.

"This device is used for mission-specific incidents," Ahern told the San Francisco Chronicle. "We strive to gain the public's trust in everything we do, and I would never do anything of this nature that would destroy the public's trust beyond repair."

They seem like very useful devices with technology and applications accelerating rapidly.
In that link above is also a story about a father who adapted a drone to follow & watch his son on the way to the bus stop.

It seems to me these are soon going to very inexpensive and used for all sorts of things by many people.
Watching your kids at the park or swimming pool.

They could follow and record your ski runs. That'll be cool stuff for the young generation. A natural progression from the helmet cam?

Watching livestock, hikers may use them to view over cliffs,
An automatic lawn mower being monitored by a drone?

Following your wife as she takes the dog for a jog.

On and on.

The question arises of how, if these things become more ubiquitous, the government will be forced to monitor, legislate or license their use.

Remember when small plane manufacturers were advertising their product as though every family would soon have a hanger next to their garage and a private plane for commuting? What a nightmare *that* would have been.

Get too much stuff zooming around in the air and somewhere along the line there's going to be a crash or an accident. Especially if one of them - heaven forbid - is Boeing Battery-equipped. ;-)

State government is already talking bills to manage "driverless vehicles" on our roads.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) denied Georgia Tech University’s (GT) 2010 request to operate three surveillance drones in the skies above their campus, reveal documents uncovered late last month.

http://www.campusreform.org/blog/?ID=4605

Clackastanis can use the drones for target practice.

Not everything is a Great Conspiracy by Big Brother to infringe your "civil liberties"...

Wait. What?

Touchy.

They "need" the drones for the same reasons they "need" all the other para military stuff....because this stuff exists.

Seattle did, but no longer does.
http://www.nwcn.com/news/washington/Mayor-Seattle-police-ending-unmanned-drone-program-190300921.html

I am betting that they will use it for scouting marijuana crops. Getting around the foothills of the Cascades can be treacherous and using airplanes and helicopters is expensive.

Why Herington Kansas wants a drone is much more perplexing to me than Clackamas Co. Only 2500 people live there on the flat plains of Kansas, and it's not even a county seat.

So "Death Before Lightrail" but drone surveillance is fine and dandy? Some odd priorities.

"So "Death Before Lightrail" but drone surveillance is fine and dandy? Some odd priorities."

Huh?

There's quite a spectrum of current and future drone use which spans from thoroughly harmless & useful to troubling and inappropriate public surveillance.

Whereas our region's Light Rail push has no such spectrum at all.

Odd is your red herring comparison of embellished priorities.

I see some gratifying opportunities for frustrated gun-toting marijuana cultivators in the Cascades if anyone starts using drones to scope out their hidden locations. Those assault weapons could come in mighty handy for aerial target practice.

And as to why drone use will increase? If you've got bell and whistles you tend to want to ring and blow them whether it's necessary or not.