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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 2015)
TraI¿ c deaths rise this year Holiday tradition, fun and shopping PAGE 4A INSIDE 143rd YEAR, No. 106 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015 ONE DOLLAR Tongue Point draws second protest )ired worker alleges unsafe work conditions, poor treatment of students By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Jars of marijuana sit in a display case at Sweet Relief on Oct. 1. As the smoke clears... Local pot sales hold steady By ERICK BENGEL The Daily Astorian R ecreational marijuana sales in Clatsop County have settled at a high plateau after the initial surge that occurred once state law began allowing medical dispensaries to sell the product early last month. “The wave’s over; we’re just getting a steady À ow of people now,´ 1ick Clark, owner of 1ature’s Choice Alternative Medicine in Astoria, said. Oregon authorized medical marijuana dispen- saries to temporarily sell up to a quarter-ounce of dried marijuana to adults 21 and older who don’t carry medical marijuana cards. The law’s passage came days after Measure 91 — which legalized the possession and use of recreational marijuana — went into effect in July. 1ature’s Choice, The )armacy and Sweet Re- lief 1atural Medicine in Astoria, and both High- way 42 and Cannabis 1ation in Seaside, were slammed with customers from day one. It took one to two weeks for the smoke to clear and customer bases to stabilize. “There was a ton of people that just wanted to do it for the novelty and check things out and were probably not going to be repeat customers, so that obviously went by the wayside,´ Steve *eiger, owner of Highway 420 in Seaside, said. Since then, store “regulars´ have declared themselves, with many incorporating the shops into their routine, especially on weekends, game nights and payday. Customers range from con- struction workers with bod y aches to service workers who want to sleep better, grandmas and grandpas who haven’t lit up in decades to patients weaning themselves off of opiates. “Even though it’s ‘recreational,’ quote end quote — just because you don’t have a piece of paper in plastic, a laminated medical card — it doesn’t mean you’re not going to get help (from A second ¿ red employee has ¿ led a complaint against Management and Training Corp. , the private operator of Tongue Point Job Corps Center in Astoria. Loretto Jones, a seamanship in- structor ¿ red last month, alleges she was retaliated against and eventually terminated for reporting unsafe work conditions, poor treatment of students, unquali¿ ed staff and other issues with Tongue Point’s seamanship program. A report by the corporation in response to Jones’ allegations found almost all of them unfounded. Jones ¿ led claims with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries earlier this month against both the Utah-based operator of Tongue Point and the In- landboatmen’s Union, which sponsor s the school’s seamanship program and employed her as an instructor. Culinary instructor 'eborah )ergu- son was ¿ red earlier this year and ¿ led complaints with the bureau against the corporation, alleging sex discrim- ination, disability discrimination and whistleblower retaliation. See PROTEST, Page 7A Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Shavaun Devlin, an employee at Hi, restocks the rack Tuesday. Hi prepackages their mari- juana for sale. smoking pot,´ Oscar 1elson, owner of Sweet Re- lief, said. And, of course, customers include perfectly healthy people who just wanna get blazed and eat nachos. “I think our store is probably doing wonders for the nacho industry at large,´ said Raja Afrika, a budtender at Hi Astoria, the latest dispensary to open in the city. Clientele By the owners’ rough estimates, 1ature’s Choice now sees about 60 to 70 people buying recreational marijuana per day; Highway 420, between 0 and 7; Cannabis 1ation and Sweet Relief, between 170 and 200 people per day. “Right off the bat, we saw close to 300 (per day) for a few days, and then it sort of tapered down,´ Tony .elly, general manager of Seaside’s Cannabis 1ation, said. “A lot of people were com- ing in just to get the prerolled joints — ‘joints for a penny’ — that we were doing. So we went through a lot of those.´ The )armacy declined to disclose how many customers the store sees daily, but co-owner 1ick Palazzo said that about 95 percent of them are rec- reational customers. Because of demand and increased clientele, Sweet Relief has added the equivalent of ¿ ve full- time employees. “It’s been amazing,´ 1elson said. “It’s just a lot more consumers than I originally imagined.´ Astoria O.s ¿ rst pot grow business Sign of high times in emerging industry By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian Looks like Teresa Estrada will get to sell her clam chowder from a vintage gillnetter, just not near the Bowpicker. Estrada received approval from the Astoria Planning Commission Tuesday night for a food cart off Industry Street at the Port of Astoria. The site is close to the Astoria Riverwalk and could attract trolley and cruise ship passengers, as well as boaters, ¿ shermen and other visitors to the Port and the Cannery Pier Hotel. In May, the City Council rejected Estrada’s re- quest to sell chowder from a 1946 gillnet boat on Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian A fading warehouse off Industry Street could be Astoria’s ¿ rst com- mercial marijuana growing operation. Jason Oei and Chris West are medical marijuana growers who are refurbishing the warehouse to grow commercial pot when applications become available next year. Sweet Relief, the pair said, will likely use space nearby for a retail marijuana shop. “*entlemen, welcome. This is a ¿ rst for the Planning Commission,´ said Dave Pearson, the president of the Astoria Planning Commission, which unanimously approved the growing site Tuesday night. “This is a ¿ rst for us, also,´ Oei said. The Oregon Liquor Control Com- mission is expected to start accepting applications for commercial growers, wholesalers, processors and retail outlets in January. With recreational marijuana only legal in Oregon since July, and lim- ited retail sales at medical marijuana dispensaries since October, these are still early and uncertain days for an emerging industry. See BOAT, Page 10A Teresa Estrada stands next to a 28-foot -long vintage gillnetter she plans on converting to a food cart for selling clam chowder. See BUSINESS, Page 10A See POT, Page 10A Chowder boat could go near Port City rebuffed two previous locations By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian