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