S ERVING THE S ILVERTON A REA S INCE 1880
50 C ENTS
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A U NIQUE E DITION OF THE S TATESMAN J OURNAL
V OL . 135, N O . 13
W EDNESDAY , M ARCH 16, 2016
SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
Voters will decide on taxing marijuana
Measure could allow city
to implement 3 percent tax
Sheldon Traver
Special to the Statesman Journal
On March 7, the Silverton
City Council made decisions on
municipal code changes, a sales
tax on marijuana, new fran-
chise agreements and more.
In November, voters will get
to decide whether or not to al-
low the city to implement a 3
percent tax on the sale of mari-
juana and marijuana products.
The council approved a mea-
sure that will place it on the bal-
lot. Mayor Rick Lewis ex-
pressed concern that the city
didn’t have the ability to revoke
a business license for specific
crimes.
“Potentially, someone could
commit a fraudulent act, be in-
vestigated and charged with it
and still operate until OLCC
(Oregon Liquor Control Com-
mission) takes action,” he said.
“That’s a little disconcerting to
me.”
Oregon state law requires
city to send tax requests to the
voters and cannot be imple-
mented until approved by vot-
ers in Silverton city limits.
The council had its first read-
ing on proposed code changes
within the general commercial
district. It increases the mini-
mum level of design for new
buildings within the district.
Most of the available commer-
cial property sits along North
First Street near Roth’s Fresh
Market.
The proposed changes in-
cluded a ban on bubble style aw-
nings in favor of flat, pitched
awnings, requiring decorative
details on street facing roofs,
restrictions on specific building
materials such as glass block,
poured concrete and more.
A code amendment to limit
the number of stories allowed
on residential and commercial
buildings was also approved.
The change came after develop-
ers for the proposed Silver
Place Apartments sought to
build 3-story units that met the
city’s height restrictions. After
prolonged discussions, the
council asked for code changes
to specify the maximum num-
ber of stories a building could
be. Additionally, the city council
approved new franchise agree-
ments with WAVE Cable and
Frontier Communications.
Marijuana
dispensary
opens in
Silverton
SILVERTON GIRLS
WIN STATE TITLE
Sheldon Traver
Special to the Appeal Tribune
After recently approved
changes to Silverton’s ordi-
nances to allow marijuana pro-
duction and sales, the city’s
first dispensary has opened.
On March 5, Lucky Leaf
opened its doors for recre-
ational and medical marijuana
sales. The shop is co-owned by
Colby Jackson and Lesta Bent-
ley, both long-time advocates
for medical marijuana use.
They first considered a
shop in Silverton last summer,
but the city hadn’t yet ap-
proved sales in the city or de-
cided how to zone retail and
production facilities.
“We have actually talked
about a facility for years,”
Bentley said. “In August we
started looking for locations in
Silverton, but had trouble
finding a location outside of
the expected exclusion zone
and someone who would rent
to us.”
Eventually, they found a lo-
cation at 208 Jersey Street
next to the Old Oak Oven, but
still had to wait for the city
council to approve zoning
changes and regulations be-
fore submitting a business li-
cense application.
“Once we found the loca-
tion, everything else came
through,” Bentley said. “It
seemed all of the doors opened
to us.”
Bentley’s journey to mari-
juana sales started when close
family members were diag-
nosed with disorders includ-
ing ALS, also known as Lou
Gehrig’s disease, and seizure
disorders. She was the pri-
mary caregiver for both her
brother and a nephew and saw
for herself the difference can-
nabinoid products made for
them.
“I wasn’t interested be-
cause of recreational use,” she
said. “Even if it wasn’t some-
thing that would save their
lives, it was a quality of life is-
sue.”
While Bentley and Jackson
both own the Lucky Leaf,
Bentley is the one who primar-
ily makes recommendations
on product strains and dos-
ages to their customers be-
SHELDON TRAVER/SPECIAL TO THE APPEAL TRIBUNE
Silverton High School won the OSAA 5A state title against Springfield on Saturday, defeating Springfield 39-38.
The Silverton Foxes outscored Springfield 18-8 in the final period and scored a 39-38 win against the Millers in the Class 5A
state championship game at Oregon State University’s Gill Coliseum.
The Foxes finished 28-0 — the first undefeated season in the program’s history.
Read more, Page 1B.
See MARIJUANA, Page 2A
Online at
Silverton
Appeal.com
Whitney M Woodworth
NEWS UPDATES
Statesman Journal
» Breaking news
» Get updates from the
Silverton area
A community is in
mourning following a fa-
tal crash Friday near Mol-
alla that killed a Bethany
Charter School teacher
and a Silverton High
School student.
Grief counselors were
on hand at both schools
last Monday to help stu-
dents and faculty cope
with the deaths of Doug-
las Bonham, a fifth- and
sixth-grade teacher at Be-
See VIGIL, Page 4A
PHOTOS
» Photo galleries
INSIDE
Briefs......................................3A
Calendar ...............................2A
Classifieds..............................3B
Life..........................................4A
Obituaries.............................2A
Police logs.............................2A
Sports......................................1B

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Community members gather
for a candlelight vigil for
Douglas Bonham and
Matthew Albrecht at
Bethany Charter School in
Silverton last Monday.

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25
Schools mourn
student, teacher