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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 2015)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2015 State Euys pot tracking system, despite lawsuit By HILLARY BORRUD Capital Bureau SALEM — The Oregon Liquor Control Commission continues to move ahead with implementing its seed-to-sale tracking system for recreation- al marijuana, despite a lawsuit ¿ led Ey an unsuccessful Eidder The agency recently signed a million contract award- ed to the Lakeland, )la-Eased company Franwell, which was among approximately 25 ¿ rms that responded during the Eidding process Franwell pro- vides the tracking system used Ey Colorado marijuana regula- tors while BioTrackTHC, also Eased in Florida, provides the pot tracking system used in :ashington state BioTrackTHC ¿ led a law- suit against Oregon in May, alleging the state incorrectly awarded points to Franwell due to a transcription error and improperly deducted points from BioTrackTHC for vari- ous reasons Franwell ¿ led a countersuit in July, alleging that BioTrack- THC was unquali¿ ed to Eid on the Oregon contract Eecause the company has a ¿ nancial in- terest in the marijuana industry Oregon’s request for proposals required companies to attest they had no connection to the marijuana industry through a vendor, their employees or suEcontractors According to Franwell’s lawyers, “the prin- cipals of BioTrackTHC have direct economic interests in the production and user consump- tion of marijuana through their involvement and ownership of companies such as IKush, Inc and the 1ational CannaEis ChamEer of Commerce ´ Franwell cited records from a federal lawsuit in Florida, which revealed BioTrackTHC executives also head up IKush — which provides a search ap- plication for consumers to ¿ nd in-stock legal marijuana — and the 1ational CannaEis Cham- Eer of Commerce, which has the stated goal of “aggressive economic development´ of the pot industry Franwell asked the court to ¿ nd that BioTrackTHC made false assertions during the Eidding process and was not a quali¿ ed Eidder NORTH COAST Cruisin’ at Wheels and Waves Operational by January Mark Pettinger, a spokes- man for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, said the agency wants the tracking system to Ee operational Ey January so that employees can organize a statewide tour to introduce it to marijuana grow- ers, processors and retailers “My expectation would Ee that we would do a techni- cal tour in early January that would focus on the seed-to- sale system,´ Pettinger said “I do know that our system won’t replicate Colorado’s There are going to Ee things that are unique to this one´ The commission also plans to conduct a statewide tour in 'ecemEer to introduce the marijuana industry to the on- line application system recre- ational pot Eusinesses must use to oEtain state licenses, which the state oEtained from a differ- ent vendor Measure 91, which legal- ized marijuana for all adults age 21 and older in Oregon, requires the commission to Ee- gin accepting applications for licenses from retailers and oth- er Eusinesses Ey January 21 Nearly the same score The seven-person team that evaluated Franwell and BioTrackTHC’s Eid propos- als gave them nearly the same score According to court doc- uments, Franwell received an average of 915 out of 1 possiEle points, and BioTrack- THC received an average of 925 points BioTrackTHC asked the court to prevent the state from signing a contract with Franwell and require the Oregon Liquor Control Com- mission to reconsider the pro- posals In court documents ¿ led in July, lawyers for the state and Franwell said that the is- sues cited Ey BioTrackTHC do not constitute grounds for protesting the Eid award, or for judicial review, under Oregon law A hearing on the state and Franwell’s motion to dismiss BioTrackTHC’s lawsuit is cur- rently scheduled for OctoEer in Marion County Circuit Court The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Me- dia Group and Pamplin Media Group. Jeff Ter Har/For The Daily Astorian Downtown Eecomes sea of classic cars for weekend By KATHERINE LACAZE EO Media Group SEASIDE — Seaside’s downtown was transformed into a large-scale display of quality classic cars for the annual Wheels and Waves car show The Seaside Downtown De- velopment Association’s event, held last Thursday through Sun- day, featured aEout 3 cars, up from 2 in 21 As always, a Eig hit was Thursday’s Senior Cruise, when dozens of early Eirds toured Seaside’s three as- sisted-living facilities — Ava- mere at Suzanne Elise, Avamere at Seaside and 1eawanna By the Sea — and ¿ nally stopped at Thousand Trails’ Seaside RV By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian A Seaside man involved in a hammer attack against another man was sentenced Friday in Clatsop County Circuit Court to more than ¿ ve years in prison Joshua Lee Fitch, 23, plead- ed no contest to a lesser charge of second-degree assault He was originally charged with attempted murder, roE- Eery, criminal conspiracy and theft The charges were dropped through a plea agreement In FeEruary , Seaside Police responded to Providence Sea- side Hospital after receiving a report of a man who had suf- fered a serious head injury The man reported Eeing as- saulted with hammers Ey two The Daily Astorian Pamplin Media Group The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has gone for- ward with a contract to buy marijuana tracking technol- ogy despite a lawsuit brought by a competing vendor. Coast Guard suspends search for missing Eoaters GRAYS HARBOR, :ash — The 8S Coast Guard has suspended the search for two people miss- ing after their Eoat cap- sized Thursday night Thomas Miller, , and Tina Pittman, 1, Eoth from Olympia, :ash, were on a fishing trip when their 2-foot Boston :hal- er capsized in the surf off of the 1orth Jetty of Grays HarEor, :ash The Coast Guard, after Eeing tipped off Ey a Eeach walker, searched the area with an MH- Jayhawk from Air Station Astoria, a -foot motor lifeEoat from Station Grays HarEor, and the -foot patrol Eoat Adelie from Port Angeles, :ash By Friday morning, the Eoat had washed up near Ocean Shores, :ash The Coast Gu ard suspend- ed the search Friday night, after covering 555 square miles in 2 hours “The decision to sus- pend a search is extremely difficult,´ said Capt Dan- iel Travers, commander of Coast Guard Sector Co- lumEia River, in a release Friday “Our thoughts and prayers are with the miss- ing Eoaters and their fam- ilies´ The Coast Guard sus- pends a search after a proE- aEle search area is saturated and a person is not located It can resume the search if crediEle information is re- ceived aEout the missing person’s whereaEouts Resort for a EarEecue, courtesy of Thousand Trails On Saturday, the cars took to the streets for a cruise through downtown Seaside Attendees lined the streets on the tour route to get a glimpse of the cars in action From Friday to Sunday, the cars were parked along Broad- way, from its intersection with Holladay Drive to the Turn- around, and a few side streets for the Show and Shine The area was Elocked off, so pe- destrians could freely roam the streets, look at the cars and talk to owners That’s what car shows are all aEout, “appreciation for the cars,´ according to John OsEorn, of Kennewick, Wash, who at- tended the show with his two- tone 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air He has come to Seaside for Wheels and Waves almost every year since 2 “This little community here is one of the hardest ones not to come to,´ he said Man involved in hammer attack gets over 5 years other men, lat- er identi¿ ed as Fitch and Kev- in Michael Burnham Fitch and Burnham Joshua were arrested Lee Fitch a week later in Seaside after a police investigation Prosecutor Dave Goldthor- pe said the two men tried to roE or steal from the victim in what appeared to Ee a drug deal sit- uation The two went after the victim and fractured his skull, which required expensive med- ical treatments to save his life “It’s due to the extreme mea- sures taken Ey medical staff that (Fitch) was not facing a murder conviction on this,´ Goldthorpe said Riverwalk Inn tops Port Commission agenda The Daily Astorian 3A The Port of Astoria Com- mission meets Tuesday, with the Eidding for a long-term operator of the Astoria Riverwalk Inn the ¿ rst advisory item The Port Commission re- cently voted to install Astoria Hospitality Ventures in the ho- tel The group is led Ey :illiam Orr, a native Astorian, Eusiness- man and lawyer from Seattle, and Chester TraEucco, former developer of the Hotel Elliott 1ext is a discussion of Con- nect Oregon VI, the next round of infrastructure grants from the Oregon Department of Trans- portation Applications Eecome availaEle Oct 5 and are due Ey 1ov 2 The Port used Connect IV to refurEish a dock on the east side of Pier 2 Connect V is helping pay the local match on a $5 million grant from the Federal Avia- tion Administration for runway overlay at the Astoria Regional Airport The Port Commission went out for Eids on the project, and came Eack with one from K & E Excavating in Salem, which commissioner James CampEell said was more than $1 million over the Port’s Eudget The Port Commission voted unanimous- ly to reject the proposal and go Eack out for more Eids As an action item, the Port will present a design for its central waterfront stormwater treatment system In August 21, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality noti- ¿ ed the Port it would have to ad- here to Tier II Corrective Action requirements after two years of sampling revealed unacceptaEle levels of copper coming from its stormwater drains near P iers 1 and 3 It mandated that Ey June 3, the Port must have op- erational a system that meets the heightened requirements The Port Commission on Tuesday will also hear a propos- al from Brim Aviation, which wants to Eecome the private operator of the Astoria Regional Airport The meeting takes place pm Tuesday at the old Port of¿ c- es, 22 Gateway Ave, Suite 1 In court Friday, Fitch’s de- fense lawyer James Lee von Boeckmann said further investi- gation showed the two men did go after the victim, Eut it was Burnham who had the hammer and Eegan wailing on the vic- tim Burnham stopped hitting the man only Eecause Fitch in- tervened “I saved his life I really did I didn’t take the steps to call police to go get him, Eut I do Eelieve I saved his life,´ Fitch said “I told the truth and gave evidence and it doesn’t matter I’m still getting ¿ ve years´ Fitch said he had never met Burnham until the day of the attack “He was just in my car and he asked me to give him a ride somewhere and that’s how it started,´ Fitch said Judge Cindee Matyas ex- plained to Fitch how he should not have Eeen in that situation She ordered him to have no contact with Burnham or the victim, as part of the -month sentence “Consequences are huge,´ she said Fitch also pleaded no contest Friday to possession of metham- phetamine from an earlier case Last month, Burnham, 25, pleaded guilty to second-degree roEEery from the hammer at- tack He also pleaded guilty to ¿ rst-degree attempted escape from Clatsop County Jail and to possession of methamphet- amine from a previous case A sentencing hearing for Burnham is scheduled Sept 25 in Clatsop County Circuit Court W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500 A nnual B luegrass 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Portion of the proceeds w ill benef it S HS Robotics Entry-level Customer Service Representative for The Daily Astorian’s circulation department. A can-do attitude and willingness to learn are necessary. You will help customers in person, by phone and through email, plus do data-entry and create reports. This position is also a back-up driver, delivering products as needed. Must be able to lift up to 40 pounds and be willing to learn to drive a delivery van. Driving and criminal background checks will be completed pre-hire. Hours are generally 9 am to 6 pm, Monday through Friday. Benefits include paid time off (PTO), insurances and a 401(k)/Roth 401(k) retirement plan. Send resume and letter of interest to EO Media Group, PO Box 2048, Salem, OR 97308-2048, by fax to 503-371-2935 or e-mail to:hr@eomediagroup.com