SEASIDE SOARS
OVER ASTORIA
FISHERMEN WIN
IN DOUBLE OT
SPORTS • 7A
SPORTS • 7A
143rd YEAR, No. 148
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016
ONE DOLLAR
Astoria
may ask
voters for
pot tax
MOVIE // THE FINEST HOURS
3 percent local tax would
bring levy to 20 percent
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Members of the U.S. Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary watch “The Finest Hours” during a special screening at Nep-
tune Theater in Long Beach, Wash ., on Friday. BELOW: Members of the U.S. Coast G uard come in from heavy surf training
near the North Jetty on Friday.
HOLLYWOOD ENDING
FOR DARING SURFMEN
Voters in Astoria may be asked in
November whether to impose a local tax on
recreational marijuana.
Astoria Police Chief Brad Johnston is
recommending the tax to help offset what he
describes as an increase in marijuana-related
police calls since the drug became legal in
Oregon last year.
“We do see a local impact from this new
business in our community,” Johnston said.
“To be honest, as a police department, we’re
now forced to spend more time thinking about
marijuana than we did prior to its legalization,
which is kind of counterintuitive.”
While most of the calls are about legal
activity, Johnston said, police still have to
spend time explaining the law. “As with most
of the work we’re doing these days, it’s not
enforcement work, but it’s that community
resource work,” he said.
The City Council on Monday night is
expected to discuss putting the local tax option
on the ballot.
See POT, Page 10A
Thriller about rescue a source of pride, honor for Coasties
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
L
ONG BEACH, Wash. — U.S. Coast
Guardsmen traveled en masse to
theaters over the weekend to see
“The Finest Hours,” the Disney
thriller about one of the service’s most
famous rescues at sea.
What some senior surfmen from
Station Cape Disappointment saw was an
homage to one of the greatest operations
in Coast Guard history, a bit of drama and
a reminder of how far their life saving tech-
nology has come.
The movie recounted the rescue of 32
of 33 mariners trapped aboard the stern
section of the SS Pendleton, an oil tanker
split in two by rough seas and run aground
on a shoal . The rescue crew, coxswain
Bernard Webber and three other Coast
Guardsmen from Chatham, Massachu-
setts, was awarded the Gold Lifesaving
Medal, one of the highest honors in the
Coast Guard.
See MOVIE, Page 10A
)RUPHU&%¿UH
chief amends
lawsuit, ups ante
Public records request yields
CB Fire District warnings
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH — The former Cannon
Beach ¿ re chief is seeking more money and
relief from retaliation and harassment in his
lawsuit against the Cannon Beach Rural Fire
Protection District.
An amended complaint ups the damages
Mike Balzer seeks to more than $677,000 and
asks for the reinstatement of
his employment bene¿ ts.
Balzer also asks the court
for relief from “ further retali-
ation or harassment” after his
¿ ring in October.
Balzer was ¿ re chief from
Mike Balzer January 2012 until Oct. 12 ,
when the ¿ re district’s board
voted 4-1 for his discharge. Balzer’s original
contract term ran through June 2017.
In the amended complaint ¿ led in Clatsop
County Circuit Court last week , Balzer said
the board retaliated against him because of
See CHIEF, Page 10A
‘MUSIC SPEAKS TO
THE INNER SELF’
R
OU
Y
E
E RV C A L L
S
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1
TO EA RT 5-321
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503
FEBRUARY 12TH
CLASSIFIEDS WILL BE
Love-themed three-singer recital planned Sunday in Nehalem
C
ANNON BEACH —
Even before she talked,
Susan Buehler sang;
that’s what her mother often
told her.
Now a voice and piano
instructor who gives private
lessons out of her Cannon
Beach home, Buehler’s living
— really, her whole life and
that of her husband, John —
has revolved around music.
“I know that that’s not
always the norm. Generally,
people have a job and they
do something else. But that,
literally, has been pretty much
our whole livelihood, on and
offstage,” she said.
The soprano is hosting and
performing in a recital at St.
Catherine Episcopal Church,
located between Nehalem and
Manzanita, on Sunday . (Yes,
that’s Super Bowl Sunday,
but the recital runs from 2 to
3:15 p.m., 15 minutes before
kickoff.)
In honor of Valentine’s
Day, the recital is all about
love — romantic love, unre-
quited love, love lost, love
found, love of spring, love of
God, ¿ lial love, brotherly love
— “a real expression of all
the colors of love,” said Deac
Guidi, a performer.
Guidi, a bass-baritone
from Warrenton and one
of Buehler’s students, will
join her onstage, along with
Adam Schwend, a baritone
from Tillamook who directs
the United Methodist Church
Choir in Nehalem; hence,
the show’s title: “Love x 3: A
Celebration in Song.”
See BUEHLER, Page 10A
OR EMAIL
CLASSIFIEDS @ DAILYASTORIAN . COM
DEADLINE IS
FEBRUARY 9 th
DEDICATED TO
LOVE!
E ACH HEART
PLACED WILL BE
ENTERED INTO A
DRAWING TO
SP EC IAL MESSAG
E
CONV ERSA TION
HEART S
$30 ea .
W IN
A bouquet of
flow ers and
a gift card to
T . P auls S upper C lub