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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JULY 18, 2016
Voter privacy, emergency
clause initiatives fail to
make November ballot
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Two initia-
tive petitions — one requir-
ing written consent to release
voter information and another
to restrict the use of emer-
gency clauses in legislation
— have failed to qualify for
the November ballot.
The campaign for Initia-
tive Petition 49, No More
Fake Emergencies Act, failed
to submit enough signatures
to reach the 117,578 threshold
for a constitutional change to
the law. The act would have
required a two-thirds major-
ity vote in the Legislature to
declare an emergency when it
passes a bill.
Lawmakers have increas-
ingly used emergency clauses
in bills in order to achieve a
quicker effective date. Add-
ing the clause removes vot-
ers’ constitutional right to
contest the legislation via a
referendum on the ballot.
The campaign needed
28,171 additional valid signa-
tures to secure a position on
the ballot, but turned in only
26,000, according to the Sec-
retary of State’s Ofice.
Chief petitioners Eric
Winters of Wilsonville and
Jason Williams of Beaverton
proposed the measure.
Initiative Petition 50, the
Voter Privacy Act, would
have prohibited release of
speciic voter information
without voters’ express con-
sent. Public oficials who
violated the law would have
faced a class A misdemeanor,
according to the initiative
proposed by Richard Taylor
Whitehead of Aloha.
Next week, the Secretary
of State’s Ofice plans to ver-
ify signatures for IP 67, which
allows lottery funds to be
used for outdoor school pro-
grams. IP 68, which would
prohibit the sale of products
made from 12 endangered
species, also is on schedule
for signature veriication next
week, said Molly Woon, a
spokeswoman for the secre-
tary of state.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Brown unveils plan to
reduce gun violence
Plan to close loopholes, improve
data on gun-related deaths
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
PORTLAND — Gov. Kate
Brown has unveiled a multi-
pronged plan for decreasing
gun violence in the state.
The plan, “Oregonians
United to End Gun Violence,”
involves state legislation to
close loopholes on exist-
ing gun control measures and
executive orders to keep bet-
ter records on gun transactions
and gun-related deaths.
“Since I was sworn in as
governor 17 months ago, more
than 600 Oregonians have died
from violence inlicted by a
gun,” Brown said. “Violence
answers nothing, offers noth-
ing, solves nothing.”
Brown said she plans to
propose legislation in 2017 to
close the so-called “Charleston
loophole,” which allows a gun
purchase to move forward if
law enforcement hasn’t deter-
mined the buyer’s eligibility
within three days.
She said she also intends
to close the “boyfriend loop-
hole,” which expands the types
of relationships that qualify for
gun dispossession when con-
victed of domestic violence
charges. Her third proposal
would outlaw future purchases
of extended-capacity gun
magazines. These magazines
enable iring repeatedly with-
out having to reload.
Brown also plans to issue
an executive order to require
Oregon State Police to retain
irearms transactions for ive
years and to require the Ore-
gon Health Authority to report
annually on gun deaths and
their effect on public health and
to recommend policy changes.
She also is establishing a
work group to review counties’
gun relinquishment protocols
and recommended a statewide
policy to enhance the safety of
Paris Achen/Pamplin Media Group
Gov. Kate Brown Friday an-
nounced a plan intended to
reduce gun violence.
domestic violence survivors.
Brown made the announce-
ment Friday at the Veter-
ans Memorial Coliseum here
lanked by U.S. Rep. Suzanne
Bonamici, other elected ofi-
cials and gun safety advocates.
After her announcement,
Pastor Mark Knuston of the
Augustana Lutheran Church
announced that he and other
faith leaders plan to circulate
an initiative petition to ban
assault weapons and high-ca-
pacity magazines in Oregon.
House Minority Leader
Mike McLane, R-Powell
Butte, issued a statement call-
ing for bipartisan dialogue on
any gun control measures.
“Oregon House Repub-
licans welcome a conversa-
tion about how to address vio-
lence in our communities, but
it is absolutely critical that
those conversations maintain
the appropriate level of respect
for Oregonians’ constitu-
tional rights and the thousands
upon thousands of gun own-
ers in this state who respon-
sibly exercise their Second
Amendment rights and Article
I, Section 27 rights every day,”
McLane said. “Sadly, this ele-
ment of the conversation is all
too often an afterthought for
politicians in Salem.”
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Astoria Riverwalk Inn operators want to expand
Interested
in leasing
the Chinook
Building
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
William Orr and Ches-
ter Trabucco, the operators
of the Astoria Riverwalk Inn
for the Port of Astoria, want
to lease the adjacent Chinook
Building.
On the agenda of Tuesday’s
Port Commission meeting is a
proposal by Marina Village
LLC, a company registered to
Orr, to lease the building for
20 years at $6,000 a month,
with two 20-year extension
options.
Marina Village would take
over the building’s leases
and handle maintenance. The
building includes Northwest
Wild Products, the Astoria
Yacht Club and ofices for an
accountant, real estate com-
pany, tax service and ish-
ing charter company. The
Port makes $4,200 a month in
rental income from the tenants.
Trabucco said there are no
plans to change the tenants.
“We see the building as a
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
The Chinook Building is home to the Astoria Yacht Club, a seafood market and offices for
a fishing charter company, accountants, tax preparers and real estate agents.
long-term … nice enhance-
ment to the waterfront,” Tra-
bucco said. “I don’t see a
change of occupancy by any
stretch of the imagination.”
He said the tenant mix
in the Chinook Building is
already similar to that of No.
10 Sixth St., a commercial
waterfront building he owned
with more than 30 tenants that
burned down in 2010. Tra-
bucco also restored the Hotel
Elliott downtown before sell-
ing his interest in 2010.
Nearly a year ago, the Port
Commission voted to install
Orr and Trabucco as short-
term operators of the Riv-
erwalk Inn. Cliff Fick, an
adviser to Orr and Trabucco,
regularly reports to the Port
Commission on renovations
and repairs to the hotel.
Fishy problem
The lease could help solve
disagreements between the
Port and NW Wild Products
over plumbing issues and util-
ity bills.
The company claims the
Port has not plumbed the
underside of the Chinook
Building properly, causing
repeated backups. The Port,
which delivered a notice of
default on NW Wild Products’
lease in May, claims the com-
pany is causing the backups
by not properly disposing of
seafood and sand.
As part of its lease, Marina
Village would pay $7,200 in
past-due bills the Port says
NW Wild Products owes for
pipe repairs and clogs.
Trabucco and Orr have
also shown interest in the for-
mer Seafare Restaurant next
to the Chinook Building. The
Port announced in February
that a new master plan for the
agency was needed before
offering up the former restau-
rant. Vacant since the 2000s,
the restaurant was once a
popular destination and was
used for a dinner scene in the
1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger
movie “Kindergarten Cop.”
Ongoing lawsuit
Astoria Hospitality Ven-
tures — Orr and Trabucco’s
partnership — is technically
the short-term operator of the
Riverwalk Inn while the Port
waits for the resolution of a
lawsuit over the operation of
the hotel.
The Port, Executive Direc-
tor Jim Knight, Trabucco and
Orr are defendants in a suit
iled by Param Hotel Group,
the spurned suitor for the
Riverwalk Inn. Param has
claimed the Port breached an
existing agreement with the
company when it chose Hos-
pitality Ventures to take over
operation of the hotel from
indebted former operator
Brad Smithart and his com-
pany, Hospitality Masters.
Orr and Trabucco were
added as co-defendants in the
case on claims they had inter-
fered with the agreement by
using their connections on
the commission. Orr’s broth-
er-in-law is Port Commis-
sioner Stephen Fulton. Param
also claims Orr is friends
with Port Commissioner Bill
Hunsinger.
Clatsop County Circuit
Court Judge Philip Nelson in
May granted Trabucco and
Orr’s motion to be removed
from the case, agreeing that
the company’s lobbying of
the Port Commission was pro-
tected activity.
Hospitality
Ventures
requested more than $89,000
worth of attorney fees for
seven different attorneys used
in the case. Param objected,
claiming the fees were grossly
unreasonable and asking the
court to award Hospitality
Ventures $10,000. The parties
are set to next meet in court in
late July.
New Mr. Doobees pot store coming to the peninsula
By LUKE WHITTAKER
EO Media Group
SEAVIEW, Wash. — Pen-
insula residents looking to
buy marijuana will soon have
an option close to home. Mr.
Doobees, a Raymond-based
retail marijuana dispensary, is
branching out to Seaview.
The new store on 40th
Street is likely to open in late
July, pending a inal inspection
by the Washington State Liquor
and Cannabis Board.
“We’re shooting for the
end of July,” said H.J. Norris,
a managing member of Mr.
Doobees.
Looking for a chance
After an initial bid to open a
shop in Long Beach didn’t pan
out, Mr. Doobees opened in
Raymond in November 2014.
Upon returning to the pen-
insula when a commercial
lot became available, Norris
believed there would likely be
some resistance by residents in
their bid to open the irst dis-
pensary in Seaview. The dif-
ference this time was support
and letters of recommendation
from Raymond city oficials,
including one from the chief
of police, according to Nor-
ris. He presented the testimoni-
als during a permit meeting in
June where Seaview residents
weighed in with concerns.
Some attendees expressed
concern that the new pot shop,
located in a building that pre-
viously housed a Windermere
real estate ofice, could bring
unwanted trafic to the area.
Others said they did not want a
marijuana shop so close to the a
school bus stop at North Place.
Norris was willing to comply
with the suggestions, which
included a temporary fence to
shield the marijuana business
from view from the bus stop.
“It’s a very reasonable
request,” Norris said, “We’re
really trying to do our best
to be good stewards of the
community.”
Luke Whittaker/EO Media Group
Mr. Doobees, a Ray-
mond-based retail marijua-
na dispensary, will open a
store in Seaview in July.
“They asked us if we
could change the name,” Nor-
ris said. After some thought,
a new name came to him. “I
remembered the irst concert I
ever went to, it was the Doo-
bie Brothers,” he said. It was
during that long-ago show in
Los Angeles where Norris tried
marijuana for the irst time. It
left a lasting impression. Norris
altered the spelling from “Doo-
bie” to “Doobee” to avoid any
potential trademark clash with
the rock band. “It was a great
accidental choice that people
identify with,” he explained.
Locally grown,
low price
Norris is mindful that there’s
less disposable income in rural
areas, where minimum wages
and ixed incomes are more
common and lower prices are
often a primary selling point.
“We offer very fair pric-
ing,” Norris said, adding there
are often strains of pot in stock
that sell for just $4 to $6 per
All in the name
“Mr. Doobees” wasn’t the
original name of the business.
They were just about to open
their irst store in Raymond
when they became aware
the initial name was consid-
ered too similar to an existing
company.
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gram. “The majority are under
$10 per gram,” Norris said.
The average price for pot is
$10.34 per gram, according to
the liquor and cannabis board.
Norris and his partners strive
for a balance between quality
and affordability.
“We don’t look at it as being
cheap, we look at it as being as
fair as possible,” Norris said.
Since opening in 2014, Mr.
Doobees has totaled $454,430
in retail sales. They’ve been
averaging about $20,000 a
month in sales so far in 2016.
Their best month was August
2015, when nearly $36,000 in
sales were recorded, according
to state igures.
Norris credits a people-irst
philosophy for being the secret
behind their early success.
“We treat them like human
beings — we’re not here to just
collect their money,” Norris
explained. “We’re not here to
just serve cannabis. We’re here
to help you achieve any goal
you might have. And I think
that goes a long way with most
folks.”