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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 2016)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 Founded in 1873 DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Water under the bridge Compiled by Bob Duke From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers SOUTHERN EXPOSURE 10 years ago this week — 2006 Wildlife Biologist Kirsten Brennan is familiar with the Leadbetter Point refuge. She spends a lot of time there, keeping an eye on the prog- ress of the Western snowy plover, a small brown and white shorebird listed as endangered in Washington state. But on Sept. 5, she noticed something she had not seen before — a rare plant that had not been seen for about 56 years. To help the recovery of the plover, efforts are under way to restore the bird’s habitat. Invasive European beach grass has been scraped away and oyster shells spread over the exposed sand, ideal for the plovers’ nesting needs and similar to the open windswept sand dunes that once existed. Brennan was watching for the plovers when she noticed the plant. It grew low to the ground, gripping the sand. Interspersed among the thick, waxy green leaves were pink clusters of lowers, like small balls of trum- pets facing outward, no bigger than a thumb. “I felt stunned,” she said. Brennan had found some pink sandverbena. The last time anyone had seen the plant in Washington was in the early 1940s. In Washington, pink sandverbena is listed as “extirpated.” Once widespread, it is consid- ered endangered in Oregon, threatened or endangered in California, and a “species of concern,” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Wind and rain have worn the red off its walls, loosened the wooden slats that bind it together and left it pockmarked and sagging like an old barn. The Red Building is the last structure from the Union Fish- ermen’s Cooperative Packing Co. still standing on the water- front. Its patchy red frame sits on the pilings south of the Can- nery Pier Hotel. People from the Washington coast to Washington, D.C.. are lining up to buy space in this building. They are picturing white tablecloths and ine wine under its slouched roof and ballroom dancing on its battered wood loors. Young couples are tour- ing the loft inside, where bird droppings cover the ground, and reserving the space for their wedding day. Local entrepreneurs Ryan Davis and Shawn Helligso are transforming the former cannery maintenance shop into a shopping square with a banquet hall upstairs and rows of tall windows overlooking the Columbia River. 50 years ago — 1966 Architect’s sketch of Crown Zellerbach’s mill complex at Wauna shows how area will look in April 1967, when construction is to be finished. Several gillnetters last week found ish that apparently were dying but showed no visible sign of injury, according to William Puustinen, Colum- bia River Fishermen’s union oficial. Puustinen said he caught a salmon which would sink, then struggle to the surface, lap its gills rapidly, then sink again. He turned it over to Ore- gon Fish commission laboratory for study. Japanese ishing boats will drop 200 cider bottles into the Paciic Ocean off Hawaii next month in an unusual type of mail service. The bottles will be empty except for containing letters from Japanese school children here seeking pen pals from Mexico and the United States. The children hope the ocean currents will carry their bot- tled letters to the West Coast of America and Mexico. Three boats of the state’s ferry leet will be up for public auction Octo- ber 12, Oregon Highway Department has reported. Alaska Development company, which put up down payment on the boats Tourist 3 and Tourist 2 at an auction sale several weeks ago, has decided not to complete the deal, forfeited its down payment, and turned the boats back to the highway department. They will be offered again for sale. 75 years ago — 1941 In high spirits in more ways than one over the huge run of salmon in the river, Arthur Michael Lehto, a Saturday night celebrant, was arrested by city police at Thirty Third Street and Waterfront for breaking car windows in his own car. Patrolman B. Mathre was dispatched to the scene where he found Lehto armed with rocks he was throwing with as delib- erate aim as he could muster at the windows of a car. Before Mathre could stop Lehto the back window shattered under the impact of a well-directed toss. Police were unable to explain why Lehto was iring at his own machine. Their only guess was that he didn’t realize it was his own car. Mathre’s report noted that Lehto was “feeling very good” and was well provisioned to continue in his happy mood. He was booked for disorderly conduct and released on $15 bail. The following information on iring practice from Fort Canby was released this week by harbor defenses of the Columbia River. “There will be iring by seacoast artillery from Fort Canby, Washing- ton on Oct. 3 or as soon thereafter as the weather permits. The target will be a red pylon about two miles west of channel buoy No. 1 at the mouth of the Columbia River. When saying yes means ‘just say no’ By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian I n Cannon Beach the biggest sur- prise of the November election is the sound of silence. After a City Council meeting this spring opened the doors licensing of retail marijuana dispensaries within city limits, opponents reacted quickly. “We will do an initiative,” Cannon Beach resi- dent Marlene Laws announced after the meeting. Despite the success of state Measure 91 allow- ing recreational sale and possession of small amounts of marijuana — approved by 63 percent of Cannon Beach voters in November 2014 — the city only licenses businesses which abide by local, state and fed- eral law, which excludes pot. After hearing opinions from both sides of the issue, councilors considered an array of options, including to opt out of state law and maintain a ban on marijuana sales Sam Chapman of New Economy Consulting appeared before the council announcing his intention to open a dispensary, but until the city makes up its mind one way or another, he decided to wait. “We are waiting for the Cannon Sam Beach City Council Chapman to make a decision to allow medical marijuana dispensa- ries,” Chapman, who lobbied for the state’s Measure 91 legalizing recre- ational cannabis, said in March. “It sounds like they’re split on the issue. I hope they decide that they’re bring- ing new jobs and a new economy … I’m hoping sooner rather than later the council will allow dispensaries to exist.” In April, with pressure to take action from the state, councilors were divided over the range of options: repeal of the existing ordinance that prohibits the operation of any mari- juana facility, declare a ban on sales or refer the matter back to the voters. Councilors never actually approved or denied the licensing of retail dispensaries; rather, they voted not to vote. Their action effectively opened the city’s door to retail dis- pensaries and recreational sales. Opt-out initiative Either way, residents could have forced an initiative to reverse their decision, and they did. Marlene and Gary Laws, Jeremy Randolph, Nancy Giasson and Molly Edison formed the committee that brought the opt-out initiative to the city. “I’d ask that you consider the fact that there is no good place in Cannon Beach for recreational marijuana sales,” Randolph said. “I moved to Cannon Beach for a very speciic purpose. I wanted to live in a village. This is not a tourist town; this is a resort town.” Their declaration immediately sent off alarm bells. Pro-pot and anti-pot yard signs in Cannon Beach during peak tourist months? That’s something Cannon Beach City Councilor George Vetter said he feared. “It’ll be headlines in Portland,” Vetter said at a late- spring Cannon Beach Chamber of Submitted photo Lawn signs like this one from NORML have yet to make their appear- ance in Cannon Beach. R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian Zach Zappone of Sweet Relief at the August THC Fair in Astoria. Cannon Beach cannabis users may have to be satisfied with sweet relief outside of their own city limits. Commerce coffee meeting. “Not too many towns are saying no with the kind of reputation we have. We’re a very well-known community. We reach to Vancouver, Seattle. If we don’t have to go through that, I don’t want to be the impetus.” Vetter said he feared the city would lose out on state and local sales tax revenue on the sale of can- nabis— disallow it and get nothing from the state’s projected annual take of more than $50 million in cannabis tax revenue. “But the main risk of denying permits for cannabis sales is the publicity that would be associated with the decision,” Vetter said. “This is going to be during our peak season. We’re going to have all these marijuana signs, in stores and shops, signs that would be a distraction.” In early July, the City Council voted 4-1 to adopt an ordinance with time, place and manner restrictions for medical and recreational mari- juana businesses, limiting sales down from Ecola Creek to Washington Street on the south, midtown from Harrison Street on the north to Elliot Way on the south, and Tolovana Park from Delta Street on the north to the northern boundary of Sand Castle Condominiums on the south. On the ballot As they had announced, Randolph and the anti-cannabis lobby in Cannon Beach gathered the 155 signatures and iled their petition. Measure 4-179 prohibits the sale of recreational marijuana in Cannon Beach, and asks voters: “Shall recreational marijuana pro- ducers, processors, wholesalers, and retailers be prohibited in Cannon Beach?” If voted in, the measure would prohibit the establishment and operation of recreational marijuana producers, processors, wholesalers and retailers within the city of Cannon Beach. If approved, the city would be ineligible to receive a share of state marijuana tax revenue and unable to impose local taxes or fees on its sale. A separate vote initiated by the city will ask residents if a 3 percent tax should be applied to recreational marijuana sales. The lawn signs feared? Not so much. Cannon Beach cannabis advo- cates are more furtive than a tourist with a vape pen. Chapman and possibly others yet to declare themselves are waiting for the city’s results. “We are waiting for the November vote to occur, then will move forward with solidifying our inal location,” potential dispensary owner Chapman said. Stalemate Until then, the city is at a stale- mate. City Planner Mark Barnes said the city’s business license require- ments remain the same as they were before state residents endorse Measure 91. “Since marijuana is still illegal by federal law, we can not accept any business license applications at this time,” Barnes said. As for the lawn signs and national publicity? No one registered an opposition to the initiative when it was adver- tised in the paper per Oregon law, Barnes said. “So I do not know of any organized opposition to the ini- tiative to ban recreational marijuana businesses within the city limits of Cannon Beach.” City Manager Brant Kucera said there has “not been a lot of activity” on either side, and the city had not received any licensing requests. “I’ve had maybe in the last six months two phone calls — and really nothing. It’s pretty low-key, apparently.” “It’s pretty much under the covers,” Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Court Carrier said this month. “I do hear that people have so much access in other communities, it doesn’t seem to be a pressing issue.” “I think Trump’s trumping it,” Kevan Ridgway of the chamber added. R.J. Marx is The Daily Astori- an’s South County reporter and edi- tor of the Seaside Signal and Cannon Beach Gazette.
