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DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2017
144TH YEAR, NO. 189
ONE DOLLAR
JUSTICE REINVESTMENT
Airport ‘Man Cave’ invites scrutiny County
to look at
prison use
Clatsop high for drug
and property crimes
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
ARRENTON — For nearly a decade, retired den-
tist and Air National Guard a viator Philip Bales
has invited people into a fl ight-themed, conserva-
tive-tinged clubhouse — dubbed the Man Cave — at his
hangar next to the main terminal at Astoria Regional Airport.
Inside the 5,000-square-foot hangar, along with a few
airplanes, is a motley collection of recliners and couches
arranged like theater seating under a large projection
screen. A stocked bar sits in the corner under its own deco-
rative awning, with taps fed from a kegerator and a portrait
of movie star John Wayne greeting visitors.
“It just makes it a place to come and gather, and it pro-
motes the airport,” Bales said.
He and others have been perplexed by Port of Astoria
Commissioner Stephen Fulton’s decision to make the Man
Cave a political issue in the May special district election .
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Judge Paula Brownhill on Tuesday said
she will assign a work group to look at
whether Clatsop County is sending too many
felons convicted of drug and property crimes
to prison.
The county is among the top fi ve in
prison use for drug and property crimes since
the state began tracking data under the jus-
tice reinvestment initiative. The work group,
with representatives from the District Attor-
ney’s Offi ce, the Parole and Probation Divi-
sion and the defense
bar, will examine sen-
tencing orders and pro-
bation and determine
whether improvements
are necessary.
The state has
awarded nearly $54
million in grants to
counties since 2013
to supervise felons
locally and reduce
Judge
more costly prison Paula Brownhill
use. Clatsop County
has received more than
$600,000.
At a meeting in
Brownhill’s
court-
room Tuesday after-
noon among judges,
prosecutors, probation
offi cers and defense
attorneys, the presid-
ing judge of the Circuit
Court asked whether
Sheriff
the county is at risk
Tom Bergin
of losing state grant
money.
“It’s possible that they’ll take the money
back from the counties that aren’t per-
forming,” said Lt. Kristen Hanthorn of the
Sheriff’s Offi ce Parole and Probation
Division.
Sheriff Tom Bergin said it is unlikely the
county will lose state grant money in the
next two-year budget cycle, but could later.
The sheriff also said some counties, “and
we might be one of them,” could withdraw
from justice reinvestment if the state applies
pressure.
See ‘MAN CAVE’, Page 9A
The entrance to Philip Bales’ Man Cave at the Astoria Regional Air-
port is marked by a collection of conservative stickers.
See PRISON USE, Page 9A
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Philip Bales at his airplane hangar, known as the Man Cave, Monday at the Astoria Regional Airport.
Fulton makes
clubhouse a
political issue in
Port campaign
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
W
Costs of managing
pot taxes get high
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — The costs of
administering Oregon’s rec-
reational marijuana tax have
escalated since initial esti-
mates in 2015, and may be
poised to increase again.
In part, that’s because it’s
not yet clear just how much
it will cost to build a secure,
fi ve-station payment area in
the Oregon Department of
Revenue.
The project, department
offi cials say, is intended to
accommodate the cash tax
payments characteristic of
the marijuana industry, which
due to federal law is largely
excluded from mainstream
banking services. Many retail-
ers make their monthly pay-
ments in cash and in person,
and right now they use another
area of the revenue building
that was renovated for tempo-
rary cash handling.
The tax has proven a con-
siderable windfall for the state,
See POT TAXES, Page 9A
Smaller schools,
seismic worries
Bill seeks funds
for quake check
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Department of Revenue
The temporary marijuana
payment station at the De-
partment of Revenue in Sa-
lem. The costs associated
with collecting marijuana
taxes have been more than
originally estimated.
SALEM — The tiny Alsea
school district is asking state
lawmakers to approve fund-
ing for a seismic needs assess-
ment in small school districts
that were excluded from a
statewide seismic survey in
2007.
The Oregon Department
of Geology and Mineral
Industries conducted the sur-
vey to determine how many
schools would need retrofi ts
to withstand a catastrophic
earthquake, which are esti-
mated to strike the coast-
line an average of every 300
years.
A bill sponsored by state
Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West
Linn, would appropriate
$1 million to assess seismic
needs at those schools that
were excluded.
“Given the state of our
See BILL, Page 9A