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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2017
Drug busts: Charges come with a ‘school zone enhancement’
Continued from Page 1A
Merrill and Morris were
arrested shortly after the search
began. According to the arrest
reports, a deputy also briefly
detained a female roommate
after finding small quantities
of heroin and meth on her bed-
side table.
Downtown, Raymond offi-
cer Sean Jarvis escorted Deko,
a drug-sniffing German shep-
herd around the buildings at
about 11 a.m., while Long
Beach officers Casey Meling,
Don Tardiff and Rodney Nawn
combed through the jum-
bled contents of Long Beach
Mopeds.
Outside, officers fended off
curious members of the pub-
lic. A family of cyclists warily
approached the moped rental
office, explaining that the
owner had offered to fill their
bike tires. They were turned
away.
“You’re not going to dis-
appoint us, are you?” asked a
surprised-looking mom who
had just unloaded her family
in front of the go-kart ticket
office.
“I’m afraid I am,” a Wash-
ington State Patrol trooper
replied. At that point, officers
cut the zip-ties that secured a
large “OPEN” sign to a tele-
phone pole, and hauled it into
the shop.
Investigators pried open
lock-boxes, sifted through
drawers, and tried to find a path
through a dim garage crammed
with bikes, mopeds and parts.
An open door at the large,
green bumper car building
revealed a small front room
that had been set up as a make-
shift barber shop. The room
was littered with empty pro-
pane cans, but nothing of obvi-
ous interest to police.
In the bag
At the house, a sheriff’s
deputy and his canine partner,
Ciko, were having better luck.
When Ciko caught the scent
of something big, Jarvis and
Deko came to help out.
In the couple’s bedroom, the
dogs led investigators to Mor-
ris’s purse and a metal brief-
case that Merrill used to carry
cash deposits from the go-kart
track to the bank. According to
Natalie St. John/EO Media Group
Long Beach Mayor Jerry Phillips posted a notice on the
door of Long Beach Mopeds and two neighboring busi-
nesses during an April 4 drug raid. The city pulled owner
Tony Merrill’s business licenses, citing unpaid taxes.
the report, the purse allegedly
contained $826 in cash, about
29 grams of heroin and 4.5
grams of meth.
With tar heroin typically
selling for between $80 and
$100 per gram in Washing-
ton state, according to Mat-
lock, that quantity could have
a street value of up to $2,900.
“You can take those
amounts and package them as
if you were going to sell,” Mat-
lock said.
The
metal
briefcase
allegedly contained about
$1,000 in cash, a “large spoon
containing suspected her-
oin,” and a bag of meth. Field
tests for both substances were
positive.
More discoveries
When the dogs took an
Parks: City Council is looking at a range of
possible funding mechanisms to add revenue
Continued from Page 1A
while saving the most money,
she presented the council with
recommendations on which
programs to eliminate.
The first was the drop-in
child care at the Astoria Recre-
ation Center, and the CPR and
first aid classes, then health-
and-wellness programs, such
as the Gobbler Gallop, Asto-
ria Wellness Challenge and
New Year’s Day Fun Run.
Special events at Port of
Play — the Family Pump-
kin Carving, Easter Egg Dye-
ing, Valentine’s Day Tea and
Dr. Seuss Celebration Night
— may also wind up on the
chopping block.
Other free community and
family-based events, such as
the Easter Egg Hunt, Father/
Daughter Valentine’s Day
Dance, Monster Bash, Kids’
Day in the Park and Summer
Movies in the Park may be
retired.
Finally, Cosby recom-
mended ending youth and
adult athletics, a notion that
made a few councilors recoil.
“I wish I wasn’t proposing
that, to be clear,” Cosby said.
The Aquatic Center, an
expensive facility that nearly
shut down during the Great
Recession, may eventually
have to close without addi-
tional revenue streams.
Complex business
During the raid, Long
Beach Mayor Jerry Phillips
Stick to the budget
The Daily Astorian/File Photos
Astoria may cut programs to save money in the Parks and Recreation Department.
Parks and Recreation Director Angela Cosby talks about
Violet LaPlante Park during a tour.
city-controlled water and
sewer rates, rather than to
electric bills, is now one
of several options under
consideration.
Others include:
• Business license and gre-
enway fees
• A parks and recreation or
cemetery taxing district
• A sales tax on prepared
meals and beverages
• An operations levy
• A lodging tax increase
City Councilor Bruce
Jones said he would support a
strategy that shared the costs
among both residents and vis-
itors. “I like the idea of not
having the burden be exclu-
sively borne by Astorians —
say, through a water-sewer fee
exclusively,” he said.
City Councilor Zetty Nem-
lowill, a former member of
the parks and recreation mas-
ter plan citizens advisory
group, said that, before the
council considers increased
funding, the city needs to cre-
ate a more manageable parks
system. She has advocated for
selling underused parkland,
such as Tidal Rock Park at
Commercial and 15th streets.
Nemlowill said she would
not entertain a food and bev-
erage tax because the method
does not relate directly
to parks. In addition, she
believes it would be unfair
to foist a sales tax onto small
business owners.
However, since Nemlowill
works for the Astoria Co-op
Grocery and her husband
co-owns Fort George Brew-
ery, it is unclear if she would
have to recuse herself from a
council vote on such a tax.
City Councilor Cindy Price
said the council needs more
data on each of these options
before deciding which ones to
pursue. “We can’t really talk
about them without under-
standing what they might
mean,” she said.
The City Council plans to
soon discuss the parks budget
further.
posted notices on the doors of
all three businesses, announc-
ing the city had canceled all of
Merrill’s business licenses due
to unpaid taxes.
Matlock said investigators
are still studying the ledgers
and other business records they
found during the search, but
they do suspect that the down-
town amusement complex may
have functioned as a sort of a
“drug front.” If it turns out that
Merrill did funnel drug money
through his legitimate busi-
nesses, it could take authorities
months to fully investigate and
determine what to do with his
assets.
Merrill and Morris have
each been charged with six
counts of possession of a con-
trolled substance with intent to
deliver. Merrill faces an addi-
tional charge of possession of a
stolen vehicle.
Matlock said the drug
charges come with a “school
zone enhancement,” because
the businesses are located near
a school bus stop. If they are
convicted, the enhancement
means that they could face lon-
ger sentences.
Port: Motion to create a
new Port Citizen Financial
Review Committee passed
Continued from Page 1A
Cash flow
Meanwhile, the council is
looking at a range of possible
funding mechanisms to add
revenue and boost the depart-
ment’s long-term financial
stability.
At a March work session,
Cosby and park staff mem-
bers advocated imposing a
utility fee on energy custom-
ers. Though city councilors
said the idea is worth explor-
ing, the public’s reaction was
mixed. “There was definitely
some pushback from the com-
munity,” Cosby said.
A utility fee attached to
interest in Merrill’s truck,
investigators sought an addi-
tional search warrant. Inside,
they allegedly found Merrill’s
phone, a digital scale coated
in suspected heroin residue,
and two more containers of
heroin.
The roommate told police
that Morris and Merrill had
both allegedly provided her
with drugs. According to the
report, “She said she knows
Morris drives around selling
to people,” something Merrill
apparently disliked, but didn’t
try to stop. The woman also
alleged that the couple some-
times allegedly sold drugs at
the house.
Later in the day, officers
allegedly found several bag-
gies containing prescription
pills at the go-kart track. They
also allegedly found a Triumph
motorcycle in the Krazy Kars
building that had been reported
stolen in Vancouver. A towing
company hauled the motorcy-
cle away.
The Port’s budget com-
mittee, made up of the
five Port commission-
ers and five appointed res-
idents, was short Commis-
sioners Robert Mushen and
James Campbell Wednes-
day, along with Chris Con-
naway. Present were Fulton,
Hunsinger, Commissioner
John Raichl, Mary Iverson,
Frank Spence, Richard Lee
and Cindy Daly.
Knight was the only staff
member, relieving employ-
ees from what he called an
inappropriate meeting.
Hunsinger
attempted
to add a discussion of the
Port’s Pier 3 stormwater
system. He and Fulton have
been critical of overages and
delays on the project, as well
as staff’s plan to pay for it.
Iverson, who works
with Fulton as an accoun-
tant at Warrenton Fiber,
asked Knight to address
several concerns raised
by Hunsinger about the
stormwater project. Knight
refused, saying the bud-
get committee is the wrong
venue.
“I’m not going to engage
in the question-and-answer
that are coming from the
budget committee,” he said.
“These are great questions.
I’m not trying to be obsti-
nate. I’m not trying to be
difficult. From the moment
I came to this port, it’s
really to try to pull this Port
together and to do things
that are right, and I’m going
to continue to do what I
believe is the right thing for
the staff and for this Port.”
Budget-finance
“Listening to Mr. Knight,
he is not participating … in
that process going forward,”
Fulton said.
“I’m
right
here,”
Knight responded. “I’m
participating.”
Fulton said staff seemed
to be making a policy deci-
sion that is the purview of the
Port Commission. He called
for the creation of a bud-
get-finance advisory com-
mittee made up of the same
members of the budget com-
mittee to review the agen-
cy’s financials quarterly,
later changing the name to
the Port Citizen Financial
Review Committee.
“That’s
my
intent,
because there seems to
be this misunderstanding
that the budget committee
is exceeding their author-
ity,” Fulton said. “This is not
a budget committee meet-
ing. This is an advisory
committee to the Port of
Astoria.”
Raichl said having all the
same members as the bud-
get committee on the new
finance committee could
muddy the waters. He sug-
gested an amendment to
Fulton’s motion that the new
finance committee include
a smaller membership than
the budget committee.
Fulton
opposed
the
amendment.
The motion to create a
new Port Citizen Financial
Review Committee passed
5-1-1, with Raichl abstain-
ing and Spence opposed.
In other news:
• Lee was appointed
president of the budget com-
mittee for the coming year.
He has temporarily replaced
former committee Chairman
John Lansing, who walked
out and quit the commit-
tee in November after being
called a stooge of Knight by
Fulton.
• The budget committee
approved a motion to com-
mence budget committee
meetings in May, with as
many as necessary to pres-
ent a balanced budget.
Mosquitoes: Horvath spent some time in Nigeria controlling mosquito populations
Continued from Page 1A
Horvath will use a num-
ber of larvicides on the water
sources to control the spread
of mosquito larvae. Since
large sources of water such as
Coffenbury Lake contain nat-
ural mosquito predators —
like fish — Horvath will focus
on the smaller water sources.
The larvicides are not harmful
to pets, people or other ani-
mals besides mosquito larvae,
Horvath said.
Survey hints
Fort Stevens hired Hor-
vath for just under $3,000
this year after a late Febru-
ary survey indicated mosqui-
toes would be an issue at the
park again this year. Horvath
completed similar projects in
other parks throughout the
state. He has also spent time
in Nigeria controlling mos-
quito populations at hospitals
that contained standing-water
sources.
“People would come to
hospitals for treatment and
leave with malaria,” he said.
Jacob Horvath, who is
home-schooled, often assists
his father on projects by
inspecting ponds for larvae
and carrying equipment.
Horvath had hoped to
begin in March to limit the
number of adult mosquitoes
being hatched early, but the
park needed to finish contract-
ing, consult with a biologist
and post signs and website
information about the project,
Parker said.
Adult mosquitoes are
already active at the park.
Horvath’s goal for this sum-
mer is to prevent more from
growing. That would avoid
having to apply fogging tech-
niques, which typically are
used to kill adult mosquitoes.
Issue with pests
Dating back to Fort Ste-
vens’ construction in the
latter half of the 19th cen-
tury, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers and then the
state parks department redi-
rected water away from build-
ings and campgrounds. While
the tactics allowed for settle-
ments on the land, they did
not foresee a future issue with
pests.
In addition to controlling
larvae spread, Horvath will
make recommendations to the
park by the end of the summer
on how to best create channels
for water sources to move. In
the meantime, park staff will
drain standing water sources
where possible.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Edward Horvath shows the larvicide used in order to target mosquito larvae.