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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 20, 2017)
HISPANIC COMMUNITY NOURISHES LOCAL SOCCER CULTURE COAST WEEKEND INSIDE DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2017 144TH YEAR, NO. 210 ONE DOLLAR School’s appeal of pot lab denied Jewell district argued it is too close to school By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Photos by Damian Mulinix/For The Daily Astorian Director Chris Lang is filming his next movie at Coffenbury Lake, in part because of its “creepy” name. AT COFFENBURY LAKE, AT COFFENBURY LAKE, FILMMAKER WITH LOCAL TIES USES LAKE AS INSPIRATION A Clatsop County hearings offi cer has approved Marc Plew’s application to build a marijuana laboratory near Jewell School, rejecting an appeal from the school district. Oregon Jewell , a processing facility, retail space and residence, would be located at the corner of Oregon highways 202 and 103 on the site of a former tavern fewer than 2,000 feet from the s chool. The school district had argued it i s too close to the rural school and across the street from a bus stop. Plew said he was pleased to hear of Dan Olsen’s approval. “The law stood by the law.” “I’m not asking to do anything that is not completely legal on that property,” he said. “I wasn’t going to that hearing asking for favors.” Plew said that unless the school district wants to buy the property from him, he plans to move forward with his project, with com- pletion in the next two to three months. Ore- gon Jewell will be located in a three-story structure resembling a house. HORROR THE THE NAME HORROR IS IS IN IN NAME By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian Pension, pay equity, rent control bills survive N ative Astorian Chris Lang momentarily experienced what could have been an opening scene in one of his horror movies. While walking at Cullaby Lake on a typically cloudy day in 2006, Lang’s dog suddenly started acting strange, running through trees surrounding the lake. The dog appeared to be chasing some- thing or someone inside the trees. “Everything felt eerie and weird,” Lang said. “So, I was like, ‘It would be great to have a story that is centered at a lake like this where there are sort of these weird mysteries and supernatural undertones.’” Years later, Lang has returned to begin working on his fourth fea- ture fi lm: “Coffenbury Lake.” Though not the same lake as the one that inspired the fi lm, the name “Coffenbury” and the atmosphere — surrounding trees with green moss dangling from their limbs — seemed apt for a horror movie, Lang said. Astoria graduate Lang, a 2002 Astoria High School graduate, now lives in Wash- ington, D.C., and directs episodes for the Reelz cable network show “Copycat Killers.” This week, he and his partially complete cast and crew have been scouting the Coffenbury Lake area and taking initial photos that will appear in the fi lm’s opening credits. Dakota Dawson, an Astoria High School sophomore, was on set Monday and will play a victim in photos of the captured serial kill- er’s initial murders. When Lang was a similar age, he worked for Dawson’s mother, Teona, who owns T. Paul’s Urban Cafe down- town. While an artist applied makeup to Dakota’s face to give him a deathly appearance, his mother recalled encouraging Lang to pur- sue his fi lm aspirations. Lang delved into the horror genre in his most recent movie, “Val- ley of Ditches,” after fi nishing two dramas. As his career progresses, he’s become more comfortable telling horror stories. “We heard that that’s more of a marketable genre, and it’s done really well so far,” Lang said. “I’d never been at a point where I felt comfortable telling them until I had a couple fi lms under my belt. I See POT LAB, Page 7A ABOVE: Actor Dakota Dawson has make up applied to make him look like a corpse . BELOW: Make up artist Jane Powers works to give Astoria sophomore Dakota Dawson the appearance of being a corpse for a movie being filmed at Coffenbury Lake. Transportation package is still in the works By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau SALEM — Tuesday was the deadline in the Legislature for policy bills to move out of the chamber where they originated, or into one of a handful of key committees. With the exception of bills assigned to bicameral committees — or to those in the rules, revenue or ways and means commit- tees — bills that have not been passed by either the state House or the Senate are effec- tively dead for this session. Legislators are still crafting a transporta- tion package, which has not been assigned a specifi c bill. Yet-to-be written revenue and spending bills are similarly exempt from the deadline. The following is a handful of signifi cant bills , and whether the legislation met the deadline. See MOVIE, Page 7A See BILLS, Page 7A Science warrior gets trained on climate change Teacher says, ‘There’s no planet B’ By AMY NILE EO Media Group LONG BEACH, Wash. — She retired after four decades in elementary school classrooms, but Martha Williams isn’t done teaching. The 67-year-old brought an Al Gore-approved lesson on climate change back from the former vice presi- dent’s environmental educa- tion and activism program in March. “I have access to exactly what he provided,” Williams, of Long Beach, said. “It gives me chills because it’s just so powerful.” She was among almost 20 people from Washington state selected to take part in Gore’s three-day Climate Reality training. They joined a group of about 1,000 from 32 coun- tries in Denver to learn how to deliver the facts on global warming from experts. “There is no planet B,” Wil- liams said, pulling out a button she wore during the seminar with the same message on it. The veteran teacher and co-director the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge’s fourth-grade environmental education pro- gram said she’s nervous about bringing information to C ity C ouncil, public utility district and other meetings. But the message matters too much to let the jitters stop her. “Climate affects all of us,” she said. Polarizing problem Despite her pitch com- ing from a project run by the famous former politician, Wil- liams wants to keep politics out of the conversation if she can. Her plan is to help fi nd com- mon ground by getting people to talk about how they’ve been affected by climate change. See WILLIAMS, Page 7A Luke Whittaker/EO Media Group Martha Williams spoke to a fourth -grade class Monday af- ternoon at Long Beach Elementary about the importance of natural resources.