COAST WEEKEND: FULL STEAM AHEAD FOR ASTORIA REGATTA INSIDE
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 24
ONE DOLLAR
Johnston
steps down
as Astoria
Police chief
STAY COOL!
RECORD HEATWAVE CALLS FOR SPECIAL
MEASURES AS THE NORTH COAST SWELTERS
Resigned earlier as
assistant city manager
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
and JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Astoria Police Chief Brad Johnston
announced his retirement Wednesday after
25 years with the police department.
In a message posted on Facebook, John-
ston, who had also served as assistant city
manager, said he was moving on to other
opportunities. He described
his departure as “sudden,
but necessary,” but did not
offer any other explanation.
Astoria City Manager
Brett Estes said he received
Johnston’s notice Wednes-
day . Johnston’s retirement
Brad
is effective immediately
Johnston
and Deputy Chief Eric
Halverson will take over
his duties until an interim chief is found. The
city plans to begin recruiting for a new police
chief soon.
“Eric is doing a great job at fi lling in at
this point in time,” Estes said.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
See JOHNSTON, Page 7A
People cooled off in the waters off Cannon Beach as Cannon Beach and Astoria set new record highs.
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
s temperatures punched into the
90s up and down the North Coast
on Wednesday, everyone was
telling each other to, “Stay cool.”
“Stay cool!” said vendors at the Clat-
sop County Fairgrounds, their faces shin-
ing with sweat as they passed corn dogs,
cotton candy and cold drinks to sweating
customers.
“Stay cool out there!” chimed a nurse
at an assisted -living center in Astoria as
doors swung open and visitors walked
from an air -conditioned entryway straight
into a wall of hot air.
A
It was an order nobody could obey as
smoke from wildfi res in British Colum-
bia stained the sky gray and purple, spread
along the Columbia River and hid Wash-
ington state from view.
Astoria saw a high of 93 degrees
Wednesday afternoon, beating a previous
record for Aug . 2 of 88 degrees, according
to the National Weather Service. On this
same day last year, the high was a more
familiar 68 degrees. Cannon Beach logged
a 95 -degree day Wednesday, breaking a
record there as well. The record for the hot-
test day in Astoria still belongs to July 1,
1942, when temperatures hit 101 degrees.
See HEATWAVE, Page 7A
Five Zero
Trees now
makes six
in Astoria
93
Wednesday’s high
temperature in Astoria,
which beat the previous
record of 88 degrees.
101
the temperature
reached during the
hottest day on record in
Astoria on July 1, 1942
New pot store opens
95
Wednesday’s record-high
temperature in Cannon Beach.
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The faded red canopy and yellow walls of
the former clothing stores at 1161 and 1169
Commercial Street have gone black, embla-
zoned with a large, white sign for Five Zero
Trees .
The Portland-based marijuana store
recently opened a new location in Astoria,
joining fi ve other such businesses around the
city.
Co-owner Case Van Dorne said he and
his business partners Jason Cain and Joel
Jennings have long been coming to Asto-
ria to visit and fi sh and had been looking to
locate a store locally for about a year, notic-
ing how quickly the city was blooming into
a destination. He started the company with
Jennings in 2013 in southeast Portland.
The company is also trying to open a
location in Cannon Beach, hopefully in the
fall , Van Dorne said
At 5,000 -square feet split between two
storefronts, Five Zero Trees is one of the
largest marijuana stores in the city.
Sunset-seekers at
the Astoria Column
were disappointed by
clouds of smoke drift-
ing south through the
region from wildfires
in British Columbia.
Edward Stratton
The Daily Astorian
See POT SHOP, Page 7A
Bone appetit: Pup-friendly bistro in Cannon Beach
The Bistro
offers fi ne
dining for Fido
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH —
It may not be the Vietnam-
ese-style caramel chicken or
the pear-brined pork chop, but
at The Bistro, dogs can now
get more than table scraps.
Jack Stevenson has intro-
duced a gourmet dinner option
for dogs to his upscale menu.
The “Bistro Dog Food Offer-
ing” lists an entree of chicken,
brown rice, sweet potatoes,
carrots, peas, tomatoes, olive
oil and salt all garnished with a
sprig of parsley for $4.50.
Cannon Beach is already
known as dog-friendly, the
restaurant owner said, but he
thought he would take it a step
further.
“What can we do for dogs?
Businesses around here all
have snacks, so I decided to do
what I hadn’t seen yet: to make
dog food,” he said.
Stevenson said he has been
surprised by the buzz the new
menu item has created since he
unveiled it last week. Already
he has had 30 dogs order the
meal, with more emails and
calls coming in every day ask-
ing about it.
“I’ve gotten a lot comments
like, ‘Are you kidding?’ and,
‘Oh, my gosh!’ from custom-
ers when they see the menu,”
he laughed. “But so far it has
been very well received. Peo-
ple who love their dogs really
love them, so they like the idea
of feeding them healthy, nutri-
tious food.”
Gary Hayes brought his
Wheaten terrier mix, Gracie,
to try the new dish when it was
fi rst introduced. He’s a regular
at The Bistro, partly because
there is dog-friendly outdoor
seating, so the idea his dog
could join him for dinner as
well was exciting.
See BISTRO, Page 7A
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Patrons of The Bistro restaurant in Cannon Beach who
bring their dogs with them now have a new menu to
choose from after owner/chef Jack Stevenson decided to
offer gourmet dog food as an option in the already ca-
nine-friendly community.