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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2017)
2A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2017 New law: Driving with coffee still (mostly) OK State clarifi es new policies on distracted driving mission spokeswoman Shelly Baldwin said. A 2015 study by the com- mission found 1 in 10 drivers were distracted on the road in one way or another. By AMY NILE EO Media Group Authorities signal differences LONG BEACH, Wash. — Don’t worry, drivers in Wash- ington state can still dine behind the wheel or get their caffeine fi x without running into trouble with the law, at least most of the time. The state’s new distract- ed-driving law took effect on July 23. It has caused some confusion about what people are now allowed to do while driving. The Driving Under the Infl uence of Electronics Act bans all nonemergency use of hand-held devices. It also pro- hibits watching videos, even on dash-mounted screens. Fifteen states and the Dis- trict of Columbia have banned hand-held cellphone use while driving, according to the Gov- ernors Highway Safety Associ- ation. However, Washington’s law prohibits use of all hand- held devices entirely, even when drivers are stopped at an intersection or in traffi c. They are allowed one touch or swipe to activate hands- free electronics if the device is built-in or secured in a dash- board holder. Using hand-held electron- ics while driving is now a pri- mary traffi c offense that comes with $136 ticket. The fi ne goes up to $234 for a second viola- U.S. Marine Corps A participant tests a text-while-driving simulator at the Distracted Driving event aboard Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif. The event showed a graphic video of the con- sequences of driving while texting and a static display of a coffin to show a possible outcome of distracted driving. tion within fi ve years. Offenses go on a driver’s record and are reported to their insurance company. Don’t blame the burger The confusion about what drivers can and can’t do behind the wheel comes from a section of the new law that treats non- electronic distractions, includ- ing eating, drinking, smok- ing or grooming as secondary offenses. That means police can give drivers a $99 ticket for “dangerous distractions” on top of other fi nes, if they’re pulled over for a primary traf- fi c violation, such as speeding, changing lanes without signal- ing or using electronics. To tack on the $99, offi - cers have to connect a specifi c distraction, such as eating a cheeseburger, with the primary traffi c offense or driving mis- hap, Washington State Patrol Capt. Monica Alexander said . “We would have to artic- ulate how that cheeseburger caused that collision,” she told reporters. Alexander quickly clari- fi ed that she didn’t mean to point the fi nger at an inno- cent cheeseburger; the driver who was eating it would be to blame. Sessions raises concerns over Washington state’s pot legalization Associated Press SEATTLE — Washing- ton Attorney General Bob Ferguson says he’s disap- pointed with a letter from U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions about the state’s efforts to regulate marijuana. In a letter dated July 24 , Sessions pointed out to Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee that a 2013 Justice Department memo which was interpreted as clearing the way for states to regu- late marijuana did not pre- clude federal prosecution. Sessions also highlighted a 2016 report from a federally funded drug enforcement organization that raised questions about how effec- tively the state is controlling the industry. Sessions asked Ferguson and Inslee to provide infor- mation about how they’re TUESDAY Associated Press SALEM — The Oregon Department of Agriculture says the state’s nursery indus- try was the top commodity in 2016. The Capital Press reported that the greenhouse and nursery industry leap-frogged the cattle industry, which was Oregon’s addressing the issues raised in the report. In a written statement Fri- day, Ferguson said the U.S. attorney general’s letter relies on “incomplete, inaccurate and out-of-date information” about Washington’s mari- juana regulations. He added that “any action from the Department of Justice short of allowing our well-regu- lated, voter-approved system to continue is unacceptable.” Low clouds and smoky Smoky with low clouds Low clouds and smoky ALMANAC Salem 60/98 Newport 52/64 New Aug 14 First Aug 21 Source: Jim Todd, OMSI TOMORROW'S TIDES Astoria / Port Docks Time 8:52 a.m. 8:57 p.m. Low -0.9 ft. 1.7 ft. Baker 49/92 Burns 53/91 REGIONAL CITIES City Baker City Bend Brookings Eugene Ilwaco Klamath Falls Medford Newberg Newport North Bend Hi 91 93 67 93 68 84 96 95 64 67 Today Lo 49 57 55 56 57 53 68 59 52 55 W pc pc c pc c pc pc pc c c Hi 92 95 65 95 70 86 99 97 64 67 Tues. Lo 48 57 56 57 57 54 70 61 53 56 W t r sh t s sh pc pc pc pc pc pc pc t pc t t r c r pc t pc pc r Tues. Hi Lo 79 69 73 62 82 62 77 55 84 61 82 60 94 72 73 54 88 76 80 60 79 63 104 82 86 67 86 69 92 81 84 65 89 77 79 65 84 68 82 63 84 63 88 68 73 59 90 64 82 64 W pc pc c pc c pc pc pc c c City Olympia Pendleton Portland Roseburg Salem Seaside Spokane Springfi eld Vancouver Yakima Hi 89 98 92 95 95 71 94 94 92 102 Today Lo 55 64 63 62 60 56 64 59 61 62 W pc pc pc pc pc c pc pc pc pc Hi 93 100 94 98 98 73 94 97 94 103 Tues. Lo 56 64 64 64 61 57 66 59 63 65 W pc pc pc pc pc c pc pc pc pc Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. W t pc s pc pc s s pc pc s pc s pc pc sh pc pc pc t pc pc pc pc pc pc Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice. erson said there were com- plaints stretching into last year about Miehe play- ing music too loud. When offi cers responded to com- plaints Thursday, Halver- son said, Miehe broke a body camera mount and kicked one offi cer in the groin. While being booked into the Clatsop County Jail, Miehe was found to be in possession of a counter- feit $100 bill. Aug. 4, 2017 SIMONSEN, Colleen, 86, of Hammond, died in Ham- mond. Caldwell’s Luce-Lay- ton Mortuary in Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. Aug. 2, 2017 JOHNSON, Brittnay Ann, 27, of Seaside, died in Seaside. Caldwell’s Funeral & Cre- mation Arrangement Center of Seaside is in charge of the arrangements. Lakeview 49/85 Ashland 67/97 TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER NATIONAL CITIES City Atlanta Boston Chicago Denver Des Moines Detroit El Paso Fairbanks Honolulu Indianapolis Kansas City Las Vegas Los Angeles Memphis Miami Nashville New Orleans New York Oklahoma City Philadelphia St. Louis Salt Lake City San Francisco Seattle Washington, DC La Grande 57/96 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017 Tonight's Sky: The full moon will be at 11:11 a.m., just 14 days until the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017! Today Hi Lo 85 71 78 63 74 58 65 54 80 59 79 57 99 73 79 59 87 75 76 58 78 60 102 81 84 67 85 71 92 81 82 67 92 76 73 65 86 67 73 66 82 63 90 69 71 59 87 61 76 69 Aug. 5, 2017 PUGH, Lester L., 85, of Clatskanie, died in Longview, Washing- ton. Ocean View Funeral & Cremation Service of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. WING, Dennis John, 51, of Knappa, died in Knappa. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary in Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. Ontario 62/97 Klamath Falls 53/86 Aggravated harassment • On Thursday, Astoria Police arrested Luke Tay- lor Miehe, 44, near Kens- ington and Skyline avenues on charges of aggravated harassment, assault of a public service offi cer, third-degree criminal mis- chief, disorderly conduct, second-degree possession of a forgery instrument and resisting arrest. Dep- uty Police Chief Eric Halv- brought in $909 million in 2016. Meanwhile, Pokarney said that the Oregon hops indus- try saw a 99 percent increase in production value from 2015 to 2016. According to the Depart- ment of Agriculture, Oregon produces more than 220 agricul- ture and fi shery commodities. LOTTERIES DEATHS Roseburg 62/98 Brookings 53/64 Aug 29 John Day 62/96 Bend 57/95 Medford 68/99 UNDER THE SKY High 8.4 ft. 7.5 ft. Prineville 53/97 Lebanon 62/97 Eugene 56/95 Sunset tonight ........................... 8:37 p.m. Sunrise Tuesday .......................... 6:06 a.m. Coos Bay Moonrise today .......................... 8:41 p.m. 56/69 Moonset today ............................ 6:00 a.m. Last Pendleton 64/100 The Dalles 68/104 Portland 63/94 SUN AND MOON Time 2:00 a.m. 3:15 p.m. Low clouds Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs. ASTORIA 56/73 Precipitation Sunday ............................................. 0.00" Month to date ................................... 0.00" Normal month to date ....................... 0.14" Year to date .................................... 49.67" Normal year to date ........................ 37.08" Aug 7 71 56 REGIONAL WEATHER Tillamook 54/74 leader in production value the year before. The ranking is part of the recently released list of the state’s top 20 commodities. Bruce Pokarney, the department’s director of com- munications, said in a state- ment on Friday that the nurs- ery industry has historically been number one. Green- house and nursery products ON THE RECORD FRIDAY 72 56 Astoria through Sunday. Temperatures High/low ....................................... 69°/55° Normal high/low ........................... 68°/54° Record high ............................ 92° in 1940 Record low ............................. 44° in 1959 Full THURSDAY 72 55 56 Low clouds WEDNESDAY 73 56 U-turn ahead The new law has spurred a campaign to ask the Legisla- ture to reconsider the change. More than 37,775 people have signed a petition on Change. org in support of removing the secondary offenses from the law. Lawmakers have said the goal was to reduce the number of collisions. Distracted driv- ing was a factor in crashes that killed 3,459 people in 2015, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. That’s almost 10 percent of all traffi c fatalities nationwide. Researchers say electronic use isn’t always reported to police after a crash, so the actual numbers could be higher. In Washington state, there were 12,399 accidents caused by distracted drivers in 2015, according to the annual state collision summary. Of those crashes, 895 were caused by a driver who was using an elec- tronic device. The National Highway Traffi c Safety Administra- tion has found activities such as dialing or texting while on the road triples the risk of an accident. “Driving is the most dan- gerous thing most of us do on a daily basis,” Alexander said. “We need to be paying attention.” Nursery industry top leader in ag production FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA TONIGHT “The cheeseburger didn’t do anything,” she said. Offi cers will consider the “totality of circumstances,” not just whether a driver was eating, applying makeup or holding a dog on their lap, when deciding whether to ticket them for a distraction, Alexander said. She and other offi cials emphasized the law now pro- hibits any activity not related to driving that interferes with safety. “It’s about the effect on driving — not what you can and can’t do in a car,” Wash- ington Traffi c Safety Com- Washington State Patrol Sgt. Brad Moon, who over- sees six Naselle-based troop- ers, said he plans to determine whether a $99 ticket is war- ranted by asking drivers if they were distracted by doing other things behind the wheel. “Most people are honest,” Moon said. Troopers will focus on educating the public about the new law for the next six months, he said. In most cases, they’ll be giving drivers who are stopped for using electron- ics warnings, along with infor- mation about the changes. However, Moon said, if troop- ers see egregious violations or if a distracted driver causes a collision, they’re likely to get a ticket. “We’ll try to be conserva- tive but consistent,” he said. “We’re primarily focusing on things people are doing that contribute to poor driving.” However, not all law enforcement authorities see the new law the same way. Pacifi c County Sheriff Scott Johnson said he doesn’t expect the new rules for distractions to change much for his deputies. “We won’t be bothering people for that,” he said. Johnson said existing law gives them the authority to ticket drivers who cause safety issues because they were eat- ing or drinking on the road so including the distrac- tions in the DUI-E law was unnecessary. PUBLIC MEETINGS MONDAY Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. Warrenton City Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main Ave. TUESDAY Cannon Beach City Council, 5:30 p.m., work session, City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. Lewis & Clark Fire Department Board, 7 p.m., main fi re station, 34571 Highway 101 Business. 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