7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017
Brown: Governors of
Washington, Alaska
also defended their
efforts to regulate pot
Continued from Page 1A
Submitted Photo
The Hood to Coast relay attracted an estimated 40,000 people to the beach in Seaside in 2014 to watch up to 12,600
runners from 1,050 teams cross the finish line.
Book: First relay took place in 1982
Continued from Page 1A
This will be the fourth year
the Providence Cancer Cen-
ter will be the primary benefi-
ciary of the fundraiser. Floyd
said this year’s goal will be to
raise $650,000, which would
bring the total amount donated
to the center since 2013 up to
$2.4 million.
The book project started
when Spiegel and his team
came to compete three years
ago from North Carolina. The
intention was for the group
to try it once to “check it off
their bucket list,” Floyd said.
But Spiegel fell in love, and
after the third year told Floyd
about his experience writ-
ing “Indy 500 Memories, An
Oral History of ‘The Great-
est Spectacle in Racing’,” and
pitched writing a similar book
about Hood to Coast.
This is the second book for
Garner and Spiegel, who both
have had a longtime passion
for racing and writing about
it, Floyd said. Their first book
sold well on Amazon.
“I thought if he could do
something like that for Hood
to Coast that would be incred-
ible,” Floyd said.
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Teams came from all around the world for the Hood to Coast Relay in 2016. The countries
represented include China, where Hood to Coast organizers started a sister relay this year.
Gallery: 30 volunteers
support arts association
Submitted Photo
Author Marc Spiegel’s 2016 Image team at the Hood to Coast finish line.
Bob Foote said he was
working with the authors
to compile and preserve the
many memories made at the
event.
“From talking to partici-
pants, volunteers, spectators
and others every year, I know
there’s an incredible sense
of camaraderie among those
involved in the event, and that
many special experiences and
lasting memories have been
created at Hood to Coast,”
Foote said.
Marc B.
Spiegel has
participated
in the Hood To
Coast Relay
three times
(2014 to 2016),
and is planning
a book of
memories
about the
event.
HoodtoCoast
Memories.com
Port: Stevens wants to help get government support
Continued from Page 1A
He was joined in inter-
views Tuesday by former Port
Commission candidate Pat
O’Grady, former Port budget
committee chairman John Lan-
sing, land use planner Pamela
Wev, former Yamhill County
Commissioner Robert John-
stone, South County developer
Russ Earl and retired inventor
Ronald Meyer.
Stevens, a licensed cap-
tain who recently retired from
teaching and evaluating cap-
tains of offshore platforms in
emergency management, ran
Port Commissioner James
Campbell’s successful re-elec-
tion campaign against former
Commissioner Stephen Fulton
in May’s special district elec-
tion. He was encouraged by
others to apply for Mushen’s
seat and felt he had something
to offer the Port, he said.
Stevens’ take
Stevens, who lives in War-
renton, fielded questions Tues-
day from Port commissioners
on several of the agency’s big-
ticket issues.
A bond measure to fund
infrastructure improvements
Consistent goals
Continued from Page 1A
Eight to 1,050 teams
The inaugural Hood To
Coast Relay took place in
1982, featuring eight Ore-
gon-based teams of 10 run-
ners covering a distance of
150 miles in 30 5-mile legs.
Now, more than 12,000 peo-
ple on 1,050 teams will com-
pete in the 199-mile event.
“It should be an awe-
some opportunity for us to
hear from participants, vol-
unteers, spectators and oth-
ers about what it means to be
a part of this incredible relay
race across Oregon,” Spiegel
said in a statement. “Being
in Seaside at the finish will
allow us to collect interesting,
unique and fun stories about
the event.”
The authors will be on
the beach at Seaside all day
on Saturday and on Sunday
during the awards ceremony.
People can submit memories
to hoodtocoast.com, Floyd
said.
Founder and organizer
into the black market. Brown
noted that she also recently
signed into law legislation
that makes it easier to prose-
cute the unlawful import and
export of marijuana products.
Governors of Alaska
and
Washington
state
also recently pushed back
against the Trump admin-
istration and defended their
efforts to regulate the mari-
juana industry. Alaska Gov.
Bill Walker wrote to Ses-
sions earlier this month ask-
ing the U.S. Department
of Justice to maintain the
Obama
administration’s
more hands-off enforcement
approach to states that have
legalized marijuana.
Washington Gov. Jay Ins-
lee said the attorney general
made claims about the situa-
tion in his state that are “out-
dated, incorrect, or based on
incomplete information.”
The governors of Ore-
gon, Colorado, Washington
and Alaska wrote to Ses-
sions and Treasury Secre-
tary Steve Mnuchin in April,
warning that altering the
Cole memorandum, which
restricts federal marijuana
law enforcement in states
where pot is legal, “would
divert existing marijuana
product into the black mar-
ket and increase dangerous
activity in both our states
and our neighboring states.”
Sessions, however, then
wrote to congressional lead-
ers, opposing an amend-
ment that prevents the Jus-
tice Department from using
appropriated funds to inter-
fere with states’ medical
marijuana.
Oregon Democratic U.S.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who
co-wrote the amendment
with California Republi-
can Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,
told The Associated Press
recently that Congress is
becoming more pro-mari-
juana, and that more legal-
ization will tamp down the
black market.
“The more that we go
down the path of legaliza-
tion, regulation and taxa-
tion, diversion becomes less
and less of a problem,” Blu-
menauer said.
Brown told Sessions in
her letter that Oregon’s med-
ical and recreational mar-
ijuana industry has raised
over $60.2 million in reve-
nue and created over 16,000
jobs.
She said her staff looks
forward to continuing its
work with Session’s office
and his representative
in Oregon “to end black
market marijuana opera-
tions, and to provide mutual
education and support of
our legal and regulated
marketplace.”
at the Astoria Regional Airport
narrowly failed in the May
election. Asked by Commis-
sioner Dirk Rohne about his
outlook for the airport, Ste-
vens said it was a shame the
ballot measure failed, but that
the Port can take baby steps
to improve the facility, help
Life Flight Network find a bet-
ter location and attract more
business.
“I would be supportive of
maybe looking at going to the
voters again with a bond mea-
sure and doing a better job of
selling it,” he said. “I’d be wel-
come to help do that.”
Most of the residents
who voted the bond down
were in South County, he said,
and he is willing to stump for
the project on behalf of the
Port.
Stevens wants to help get
government support on big
items, such as the $13.7 mil-
lion difference between the
Port’s and the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency’s
estimates on damage from the
December 2015 storms, and in
dealing with stormwater-treat-
ment requirements, he said.
The Port Commission
recently voted to send a letter
to North Tongue Point land-
owner Washington Develop-
ment Co., seeking to terminate
the Port’s remaining lease and
allow boatbuilder Hyak Mar-
itime to negotiate a purchase
of the property. Commissioner
Bill Hunsinger, who abstained
from the vote and has blasted
the decision, asked Stevens
whether he would want more
history and public input on the
issue.
“Tongue Point appears
to me to be a classic exam-
ple of opportunity exceeding
resources,” Stevens said of the
property, which staff has said
costs the Port $250,000 annu-
ally in losses.
The Port needs public input
on the issue, Stevens said, but
also needs to consider turning
the property over to private
enterprise. “The Washington
Group, if they agree with the
letter we wrote to terminate the
lease early — they come back
and say that’s fine — then I
think we need to take a look at
public comment and testimony
and make a decision.”
In other action, the Port
Commission voted to:
• Spend up to $29,500 on
a rain garden at Astoria Mid-
dle School. The Port was fined
more than $36,000 last year by
the state Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality for not
properly monitoring stormwa-
ter discharges. The agency was
given the option to lower its
fine by spending 80 percent of
the total on a local supplemen-
tal environmental project. The
garden will use plants to col-
lect and treat stormwater run-
off, providing an educational
site for students.
• Host a booth at the
Pacific Marine Expo in Seat-
tle in November. The Port was
prepared to abandon the expo
after staff said the benefits of
the event were not worth the
expense. Hunsinger, a com-
mercial fisherman, argued for
the event, with other commis-
sioners seeking an option to
share costs with Port custom-
ers attending.
• Extend a lease in the
Pier 1 building with the Gen-
eral Services Administration,
which manages the lease for
U.S. Customs and Border Pro-
tection. Port Executive Direc-
tor Jim Knight said the lease
extension will run through
2034 and increase the Port’s
revenue by $2,000.
but Cannon Beach Gallery’s
nonprofit status does set
them apart from the rest. To
operate, the gallery relies on
memberships, grants, volu-
minous volunteer help and,
of course, gallery sales to pay
the bills, Wickham said.
There are challenges
associated with running a
nonprofit gallery. Nonprof-
its are particularly suscepti-
ble to downturns in the econ-
omy, and drawing from a
volunteer pool that is con-
stantly being tapped can be
difficult with so many of
the same people giving their
time to multiple causes at
once, said Linda Gebhart,
board vice president and vol-
unteer coordinator.
Right now, the arts associ-
ation is supported by 30 vol-
unteers, who run the front
desk and provide support for
programs like summer art
classes and paint nights.
But having a busi-
ness model that doesn’t put
profit first can do something
incredible for the artist com-
munity, said Cara Mico, the
program director.
“In order to make a liv-
ing, most artists have to do
something else to subsidize,”
Mico said. “It’s nice to have
nonprofit support, because
then we can focus on sup-
porting artists. Some are get-
ting to the point where they
can make a living.”
Lack of funding and con-
sistency within the organi-
zation about the program’s
purpose have been points
of contention in the associ-
ation’s history, Mico said.
But having Gebhart lead the
charge to increase volun-
teers and expand programs
has helped make the gallery
more cohesive.
These goals have allowed
the program to evolve from a
place to display art to engag-
ing the community in art
workshops, internships and
artist grants to keep local art-
ists active.
“It’s about getting the
processes in place, get-
ting a bigger vision for the
association, rather than get-
ting by show to show,” Mico
said.
What that bigger vision
means for now is including
more artists of color, Mico
said, as well as supporting
more pop-up shows that can
engage a larger swath of the
public that rarely find them-
selves in a gallery.
For Wickham, having
art be her full-time job has
only been a reality since she
retired 2 1/2 years ago as
the health director of Mult-
nomah County. But she said
her passion comes from her
children, who are artists,
and serving on the board is
another way to support art-
ists the way she tried to sup-
port her own children.
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