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IS CANNABIS THE NEXT GREAT TOURIST ATTRACTION? COAST WEEKEND • INSIDE DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017 145TH YEAR, NO. 39 ONE DOLLAR Clatsop top fi ve in homeless survey BEER BOOM BUOY BEER GETS STATE HELP WITH EXPANSION Ranks just below much larger counties By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian Clatsop County is among the top fi ve counties in the state for homelessness . The county ranks just under the much larger Multnomah, Lane, Marion and Deschutes counties, with an estimated 682 homeless people out of a total population of 38,632, according to a federally mandated point-in-time count completed across the country in January. But local social-service advocates say the numbers collected only tell one part of the story . First of all, the county’s homeless popula- tion is much larger. Clatsop Community Action, a non profi t based in Astoria that provides food, rental assistance and housing, estimates the county has more than 1,000 homeless people at any given time. Many of these people are “the invisi- ble homeless,” said Elaine Bruce, execu- tive director of Clatsop Community Action. They are not on the street corners or sleep- ing under bridges; instead, they may be dou- bling-up with families and friends. Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Buoy Beer Co. in Astoria installed a new canning line this spring that can churn out about 85 cans a minute. See HOMELESSNESS, Page 7A By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian E mpty red, white and blue cans of Buoy Beer Co.’s India pale ale streamed along a conveyor belt inside the brewery on the Astoria Riverwalk . A small crew of workers helped cap and fi ll about 85 cans a minute, stacking the fi nished six- packs on pallets destined for stores around Oregon and southwest Washington. Amid a rapid expansion since open- ing three years ago, Buoy Beer has gained the notice of Gov. Kate Brown and Business Oregon, which recently announced a loan of $150,000 from the agency’s strate- gic reserve fund to purchase more storage tanks as the company continues to ramp up capacity. While a nod of support to Buoy Beer’s job creation and manufacturing, the state’s donation is a relative drop in the bucket among the several million dollars the com- pany has spent on its brewhouse and restau- rant inside the former Bornstein Seafoods cannery. Supported by about 20 initial inves- tors, Buoy Beer’s founding team includes General Manager Dave Kroening, Born- stein Seafoods co-owner Andrew Born- stein, founding brewer Dan Hamilton and Luke Colvin, who also runs Arbor Care Tree Specialists. Since opening in 2014, Colvin said, expansion has been nearly continual . “We totally underestimated how busy the restaurant was going to be,” he said, adding the company doubled the size of its kitchen to cut down on wait times. See BUOY BEER, Page 7A Seafood giant back in Warrenton Plant rebuilt after a devastating 2013 fi re By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian WARRENTON — Mike Brown, like many in the seafood processing industry , is used to old buildings — massive complexes from another generation that have seen countless fi sh and hundreds of fi lleters come and go over the decades. But as general manager of Pacifi c Sea- food Group’s rebuilt Warrenton facility, Brown is about to be in charge of a brand- new building. The West Coast seafood processing giant is in the middle of rebuilding after a fi re destroyed the original plant in 2013. Con- struction began last year, a new dock is in place and the facility is expected to open for the Dungeness crab season in December. The entire building will likely be completed in early 2018. “It’s going to be a world-class facility,” Warrenton Mayor Henry Balensifer said. “It’s a win-win for everybody and I’m just excited to be a part of it.” The expansion at Buoy Beer Co. included the installation of seven new brewing tanks, each with a capacity of 100 barrels. 1,000 8 6 Buoy Beer Co. production Buoy’s annual production totals 955.1 barrels: Up 3,156.3% from Feb. 2014 (31-gallon barrels sold) *Rank statewide † YTD rank statewide (Monthly total number of 31-gallon barrels sold*) = Estimate 4 2,870.9 32nd* 29.3 barrels Source: Oregon Liquor Control Commission 2 Edward Stratton and Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group 0 Feb. 2014 Jan. 2015 Jan. 2016 Jan. 2017 June 2017 5,334.4 26th* 3,506 22nd † 939.7 68th* 2014 ’15 ’16 Jan.-June 2017 See SEAFOOD, Page 7A Pacifi c County’s new 911 locater a fi rst on West Coast ‘The ultimate piece of information we need is where are you at?’ Smartphones tell dispatchers where calls originate Tim Martindale Jr. Pacific County 911 coordinator By AMY NILE EO Media Group LONG BEACH, Wash. — Pacifi c County 911 wants you to put an app on your smartphone, preferably sooner rather than later . The emergency service is the fi rst on the West Coast to roll out the tech- nology that will help fi rst responders fi nd callers who can’t quickly give an address, county 911 coordinator Tim Martindale Jr. said. “The ultimate piece of information we need is where are you at?” he said. So the app for that is SOS Beacon. It automatically sends precise loca- tion information to county dispatch- ers when the caller dials 911 from their phone. It also works in other areas that use the same system, Martindale said. He and 911 staff want everyone with a smartphone to download and install the free app. It’s available now. Setup includes confi rming the phone number and typing in a four-digit veri- fi cation code. The entire process can take less than a minute. The county’s system is expected to go live with the app by the end of August. What about privacy County 911 services are part of the Sheriff’s Offi ce but, Martindale said, the app only sends the caller’s address to dispatch if they call 911 for help. He said even if his boss, Sheriff Scott Johnson, asked him to fi nd a person by tracking their phone, he wouldn’t be able to do it. The app will soon be embedded in smartphone updates and put on new phones, he said. Martindale said 911 can’t pinpoint people from cell phone data like people see on TV and in movies. “Location accuracy has been rough to say the least,” he said. “Sometimes we get to a location and it’s just the cell tower.” See LOCATER, Page 7A