SEASIDE POISED FOR A RUN AT A STATE TITLE SPORTS • PAGE 10A
DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 81
Food bank shake-up leads
to a temporary closure
South County nonprofi t feeds the hungry
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Board
members and Karla Gann,
the former regional man-
ager of the South County
Food Bank, have two dif-
ferent accountings of a split
that could leave hundreds of
South County residents hun-
gry over the holidays.
Gann said she and staff
were approached by board
members Friday afternoon,
ordered to relinquish their
keys and locked out of the
Roosevelt Drive building.
ONE DOLLAR
South
Clatsop
County
Food Bank
Regional
Manager
Karla Gann
at the food
bank in
August.
“They said, ‘You’re fi red,
you’re gone. Give me your
keys and leave.’ They did it
in the worst possible way,”
Gann said.
Gann blamed the clo-
sure on months of board
Colin Murphey
The Daily
Astorian
See FOOD BANK, Page 3A
Marijuana debate still
blazing in Cannon Beach
Portland
hotelier
outduels
the Port
Param could take over
Astoria Riverwalk Inn
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Chris Hess at the Five Zero Trees store in Cannon Beach on Friday. Owners of the store are planning a soft opening in a
few weeks as two other recreational marijuana retailers look at opening stores in Cannon Beach.
City councilors
to review rules,
comprehensive plan
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
C
ANNON BEACH — Almost a
year has passed since residents
narrowly voted to allow recre-
ational marijuana sales . But as retailers
apply to open stores , conversations about
appropriate locations and procedure have
MORE INSIDE
Marijuana retailers eye Cannon Beach
Page 7A
unsettled the community .
T hree marijuana retailers have sub-
mitted land use compatibility statements
to operate . Each are at different stages of
the permitting process. But one — Five
Zero Trees at 140 S. Hemlock St. — has
been inspected by the Oregon Liquor
Control Commission and is expected to
open within the next few weeks, pending
the city’s approval of a business license.
Earlier this year, controversy sur-
rounding the Hemlock Street location
led city councilors to reevaluate an ordi-
nance that spells out where and how mar-
ijuana shops can operate . The issue came
up after Matt Ennis, a resident at 140 S.
Hemlock, told the city at a July meeting
that his landlord planned to evict him to
rent the commercial space under him to
Five Zero Trees.
Councilors voted 3-2 to maintain the
ordinance, which prohibits marijuana
stores in mixed-use buildings to adhere to
Clatsop County Circuit Court Judge
Dawn McIntosh has given Param Hotel
Corp. a choice between either a seven-year
lease on the Astoria Riverwalk Inn or up to
$4 million in damages against the Port of
Astoria.
Param’s attorney, Colin Hunter, said the
company plans to take over the lease of the
hotel in November 2018, after the term of
Astoria Hospitality Ventures ends.
“The judge and jury have now spoken
with one voice to confi rm that Param is enti-
tled to the benefi t of the bargain it reached
with the Port back in 2015,” Hunter said.
“At its core, this case has always been about
the opportunity to run the Riverwalk Inn, a
truly unique hotel property with enormous
potential.”
A jury last week awarded the $4 million
to Param, fi nding the Port had breached a
contract and that Port Executive Director Jim
Knight had knowingly made fraudulent mis-
representations to Param’s owner, Ganesh
Sonpatki.
McIntosh held a hearing Friday on
Param’s pending claim for specifi c perfor-
mance, a legal remedy used when mone-
tary damages are not adequate. McIntosh
said she would accept a suggestion that the
Port enforce Param’s seven-year lease at
the end of Hospitality Ventures’ remaining
year. Param would also have to pay what
was promised in the breached contract to sat-
isfy former operator Brad Smithart’s debts
to the Port, Astoria and Clatsop County.
Any remainder would go to Smithart, who
See MARIJUANA, Page 7A
See HOTELIER, Page 7A
New librarian takes helm at college
Checking out
books and more
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
an McClure was an adver-
tising major at the Uni-
versity of Oregon when a
research librarian visited his
“Info Hell” class, a rite of
passage for those entering
the School of Journalism and
Communication.
The librarian showed the
class LexisNexis Congressio-
nal, one of the foremost reposi-
tories of c ongressional records.
About one-third of the class
didn’t pay attention, McClure
said, but he was enthralled.
D
“I just thought, ‘Wow;
that’s so profound that this
guy has this ability to affect so
many lives at once, for those
of who cared to pay atten-
tion to it,’” he said. “I think
until then, in my mind, librar-
ians were very tied to what I
had witnessed at the public
library, which was really a lot
of checking out books.”
After earning a bachelor’s
in journalism, McClure real-
ized advertising didn’t fi t his
personality. He later earned a
master’s in library and infor-
mation studies. He landed this
year at Clatsop Community
College as the new director of
the Dora Badollet Library.
Originally from Eugene,
McClure left at 19 and didn’t
return until his 30s to attend
school. In his youth, he worked
as a waiter, baker, bike mes-
senger and salesman of musi-
cal instruments and cameras,
positions he later used to work
his way through college.
After the University of
Oregon, McClure and his
wife, Noelle, who works
in fi ne art collection man-
agement, moved east as she
pursued a master’s in studio art
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
See McCLURE, Page 3A
Dan McClure was recently hired as director of Clatsop
Community College’s Dora Badollet Library.
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