145TH YEAR, NO. 134
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, JANUARY 5, 2018
PRIMER ON
MEASURE 101
PAGE 5A
FRIENDS IN COURT
WEEKEND BREAK • 1C
Warrenton
police carry
overdose kits
Officers are more
aware of opioid risks
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The Warrenton Police
Department has become the first police
agency in Clatsop County to start equipping
officers with opioid overdose kits.
Each kit includes a two-dose nasal spray
version of naloxone, a medication designed
to rapidly reverse opioid overdose, along
with a CPR emergency breather, rubber
gloves, masks and other safety equipment.
The kits cost $95 each and were funded
by a grant from Lines for Life, a drug abuse
prevention group. The first 10 doses of nal-
oxone were donated by Columbia Memorial
Hospital.
The precaution is meant to protect drug
users, those with opioid prescriptions
and children exposed to drugs, as well as
police, evidence technicians and others in
law enforcement who regularly face the
risk of exposure. The city also purchased a
naloxone kit for its new drug-sniffing K-9,
Gabe.
BLUNT
WARNING
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Cody Falk returns a jar of marijuana to a shelf after helping a customer at Sweet Relief in Astoria.
Locals wait for
clarity on federal
marijuana policy
See KITS, Page 7A
By EDWARD STRATTON and
CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
The Daily Astorian
L
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Warrenton Police Chief Mathew Work-
man displays the kit which includes
doses of naloxone that officers will car-
ry with them in their vehicles.
Top Oregon politicians were quick to respond to news from Attorney General
Jeff Sessions regarding enforcement of federal marijuana laws.
Chief deputy
to run for DA
Brown is an
experienced litigator
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
When Clatsop County Chief Deputy Dis-
trict Attorney Ron Brown interviewed for his
job in 2003, he may also have been audition-
ing for his next one.
During the interview, District Attorney
Josh Marquis asked him if he would be inter-
ested in being the county’s top prosecutor.
After a startled Brown double-checked to
ensure he was still discussing the right posi-
tion, Marquis confirmed that he was.
Sweet Relief in Astoria is one of several businesses on the North Coast that
sell medicinal and recreational marijuana.
ocals in the marijuana industry
were jolted Thursday when U.S.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions
directed prosecutors to more aggressively
enforce federal drug laws.
The announcement reversed a Presi-
dent Barack Obama-era memo, written
by then-Deputy Attorney General James
M. Cole, discouraging prosecutors from
pursuing marijuana-related charges in
states — including Oregon and Washing-
ton — where it has been legalized.
It came days after California became
the sixth and largest state so far to legal-
ize the drug for recreational use.
“I feel at this moment there’s still just
a lot of questions to be asked,” said Oscar
Nelson, co-owner of Sweet Relief Natu-
ral Medicine.
Opened in 2013, Sweet Relief was
Clatsop County’s first medical marijuana
dispensary and started selling to recre-
ational customers with others in October
2015.
But the emerging pot industry is rooted
in shaky legal ground, complicating reg-
ulatory, financial and advertising issues.
State laws that legalize marijuana are in
conflict with federal law, which classifies
marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, the same
category as heroin and LSD.
Nelson made calls to the offices of
Gov. Kate Brown and Clatsop County
District Attorney Josh Marquis, but cau-
tioned patience.
“Until I get more information, this is
just not something to react to,” he said.
“I feel that this is just part of this indus-
try, and I feel hopeful that logic will
prevail.”
See WARNING, Page 7A
See BROWN, Page 7A
Private sleuth tries to crack D.B. Cooper’s code
Colbert
believes he has
‘smoking gun’
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
An obscure code written
in a court-released D.B. Coo-
per letter may be the smoking
gun that reveals the iden-
tity of the mysterious 1970s
skyjacker.
The letter surfaced late
last year after a Freedom
of Information Act request
from Thomas Colbert, a pri-
vate sleuth. He believes his
Associated Press
This undated sketch shows
the skyjacker known as D.B.
Cooper from recollections
of the passengers and crew
of a jet he hijacked.
chief Cooper suspect, Robert
Wesley Rackstraw Sr. — a
Vietnam paratrooper and
ex-convict now residing in
the San Diego area — lived
in Astoria under the alias
“Norman de Winter” in the
months before the infamous
hijacking of a Pacific North-
west flight.
On Nov. 24, 1971, a man
wearing a dark business suit,
tie and sunglasses seized a
Northwest Orient plane from
Portland to Seattle with a
supposed briefcase bomb.
Once
the
passengers
debarked, the man ransomed
$200,000 and four para-
chutes, then ordered the crew
to fly him to Mexico.
While passing over the
Oregon-Washington wilder-
ness, the thief skydived into
See SLEUTH, Page 6A
Associated Press
Three members of the crew of a jet that was hijacked in
1971 discussed the experience in a news conference in
Minneapolis. They are, left to right: First Officer William
Rataczak; Capt. William Scott and Stewardess Tina Muck-
low, all of the Minneapolis area.