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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 2018)
WILLAPA BAY: OYSTER GROWERS SUFFER SETBACK ON PESTICIDE • 145TH YEAR, NO. 201 DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2018 PAGE 2A ONE DOLLAR SOARING HIGH Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Christopher Avery clears the bar for Seaside during the pole vault event on Monday in the Daily Astorian Invitational track meet in Seaside. See the story and more photos in Sports on Page 10A. County weighs marijuana sales tax By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian Clatsop County voters may have the option in November to place a tax on retail marijuana sales. County commissioners will hold the first reading Wednesday of an ordinance that would impose a 3 percent tax on sales. Staff estimates the tax, applied to three dispensaries outside city limits, would generate $50,000 in revenue annually. County Manager Cameron Moore likened the social costs of legal marijuana to substances like alcohol and tobacco, which often have “sin taxes” applied to them. The revenue could go toward public health and safety services. When Oregon voters legal- ized recreational marijuana sales in 2014, the state imposed a 17 per- cent sales tax and gave cities and counties the option to add an addi- tional 3 percent if approved by vot- ers. The county considered the tax in 2016, but no recreational dispen- saries existed outside city limits at the time. The affected dispensaries are located on U.S. Highways 26 and 30, meaning a large portion of cus- tomers are passers-by, said Nick Clark, owner of Nature’s Choice in Westport. Most cities and counties in the state have similar taxes. “They’re not coming from out of the area for 3 percent savings,” Clark said. The 14 licensed marijuana retail- ers in the county — 11 of which are located in Astoria, Seaside and Can- non Beach — sold more than $8 million in products last year, part of a $520 million statewide haul. While the taxes are fair, they can sometimes give black-market deal- ers an unfair advantage, said Don Morse, director of the Oregon Can- nabis Business Council. “Right out of the gate, we have 20 percent more in expenses while the guy on the black market does not,” Morse said. But, “I think the taxes in this case are put to good use. If you’re going to tax, at least it’s for the right purpose.” If Wednesday’s hearing is con- tinued, a second hearing would be held at a future meeting. Commis- sioners may then place the poten- tial ordinance on the November bal- lot. If approved, he taxes would be effective 30 days after the election. Megabucks? Try your luck in Jackson County EO Media Group A review shows where Mega- bucks winners bought their tick- ets and how they chose numbers. A majority of winners — 25 — bought tickets outside of the Port- land metro area. Only 17 tickets in that five-year period were sold at By PARIS ACHEN stores in the Portland metro area, Capital Bureau including Portland, Milwaukie, Beaverton and Sherwood. PORTLAND — In the past five In the metro area, Portland — the years, 24 tickets in Oregon have state’s population center — unsur- won the Megabucks grand prize. In prisingly had the greatest number some cases, winners had to share of winning tickets — nine in those five years. Beaverton had four, Mil- the $1 million or greater payout. People who bought tickets in waukie, two, and Sherwood, two. Salem, the state’s sec- Jackson County had the ond largest city, had five best luck, according to a winners — one each year. review by the EO Media out of Eugene — the state’s Group/Pamplin Media third largest city — had Group Capital Bureau of no winners during that addresses where winning Megabucks five-year period, though tickets were sold. Quick Pick tickets — winners were neighboring Springfield in which numbers are bought outside had one. Interestingly, 2014 was randomly generated by a of the Portland metro area. a lucky year for Jackson computer at the store — County. That year, only were more likely to win than when players selected their tickets sold at two separate stores own numbers. Only five out of 42 in Medford and at the Albertsons in winners in the past five years had Ashland won the grand prize. In the five-year period, Albany, manually-selected numbers. Three were unknown, and the other 37 See LOTTERY, Page 4A were Quick Pick tickets. Not much joy on the North Coast 25 42 Brenna Visser/The Daily Astorian Emergency blankets and medical kits were offered as raffle prizes at the emergency preparedness town hall in Gearhart. In Gearhart, relying on neighbors after disaster By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian GEARHART — As Marty McCullough scanned a table filled with makeshift toilets and water fil- tration systems, she couldn’t help but wish her neighbors were by her side. McCullough was one of the doz- ens of people who attended an emer- gency preparedness town hall in Gearhart on Saturday. The event, organized by the Community Emer- gency Response Team at the fire hall, featured a panel of speakers who addressed topics like emergency communications, go-bags, sanitation in a crisis and other tools. It was the first time McCullough, who has owned a home in Gearhart for five years, had ever attended an emergency preparedness event. But after some troublesome conversations with her neighbors, she felt com- pelled not only to come to prepare herself, but to convince her neighbor- hood to do the same. “A lot of our neighbors are older, and they’re simply not worried about (a tsunami),” she said. “I guess I just See GEARHART, Page 4A