3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2018
Seaside woman sentenced in hotel shooting
Garfias gets
five years in
prison in plea
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Pamplin Media Group
The Oregon Health Authority wanted to boost taxes on
beer and wine, in part to push down consumption and
in part to raise millions. Gov. Kate Brown on Friday said
those taxes are off the table.
Governor stops
move to raise
alcohol taxes
Health agency
wanted money
to fight abuse
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Tax hikes on
beer, cider and wine are “off
the table,” Gov. Kate Brown
said Friday.
The Oregon Health
Authority wanted to increase
taxes on beer, wine and cider
by 10 percent, which offi-
cials said could raise nearly
half a billion dollars over
two years.
The agency also pro-
posed significant tobacco
tax increases as a strategy
to deter tobacco use and
improve public health.
The health authority’s
proposal became public two
weeks before Brown was
re-elected. Her office at the
time declined to say whether
she supported boosting alco-
hol taxes.
That changed Friday.
“I’ve been saying noth-
ing’s off the table,” Brown
said, “But that one’s off the
table.”
The health authority said
Friday its current efforts to
prevent alcohol abuse don’t
require additional money to
continue.
“Director (Patrick) Allen
asked staff for budget ideas
to encourage input and cre-
ative thinking” Robb Cowie,
a spokesman for the health
authority, said in a written
statement. “The beer and
wine tax proposal was sug-
gested as one of many ideas
to address alcohol overcon-
sumption as part of the Ore-
gon Health Authority’s ongo-
ing prevention efforts, which
do not depend on additional
revenue to continue.”
The state hasn’t increased
beer taxes since 1977 or
taxes on wine since 1983.
But the money such
increases would generate
isn’t worth the fight, Brown
said.
“The challenge for that
particular arena is that we
just don’t get enough bang
for the buck,” Brown said,
adding that “it’s a tough fight
in the Legislature and we’re
not likely to be successful at
the ballot.”
Craft beer and fine wine
are big business in Oregon.
Over the past 10 years,
the alcohol industry has
added more jobs than the
high-tech sector, state econ-
omists say.
But Oregonians are also
suffering more from alco-
hol-related ailments. Alco-
hol overuse is the state’s
third most common cause of
preventable death. Related
deaths in Oregon have
climbed about 38 percent
since 2001.
The governor said she
would support higher taxes
on tobacco.
The health authority’s
proposal would raise an esti-
mated $293 million over two
years through a $2 per pack
tax on cigarettes, a tax on
“inhalant delivery systems”
such as e-cigarettes and
removing the 50-cent limit
on taxes per cigar.
Two years ago, Brown
unsuccessfully
proposed
raising cigarette taxes by 85
cents per pack. The state tax
remains at $1.33 per pack.
Brown plans to release
her recommended state bud-
get for the next two years on
Nov. 28.
The governor wouldn’t
say whether that would
include higher tobacco taxes,
but said she supports the con-
cept and thinks it could help
fund the Oregon Health Plan.
“I believe strongly that
increased tobacco … reve-
nue needs to be part of the
solution in developing a
comprehensive, sustainable
funding source for the Ore-
gon Health Plan,” Brown
said.
The health plan is the
state’s Medicaid program.
It’s facing an $830 million
shortfall in the next two-year
budget.
The Capital Bureau is
a collaboration between
EO Media Group, Pamplin
Media Group and Salem
Reporter.
A Seaside woman was sen-
tenced Friday to five years in
prison after a 2017 clash at a
hotel over drugs ended with a
shooting.
Marta Garfias, 22, entered
a room at the Beachside Inn
in Seaside with her boyfriend,
Shaun Scarborough, 29, and
Jeffrey Nathaniel Ryals, 27,
standing behind her with guns.
Garfias had arranged to meet
with Christopher Neaman,
of Washington state, to buy
drugs.
Scarborough, with a ban-
danna covering his face, held
ney’s Office. The plea
a .45-caliber pistol as
means she does not
Ryals allegedly pointed
accept guilt but recog-
an airsoft rifle. During
nizes prosecutors have
the encounter, Scar-
borough allegedly shot
enough evidence for a
Neaman.
conviction.
Neaman was taken
Scarborough also
by ambulance to a hos-
pleaded no contest to
Marta
pital, where his spleen
first-degree burglary
Garfias
was removed. He then
in July and was sen-
was taken via Life Flight Net- tenced to 8½ years in prison.
work to Oregon Health & Sci- Five years are a result of the
ence University Hospital in burglary charge and 3½ years
Portland for further treatment. stem from a probation vio-
Scarborough and Garfias lation in a separate case in
were arrested a week later in which he was convicted of
La Mesa, California. Ryals has being a felon in possession of
a firearm.
not been found.
At his sentencing hearing,
All three were charged with
first-degree assault, second-de- Scarborough downplayed Gar-
gree assault, first-degree rob- fias’ role in the incident, say-
bery and first-degree burglary. ing he used her to “get in the
Garfias pleaded no contest Fri- door.”
day to the burglary charge as
Garfias said Friday that she
part of a plea deal with the hopes to use the prison time
Clatsop County District Attor- to kick a drug addiction and
become a better mother for her
two sons.
“Over the past 2½ years,
three years, I’ve lost a lot
because of my drug addiction,
and now I’m losing even more
by going to prison,” Garfias
said. “But I’m going to make
the best of this.”
Garfias does not have prior
criminal convictions, Dep-
uty District Attorney Steven
Chamberlin said. She will be
eligible for alternative incar-
ceration programs and a
reduced prison sentence as part
of the plea deal.
Circuit Court Judge Cindee
Matyas said Garfias was say-
ing the right things and that she
hoped she would act on them.
“You’re definitely, you
know, young enough to make
some big changes and be the
mom that you want to be,”
Matyas said.
Forest Service to propose measures for southern Oregon
Associated Press
MEDFORD — The U.S.
Forest Service plans to pro-
pose measures for southern
Oregon aimed at reducing the
size and intensity of wildfires
and creating healthier forests
better able to withstand the
hotter, drier conditions brought
by climate change.
The Rogue River-Siskiyou
National Forest plan would
include a mix of commercial
logging and brush removal on
22,000 acres of Forest Service
and Bureau of Land Manage-
ment lands, the Mail Tribune
reported Sunday.
It would include nearly
5,000 acres of prescribed fire
and using fire to maintain up
to 13,000 acres of previously
burned areas.
Research shows the for-
est will better adapt to hotter,
drier climates if the density of
its tree stands is reduced and
the growth of more fire-resis-
tant trees is promoted. Grow-
ing more oak and pine trees
instead of Douglas fir will also
help the forests adapt.
“The objective is to make
the watershed more resilient to
disturbances like fire, insects
and climate change,” said Don
Boucher, the forest’s district
ecologist and main architect of
the plan.
In all, the package could
cost up to $14 million, with as
much as $2 million generated
from commercial logging and
the remainder coming from
future grants, Boucher said.
The plan is detailed in an envi-
ronmental assessment expected
to be released Wednesday.
The proposals include 18
miles of new hiking trails
and 4 miles of new off-high-
WANTED
American Forest Resource
Council, said she thinks it’s a
good project overall. She said
it’s going to be “really good”
for the landscape.
Tim Niemela, from the
Motorcycle Riders Association,
said the amount of proposed
new trails shows a bias against
motorized users. He believes it
doesn’t acknowledge the work
his group does in the woods.
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way vehicle trails. Miles of
unauthorized trails would be
decommissioned.
The environmental assess-
ment will be up for public com-
ment for a month, with com-
ments incorporated in a final
decision expected next spring,
Boucher said. Work could
begin next summer, he said.
Amanda Astor, southwest
Oregon field forester for the
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