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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2018
146TH YEAR, NO. 104
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2018
ONE DOLLAR
Log exports
on hold due
to trade war
Impending
tariffs causing
layoffs and
slowdowns
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Longshoremen are load-
ing the bulk carrier Tunsin
at the Port of Astoria’s Pier 1
with at least 5.5 million board
feet of timber from Astoria
Forest Products leaving Fri-
day for China.
The Tunsin, the last ship
scheduled for this year, could
be the last log export indef-
initely for the Port until
the deepening trade war
between the U.S. and China
is resolved.
Chad Niedermeyer, the
yard manager for Astoria
Forest Products, said log ship
contracts for next year have
been put on hold because of
impending tariffs.
President Trump recently
announced
10
percent
tariffs on $200 billion worth
of Chinese goods, with an
increase to 25 percent next
year.
The Chinese currently
charge 5 percent tariffs on
Douglas fir and hemlock,
along with 10 percent on
white woods such as spruce
and grand fir, Niedermeyer
said. But if Trump’s tariff
increases take effect, Chi-
nese customers are indicat-
ing there will be 25 percent
tariffs on all U.S. imports, he
added.
The slowdown in log
exports, the Port’s largest sin-
gle source of revenue, has
caused the agency to consider
budget cutbacks and look for
alternate sources of revenue.
Astoria Forest Products
recently began a partnership
barging logs from Pier 1 to
Southport Lumber Co., a mill
near Coos Bay. Southport has
a contract with the state of
Oregon for about 3 million
board feet of timber over the
next year, and with private
buyers will likely acquire a
total of 5 to 8 million board
feet, Niedermeyer said.
Ginger Nealon
A juvenile bobcat is examined at the Wildlife Center of the North Coast.
See EXPORTS, Page 7A
Young bobcat
returned to the wild
Oregon pot tax
revenue grows as
consumption booms
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregonians
are buying more legal pot
than expected.
That means they are also
poised to pay more taxes on
it — about $12.5 million
more in the current budget
than state economists pro-
jected several months ago.
The average price of a
gram of cannabis on the
retail market has dropped
from about $10 in late 2016
to just above $4 in mid-2018,
according to state figures.
But tax collections con-
tinue to grow.
Altogether, Oregon con-
sumers are projected to pay
$176 million in state mari-
juana taxes during the cur-
rent budget cycle, which
ends in mid-2019.
“Since Oregon lev-
ies its recreational mari-
juana tax based on the price
of the product, the fact that
actual tax collections have
exceeded expectations is all
the more impressive given
the ongoing drop in prices,”
state economists said in a
revenue forecast report last
week. “For every ounce sold,
or every edible purchased,
Oregon is receiving less tax
revenue per item due to the
price decline.”
Wholesale prices have
also decreased in that period,
but less dramatically.
Consumers are turning
away from other sources, like
the black market and medical
marijuana, and toward rec-
reational retail, state econo-
mists say.
And more Oregonians are
using cannabis, according to
the forecast.
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
A
Photos by Beth Wise
ABOVE: The bobcat was rescued by after it was found in a backyard off High-
way 202. BELOW: Experts determined the young animal to be in good health.
See POT, Page 7A
young male bobcat was
released back into the wild
Sunday after being found in a
family’s fenced-in backyard
off Highway 202.
The family, after seeing their dogs cor-
ner the bobcat under an oil tank about a
week ago, decided to call the Wildlife
Center of the North Coast about a possi-
ble rescue.
Receiving a bobcat is rare, said Joshua
Saranpaa, executive director of the wild-
life center. This is only the fourth report
in 10 years.
“We don’t get a lot of calls about them.
They’re pretty reclusive, so they generally
stay away from people,” Saranpaa said.
“They’re also nocturnal, so they are just
not out and about when we’re out about.”
As a precaution, Saranpaa and rehabil-
itation coordinator Pauline Baker decided
to capture the cat and bring him in to a
veterinarian for a thorough exam to make
sure there were no injuries or illnesses.
After giving him a series of vaccinations
and running him through a test to make
sure he could catch live prey, staff con-
firmed that he was a “healthy little bob-
cat,” and decided to release him on the
wildlife center grounds.
A small group of community members
gave him a proper goodbye as he bounded
out of his kennel and into the brush sur-
rounding the center.
Seaside School District to sell old elementary
Former school
building has sat
vacant since 2013
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The gymnasium at the Cannon Beach Elementary School.
CANNON BEACH — The Sea-
side School District is seriously con-
sidering selling the former Cannon
Beach Elementary School property to
the Cannon Beach Museum and His-
torical Society.
Though other offers have been made
in the past, this is the first time the dis-
trict has publicly expressed intention to
commit to a sale. Superintendent Sheila
Roley said the board has shown inter-
est in supporting the sale, and will likely
vote to approve it in the next month or
so.
“It’s a good offer,” Roley said. “We
look forward to working out the details
of the sale with the historical society.”
The building, which has sat vacant
at the north end of town since the
school was closed in 2013, has long
been an object of desire for the city,
which has discussed buying it as some
form of event or community center on
and off for years.
The Clatsop-Nehalem Confeder-
ated Tribes and other nonprofits have
also shown interest in preserving the
unique building as a cultural landmark.
It is one of four buildings the district is
See SCHOOL, Page 7A