DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2019
146TH YEAR, NO. 153
ONE DOLLAR
Weddings
STORIES FROM THE
COLUMBIA-PACIFIC
REGION • INSIDE
Knappa
wrestling
coach
resigns
g
Marijuana concentrates
grow in popularity
School district cites
‘unfortunate incidents’
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
The longtime Knappa High School
wrestling coach and two of his assistants
resigned on Wednesday after what the
school district superintendent described as
“unfortunate incidents” during the team’s
trip to Redmond this month.
Coach Dan Owings, assistant coach
Scott Whitworth and assistant volunteer
Mike Posey stepped down effective imme-
diately. Kirk Miller, the school’s athletic
director, will lead the wrestling team for
the rest of the season.
Superintendent Paulette Johnson
declined to publicly detail the incidents.
Nathan Truax, a 21-year-old volunteer
See Coach, Page A5
Oregon fails
to adequately
regulate
marijuana
Auditors fi nd
signifi cant gaps
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon’s system for reg-
ulating cannabis likely fails to prevent
spillover to the black market, state audi-
tors said Wednesday.
That increases the risk that the state
could be subject to more federal scrutiny,
said Secretary of State Dennis Richard-
son, whose audits division released the
report .
Oregon has two systems for legal can-
nabis: medical, which voters approved
more than 20 years ago, and recreational,
which voters supported in 2014. Auditors
studied the controls on each program,
fi nding there were signifi cant gaps.
While a growing number of states are
legalizing cannabis, it remains illegal
federally.
In early 2018, then-Attorney General
Jeff Sessions rescinded previous federal
Photos by Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
Vancouver Weed Co. owner Gary Green looks over marijuana plants in his vegetation room in Ilwaco.
Production is increasing
to meet consumer demand
By LUKE WHITTAKER
Chinook Observer
L
ONG BEACH , Wash. — M ar-
ijuana growers and processors
across Pacifi c County are broad-
ening production of concentrates and
infused products.
The increases are largely a result of
growers becoming more effi cient with
harvests and extract production, cou-
pled with a deepening demand from
customers .
“Out of our Cathlamet, Longview
and Kelso locations, this store sells
the most dabs out of all of them,” said
Jerad Nichols, a budtender at Freedom
Market in Ilwaco.
Dabs, or concentrated doses of tet-
rahydrocannabinol — THC , the main
psychoactive component of mari-
juana — come in several consisten-
cies including wax, shatter and butane
hash oil , depending on the extraction
method.
The Freedom Market in Ilwaco has
generated more than $3.2 million in
sales since opening in October 2016,
the most of Pacifi c County’s three dis-
Vancouver Weed Co. employee Bobby Crislip prepares to trim marijuana at the
Ilwaco grow facility.
pensaries. In comparison, Grower’s
Outlet and Mr. Doobees have sold
$2.9 million and $1.9 million .
The Freedom Market has aver-
aged more than $120,000 in sales each
month, benefi ting from being in an ideal
spot and opening at the perfect time.
In the fall of 2016, Oregon was
undergoing new testing regulations
for marijuana concentrates at certifi ed
labs, resulting in a backlog of extracts
and edibles for distribution to dispen-
saries around Clatsop County.
A temporary scarcity in concen-
trates on Clatsop County store shelves
led to a surge in sales at stores in
See Marijuana, Page A5
See Regulate, Page A5
Student mural honors Chinese culture
Art on a wall
downtown
By EDWARD STATTON
The Daily Astorian
Students at Astoria High
School have turned a blank
wall on the side of a down-
town building into a large
mural honoring Chinese
culture .
Instructor
Mickey
Cereghino’s community art
class focuses on getting stu-
dents’ work into the public
eye.
During a recent art show
at the former Lum’s Auto
Dealership at 16th and
Exchange streets, he was
approached by Pam Lum,
part of a locally infl uential
family of Chinese descent.
Lum mentioned she had a
wall that needed painting on
a building the family owns
next to Children’s P ark off
Sixth Street , if Cereghino’s
class needed a new canvas.
Cereghino pitched his
students on a new mural
design of either something
from Astoria’s history, or
something having to do with
Chinese culture, an often
underrepresented aspect of
the city.
Students
contributed
to each aspect of the fi nal
design — a green-scaled
dragon with a red fi n, yellow
stomach and a fl aming tail
snaking over a stone bridge,
set against a blue backdrop
with hanging lanterns and a
red border.
“We wanted to talk about
the different cultures as
Astoria, because it’s not just
a fi sheries town,” said Grace
Peeler, a sophomore who
worked on the mural. “The
primary focus you see in
this town is on the canneries
and the fi sh.”
The students settled on
a green dragon because the
color represents youth in
Chinese culture and fi ts with
the mural’s location next to
See Mural, Page A5
Mickey Cereghino
Members of Mickey Cereghino’s community art class at
Astoria High School painted a large mural inspired by
Chinese culture on the side of a building owned by the Lum
family in Astoria.