146TH YEAR, NO. 181
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2019
ONE DOLLAR
Warrenton
teen dies
from the flu
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian
Visitors to Oswald West State Park pause on a rocky shoreline within the Cape Falcon Marine Reserve.
Researchers still
learning about Cape
Falcon Marine Reserve
One of five in Oregon
Seaside
might ban
plastic bags
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
S
tate researchers have
used volunteer fishermen,
underwater cameras and
scuba divers to uncover the lives
of the creatures who call Cape
Falcon Marine Reserve home.
Cape Falcon, located between
Arch Cape and Manzanita, is the
newest of the state’s five marine
reserves — protected areas off
the Oregon Coast that include
sites like Cape Perpetua south
of Newport and Redfish Rocks
south of Bandon.
Monitoring work began in
Cape Falcon in 2014 and restric-
tions on fishing and develop-
ment did not go into effect until
2016.
There are still a lot of
unknowns, from how differ-
ent species use the rocky reefs
and soft bottom habitat in the
reserve to what the long-term
effects of protecting the area
might be.
The state is in the middle of
developing a management plan,
the last of Oregon’s marine
reserves to get a plan.
State resources are tight, but
the plan will include both state
and community priorities for the
protected marine site. It is hoped
Locals are grieving after the loss of Tim-
othy Pior, 15, a Warrenton High School
freshman who died Sunday from complica-
tions related to the flu.
Hundreds gathered at Gateway Commu-
nity Church on Sunday to honor Pior, who
was active in athletics and theater. He is
survived by his mother and father, Jonathan
and Candy Pior; siblings, Elizabeth, Nico-
las, Victoria, Alexandria and Josiah; and
grandparents, Weldon and Dorothy Pior.
Pior participated in wrestling, football
and soccer, as well as the high school’s choir
department. He was well-known in local
acting circles, most recently playing Tevye
in the high school’s production of “Fiddler
on the Roof.” He also acted with the Penin-
sula Association of Performing Artists.
Matthew Kelley, a representative for the
family, told KATU the family is heartbro-
ken but heartened by the community sup-
port. No one in the family thought the ill-
ness would turn deadly, he said.
“We’d been talking the night before
about making plans to go to the movies the
next day or two when he was feeling bet-
ter,” Kelley told KATU.
The family will hold a public service
for Pior at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Warrenton
High School gymnasium.
The family has created a GoFundMe
page in Pior’s honor. Donations will go
toward Pior’s passions, including high
school athletics, the choir and local arts
groups. For more information, visit tinyurl.
com/timpior
Ban also under
discussion in Gearhart
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian
Lindsay Aylesworth, ecological research project leader for the state’s
marine reserves program, prepares video equipment during a tour last
spring at Cape Falcon.
CAPE FALCON
MARINE RESERVE
A Nature Matters lecture on marine
reserves is scheduled for Thursday
at Fort George Brewery’s Lovell
Showroom. Doors open at 6 p.m.
the plan will help attract outside
research interests and resources
for work the state does not have
the capacity to do.
“Frankly what we want is
for (the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife) to have more
capacity because all the things
they are doing are great, but
they have very limited funding
and staffing for all of these big
things,” said Nadia Gardner, a
local volunteer with the Friends
of Cape Falcon Marine Reserve.
It’s one reason why the group
exists, she said.
The group coordinates vol-
unteer efforts like annual sea-
bird surveys with the Audubon
Society of Portland. Last year,
the group led a small boat tour
to give people a chance to see
the reserve from the water.
See Reserve, Page A3
SEASIDE — Seaside Brewing Co.
owner Jimmy Griffin has already made
the switch. He’s now one of the restau-
rants on the North Coast to voluntarily
use paper straws and biodegradable to-go
containers.
Griffin was among more than two
dozen supporters of a single-use plas-
tic bag ban in Seaside. At Monday’s City
Council meeting, he was joined by advo-
cates from Seaside and around Clatsop
County, who described a threat to ocean
wildlife and habitat.
Marc Ward, the co-founder of Sea Tur-
tles Forever, a nonprofit which conducts
monitoring of endangered sea turtles and
researches the effects of marine debris
in the Pacific Ocean, said the situation is
dire.
“Our culture is changing slowly,”
Ward said. “The slight inconvenience
somebody might have by having to bring
their own bag is outweighed by the dire
situation on a global level.”
See Ban, Page A5
Cannabis cafes could be coming
A bill is being
debated in Salem
By KRISTIAN
FODEN-VENCIL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Jeremy Robbins broke
his neck in a bicycle acci-
dent 20 years ago. He’s in
a wheelchair and has been
prescribed cannabis for
chronic pain and spasms.
The trouble is, he lives
in public housing, which
means he’s not allowed
to smoke his medicine at
home.
“I just don’t under-
stand how come there isn’t
a space provided where
me and a lot of other folks
like me can go, and we can
imbibe in this medicine
and also have a community
where we can support each
other,” Robbins said.
He told a public hear-
ing in Salem that the state is
being inconsistent — allow-
ing bars all over the place,
but not cannabis cafes.
Oregon cannabis busi-
nesses are trying to normal-
ize the use of their prod-
uct with Senate Bill 639 in
Salem this session.
The initial effort would
have allowed customers to
consume cannabis at cafes,
including by smoking it, but
that is already changing.
The push to allow canna-
bis consumption has come
from marijuana patients,
like Robbins, as well as
businesses interested in fill-
ing a niche.
Buying cannabis has
been legal in Oregon for
years now. But unless a
consumer owns their own
home, there’s hardly any-
where legal to smoke it.
Not in a park, not on a
public street and not in most
rental housing.
Sara Kemple man-
ages The Dispensary on
52nd, a cannabis shop in
See Cannabis cafes, Page A5
Kristian Foden-Vencil/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Sara Kemple manages The Dispensary on 52nd, a cannabis
shop in southeast Portland. She says tourists come to Oregon
to try marijuana and leave sadly disappointed because there’s
hardly anywhere they can legally smoke.