FLOODING INUNDATES EASTERN OREGON
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WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2020
147TH YEAR, NO. 96
$1.50
#TIMBERUNITY
TAKES CENTER STAGE
Protests in Salem against cap and trade
MORE INSIDE
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
Washington state adds fuel to climate change fi re
ALEM — Thousands of Oregonians lined
the streets and converged on the steps of
the Capitol on Thursday to protest cap-and-
trade legislation they say would decimate the
rural economy.
Sign-waving protesters met with Gov. Kate
Brown and legislators and fi lled hearing rooms
with their testimonies. More than 1,000 trucks,
tractors and other large vehicles circled the Capi-
tol for hours, with horns blaring.
The protesters, working-class residents who
are part of a movement called #TimberUnity, fear
Senate Bill 1530 will lead to higher fuel prices,
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which would hurt truckers, loggers, farmers and
others who live and work in rural parts of the
state.
“This production up here is huge. We have
such a huge family with #TimberUnity now.
The rally, the trucks that are coming through —
it’s just like nothing I’ve ever seen before,” said
Shelly Gedenberg-Solum, of Gedenberg Log
Trucking in Astoria.
Facebook
See #TimberUnity, Page A6
State Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, at the #TimberUnity rally in Salem.
Thousands of people attended a #TimberUnity rally in Salem on Thursday.
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Cannon Beach
Distillery to
close in March
Property on North Marion
under consideration
for new fi rehouse.
R.J. Marx/The Astorian
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
Cannon Beach Distillery will close at
the end of March after owner Mike Sel-
berg didn’t fi nd any buyers or partners
who fi t his vision.
Selberg announced in July the
impending sale or closure of the distill-
ery, arguing the state tax structure has
made it impossible to make any head-
way as a small, craft distiller. He recently
announced the impending closure in a let-
ter to customers online.
In the letter, Selberg said he reached
out to several interested buyers or part-
ners but couldn’t get over the feeling that
he was giving up something special.
“In the end, I couldn’t stomach Can-
non Beach Distillery becoming anything
different,” he wrote. “I have so much
pride in the integrity of this company.
We have produced every single drop of
spirit from a raw ingredient, and focused
entirely on quality with an artistic fl air
... to tremendous success refl ected in the
reputation of our spirits.”
A biology major in college, Selberg in
2012 opened the craft artisan distillery in
Cannon Beach, where he had spent sum-
mers as a child and wanted a way to live
year-round. He has focused on one-off
batches, the vast majority of his products
being sold in his Hemlock Street tasting
room.
Selberg has criticized the Oregon
Liquor Control Commission for taxing a
third of his bottle sales despite not hand-
ing the liquor at the tasting room, and for
taxing bottles based on retail value rather
than volume. He argues the tax structure
disadvantages small, craft distilleries like
his that focus on quality and creativity in
favor of larger operations that focus on
turning out lower-cost, industrially pro-
duced liquor.
His concerns mirrored those of Larry
Cary, who started Astoria’s Pilot House
See Distillery, Page A6
Gearhart sets table for fi re bond
Vote possible in May
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
GEARHART — A bond for a new fi re-
house in Gearhart could go on the ballot as
soon as May, but there are a few “ifs.”
At Wednesday’s City Council meet-
ing, councilors unanimously approved a
request for up to $25,000 from the build-
ing reserve fund to coordinate work to
date, review materials and prepare a cost
estimate for a bond. The city has about
$142,000 in reserves for these purposes.
“As we’re fi nishing these points of due
diligence, my hope is that we are able to
come to a decision sometime soon and per-
haps put a new fi re station on a bond some-
time this year,” Mayor Matt Brown said.
“That’s my hope.”
The funds are designed to “triple-check”
cost estimates for a new fi rehouse and
resiliency station at the High Point site on
North Marion Avenue, City Administrator
Chad Sweet said.
Should these estimates, which include
the cost for design, geotechnical studies
and construction, independently pan out,
the city could be eligible for a more favor-
able bond structure from Business Oregon,
the state’s economic development agency.
‘AS WE’RE FINISHING
THESE POINTS OF DUE
DILIGENCE, MY HOPE IS
THAT WE ARE ABLE TO
COME TO A DECISION
SOMETIME SOON AND
PERHAPS PUT A NEW
FIRE STATION ON A BOND
SOMETIME THIS YEAR.
THAT’S MY HOPE.’
Mayor Matt Brown
“We have completed the preapplication
and we are working on the longer appli-
cation,” Sweet said. “One of the require-
ments is that our estimations have gone
through the process we are talking about
and we have a signature that confi rms this
is accurate. We’re doing a triple-check, to
make sure our costs are in line.”
A $3.75 million bond to replace the
fi rehouse failed in 2006, with the added
components of a new city hall and police
department.
The cost estimates for the new fi rehouse
come after more than three years of out-
reach and research to replace the current
fi re station on Pacifi c Way, a cinderblock
building constructed in 1958 and consid-
ered vulnerable in a Cascadia Subduction
Zone earthquake and tsunami.
In 2018, after considering nine loca-
tions, the fi re station committee recom-
mended three concepts and locations to the
public to help guide the decision-making
process.
Estimated costs for a fi rehouse project,
not including land purchase, reach about
$5 million, of which $3.4 million would
go to a 12,800-square-foot public safety
building.
With an elevation of between 62 feet
and 65 feet at the building site, cost is esti-
mated at between $6 million and $9 mil-
lion. The cost per $1,000 of home value
would be $0.66 to $0.99. A $400,000 home
would be assessed $264 to $396 per year if
a bond were to pass.
Along with cost reviews, the city must
complete negotiations for purchase of
the property before bringing the bond to
voters.
Offi cials feel confi dent this could be the
year voters support a new fi re station.
See Fire bond, Page A6