A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2021
IN BRIEF
Pickleball courts could be coming
to Cartwright Park in Seaside
SEASIDE — Pickleball courts are the most
asked for facility at the P arks A dvisory C ommit-
tee, Seaside Public Works Director Dale McDowell
said at last week’s City Council meeting.
A preliminary proposal calls for four pickle-
ball courts and a tennis court at Cartwright Park on
Franklin Street near Avenue S.
McDowell and members of the Parks Advisory
Committee presented the “mile high” version of the
potential expansion of the park at the city’s south-
ern end adjacent to the former Seaside School Dis-
trict office . The city-owned property is now vacant
after the school district’s move to Spruce Drive and
is likely slated for demolition.
Pickleball is described as a cross between ping-
pong and tennis.
Costs will depend on the type of fencing , court
construction, waiting areas and benches needed.
The neighboring playground, which will remain,
was recently upgraded for Americans w ith Disabil-
ities Act accessibility. The boat ramp at the park
could be widened and stairs added. Restrooms also
need upgrading.
A BMX pump track on the park property, con-
structed by volunteers from the North Coast Trail
Alliance in 2018, gets a lot of use and could see an
expansion with an additional lane, McDowell said.
“Again, this is first discussion,” he said. “We’re
not asking you to do anything other than start think-
ing about it. We’re hoping at some point when we
dig a hole out there we find a bucket of money to
do all of this work.”
— The Astorian
GROUNDWORK
TOP: Oscar Martinez, a shellfi sh worker with Pacifi c
Seafood, moves a basket in place before fi lling it
with oyster cultch on the tidefl ats east of Nahcotta.
LEFT: Cultch bags fi lled with shells holding oyster
larvae, or spat.
BELOW: Dante Negrete, a shellfi sh worker, prepares
to break up a cultch bag into a basket.
Photos by Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
Study finds red flag law
on guns works as intended
A study of Oregon’s extreme risk protection
order law found the tool is working as intended but
suggests wide adoption has been slow.
The law, colloquially known as a red flag law ,
went into effect in 2018 and allows law enforce-
ment, spouses, immediate family, or house-
hold members to petition a judge for temporary
restrictions on purchasing or possessing firearms
if they fear a person poses a risk to themselves or
others. The individual has 30 days to contest the
order.
Oregon is one of 19 states, along with the Dis-
trict of Columbia, with similar laws on the books.
The study, led by Michigan State University
associate professor April Zoeli, sought to identify
how the law was being used across the state and
whether the characteristics of respondents differed
depending on who was petitioning for the order —
law enforcement of family members. It looked at
all 93 petitions filed in the first 15 months after
the law was implemented. During that time, 22
of Oregon’s 36 counties had at least one petition
filed.
The study found that 75% of people requesting
a risk protection order reported the person in ques-
tion had a history of interpersonal violence. And
73% had a reported history of suicidality. Half of
those had threatened to take their lives with a fire-
arm. The study also found that half of the respon-
dents had threatened or attempted to take their life
and also threatened or used violence against others,
a higher rate than was found in similar studies con-
ducted in other states.
The three-quarters of petitions involving inter-
personal violence was noteworthy. States with
similar laws, like Connecticut and Indiana, saw
a substantially lower share of orders for similar
circumstances.
Data from the study suggest the laws are being
used as intended.
— Oregon Public Broadcasting
MEMORIALS
Saturday, June 5
Memorials
LINDSLEY, Eileen
— Celebration of life at
2 p.m., 34742 U.S. High-
way 101 Business. Park-
ing is available across the
street.
BENFIELD-SCHER-
TENLEIB, Melissa —
Celebration of life at
2 p.m., Coastline Chris-
tian Fellowship, 89386
Oregon Highway 202 in
Olney.
WEAVER, Paul Linn
— Celebration of life at
2 p.m., Hamlet Historical
Schoolhouse and Com-
munity Center, 80859
Hamlet Road in Seaside.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, noon, work
session, (electronic meeting).
Astoria Library Board, 5:30 p.m., 450 10th St.
WEDNESDAY
Warrenton Urban Renewal Advisory Committee,
3:30 p.m., (electronic meeting).
THURSDAY
Astoria Design Review Commission, 5:30 p.m., City Hall,
1095 Duane St.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Oregon police fi nd marijuana
laws diffi cult to enforce
By GARRETT
ANDREWS
The Bulletin
A recent study that draws
heavily on Deschutes County
found an overwhelming con-
sensus among law enforce-
ment offi cers that Oregon’s
marijuana laws are poorly
written and confusing.
As a result, this percep-
tion has even led some local
offi cers to stop enforcing
marijuana laws altogether,
according to the February
report by Portland State Uni-
versity researchers Kris Hen-
ning and Greg Stewart.
“The laws are too con-
voluted to comprehend,”
one offi cer wrote in a sur-
vey response. “If we as law
enforcement can’t easily
decipher the laws, how can
we expect the citizens to be
able to understand them?”
Wrote another: “I have
just started treating weed as
if it is legal regardless of the
amount.”
For their report, titled
“Dazed and Confused: Police
Experiences Enforcing Ore-
gon’s New Marijuana Laws,”
Henning and Stewart sur-
veyed 301 police offi cers in
the second half of 2020. Par-
ticipants included offi cers and
deputies from four agencies:
Bend Police Department,
Redmond Police Department,
the Deschutes County Sher-
iff ’s Offi ce and the Klamath
County Sheriff ’s Offi ce.
‘THE LAWS ARE TOO CONVOLUTED
TO COMPREHEND. IF WE AS LAW
ENFORCEMENT CAN’T EASILY
DECIPHER THE LAWS, HOW CAN
WE EXPECT THE CITIZENS TO BE
ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THEM?’
one offi cer’s written response in a survey
Among the results:
• More than 90% of par-
ticipants felt that the illegal
shipment of marijuana out of
state had increased in the past
three years.
• More than 90% believe
instances of driving under
the infl uence of marijuana
had increased for adults and
juveniles.
• More than 60% of
respondents felt Oregon’s
marijuana laws make it diffi -
cult to determine if someone
has broken the law.
In 2014, Oregon voters
approved Measure 91, legal-
izing recreational use of mari-
juana for people 21 and older.
What followed were a num-
ber of major changes to Ore-
gon law in a short period of
time. This included the Ore-
gon Liquor Control Commis-
sion tightening its licensing
guidelines in 2018. The next
year, the Legislature aff orded
the agency more authority to
restrict marijuana production
licenses.
Today, there are six areas
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where marijuana off enses
are still charged, though
the off ending amounts dif-
fer from those prior to 2014:
driving while impaired, the
illegal use or possession of
marijuana and the illegal
growing, processing or dis-
tribution of marijuana.
In response to open-
ended questions in the Port-
land State study, 3 of 4 offi -
cers mentioned confusion
in understanding the laws.
Many offi cers expressed a
feeling they’d been inten-
tionally written to be vague
so offi cers would eventually
give up on enforcement.
Offi cers surveyed spoke
to confusion about enforce-
ment of medical versus rec-
reational cannabis laws.
They also discussed a diffi -
culty determining if a person
possessed an illegal amount
of a drug, or in determining
if it was purchased from a
licensed retailer. Many offi -
cers noted a breakdown in
cooperation with state agen-
cies that regulate cannabis,
notably the Oregon Liquor
Control Commission , the
Oregon Health Authority
and the Oregon Department
of Agriculture.
This lack of clear under-
standing often manifests in
roadside contacts between
offi cers and members of
the public, according to the
study. Offi cers said it can
be diffi cult determining the
authenticity of documenta-
tion showing a person is in
lawful possession of large
amounts of marijuana. They
also reported a near-impos-
sibility in determining if a
driver in Oregon with large
amounts of marijuana is
heading out of state.
“Off enders often claim
the product is hemp rather
than marijuana, which also
makes it diffi cult to deter-
mine what the product is,”
one offi cer wrote.
Many
offi cers
also
reported declining to make
marijuana arrests because
they feel district attorneys
will not prosecute the cases.
“It seems pointless to care
about it when, in (redacted)
county, even if someone has
several hundred pounds,
there will be no prosecu-
tion,” wrote a respondent.
“I would just prefer that it is
legalized and then it is not an
issue.”
Deschutes County Dis-
trict Attorney John Hummel
said he prosecutes all valid
arrests that reach his offi ce.
He noted some of the survey
respondents work outside
Deschutes County.
“It makes me won-
der if the offi cers are cor-
rect. I mean, I’m pretty lib-
eral on drug charges. And if
I’m bringing charges, I don’t
imagine there’s a county out
there that’s not,” Hummel
said. “Look, it’s anecdotal
— it wasn’t fact-checked.
But it’s important in that it’s
telling us what the offi cers
think. That’s important to
know.”