A5
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2021
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BRIEFING
Airlines to ask
for contact tracing
The U.S. airline indus-
try is pledging to expand
the practice of asking
passengers on flights
to the United States for
information that public
health officials could use
for contact tracing during
the pandemic.
An industry trade
group said Friday that
the carriers would turn
over the information to
the U.S. Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Preven-
tion, which could use it
to contact passengers
who might be exposed
to the virus that causes
COVID-19.
Delta and United have
been doing that since
December. On Friday, an
industry trade group said
that American, South-
west, Alaska, JetBlue and
Hawaiian will also ask
passengers to make their
names, phone numbers,
email and physical ad-
dresses available to the
CDC.
The airlines had long
resisted government ef-
forts to require them to
gather passenger infor-
mation and provide it
to health agencies. They
said they don’t have the
information on passen-
gers who buy tickets from
other sellers such as on-
line travel agencies. They
also argued that gather-
ing the information and
making it immediately
available to the govern-
ment would be time-con-
suming and require costly
upgrades to computer
systems.
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BAKER CITY | GOLD RUSH MALT
A Baker City malting busi-
ness received international
recognition, taking home three
awards at the annual Craft
Malt Conference last week.
Tom Hutchison, who
started Gold Rush Malt in
2016, won gold medals for
both his pilsner and pale malts
Feb. 12 at the conference put
on by the Craft Maltsters
Guild.
He’ll also be caretaker of the
traveling Malt Cup Trophy for
the next year as recipient of the
best of show award. Malting
barley is a key ingredient in
beer as well as many distilled
spirits such as whiskey and
vodka.
Hutchison said he knew he
had won at least one award.
Officials from the guild told
him that in advance to en-
sure he would be watching the
awards ceremony, which, like
the rest of the annual confer-
ence, took place remotely due
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But when he heard his
name called not once but three
times, he was, he admits, “just
stunned.”
S. John
Collins/Baker
City Herald
File
See Malt / A6
WineKraft, a wine bar in Astoria, has outdoor, riverside seating.
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
— Bulletin wire reports
PEOPLE ON
THE MOVE
Bishop
Bunning
Doherty
Piper
• Jeff Bishop has been
hired as the director
of facilities at Leading
Edge Flight Academy.
The company also hired
Katie Doherty, as a
pilot and in charge of
scheduling and Jay
Bunning, as a helicop-
ter certified flight in-
structor.
• Chris C. Piper, a for-
mer Bend city councilor,
has been named to the
board of directors for
the Council on Aging.
Study finds
misuse of
water at
hemp farms
BY MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Many businesses are
still reeling and suffering,
but David Reid, the execu-
tive director for the Asto-
ria-Warrenton Area Cham-
ber of Commerce, believes
the North Coast economy
has entered into a recovery
phase.
Precautionary measures
like wearing masks and
social distancing are now
normal. Though some peo-
ple continue to push back,
in general, businesses and
communities are no lon-
ger educating people about
these requirements.
“I think we can say we
are ready for tourists,” Reid
said. “We know how to op-
erate our businesses safely
— and our clientele, our
visitors, know how to visit
safely.”
Suspicions about unlawful
hemp irrigation in Southwest
Oregon proved to be well-
founded after an audit uncov-
ered violations at one-third of
the grow sites visited.
Officials from the state’s
Water Resources Department
reviewed 187 hemp farms in
the region last year and deter-
mined nearly 33% ran afoul of
water laws.
“There is a large part of
this that’s education and out-
reach — folks just didn’t know,”
said Jake Johnstone, the de-
partment’s southwest region
manager, during a meeting
Thursday of the state’s Water
Resources Commission.
Most of the violations — 46
out of 61 — related to hemp
farmers who irrigated with
well water despite lacking
water rights, including some
who had valid surface wa-
ter rights. Domestic usage of
well water is allowed without
a water rights permit in Ore-
gon, but not commercial irri-
gation.
More than one-third of the
violations identified by the
agency resulted in enforcement
action, such as having to install
water measurement devices on
their wells, Johnstone said.
The agency is planning to
conduct further reviews in
2021, which will determine
whether compliance improved
after the initial audit, said Scott
Prose, an assistant watermaster
in the region.
“What we will see this time
around is how valuable that ed-
ucation really is,” he said.
About 42% of the hemp
growers visited said they’d been
trucking in water from munic-
ipal sources, which required a
“big time commitment” to ver-
ify with receipts and contracts,
Johnstone said.
“This can be difficult when
the individuals on-site don’t
keep any of the financial re-
cords,” he said.
See Tourists / A6
See Hemp / A6
U.S. existing home
sales, prices rise
Sales of previously oc-
cupied U.S. homes rose
again last month, a sign
that the housing market’s
strong momentum from
2020 may be carrying
over into this year.
Existing U.S. home
sales rose 0.6% in January
from the previous month
to a seasonally-adjusted
rate of 6.69 million annu-
alized units, the National
Association of Realtors
said Friday. Sales jumped
23.7% from a year earlier.
It was the strongest sales
pace since October and
the second highest since
2006.
Home prices also rose.
The U.S. median home
price was $303,900 in
January, an increase of
14.1% from a year earlier.
Prices increased in every
region of the country.
EURO
$1.2116 +.0031
Tom
Hutchison,
shown
here in
2018,
fills a
sack with
malted
barley at
his busi-
ness, Gold
Rush Malt,
in Baker
City.
Malting business gets
international recognition
BY JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
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Oregon Coast towns say
‘welcome back, tourists’
BY KATIE FRANKOWICZ • The Astorian
N
orth Coast leaders have a very different message
to send to tourists than they did last spring.
“We feel like we’re ready for spring break,” Seaside
Mayor Jay Barber said. “We’re inviting people to
come to Seaside.”
When spring break vaca-
tioners descended in March
to escape coronavirus-re-
lated shutdowns in their
own cities and take advan-
tage of sunny weather at
the beach, residents were
alarmed.
City and county leaders
quickly adopted emergency
orders to temporarily ban
visitors from hotels and
campgrounds. Seaside — hit
hard by both the shutdown
measures, but also the in-
flux of tourists — restricted
access to city parks and
beaches as well. Cannon
Beach sought to exclude
even daytrippers.
They echoed Gov. Kate
Brown’s message to “Stay
Home, Stay Healthy.”
In Seaside, one resident
was more direct. He held up
a handmade sign that sim-
ply read, “Go home.”
Now there are signs that
cities are ready to welcome
tourists back.
The Astoria Downtown
Historic District Associa-
tion hired a new commu-
nity outreach officer whose
duties include parking en-
forcement as traffic picks
up again. Astoria’s leaders
have relaxed rules on side-
walk dining, as well as for
parklets, which allow restau-
rants and bars to expand
outdoor seating into street-
side parking spots.
In Cannon Beach, the
City Council recently gave
city staff the go-ahead to
work with businesses inter-
ested in using parking spots
in front of their buildings
for outdoor seating. The city
has already allowed restau-
rants and bars with their
own parking lots to set up
tables in those lots.
In Seaside, the city has
eased some parking stan-
dards to allow for outdoor
tables and tents.
Wine looks to changing consumers, new technologies
BY SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
The wine industry is headed
toward more digitalization,
technology use and new mar-
kets.
At the virtual Oregon Wine
Symposium this week, several
speakers talked about how the
wine industry’s future may
look different than its past,
with consumer preferences
changing, new technologies
available and more shoppers
eager to buy online.
“Things have changed for-
ever, and COVID was the great
accelerator,” said Steve Brown,
a business consultant and tech-
nologist who calls himself a
“futurist.”
Brown was the keynote
speaker during Tuesday’s main
virtual session.
What consumers want
Brown said consumers —
especially young consumers
— are making several major
shifts in their purchasing be-
haviors compared to previous
generations.
More shoppers, Brown said,
are becoming “conscious con-
sumers,” eager to know their
wine was produced in a sus-
tainable way and that workers
were treated well.
Shoppers today also crave
less mystery and more trans-
parency.
Even in the traditionally
sophisticated wine sector,
Brown said consumer polls
and purchasing data show
people, especially younger
drinkers, want more inclusiv-
ity and access as opposed to
wine’s traditionally exclusive
nature.
Brown said wineries should
think about changing their
“snobby” image, which he
dubbed “de-snobification.”
Consumers, he said, are
now also looking for more
personalization, online buy-
ing options, experience-fo-
cused purchases, innovations
and more convenience.
Futuristic technology
The other major change in
the wine sector, Brown said, is
that it’s headed in a more tech-
nological direction, in the super-
market, winery and vineyard.
On the marketing side,
Brown cited digital services like
Wine4.Me, an interactive tool
which recommends wines to
buyers based on their answers
to questions like how much
spice, sweetness, body and oak
flavor they like in their wine.
See Wine / A6