4A • September 23, 2016 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Views from the Rock
When saying yes
means ‘just say no’
Seen and
heard over
the creek
I
I
n Cannon Beach the biggest surprise
of the November election is the
sound of silence.
After a City Council meeting this
spring opened the doors licensing
of retail marijuana dispensaries within
city limits, opponents reacted quickly.
“We will do an initiative,” Cannon Beach
resident Marlene Laws announced after
the meeting.
CANNON SHOTS
SUBMITTED PHOTO
R.J. MARX
Lawn signs like this one from NORML
have yet to make their appearance in
Cannon Beach.
Despite the success of state Measure
91 allowing recreational sale and posses-
sion of small amounts of marijuana —
approved by 63 percent of Cannon Beach
voters in November 2014 — the city only
licenses businesses which abide by local,
state and federal law, which excludes pot.
After hearing opinions from both sides of
the issue, councilors considered an array
of options, including to opt out of state
law and maintain a ban on marijuana sales
Sam Chapman of New Economy
Consulting appeared before the coun-
cil announcing his intention to open a
dispensary, but until the city makes up its
mind one way or another, he decided to
wait.
“We are waiting for the Cannon Beach
City Council to make a decision to allow
medical marijuana dispensaries,” Chap-
man, who lobbied for the state’s Measure
91 legalizing recreational cannabis, said
in March. “It sounds like they’re split on
the issue. I hope they decide that they’re
bringing new jobs and a new economy …
I’m hoping sooner rather than later the
council will allow dispensaries to exist.”
In April, with pressure to take action
from the state, councilors were divided
over the range of options: repeal of the
existing ordinance that prohibits the op-
eration of any marijuana facility, declare
a ban on sales or refer the matter back to
the voters.
Councilors never actually approved or
denied the licensing of retail dispensaries;
rather, they voted not to vote. Their action
effectively opened the city’s door to retail
dispensaries and recreational sales.
Either way, residents could have
forced an initiative to reverse their deci-
sion, and they did.
Marlene and Gary Laws, Jeremy Ran-
dolph, Nancy Giasson and Molly Edison
formed the committee that brought the
opt-out initiative to the city.
“I’d ask that you consider the fact that
there is no good place in Cannon Beach
for recreational marijuana sales,” Ran-
dolph said. “I moved to Cannon Beach for
a very specifi c purpose. I wanted to live
in a village. This is not a tourist town; this
is a resort town.”
Their declaration immediately sent off
alarm bells.
Pro-pot and anti-pot yard signs in
Cannon Beach during peak tourist
months? That’s something Cannon Beach
City Councilor George Vetter said he
feared. “It’ll be headlines in Portland,”
Vetter said at a late-spring Cannon Beach
Chamber of Commerce coffee meeting.
“Not too many towns are saying no with
the kind of reputation we have. We’re a
very well-known community. We reach
to Vancouver, Seattle. If we don’t have
to go through that, I don’t want to be the
impetus.”
Vetter said he feared the city would
lose out on state and local sales tax
revenue on the sale of cannabis— dis-
allow it and get nothing from the state’s
annual more than $50 million cannabis
tax revenue.
“But the main risk of denying permits
for cannabis sales is the publicity that
would be associated with the decision,”
Vetter said. “This is going to be during
our peak season. We’re going to have all
these marijuana signs, in stores and shops,
signs that would be a distraction.”
In early July, the City Council voted
4-1 to adopt an ordinance with time,
place and manner restrictions for medical
and recreational marijuana businesses,
limiting sales down from Ecola Creek to
Washington Street on the south, mid-
town from Harrison Street on the north
to Elliot Way on the south, and Tolovana
Park from Delta Street on the north to the
northern boundary of Sand Castle Condo-
miniums on the south.
As they had announced, Randolph and
the anti-cannabis lobby in Cannon Beach
gathered the 155 signatures and fi led their
petition. Measure 4-179 prohibits the
sale of recreational marijuana in Cannon
Beach, and asks voters: “Shall recre-
ational marijuana producers, processors,
wholesalers, and retailers be prohibited in
Cannon Beach?”
If voted in, the measure would prohibit
the establishment and operation of recre-
ational marijuana producers, processors,
wholesalers and retailers within the City
of Cannon Beach.
If approved, the city would be ineligi-
ble to receive a share of state marijuana
tax revenue and unable to impose local
taxes or fees on its sale.
A separate vote initiated by the city
will ask residents if a 3 percent tax should
be applied to recreational marijuana sales.
The lawn signs feared? Not so much.
R.J. MARX/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Zach Zappone of Sweet Relief at the
August THC Fair in Astoria. Cannon
Beach cannabis users may have to be
satisfi ed with sweet relief outside of
their own city limits.
Cannon Beach cannabis advocates are
more furtive than a tourist with a vape
pen.
Chapman and possibly others yet to
declare themselves are waiting for the
city’s results.
“We are waiting for the November
vote to occur, then will move forward
with solidifying our fi nal location,” poten-
tial dispensary owner Chapman said.
Until then, the city is at a stalemate.
City Planner Mark Barnes said the city’s
business license requirements remain the
same as they were before state residents
endorse Measure 91.
“Since marijuana is still illegal by fed-
eral law, we can not accept any business
license applications at this time,” Barnes
said.
As for the lawn signs and national
publicity?
No one registered an opposition to the
initiative when it was advertised in the
paper per Oregon law, Barnes said. “So I
do not know of any organized opposition
to the initiative to ban recreational mari-
juana businesses within the city limits of
Cannon Beach.”
City Manager Brant Kucera said there
has “not been a lot of activity” on either
side and the city had not received any
licensing requests. “I’ve had maybe in
the last six months two phone calls —
and really nothing. It’s pretty low-key,
apparently.”
“It’s pretty much under the covers,”
Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce
Executive Director Court Carrier said
this month. “I do hear that people have
so much access in other communities, it
doesn’t seem to be a pressing issue.”
“I think Trump’s trumping it,” Kevan
Ridgway of the chamber added.
t’s hard to be embarrassed in front of my
family, we are very close. But it happened
last weekend and it was because of birds.
The day started great with my sister and I
sitting in the living room, looking out over the
creek and fi elds, enjoying a morning cup of
joe. Well, pretty quickly we both had binocu-
lars in hand
and spotted
several fun
BIRD NOTES
species,
SUSAN
BOAC
greater
yellowlegs,
green heron,
gpotted
sandpiper and red –breasted mergansers, to
name a few.
Our plans for the day included a quick
shopping trip to the outlet mall and then on
to our mother’s for visiting and chores. Plans
also included keeping a bird list for that day
on the kitchen chalkboard wall (something I
frequently do). Being bold, I mentioned that
there were a few migrant shorebirds being
seen in the Necanicum estuary and maybe
we could stop by before the mall visit (the
tide was perfect, incoming and pushing the
birds into a smaller eating area which equals a
better chance to see them)?
We stopped and although we did not see
the target birds, we did add a few species to
our day list. On to Mom’s where she feeds
the birds and has some great habitat for cedar
waxwings, sparrows, hummingbirds and the
osprey nest in plain view. By this time, I am
into full birding mode. Noticing every move-
ment in the bushes and overheard.
Later that afternoon, back at my house for
a big family dinner (Mom’s birthday) we are
sitting on the back porch and I am listing the
birds we could/should see, American robin,
Lincoln’s sparrow, band-tailed pigeon, etc. We
enjoyed a beverage and a tray of appetizers
and added a few birds like red-tailed hawk,
peregrine falcon, northern fl icker. Then we
were called into the meal.
Because of my bird turrets, my husband
usually insists that I sit with my back to the
windows but all those seats were taken and I
sat in the worst(best) seat in the dining room
— full view of sky and water.
We were enjoying a lovely meal and then
it happened — the embarrassing moment.
A fl ock of approaching birds gathered my
attention and I leapt to the window, practically
knocking over my daughter, and exclaimed
“band-tailed pigeons!” not once but twice!
Screaming at the top of my lungs, smooshed
up against the window (which now needs to
be washed) saying it like the world needs to
know. As I turned to sit down and fi nish my
meal, I see my mother, husband, sister, daugh-
ter and granddaughter looking at me like I
have completely lost my mind.
And that’s what happens when I start a list.
Susan has spent her life enjoying the
great outdoors from the lakes and woods of
northern Minnesota, Mount Adams in Wash-
ington and now the Oregon beach environs.
After spending many pleasurable hours
driving her avid birder parents around, she
has taken up birding as a passion, to the
mixed emotions of her husband Scott. The
Boacs reside on Neawanna Creek in Seaside
where their backyard is a birder’s paradise
(confi rmed).
Cookies, pies, pastries take the stage at library festival
t’s fi nally arrived, library friends
— our Cannon Beach Library
Fall Festival for 2016! At 10
a.m. this coming Saturday the 24th,
we will open our doors to welcome
both locals and visitors alike to an
autumn display of hand-prepared
crafts and delicious home-baked
pastries, cookies, pies, and breads!
All summer long, knitters, cro-
cheters, and other crafters have
been diligently working on lovely
autumnal craft items for the festival.
And a little more recently, those of
us who specialize in baking have
been busy in our kitchens putting
together scrumptious baked goods.
Proceeds from the sale of the crafted
and baked items will help fund our
library and its assorted programs.
New for this year, we are holding
a gift certifi cate drawing for items
donated by our local merchants and
restaurants. The packages have been
given the maritime titles of Pelican,
Starfi sh, Halibut, Eagle, Seashell,
and Ocean! Each package contains
a collection of gift certifi cates
equaling about $200. Tickets are
I
Publisher
David F. Pero
Editor
R.J. Marx
Reporter
Lyra Fontaine
Sales/Advertising Manager
Betty Smith
just $1 each, six for $5, and 24 for
$20. Come try your luck! The lucky
winner will be drawn during the
Festival at 4 p.m.
AT THE LIBRARY
CARLA O’REILLY
We are also having a Silent Auc-
tion for Cannon Beach Hotel stays
provided by the Hallmark, Land’s
End, Ocean Lodge, Surfsand, and
Tolovana Inn, valued between $300
and $600 each. A participant must
bid one-third of the total value of
a given package — but the goal
would be to try and be the highest
bidder for a desired package! Each
package would be a wonderful gift
for visiting friends or relatives!
Auction results will be announced
on Saturday at the close of the festi-
val, which will be at 5 p.m.
Cannon Beach reads has been
reading “Falling from Horses,” by
Production Manager
John D. Bruijn
Circulation Manager
Heather Ramsdell
Classifi ed Sales
Jamie Ramsdell
Advertising Sales
Holly Larkins
Brandy Stewart
author Molly Gloss for September.
The group met on Wednesday, with
Joe Hummel at the helm as discus-
sion leader. In October, the group
will meet on the 19th at the same
time. They will be reading “Am-
sterdam: A History of the World’s
Most Liberal City,” by Russell
Shorto. Lynne Murray will lead that
discussion.
The popular Northwest Author
Series will be beginning on Satur-
day, Oct. 8, at 2 p.m. The visiting
author will be Jack Estes. He will
be discussing his latest book, “A
Soldier’s Son.” Save the date!
And lastly, the World of Hay-
stack Rock Lecture series, presented
by Haystack Rock Awareness Pro-
gram will begin in November.
During the summer, we had a
reading contest with prizes for our
children and teens. The lucky win-
ners who read the most books were
Reilly Harrington in the age 7-to-12
category and her sister Abby Har-
rington in the 13+ category! Winners
each received a $25 gift card, to be
used at Cannon Beach Book Compa-
CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
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BUDDIE ANDERSON DENI/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
A gift certifi cate and drawing help celebrate the library’s fall fundraiser.
ny. Congratulations, girls!
Finally, you can visit us anytime
on our website: www.cannon-
beachlibrary.org or on Facebook @
cannonbeachlibrary.
The Cannon Beach Library
volunteers and staff wish you a
most cozy and enjoyable autumn
season — see you at the festival on
Saturday the 24th!
THE NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING