OUR 115th Year
July 8, 2022
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False gun
threats cause
turmoil in
Gearhart
Threat unfounded, police
say, security boosted
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
A false gun threat has led to city pre-
cautions, Gearhart Police Chief Jeff Bow-
man said, including a Zoom-only City
Council meeting.
Conversations from private Facebook
groups administered by local residents
led to reports of potential gun use at an
upcoming council meeting.
The reports of threats were unfounded,
Clatsop County Sheriff Matt Phillips said
in an incident report. The sheriff deter-
mined the discussion had been distorted
via word-of-mouth and social media.
The issue surfaced in the aftermath
of the contentious May vote on a fi re-
house bond measure. After the bond mea-
sure failed, residents appeared at the City
Council meeting on June 1 and threat-
ened to recall the mayor and city council-
ors, who had endorsed the bond.
Paulina Cockrum resigned as mayor
the next day, citing personal reasons.
On June 3, an anonymous social media
post alarmed acting Mayor Kerry Smith
enough to tell City Administrator Chad
Sweet he was concerned about people
See False threats, Page A3
Rachel Schack/
94.9 The Bridge
Local police and fire
on the job over the Fourth
Seaside Signal
F
ireworks lit up the
skies Monday, the
culmination of a weekend
of parades and events
throughout the county.
Over the weekend, the city did not seem as busy
with traffi c and people around town, Seaside Police
Chief Dave Ham said.
“It felt as though the beach was not as populated
for the Fourth as we have seen in years past,” he said.
“We did see a signifi cant increase in traffi c and park-
Fireworks light
up the sky in
Seaside.
Fire, police
station getting
grants for
seismic retrofi ts
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
ing issues as the day of the Fourth progressed, possi-
bly more people daytripping and coming into town
for the evening fi reworks show. Traffi c was very con-
gested leaving south out of town after the fi reworks
show, until about midnight.”
Overall, the city received 48 fi reworks complaints,
19 on July Fourth, 17 on Sunday, nine on Saturday
and three on Friday.
The fi re department had 44 calls for service over
the weekend, Fire Chief Joey Daniels said, includ-
ing a burn call of a child walking on the sand who
stepped on hot coals.
“We had no fi reworks related medical or fi re calls,
and we confi scated a few hundred dollars in illegal
fi reworks,” Daniels said.
All citations are not entered yet and many of the
fi reworks complaints were resolved by seizing the
fi reworks without citations issued, Ham said.
See Fourth, Page A6
The Seaside Fire Department will
receive more than $1.7 million and the
city’s police department an additional
$1.6 million in seismic retrofi t grants
from Business Oregon, the state’s eco-
nomic development agency.
The goal is for the buildings to with-
stand an earthquake that will initiate a
Cascadia Subduction Zone event, Fire
Chief Joey Daniels said. “If the build-
ing can withstand the quake, we can get
millions of dollars of equipment out, ” he
said.
The fi rehouse was built in 1989 at 150
S. Lincoln, as the current C ity H all was
being built, Assistant City Manager Jon
Rahl said. Both of those buildings began
operations in 1989.
There are two pieces to the current
police station at 1091 S. Holladay. The
fl at roof building closest to the highway
was the original station after moving from
the location that is now Seaside Brewing
See Retrofi t, Page A6
Coastal Craft Cannabis relies on ‘law of attraction’
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Seaside’s newest canna-
bis shop comes with a nautical
theme and some notable twists.
On the walls, a ship’s steer-
ing wheel, fl oats and glass
balls. Behind the counter, full,
big buds of leaf displayed in
real clamshells.
Co-owners Timothy Du Bay
and Marja Thompson will keep
the store supplied by harvests
from their small farm in Wash-
ington County, Du Bay said.
Coastal Craft Cannabis is
their fi rst retail shop.
For the last 20 years, 15 of
those partnered with Thompson,
“cannabis has pretty much been
my mainstay,” Du Bay said.
Du Bay was looking for a
R.J. Marx
Cory Smith, Timothy Du Bay and Brandon Evans of Coastal Craft
Cannabis in Seaside.
storefront on the c oast when the
building on North Roosevelt —
a former architect’s offi ce —
became available. Part of the
space will be used for Thomp-
son’s clay studio.
Du Bay waxes eloquent in
his menu descriptions:
“Rose: Sugary sweet nose
and exotic hash fl avor.”
“Jelly Rancher: Jolly Ranch-
ers dipped in gasoline — in a
good way.”
“Blueberry Pie: Like putting
a slice of blueberry pie in your
bong.”
“We would be considered a
specialty fl ower shop,” Du Bay
said. “I have 25 strains that we
rotate through. I think 90% of
all of our freshly grown prod-
uct will be from the farm that
we co-own.”
He places less emphasis on
whether a strain is indica or
sativa than its overall qualities.
“I don’t want to highlight
the THC levels, because there’s
thousands of compounds that
contribute to that,” he said. “I’ve
got them printed on the back
side of the cards. With the way
that we view indica, sativa and
hybrid, we believe that most of
them are hybrids, and that most
of the eff ects can be a wide range,
depending on multiple factors.
“If I had my druthers on how
it should be sold, that would be,
‘Does that smell draw you?’
‘Are you attracted to it?’ A bit
of a law of attraction should be
more of a selling point.”
Coastal Craft Cannabis is
located at 200 N. Roosevelt Dr.,
503-739-7029.
Seaside gives OK
to new ward map
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Some residents may see a change in
voting wards as the city’s four wards saw
a reshuffl ing . The new boundaries come in
preparation for the Nov. 8 general election,
which will include the mayor and three
City Council positions.
The City C ouncil has unanimously
voted to enact new boundaries based on
2020 population numbers for an equitable
distribution of residents in each ward. The
realignment is the fi rst since 2011, at the
time of the last census estimate.
Portland State University provided
work equalizing the wards, Mayor Jay
Barber said at a City Council meeting in
late June.
“What happens over time is people
See Wards, Page A6