Georgia-Pacific and the United Steelworkers, the union that represents about 700 employees at the company’s Wauna Mill, signed a new four-year labor agreement earlier this month.

Kristi Ward, a spokeswoman for Wauna Mill, the largest employer in Clatsop County, said the company and the union had been negotiating for more than a year and a half. She thanked employees for keeping up safety and efficiency during bargaining.

Bill Kerr, president of Local 1097, said the union took negotiations very seriously, with representatives from every mill at national-level negotiations. The local agreement coincided with a national four-year labor deal between the United Steelworkers and Georgia-Pacific. United Steelworkers is the largest industrial union in North America, representing about 10,000 Georgia-Pacific workers at 43 locations, along with 130,000 paper workers and more than 850,000 workers nationwide.

“When we began meeting with (Georgia-Pacific) more than a year ago we had legitimate concerns that this round of bargaining would not end well,” Jon Geenan, vice president of the United Steelworkers’ paper sector, said in a release earlier this month.

Georgia-Pacific, Geenan said, had been trying to replace one-third of the workforce with temporary workers with little to no benefits, proposed to reduce the wages of current employees by 20 to 30 percent and sought to cut vacation allotment.

Those proposals “made us all wonder how we would find a path to a fair deal that preserved the very reasons we tolerate shift work, working weekends and holidays, and the sometimes dangerous conditions that exist in our facilities — and ensuring a shot at future investment at the same time.”

The union’s release said the new labor agreement avoided the proposed cuts, improved income and benefits, enhanced insurance for death and dismemberment, kept above-average pensions, protected local bargaining rights and formed an agreement to focus on solving longer-term issues with excessive overtime.

Kerr said this is the second time United Steelworkers has negotiated a contract with Georgia-Pacific since the company was purchased for $21 billion in 2005 by Koch Industries, owned by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch.

PORTLAND — Oregon marijuana shops began selling marijuana Thursday for the first time to recreational users, marking a big day for the budding pot industry.

Some of the more than 250 dispensaries that already offer medical marijuana in Oregon opened their doors soon after midnight — just moments after it became legal to sell to anyone who is at least 21.

In Astoria, Sweet Relief Natural Medicine opened just after midnight to a line of customers.

Christopher Williams was the first customer in line to buy recreational pot at the shop. “It feels wonderful,” he said of being able to buy recreational marijuana.

At Portland’s Shango Premium Cannabis, co-founder Shane McKee said the first sale to an excited customer came about a minute after midnight, with many others waiting.

“It looks like there is about 60-70 in line out front,” he said in a telephone interview shortly after midnight. “They all seem extremely eager.”

That first buyer, Davia Fleming of Portland, said the sales launch was important.

“I was really excited about that,” said Fleming, who uses the drug for medicinal purposes. “It’s the end of a prohibition.”

She described the atmosphere inside the store as “beautiful. ... very friendly; everyone is upbeat.”

Store owners say they’re hopeful they can avoid the shortages and price spikes that followed the start of legal sales last year in Washington and Colorado, the only other states where the drug can now be sold for recreational use. Alaska could begin retail sales next year.

Customers can buy as much as seven grams at a time of dried marijuana flower and leaf — the part that’s generally smoked — plus plants and seeds. For the next year or so, marijuana infused candy, cookies, oils and lotions will be available only to people with medical marijuana cards as the state works on retail regulations involving those products.

Early this year, Oregon became the 16th state in the country to allow local small businesses to crowdsource capital through community public offerings, with Oregon residents as the investors.

Hatch Oregon, a nonprofit facilitating the new offerings, stopped at Clatsop Community College in Astoria Wednesday as part of a statewide tour promoting the new form of investment.

The new crowdfunding law created the Oregon Intrastate Offering Exemption in securities regulation, which allows entrepreneurs based in Oregon to raise up $250,000 in capital directly from Oregon residents, with a cap of $2,500 a person, per company.

“This exchange is what makes the world go round, and we’d like to retain some of it, instead of sending 99.9 percent to Wall Street,” said Amy Pearl, founder the nonprofit Hatch Innovation and an architect of Oregon’s public offering rules.

Traveling with Pearl was Heather Stafford, the assistant director of innovation for Business Oregon, the state’s economic development agency. Stafford’s position was created to help local business grow, as Business Oregon shifts its focus from out-of-state recruitment to homegrown innovation.

Stafford said outside Portland, Oregon has never been very competitive for attracting large businesses. More than 70 percent of net job creation in Oregon is from Oregon-based businesses, she said, and about 98 percent of Oregon’s businesses have 100 or fewer employees.

“You get to participate in investing in companies,” she said. “It’s no longer relegated to the 1 percent.”

Hatch Oregon has 11 public offerings on its site, from WebLively online medical records system in Portland and Baker City Saddle Co. to Rogue Rovers electric all-terrain vehicles in Ashland and Gro-volution, a Klamath Falls company that leases and sells gardens in shipping containers. The companies decide whether to offer stock, profit-sharing, convertible debt, equity, loans or another form of payment.

John MacDougall, founder of MacDougall & Sons Bat Co. Inc. in Bend, pitched his hardwood slugger to attendees Wednesday. MacDougall, a carpenter and homebuilder for more than 30 years, came up with the idea during a housing slump in 2008, as his two sons were starting to play higher levels of baseball and use wooden bats, which can quickly break.

“Baseball consumers are consumers, and they’re treated pretty badly with wooden bats,” MacDougall said, showing off his bats, made from wedges of Pacific madrone and tanoak hardwoods epoxied together.

MacDougall said his bats have been run through tests at the Baseball Research Center in Lowell, Massachusetts, and proven to be exponentially more durable than many mainstream solid wood bats. He has sold more than 2,300 in the last five years in every U.S. state, Canadian province and several other countries.

“It takes marketing dollars,” MacDougall said. “It doesn’t matter if you make the best bat in the world, if nobody knows about it.”

MacDougall & Sons is offering stock at $100 per share. The offering has raised $6,900 out of $200,000 sought, with 212 days to go.

“There’s no way to know in advance whether a company will do good,” Pearl said, adding there aren’t yet any success stories.

Hatch Oregon asked for a $5,000 to $10,000 cap on personal investments per project, she said, but the head of Oregon’s Division of Finance & Securities wanted to limit people’s risk with the $2,500 limit.

Pearl said there are no protections, like with most investments, although her job is to make sure the business plan of a potential offering helps investors make an informed decision. Hatch, she said, is a nonprofit separate from the state, although she has been approved by regulators to provide technical assistance.

People are allowed to risk their money on anything from a car on Craigslist to a casino, Stafford said, and in an age when information on companies is readily available online, that allowable risk should extend to investing. “There’s an assumption that you don’t know how to do due diligence, and I would argue that’s not true” she said.

For more information, visit www.hatchoregon.com

ASTORIA — Columbia Memorial Hospital said Oct. 1 that it welcomes General Surgeon Rachel Van Dusen, M.D. to the CMH Specialty Clinic and OHSU.

Dr. Van Dusen is excited to return to her hometown, CMH said. A 1999 graduate of Astoria High School, she grew up in the Astoria area and is the daughter of Willis and Jan Van Dusen.

Dr. Van Dusen attended George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, D.C., and completed her residency at George Washington University Hospital.

Dr. Van Dusen specializes in general surgery and is a member of both the American College of Surgeons and Association of Women Surgeons. She is skilled in all types of general surgery including gastrointestinal, head and neck, skin/soft tissue and breast cases. Some of her surgical interests include trauma and acute care surgery, laparoscopic and minimally invasive surgery, colorectal surgery, as well as thyroid and parathyroid surgery.

Dr. Katrina McPherson, vice president of operation for the CMH Medical Group, said, “Dr. Van Dusen’s diverse surgical interests and skills, along with the ability to care for our patients relies not only on knowledge and training, but also trust; it is much easier to develop a relationship with a patient when you have a connection to the community. She will be a great addition to our Medical Group.”

Dr. Van Dusen has returned to her hometown with her fiancé Evandro and her Blue Shar Pei, Chino. In her free time Dr. Van Dusen enjoys an array of outdoor activities, such as kite boarding, surfing, hiking, biking and camping, She also speaks French.

To schedule an appointment, call 503-338-4075.

ASTORIA — Columbia Memorial Hospital said Oct. 1 that it welcomes General Surgeon Rachel Van Dusen, M.D. to the CMH Specialty Clinic and OHSU.

Dr. Van Dusen is excited to return to her hometown, CMH said. A 1999 graduate of Astoria High School, she grew up in the Astoria area and is the daughter of Willis and Jan Van Dusen.

Dr. Van Dusen attended George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, D.C., and completed her residency at George Washington University Hospital.

Dr. Van Dusen specializes in general surgery and is a member of both the American College of Surgeons and Association of Women Surgeons. She is skilled in all types of general surgery including gastrointestinal, head and neck, skin/soft tissue and breast cases. Some of her surgical interests include trauma and acute care surgery, laparoscopic and minimally invasive surgery, colorectal surgery, as well as thyroid and parathyroid surgery.

Dr. Katrina McPherson, vice president of operation for the CMH Medical Group, said, “Dr. Van Dusen’s diverse surgical interests and skills, along with the ability to care for our patients relies not only on knowledge and training, but also trust; it is much easier to develop a relationship with a patient when you have a connection to the community. She will be a great addition to our Medical Group.”

Dr. Van Dusen has returned to her hometown with her fiancé Evandro and her Blue Shar Pei, Chino. In her free time Dr. Van Dusen enjoys an array of outdoor activities, such as kite boarding, surfing, hiking, biking and camping, She also speaks French.

To schedule an appointment, call 503-338-4075.

Friends and local businesses have started several fundraisers to help John Lindstrom, co-owner of Lindstrom’s Danish Maid Bakery with his wife, Jan, and their family recover from his recent medical emergencies.

Kim Pena, sister of Jan Lindstrom and a former employee, created a GoFundMe account Wednesday called “Raising the Dough.”

Pena said an infection in John Lindstrom’s left foot resulted in his leg being amputated below the knee. She said he is expected home today. The family needs to modify their home to accommodate Lindstrom, who is in a wheelchair and will be fitted for a prosthetic in the coming weeks.

“Mentally, he’s doing great,” Pena said. “He really is. Even Jan sounds really upbeat and positive about their future.”

Local author Muriel Jensen and city special projects manager Rosemary Johnson started a fundraising account at Wells Fargo in downtown Astoria called “Raising the Dough for Danish Maid” and have been recruiting business owners to donate a portion of their profits on a given day.

They have also organized a walkathon starting at 10 a.m. Oct. 24 at the Maritime Memorial. The procession will walk east to the Barbey Maritime Center, where a silent auction at noon has already gathered at least $2,000 in donations from local businesses.

Jensen said she has a connection to the family, working at the Danish Maid in the 1970s after moving to Astoria. John Lindstrom started working at the bakery in 1974, purchasing it with Jan in 1986.

John Lindstrom baked six days a week and cleaned on Sundays, Jensen said. “We joke that it’s probably the first rest he’s had.”

Many merchants bought orders from Danish Maid.

“They make our bread for us for our sandwiches, and then we get their cherry fritters,” said Jim Defeo, co-owner of Astoria Coffeehouse and Bistro, which will donate a quarter of its gross profits Oct. 17 to the Lindstroms.

Johnson and Jensen have been gathering other businesses to donate. The Rusty Cup coffeehouse will donate $1 per drink Oct. 9. And Pat’s Pantry will donate a percentage of its proceeds during a book-signing for “Season from Scratch” by Christal Hood 1 to 3 p.m. Oct. 18.

Helping the Lindstrom’s was on the agenda for this morning’s Astoria Downtown Historic District Association meeting. Director Alana Garner said there is an effort to have more downtown merchants donate to the Lindstroms.

LONG BEACH, Wash. — Severe drought persists on Washington’s coast, complicating the region’s cranberry harvest.

“I’ve never had a year like this in 35 years,” grower Malcolm McPhail said. “The weather this year is a tough deal.”

For several months, the weather had been mostly on the side of the state’s cranberry growers, who are concentrated along the southwest coast.

The region’s hottest July on record, sandwiched between its second-warmest June and August, challenged farmers to keep vines from withering. McPhail’s son, Steve McPhail, who also grows cranberries, said that before this summer he had never seen brown spots in bogs.

But berries grow better in the sun than fog. The U.S. Department of Agriculture projected in August that this would be the state’s best cranberry crop in a decade. “This year has been good,” Steve McPhail said.

The lack of rain, however, threatens to extend the harvest, putting berries at risk of rot, frost and ripening into a dark color unsuited to consumer expectations.

While some cranberry growers dry pick their fruit, many draw from on-farm ponds to flood bogs, then churn the water to shake loose berries.

With ponds slow to recharge, farmers may have to move slower from bog to bog.

Meanwhile, growers are beginning to contend with colder nights, using up water for frost protection. In the past week, nighttime temperatures started dropping into the 30s, according to Washington State University’s weather station in Long Beach.

Besides ponds, Malcolm McPhail, one of the state’s larger cranberry producers, has water rights to 35-acre Black Lake on the Long Beach Peninsula.

To take advantage of a premium paid by the Ocean Spray cooperative for berries picked before October, McPhail flooded 4 acres with a foot of water on Monday. By Wednesday, he was revising his harvest plans because the lake was dropping too fast.

“I’m slowing down because I don’t want to take any more water out of Black Lake,” McPhail said. “It’s serious. We’re waiting for a big rainstorm.”

In October, the heart of the cranberry harvest, Long Beach usually receives more than 7 inches of rain. The U.S. Climate Prediction Center forecasts that the month has equal chances of being wetter or drier than normal.

The region has some catching up to do. The growing season, May through August, was the sixth driest on record. September so far has yielded about one-third the month’s normal rainfall, according to WSU weather records.

The drought comes as cranberry growers nationwide are struggling with low prices caused by an oversupply. In 2014, a 100-pound barrel of cranberries fetched an average of $29.50, compared to $46.90 in 2012, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Steve McPhail said he will harvest some of his berries after Nov. 1, when again Ocean Spray will pay a premium that will add close to 10 percent to what farmers receive. The premium makes the risks of leaving berries on vines longer worthwhile, he said. This year, waiting until mid-fall may have another benefit — rain.

The percentage of Pacific Northwest and California farmers who are women easily tops the national average, according to statistics released by the USDA.

Nationally, 31 percent of farmers are women, and they farm more than 301 million acres and have a $12.9 billion annual economic impact, according to USDA.

In Oregon, 39 percent of farmers are women; 37 percent in Washington and 33 percent in Idaho and California.

The West in general has a higher percentage of women farmers than the rest of the country. Arizona tops the list with 45 percent women; Nevada counts 39 percent, Colorado 37 percent, Wyoming 35 percent and New Mexico and Montana have 34 percent.

Katy Coba, director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, said the culture of the West is more receptive than other regions to women being involved in agriculture.

That can’t help but influence or change agriculture, although the women themselves may not think there’s anything special about their presence, Coba said.

“When there’s a diversity of perspectives, that’s a good thing,” she said. “Women are one element of that diversity.”

Young farmers and people who grew up in urban areas and are turning to agriculture also bring diverse viewpoints and experience to farming, she said.

“The more we can bring those people together and help shape ag policy, I think you just get better policy,” she said.

In the Midwest, women make up 23 percent of the farmers in Illinois, 25 percent in Iowa and 28 percent in Ohio.

The numbers are drawn from the 2012 Census of Agriculture, which actually showed a 2 percent decline nationally in women farmers compared to the 2007 ag census. The 2012 census also showed the number of women who are principal operators declined by 6 percent.

Nonetheless, women’s impact in ag is evident. In Oregon, for example, they farm 7.3 million acres and have a $263 million economic impact.

The USDA also announced it has established a mentoring network for women in agriculture. The agency invited people to take part by emailing AgWomenLead@usda.gov or follow #womeninag on Twitter.

USDA’s state-by-state analysis of women farmers

http://1.usa.gov/1Z8oUfk

2013 Capital Press article on daughters taking over the family farm

http://bit.ly/1OjWziN

ASTORIA — A bulldozer moves gravel across what will soon be the parking lot for Life in the Slow Lane, months after owners Donna and Tracy Black had originally planned to open the 1920s-and-30s-themed restaurant.

But they’re not worried.

The Blacks have been working on opening the restaurant for over a year, and they’ve faced delays and hurdles that spanned everything from finding the right contractor to tracking down vendors for their products.

The original plan was to open the restaurant in May, but finding the right contractor took longer than expected. The opening date had to be pushed back. The extra time means they’ve missed the traditional busy season, but Donna said that shouldn’t be an issue — tourists aren’t their target market anyway.

“I’m thinking we’re going to be mainly for the local people,” Donna said. “That’s what I’m counting on.

With help from Dick Powell, a small business advisor with the Clatsop Small Business Development Center, the couple has seen their restaurant take shape. The lot that now hosts the two-story building was once home to a closed-down dry cleaners, which the Blacks tore down to make room for their business.

In the months leading up to the start of construction on the building, the Blacks, with Powell’s help, shepherded their building plans through the Historical Landmarks Commission in Astoria and the city Design Review Committee. After approval from both groups they moved forward with their building permit. After all the appropriate city departments had their say, construction began on the two-story building in April.

Now the restaurant is back on track. As of early September the parking lot is on schedule to be done within the month, equipment for the restaurant has been ordered, and the Model A Ford that will be the centerpiece inside the restaurant sports a new coat of red paint. After many phone calls and even more samples, the Blacks have found vendors for the specialty meat products they plan to sell in the restaurant.

Both Tracy and Donna are pulling from their backgrounds and skills learned at earlier jobs to get the business going. Tracy’s first job was at a Mexican restaurant, and he’d later spend years working for craft services in Hollywood, catering to the stars and set hands of the movie industry.

“A lot of it is that customers have to be No. 1,” Tracy said. “That’s how it was with the studios, you had to make sure all the stars were happy and everyone was happy.”

Donna has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in business and experience as an accountant, although working in the restaurant won’t leave her with enough time to handle the books for the business on her own. She also ran a student store in Alaska.

Together, Donna and Tracy ran the concession stand at the Astoria Armory and they both have experience catering events as well.

Despite the delays, the restaurant is moving forward now. The plan is to hold multiple soft openings to work out the kinks and find out how the restaurant will run with customers coming through the doors. Donna and Tracy plan to use the soft openings as opportunities to test out their system, inviting a limited number of people to taste their food and give feedback to improve the restaurant before it officially opens.

“I don’t want people to come in and think we don’t even know what we’re doing,” Donna said. “I don’t’ care how many soft openings...we’re going to know exactly what we’re doing and if it takes longer than that, that’s fine, because we want to do what’s right.”

There’s no date yet for either the soft or grand openings.

Those openings will also help them determine how many employees they need to hire. Originally Donna and Tracy had planned to be the only employees in the restaurant, but that plan was scrapped once they realized how much work would be involved.

The bottom floor of the building has space to be leased to two businesses, although one business could take the whole space if they chose to tear down the dividing wall, Donna said. The lease spaces remain unoccupied for now. They have had businesses express interest in renting the spaces, but city parking rules put the kibosh on moving forward with any agreements so far.

LONG BEACH — Pacific County’s jobless rate of 7.4 percent in August was the lowest in any month since September 2008.

The August rate compares to 7.7 percent in July and 8.6 percent in August 2014. The statewide jobless rate in August was 5.0 percent and the national rate was 5.2 percent.

ASTORIA — Clatsop County’s employment picture remains stable at 5.9 percent joblessness in August, essentially the same as it has been for several months but noticeably better than a year earlier when it was 6.6 percent.

Oregon’s stateside jobless rate was 6.1 percent in August.

ASTORIA — The Astoria Visual Artists annual meeting is Saturday, Oct. 17, starting at 11 a.m. at the Fort George Lovell Showroom, 1483 Duane St. Members will elect nominees for the AVA Governing Board.

AVA, a non-profit started in 1989, has played a significant part in encouraging Astoria’s success as a center for artists and galleries. Their website is at www.astoriavisualarts.org.

ASTORIA — Fallout continues in the wake of a now-stalled effort to merge former Astoria corporation Bumble Bee with competing canned tuna company Chicken of the Sea. Bumble Bee was founded in Astoria in 1899 as the Columbia River Packers Association.

This July, a grocery co-op filed a federal lawsuit alleging the two firms plus Starkist have engaged in unlawful price manipulations. The co-op’s attorney told the publication Corporate Crime Reporter, “what we found out was that tuna can sizes had decreased and prices had increased or remained stable during periods of time when skipjack [tuna] prices declined.” A federal investigation is underway.

Starkist controls 30 percent of the canned tuna market, Bumble Bee 28 percent and Chicken of the Sea 20 percent.

LONG BEACH — Tiffany Turner, 36, co-owner and CEO of the Inn at Discovery Coast, the Adrift Hotel & Spa, and Pickled Fish Restaurant in Long Beach and the Ashore Hotel in Seaside, was recognized with a 40 Under 40 Award from the Puget Sound Business Journal.

She and her husband Brady hope to expand beyond hotels and restaurants. One possibility is a distillery. Another is a recording studio that will complement the existing music venue at the Pickled Fish, where bookings are managed by The Decemberists founder and drummer Ezra Holbrook.

Turner also is one of four people seeking appointment to an expected vacancy in the Washington House of Representatives.

Aryn Smith, owner

Sassy Salon and Spa

2793 Hwy 101 Unit #20, Seaside

503-717-3175

Hair cuts and color, perms, pedicures, manicures, facial waxing

When did you start the business?

I opened the business in December 2013. It’s been good. This was a garage before I got it and so I was doing hair in the front, so we’ve been slowly remodeling and doing everything. It’s all paid for, no credit or anything. Slowly everything is getting done, but it’s probably 80 percent of the way.

What made you want to start a salon?

I owned a salon back home in the Vegas area, and I sold that. I met my husband so I moved up here. I worked at another salon and then decided that I’m ready to go out on my own, so here I am.

What’s different about owning a salon here as opposed to one in Las Vegas?

It is very different. It’s a lot more laid back. It’s more seasonal up here, during the summertime it’s busier. It’s slower in the winter.

Most of my clientele are locals, so it is steady with locals, but I do see a difference in the summer time. It’s mainly locals here.

What was your biggest challenge initially?

Getting it going. Getting the name out and getting it all built up.

How did you manage to do that?

Marketing to the locals, word of mouth is great. When one person likes their hair they’ll tell everybody. Then they’ll come in and they’ll tell everybody.

Where are you from originally?

I grew up in a small town outside of Las Vegas, and then I lived in Vegas for about 10 years before I moved up here. I worked in the Stratosphere for a little bit, did hair in there and got to meet people from all over the world. It was fun.

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from running your past salon?

Patience. You’re not going to be busy right off the bat. It takes patiences and you have to work for it. You have to work for your work.

Any interesting stories from Vegas?

I got tipped $100 for doing a mullet. That was fun.

We’d get people from all over the world to get married in Vegas and it’s like, ‘you come to the armpit of the country and you’re getting married in Las Vegas,’ but to each their own.

What sets your salon apart from others in the area?

I do a little bit of everything. People can come in and get their hair done but if they want to get a pedicure done they can get it done that day. I can get them in really quickly.

Have you seen growth since you’ve been open?

I’ve seen it grow quite a bit. That’s when word of mouth comes in handy.

Have you thought about hiring?

It’s just me right now so until I get my business built and I’m too busy then I’ll start hiring but it’s hard to find people that you can trust and that you can rely on. It’s a hard area up here to find people to work with. You walk down Broadway and everybody has “Help Wanted” signs. It’s like nobody wants to work.

How do you keep up with trends in the hairstyling industry?

Go to hair shows. Keeping up with classes. They’ve got classes online that you can keep up with the up-to-date haircuts and colors and all that stuff.

In June they’ve got a big, huge (show) in Vegas that I try to get to, and those are fun. They do wild stuff, but fun stuff.

What’s the trend now?

I’ve seen up here is the bright-colored hair, the streaks and crazy hair. It’s different in each area. It just depends.

What do you when you have an unhappy client?

I try to ask them, what can I do to make them happy? “What can I do to fix it if you’re not liking it?” I’ve had clients that they’ll get their color done or get a perm and they just don’t like it, so I would rather them come back to me than them going to a store and putting a color on it or going somewhere else. I’d rather they come back, let me fix it how they want it and help them feel better about it so they can leave happy.

There’s a difference between giving them a couple of days or a week or two to figure it out than them coming back a month or two later and saying they didn’t like it. You can’t do that.

What’s your greatest current challenge?

It’s just staying afloat, just getting the word out that I’m here. I’ve put the signage up on the building and I’m going to all the hotels. It’s probably just getting known in the area.

Do you have plans to expand?

Not anytime soon. I would have to be booked out a couple months in advance and hiring more people here and, when they get too busy, then expand. Right now I can handle all the work.

Where do you get your hair cut?

I have cut my own hair and I usually get my hair cut back home in Vegas.

What do you do in your spare time?

I have a seven-month-old baby. She keeps me busy. Before that I’d go hiking, and my husband tries to get me to go fishing. I don’t want to go fishing, I’m not into fishing. I’d rather go to the theater.

What’s your favorite part of the business?

My favorite part is the people. I love meeting new people. I get to be like a part of a family. I get to hear about people’s family, what’s going on, everything. I’m their therapist. I love the business, I’ve been doing it for 16 years.

Reflecting an increase in rates by Pacific Northwest regional power producer Bonneville Power Administration, local publicly owned electric utilities are passing those charges through to customers.

Pacific County Public Utility District No. 2 customers will see a four percent power rate increase starting Oct. 1 and lasting for the next two fiscal years.

The increase stems from a decision by the Bonneville Power Administration — which supplies wholesale power to Pacific County PUD — in July announcing an average power rate increase of 7.1 percent and an overall transmission rate increase of 4.4 percent, according to a PUD newsletter.

Pacific County PUD buys 99 percent of its wholesale power from Bonneville, said Pacific County PUD No. 2 General Manager Doug Miller.

Increases vary according to the category of Bonneville customer, according to the newsletter. Pacific County PUD is a block/slice customer, which means it will see an average total effective rate increase of 7.51 percent.

The last time rates were raised was two years ago, Miller said. That increase was three percent.

This increase is roughly on average with past rate jumps, he added, although it is on the higher end over the past 10 years.

Bonneville will reevaluate rates again in two years, but there’s no way to know whether that will mean another increase, Miller said.

Columbia County

At their Sept. 15 public meeting, the Board of Directors for Columbia River People’s Utility District also adopted new rates that will take effect on Oct. 1. The new rates represent an overall increase of 6.4 percent.

“We were able to incorporate the input from customers into our rate structure and adopt rates that will maintain the financial health of the PUD,” said PUD Board Vice President Jake Carter.

For residential customers, the monthly Customer Charge will increase from $8 to $10 and the energy charge will increase by four tenths of a cent to $0.068. A complete set of rate schedules can be found online at www.crpud.net/2015rates.

A June 2015 Cost of Service Analysis showed the PUD needed to raise rates in October when BPA increases wholesale power prices. Power costs make up about 60 percent of the Columbia River PUD’s annual operating & capital budget. Over the past 10 years, the PUD’s wholesale power costs have increased by about 29 percent while the PUD’s overall electric rates have gone up by about 10 percent.

The COSA recommended increasing the fixed monthly customer charges. These charges are intended to cover the costs involved in providing electricity to a home or business such as maintaining the poles and lines, reading meters and issuing bills. According to the study, the monthly customer charge for residential customers should be more than $20 a month.

At an August rate hearing some customers spoke in support of keeping the monthly customer charge lower by raising the energy charge. Based on their input, the Board requested that PUD staff prepare four rate scenarios for consideration. They approved the scenario that increases the monthly customer charge by $2 and increases the energy charges by four tenths of a cent.

The board also approved a new rate schedule for qualifying low-income senior citizens, which was another topic of concern for some customers who participated in the rate hearing. The low-income senior discount will provide a 10 percent discount on the energy charges on a bill, in addition to the $8 customer charge waiver provided to all low-income customers.

“I am proud of the work that staff did for the COSA report and in providing different rate structure scenarios to the Board. These rates will be in effect for the next two years, if not longer,” said Interim General Manager John Nguyen.

The new rates will apply to all bills rendered after October 1, 2015. The PUD will review rates again in 2017 if wholesale power costs rise again.

Sale Date Sale Price Address Seller Buyer

8/24/15 $150,000 1608 State Route 6, Raymond Wayne Estes Joel Johnson & Judy Sudano

8/24/15 $14,500 34407 I Place, Ocean Park Katherine McDonald Steven & Laurinda Veatch

8/24/15 $110,000 1209 311th Street, Ocean Park Lucille Aydelott Raymond & Linda Ayala

8/25/15 $70,000 South Bend Ronald Lunke Patricia Bucio

8/26/15 $66,000 25007 Ash Place, Ocean Park Mel Terry Dana & Janet Baker

8/26/15 $187,000 22103 Birch Place, Long Beach Housing/Urban Dev. Roger & Glenda Jones

8/26/15 $75,000 1210 32nd Street Shirley Sturdivant William & Colleen Morse

8/26/15 $58,500 30207 X Place, Ocean Park Dorothy Godwin Toby P. Koffel & Cindy Pui sim

8/26/15 $240,500 13420 T Lane, Long Beach Jason Tynkila Donald Jr & Mary Ann Cravens

8/26/15 $192,000 3166 Kindred Avenue, Tokeland Rick Price Gunner Lynn LLC

8/27/15 $117,000 1000 295th St., Ocean Park Keith Swenson Martin & Mary Williams

8/27/15 $20,000 30712 H Street, Ocean Park Jerry Reeves Mourikis Construction Inc.

8/27/15 $95,000 2008 222nd Place, Ocean Park Robert Cummings Danny & Nancy McDaniel

8/27/15 $160,000 306 18th Street NE, Long Beach Carl Meyers Ramona Martin

8/27/15 $180,000 2722 234th Lane, Ocean Park Kenneth Powell Donald & Carol Rhode

8/28/15 $269,000 207 5th St NW, Long Beach Neil McGee Saundra Smith & Timothy/Wendy Fields-Lardie

8/28/15 $115,000 15706 J Place, Long Beach Michael Elliot Gulsher & Julie Grewal Trustee

8/28/15 $157,000 1350 Andrew Street, Raymond Jeffrey Nissel Mitchell & Ashley Snodgrass

8/28/15 $213,400 151 Upper Naselle Rd, Naselle Daryl Dobry Chris Manke & Lynley O’Connell

8/28/15 $50,000 2122 250th Street, Ocean Park Randy Augg Richard West

8/31/15 $278,500 839 Riverview Lane, Chinook Jonny Pepper Greg & Robyn Dore

9/1/15 $155,000 32812 G Place, Ocean Park David Nansel Meachel Johnson

9/1/15 $118,000 1415 274th Pl, Ocean Park Rosann Benedict Robert & Pamela Darnell

9/1/15 $415,000 24012 Sandridge Rd, Ocean Park Sharon Van Heuit Ernest & Ann Sadler

9/1/15 $170,000 817 North Head Rd., Ilwaco Howard Wood Kevin & Nichol Duff

9/2/15 $40,000 32600 Q Lane, Ocean Park American Eagle Mortg. Robert & Maureen Wile

9/2/15 $142,500 2006 320th Place, Ocean Park Federal Natl Mortgage Jerry Jr & Karen Denney

9/3/15 $135,000 2802 223rd Lane, Ocean Park Arthur Stotts Lori Koch & Larry Salvey

9/3/15 $160,000 752 State Rt 101, Chinook Korine Nelson Isaac & Bethany Bentson

9/8/15 $200,000 1611 Berry Street, Raymond Susan Cole Donald & Lisa Carlson

9/8/15 $404,000 Port of Ilwaco David Fleischman Albert Nicholes

9/8/15 $107,000 27812 L Place, Ocean Park Sandy Cardelli Dwayne & Laurie Nelson

9/8/15 $70,000 Ilwaco Charlotte Reinecke Heath Rodman Miller

9/9/15 $68,000 1614 200th Lane, Ocean Park Joseph Downey Dennis Shaw

9/9/15 $59,900 318 Central Avenue South Bend Virginia Pong Rainer Bastian

9/9/15 $53,000 2504 245th Lane, Ocean Park Robert Byers Michael Bunnell & Julie Nelson

9/9/15 $279,000 14312 Sandridge Road, Long Beach Bret Christy Susan Rogers

9/9/15 $110,565 3705 Sandridge Road, Ilwaco PHH Mortgage Corp Veterans Affairs

9/9/15 $140,000 31422 Sandridge Road, Nahcotta Debra Dusenberry Ralph Sturgeon

9/10/15 $205,000 755 Elm Street, Raymond Todd Maneman Ronald & Linda Brummel

9/10/15 $67,000 3520 Terri Street, Tokeland Kennedy/Mary Smoak Marguerite Garth

9/10/15 $231,000 2151 Raymond/SB Road, Raymond Delores Batley Booth & Tina Borcherding

9/10/15 $115,000 885 State Rt 101, Chinook Kenneth Hawke Suzanne Martin

9/10/15 $395,000 26271 Park Avenue, Ocean Park Steven Cartier W & H Marklyn & D & A Dong

9/11/15 $310,000 143 Fall River Road, Grayland John Vuckovich Walczyk Enterprises

9/11/15 $200,000 6910 Rochelle Way, Ilwaco Robert Robinson George Larson & Kimberly Laduke

9/11/15 $227,500 611 340th Place, Ocean Park Linda Gordon Julie Buckingham

9/14/15 $35,000 9905 Sandridge Road, Long Beach Edith Shire Patrick & Mary Wright

9/14/15 $60,000 1202 281st Place, Ocean Park William & Joyce Ower Don & Cynthia J. Juntunen

9/16/15 $112,500 4607 L Place, Seaview John S. Butterworth Steven & Lorna Lathram

JEFFERS GARDEN — Commuters weren’t the only ones seeing the benefits of a reopened Lewis and Clark River Bridge last month. 

Businesses in Jeffers Garden, a census-designated place in Clatsop county, saw significant drops in revenue after the bridge closed last year — in some cases six-figure losses. Since the roadway opened again in September, some of that lost traffic has started returning, albeit slowly. 

“At first it was like living on a dead-end road,” said Klyde Thompson, owner of Del’s OK Tire Factory. “If you don’t have the traffic obviously you’re not going to get the business.”

Around 40 percent of business coming to Graf’s Automotive comes across the Lewis and Clark River Bridge, said owner Nicholas Graf. For him the closure meant losing quick, profitable jobs to competitors on the Warrenton side of the river. 

Graf saw his revenue drop by roughly 20 percent, and he wasn’t alone. Thompson estimated that during the nine months the bridge was closed he lost upward of $100,000 and Betty Chilson, owner of the Jeffers Gardens Inn said she lost half her normal business during the closure.

With the bridge closed, customers coming from areas to the west of Jeffers Garden were forced to drive miles out of their way to reach businesses in the area, leaving business owners with the task of enticing customers to bypass closer alternatives in favor of Jeffers Garden establishments. 

From advertising to relying on word of mouth, efforts to draw customers to the area during the bridge closure varied. Thompson gave discounts and other incentives to offset the inconvenience of the longer drive for customers. Graf gave some discounts but, with the drop in revenue, advertising was out of the question. Chilson saw other businesses spend money on advertising with little return, and opted not to run any promotions, she said.  

“We put extra discounts out there and advertised more, but what can you do?” Thompson said.

 Closed for renovation

The Lewis and Clark River bridge closed early December 2014 for repairs that included updating bridge supports and replacing the west approach to the bridge, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation website.

Construction on the Lewis and Clark River bridge was part of the same project that included renovations to the Old Youngs Bay bridge, said Lou Torres, a department spokesman. The amount of traffic on the Old Youngs Bay bridge, however, made it unfeasible to close it completely. The extent of restoration needed for the nearly 90-year-old Lewis and Clark River bridge, on the other hand, made closing down completely during construction a necessary step, he said. 

The department made efforts to reach out to business owners and inform them of both the closure and the traffic impacts it would have, Torres said. That included holding open houses to reach business owners and emphasizing to visitors that the businesses would remain open during the closure.

“There’s always going to be some impact and we understand that. What we tried to do was minimize those impacts as much as we could,” Torres said. 

Not everyone was happy with the department’s efforts, however. 

One of the most frustrating parts of the closure wasn’t the loss of business, Graf said, but the lack of communication he saw from the department of transportation. He only heard of the meeting for business owners the day after it took place, he said. 

With the bridge now open again, all three business owners said they’ve seen some of the business they lost during the closure come back, but it’s yet to ramp back up to pre-closure levels. 

Thompson ran a small promotion to coincide with the bridge opening, and has seen enough customers returning to keep his business busy over the past few weeks, he said.

Jeffers Gardens Inn has seen customers start to come back, but not as many as Chilson expected, she said. 

It’s a similarly mixed bag as to whether or not business owners expect to see their revenues rebound now that the bridge is open again. Graf is optimistic, and expects to see his customers return in time, he said. Chilson, however, is cautious — she’s not making any declarations about the future just yet.

It’s taken four years, pages on pages of documents and upward of 20 “relationship managers” between two financial institutions, but Larkin Stentz has managed to buck the threat of foreclosure that has hovered over his Long Beach Peninsula farm, Green Angel Gardens, since 2011.

Before the recession, Stentz ran a successful landscaping business, but, in 2008, business dried up.

Months passed without a call for work, cutting off the revenue he’d relied on. Over the next three years he began selling off his landscaping equipment to offset the revenue loss, he said. Then, in 2009, he filed bankruptcy and finally, in 2011, he stopped making his mortgage payments.

What would unfold over the next four years would be a nearly nonstop effort to keep his farm — and his home — from falling into a bank’s hands.

It wasn’t easy.

“I have been frustrated and I have woken up in the morning going ‘What am I going to do?’” he said.

Throughout 2011, Stentz attempted to work with Bank of America, the holder of his first mortgage, to modify his loan terms. That process, he said, was a nightmare.

Stentz ran his farm as a sole proprietorship, which meant the bank required profit and loss statements in order to move forward with the modification.

He didn’t qualify, they told him. And during a phone call with a bank representative, he learned the bank wouldn’t work with him to reduce either the interest rate or the principle, he said. That led to the next step — mediation.

He managed to stave off a foreclosure on his second mortgage during the same year with a community fundraiser. Negotiating a modification on his first loan proved far more difficult.

In the month leading up to his mediation meeting for his first mortgage, he researched the documentation on his loan and found that Bank of America didn’t have the right to represent the loan, he said.

When he brought that fact up during his mediation meeting in July 2012, it earned him a sharp end to the conversation with the bank representative, he said.

Following that meeting, however, months passed without communication from the bank. In September 2012, he was contacted by Select Portfolio Servicing, a company that bought mortgages, including Stentz’s, and the rightful loan representative.

Over the next year and a half Stentz would continue to negotiate a modification, making rounds with the another dozen lender representatives and sending file after file of documents.

Throughout the process, Stentz continued putting together weekly boxes of produce from his farm and selling them to locals as part of his Community Supported Agriculture program. He also hosted participants of World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, a program linking volunteers with organic farms.

In March 2014, a month before the farm was to be foreclosed on, Stentz said he learned that because his land was a farm, the traditional foreclosure process did not apply. Instead, the bank was required to move forward with a judicial foreclosure.

It was then that he began working with Ariel Speser, a staff attorney at the NorthWest Justice Project Foreclosure Prevention Unit. The organization provides no-charge legal aid to qualifying low-income clients.

The fact that Stentz’s home was also his livelihood lent some extra urgency to his cause, and Speser tried to convey that through the documents she sent to the banks, she said.

One of the hurdles they faced was the fact that the seasonal nature of income on a farm made profit and loss statements difficult to organize, she said.

Eventually, she and Stentz were able to convey to the banks that, even though his income fluctuated seasonally, he would be able to make his mortgage payments, she said.

With Speser’s help, Stentz received a modification offer from the bank, but not one as favorable as it could be, Speser said, so they appealed the offer in hopes of a better modification.

Their appeal was successful, and, after a three-month trial period, Stentz made his final $600 payment in September, he said. Now Stentz is in a good place financially, Speser said.

To prevent any financial issues in the future, he has plans to continue his work with CSA and has begun renting out spare rooms in his farm house, he said.

Tesla is the premium entry in the electric car market, with a starting price of $75,000. According to the Wall Street Journal, the high-end “Signature” model costs $132,000, slightly more than the base price for Porsche’s AG’s 911 GT3.

Even with a $7,500 federal tax credit, an assortment of state tax credits and $10,000 in fuel saving over five years, the driver’s investment is over $110,000 — far beyond the reach of the average family.

However, Tesla’s luxury styling and impressive performance give high-end buyers the best of both worlds — luxury transportation and the satisfaction of environmental stewardship.

In that light, it might surprise some that Tesla’s success depends in large part on lithium mining.

Tesla cars are made of carbon fiber and powered by racks of lithium-ion batteries. Strong, light and cost-efficient, carbon fiber is being used increasingly by commercial airplane manufacturers. On board Boeing’s 787, the batteries are lithium-ion as well.

Like Boeing and Airbus, auto manufacturers are under economic and regulatory pressure to produce more fuel efficient products. In 2012, the Obama Administration implemented CAFÉ (Corporate Auto Fuel Efficiency) standards that require automakers to manufacture cars that get 35.5 miles per gallon in 2016. The standard ratchets up to 54.5 mpg by 2025.

The real goal is to replace gas and diesel car engines with electric motors.

The key to achieving that goal is to reduce the vehicle’s weight. Two of the best ways to accomplish that are to substitute carbon fiber for metal and replace heavier traditional heavier batteries with the more costly light weight Lithium-ion types.

The advantages of carbon fiber are sparking huge investments in the technology.

Tesla is building a $5 billion battery factory near the lithium mines in northern Nevada in hopes of reducing battery costs by at least 30 percent as it plans to ramp up production to 55,000 cars this year.

Reducing costs is important to Tesla, because its competitors are intent on producing more affordable electric cars.

BMW has introduced a new two seat electric commuter car in the $15,000 range. That prompted BMW and partner SGL to invest more than $200 million in a new carbon fiber production facility in Moses Lake where low cost hydro power is abundant.

Hybrid car sales are growing. In 2010, roughly 275,000 of the 11.6 million autos sold in the United States were hybrids, according to the Electric Drive Transportation Association. Pure electric cars registered just 19 sales. Fast forward to 2013, when plug-in vehicles sales were nearly 97,000.

Carbon fiber and lithium production each have their competitive and environmental challenges.

Low cost electricity is vital to keeping carbon fiber prices reasonable. The material has to be competitive enough to give it an advantage over traditional metal. The key for BMW has been hydropower, the least expensive of any generating source. However, hydropower is not as abundant in drought years. Just ask California.

In the case of lithium mining, the problem is ensuring that enough water is available. Lithium is found in abundance in South America, where the cheapest extraction method is to flood a lithium deposit with water to release the lithium. In lithium-rich regions of Chile, extracting the metal uses two-thirds of the area’s fresh drinking water.

Then there is the matter of where the electricity comes from that recharges electric cars at home and in parking lots. Right now fossil fuel power plants or hydropower dominate the electric power grids in the west.

The point is it is important that new technologies be developed. It also is important to remember that electric car makers are subject to the same economic and environmental challenges as other manufacturers: production costs, availability of supplies, affordable energy and abundant water.

Don C. Brunell is a business analyst, writer and columnist. He recently retired as president of the Association of Washington Business, the state’s oldest and largest business organization, after 28 years. He now lives in Vancouver. He can be contacted at theBrunells@msn.com.

Most small businesses start with one employee – the owner. At some point, though, you will need to hire additional people to assist you. Usually this point comes when you begin to lose business simply because you can’t keep up.

The right employees can be tremendous assets in helping you achieve your goals; if managed and motivated correctly, they can take your business far beyond where you could take it by yourself. Good employees can take over much of the responsibility for running the business, leaving you free to pursue new income-producing strategies or to take a much-needed vacation.

Whether it’s front office support, or a manager, adding an employee adds a whole new dimension and level of challenge to owning a small business. You will want to consider some important issues before you make the decision to hire.

Here are some critical questions to help you determine whether your business is ready for its first or next employee.

Do you really need additional employees? Before you bring people on board, make sure that you have specific job descriptions for them and can identify their key responsibilities. Don’t hire someone with only the vague sense that you can use the help or would like the company.

Do you have the skills to manage the work of others? When you hire employees you assume responsibility for supervising their work and encouraging and motivating them to achieve an expected standard of performance. You will be both a manager and a coach and will want to provide an environment that offers employees the opportunity to grow professionally and financially.

Are you ready for the financial responsibilty of employees? When you add employees, you take on significant responsibility for other people’s financial well-being. You will want to make sure that the business is on solid footing and will be able to pay the employees’ salaries and benefits for the foreseeable future.

Are you ready to abide by regulations regarding employment practices? There are several federal and state laws regulating employment practices and labor relations. Many have severe penalties for noncompliance.

Do you have enough room and the right equipment for employees? In order to be successful, your employees will need space and the proper equipment, including things such as office furniture, telephones, and computers. Trying to share important equipment may actually decrease total productivity rather than improve it.

INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS. Independent contractors are self-employed individuals who act as consultants to your business by contracting to handle certain responsibilities or projects. Most independent contractors have an expertise in a particular area, such as accounting, marketing, or computer-systems management. They are paid on an hourly, project, or retainer basis and are completely responsible for paying their own taxes and employee benefits.

If you plan to use independent contractors, you need to be aware of the strict criteria used by the IRS to distinguish between an independent contractor and an employee. This information is readily available by calling an accountant or the IRS.

TEMPORARY AGENCIES. Temporary agencies offer a wide array of talent, from clerical employees, warehouse and construction workers, to professionals such as CPAs. Since you can obtain temporary employees on short notice and dismiss them at will, an agency may be an excellent solution when you require help immediately or need it only for brief periods of time-for example, to assist with a seasonally heavy sales period. Although the cost per hour for a temporary employee is probably higher than what you would pay a traditional employee for doing the same job, you don’t have to worry about payroll or benefits; you simply pay the invoice submitted by the agency.

Whether you decide to hire an employee or independent contractor, there are 5 steps to the hiring process.

• Writing the job description

• Publicizing the job opening

• Screening candidates

• Conducting interviews

• Making the offer

As an employer, you want to hire and retain employees most qualified for the positions within your company. To do this, you need to define who you are looking for, and what’s expected of them once they are on board.

Each position within the company, including your own, should have a job description that outlines responsibilities and duties and includes a list of the position’s objectives with specific and measurable goals. Each description should include reporting relationships. The job description provides you and the employee a clear road map for the expectations of the position, from the standpoint of both workload and expertise required to accomplish the job.

Job application forms for your company should be simple and focus on relevant employment history, including names of supervisors and references you can contact. Provide space for the applicant to summarize career accomplishments.

At the interview stage, you want to learn as much as possible about the person’s job skills, work ethic, and personality. Ask specific questions that require more than a yes or no answer. The more dialogue, the more you learn about the applicant. More information will help you to make an informed decision.

Always check references. Competent and friendly employees make a positive statement about your business to customers. An applicant who interviews well and has a sterling resume may not be the ideal fit for the job. References will validate your impressions, and expand on areas not covered in the interview. This is also a way to learn more about potential weaknesses as well. What a reference says or does not say gives you clues as to the character and skill of your candidates. Take all of this information into account before you form your final opinion of a given candidate.

In our Clatsop Community College Small Business Development Center advising appointments, we find too often not enough time and energy is spent in hiring, retaining and growing the right staff, and the results of this are low morale, poor sales, high turnover, weak customer service and customers that won’t come back into your business again.

Make the human resource function a top priority, and you will reap the rewards of a loyal staff, an exciting work environment, increased sales, and peace of mind for you when you are not physically at your place of business. The value of all that for you as the business owner or manager is immeasurable.

Make an appointment with one of our business advisers to go through this in more detail and to share tools, techniques and information on the best steps to take in this critical process. Always FREE and CONFIDENTIAL. Plus, when you are a client of our Clatsop Community College Small Business Development Center, we can offer “Live Plan” business plan program from Palo Alto Software at no charge.

CORVALLIS — Although some people in the general public remain skeptical about the impacts of ocean acidification, a growing number of professionals who make their living off the ocean have become believers.

A newly published survey found that more than 80 percent of respondents from the U.S. shellfish industry on the West Coast are convinced that acidification is having consequences — a figure more than four times higher than that of public perception, researchers say. About half of the people in the industry report having already experienced some impact from acidification.

Results of the study, led by researchers at Oregon State University, are being published last month in the Journal of Shellfish Research. It was funded by Oregon Sea Grant.

“The shellfish industry recognizes the consequences of ocean acidification for people today, people in this lifetime, and for future generations — to a far greater extent than the U.S. public,” said Rebecca Mabardy, a former OSU graduate student and lead author on the study. “The good news is that more than half of the respondents expressed optimism — at least, guarded optimism — for the industry’s ability to adapt to acidification.”

The mechanisms causing ocean acidification are complex and few in the shellfish industry initially understood the science behind the issue, noted George Waldbusser, an OSU marine ecologist who has worked with Northwest oyster growers on mitigating the effects of ocean acidification. However, he added, many have developed a rather sophisticated understanding of the basic concepts of carbon dioxide impacts on the ocean and understand the risks to their enterprise.

“Many have seen the negative effects of acidified water on the survival of their juvenile oysters — and those who have experienced a direct impact obviously have a higher degree of concern about the issue,” Waldbusser pointed out. “Others are anticipating the effects of acidification and want to know just what will happen, and how long the impacts may last.”

“Because of some of the success we’ve had in helping some hatcheries adapt to changing conditions, there is a degree of optimism that the industry can adapt,” added Waldbusser, who was Mabardy’s mentor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at OSU.

Waldbusser’s colleague Burke Hales has worked with the Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery and others to create a chemical monitoring and treatment regimen for seawater. Whiskey Creek is co-owned by Long Beach Peninsula native Mark Wiegardt and provides oyster seed to many West Coast shellfish growers.

Waldbusser’s research has shown there is a fine line in how quickly larval oysters must develop their shell at a stage when they are most vulnerable to the corrosiveness of acidified water.

Shellfish industry leaders were asked who should take the lead in responding to the challenges of acidification and their strong preference was the shellfish industry itself, followed by academic researchers. A majority said that any governmental regulations should be led by federal agencies, followed by the state and then local government.

“As a whole, the industry felt that they should be working closely with the academic community on acidification issues,” Waldbusser said. “In the spirit of full disclosure, there were some people who reported a distrust of academics — though without any specifics — so we clearly have some work to do to establish credibility with that subset of the industry.”

Among the other findings:

• Of those respondents who said they have been affected by ocean acidification, 97 percent reported financial damage, while 68 percent cited emotional stress.

• The level of concern reported by industry was: 36 percent, extremely concerned; 39 percent, very concerned; 20 percent, somewhat concerned; 4 percent, not too concerned; and 1 percent, not at all concerned.

• Most respondents felt that ocean acidification was happening globally (85 percent), along the U.S. West Coast (86 percent), and in their local estuary (84 percent).

“One thing that came out of this survey is that we learned that not only is the shellfish industry experiencing and acknowledging ocean acidification,” Mabardy said, “they are committed to learning about the issue and its implications for their business. They want to share their insights as they are forced into action.”

“The next step is to continue shifting conversations about ocean acidification from acknowledgment of the problem, toward solution-oriented strategies,” she added.

Since graduating from OSU, Mabardy has worked at Taylor Creek Shellfish Hatchery in Washington and is now beginning a position as the outreach and project coordinator for the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association.

SEASIDE — The eighth annual Iron Chef Goes Coastal is slated for Nov. 3 at the Seaside Convention Center.

Tickets are on sale and can be purchased at a US Bank branch, at the United Way of Clatsop County office at 10th and Marine, or online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2267388. General admission is $35 ($40 at the door) and reserved seating is $65.

Ten or 12 restaurants provide appetizers and desserts to attendees. As part of the evening’s entertainment, there is a visible kitchen set-up where four chefs who perform as two teams have an hour to prepare a meal and are judged by a panel of five judges. The winning team returns to compete next year. Attendees vote on the restaurants’ appetizers and desserts and select a winner in each category, titling it “The People’s Choice.” These also participate in next year’s event.

Doors open at 5 p.m. and the event usually wraps up around 8:30 p.m.

“This is a very nice event, which provides guests an opportunity to taste a wide variety of gourmet food and watch professional chefs at work,” according to United Way of Clatsop County, for which the event is a fundraiser. “This event is a fun party where people eat, drink and are entertained! They also have an opportunity to take advantage of receiving a basket during our auction, by being the highest bidder, where they will win great prizes; all while knowing they are also supporting such a wonderful cause.”

For more information, contact Stacey Brown, executive director at 503-325-1961 or uwccdirector@pacifier.com, or visit www.clatsopunitedway.org.

RAYMOND — Lights are on, fans are blowing and plants are maturing in the Quality Growers warehouse. With the startup phase of their effort complete, owner Travis Holmes and his staff are fine-tuning the cultivation setup while they prepare to harvest their first crop.

According to Holmes, “the garden” has been partially operational since Aug. 6, with the first harvest anticipated to occur in October or November. “We didn’t want to wait until everything was perfect and done” before starting, he said. “We decided to start because the nursery is done.” He plans to be fully operational by November or December.

Since receiving a Marijuana Producer License from the newly renamed Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (formerly the Washington State Liquor Control Board), Quality Growers has developed a seedbank with many diverse strains. Holmes estimated that they have already acquired “$240,000 worth of seeds at resale value.”

The inaugural crop, which includes several different strains, was germinated from seed. Subsequent generations have been started from a combination of seeds and clones (cuttings that come from established plants). Some of the strains being grown include Blue Dream, Dutch Treat, Alien OG and Blue Hawaiian.

In the garden

Employee Tyson Wood has been starting seeds and clones while simultaneously training to oversee the entire garden. He is learning the trade from local horticulture expert and recent hire Steve Boyson.

“Learning has been a hands-on experience,” Wood said.

Wood will divide his time between the nursery, vegetative room and flowering room. These rooms provide ideal conditions for the plants through each stage of growth. All of the rooms are climate controlled with an almost clinical feel.

In the nursery, custom-made shelves house trays of seedlings and starts. Heat pads encourage root expansion below the trays and soft florescent lights shine 18 hours a day above. Both the heat pads and lights have been wired into the shelves themselves. Though all the lights are set to an automatic timer, each shelf is also controlled by an on/off switch so that Wood can save energy by turning off any shelf not in use. The shelves were designed by Holmes, who left a career as an electrician to start Quality Growers.

The vegetative and flowering rooms also have a unique electrical design created by Holmes. He says that he “went the extra mile to set it up so that individual lights can be turned on or off, instead of the entire room.” In a typical indoor grow, all of the lights would be controlled by one switch, or at the very least, large rows of lights would be grouped together. Holmes has broken up the lights “to handle a heavy load” and to make it easier to save energy by having the option to shut off any lights periodically not in use. This configuration will also help workers as they perform routine maintenance such as changing bulbs or cleaning ballasts. Though the unorthodox electrical design has meant extra work upfront, Holmes believes that it will improve efficiency overall.

Preparing to trim, package and sell

Two mobile structures have been set up outside the main warehouse. Both have thick bars on the windows and are enclosed within the security fence that surrounds the entire site. The first mobile structure is being set up as the business office and will have an area for finished goods to be packaged.

The second mobile structure will be used for trimming the harvested plants into marketable buds. Holmes plans to install a TV and sound system for all of the trim workers he will soon hire. He said that he is “very interested in hiring locally. There are plenty of the right people for the job here.” The work will be paid “piecemeal” instead of hourly.

Communication and security

Due to the distance between work areas and the noise from grow equipment, a phone and PA system has been installed throughout the main warehouse and outbuildings. Each room has a phone and there are loudspeakers in the largest areas of the warehouse. This was done to increase efficiency of communication and decrease “running around,” according to Holmes, who feels that the system will also enhance worker safety.

When it comes to security, Holmes said that he has “gone above and beyond” what is required by state law. In addition to a full camera system, there are sensors in each room and on all of the doors and gates.

With tight security comes the potential for a false alarm. The police have already been dispatched to Quality Growers twice since the system was installed. The first alarm went off because a gate sensor was misaligned. The second sensor was tripped by plants swaying in the garden. Holmes did not initially anticipate that wind from fans moving the plants could trip sensors. Both issues have since been corrected.

Despite two false alarms, Holmes remarked that, “Raymond PD has been excellent.” He is confident that they are prepared to respond if a real incident occurs because he has “walked them through and shown them every square inch.” The Raymond Police have also been provided with a map that lists each security system zone. This will enable them to respond more precisely to the automated alarm.

“It’s great to know that they are here to protect our personal property,” Holmes said.

State requirements

Cannabis Board staff members have already been on site to ensure compliance.

“We were real nervous the first day. We’ve put a lot of work into it,” Holmes said of the initial inspection. Though “they show up with bullet proof vests and guns,” he said that his compliance officer was “cool” and “put us at ease right away.” Holmes reports that he has enjoyed establishing a willing and open relationship with the WSLCB and that his compliance officer appreciated Quality Growers’ attention to detail.

Recreational marijuana establishments are required to log data about their operation in a state-hosted program called Biotrack. Employee Ryan Rockwell has been designated to run Biotrack and he thinks things are “going well.” Holmes chose Rockwell to oversee both the garden office and Biotrack because he is “smart and methodical.” When plants are 8 inches tall, they are tagged with a barcode so that Rockwell and the state can track every plant through each stage of its life. Harvested “flowers” are tracked as batches and lots. “We document, document, document,” Rockwell said.

Plans for sustainability

According to Holmes, the image Quality Growers wants to promote is “not flashy.” He prides himself on attention to detail and has made a calculated effort to create a frugal and sustainable setup.

“Energy efficiency is a priority,” he said. “We don’t want to chew up the environment to do this.”

He also feels that his cost-saving, do-it-yourself measures and thought-out work environment will help the business going forward. “We’re going to survive the first year,” he said.

Quality Growers product should be available in Washington state recreational marijuana stores in coming months.