Warrenton High’s
Class of 2015
Warrenton’s
top graduates
PAGE 11A
PAGE 4A
TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 2015
142nd YEAR, No. 240
ONE DOLLAR
Bridge
Vista
path set
Councilors reject
attempt to close
off development
over the river
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Courtesy of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Tucker Jones counts sturgeon on the Columbia River.
CaYiar or dinosaur ¿sh dish"
As caviar
prices zoom,
sturgeon
poachers hit
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See BRIDGE VISTA, Page 3A
Man tries
to arrest
mayor,
police chief
By CASSANDRA PROFITA
Oregon Public Broadcasting
T
here’s no good reason for a
live, 8-foot sturgeon to be
tied by the tail and tethered to
the shore of the Columbia River, in
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But this is how poachers steal the
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alive and hidden underwater while
they look for black-market buyers.
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value of caviar is driving poachers
to these inventive tactics. They’ve
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ing in the river — their bellies slit
open after poachers harvested their
eggs.
Catching the culprits is hard,
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patrols and undercover stings.
“Sturgeon poaching is not some-
thing that’s done in the middle
of the day when it’s sunny,” says
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very hard to detect.”
Detecting poachers has become
a bigger part of wildlife police
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Global sturgeon populations are
Brushing aside emotional appeals
to do more to protect views of the
Astoria Bridge and Columbia Riv-
er, the Astoria City Council agreed
Monday to place new development
restrictions in Uniontown but pre-
serve the region’s history as a work-
ing waterfront.
The Bridge Vista phase of the
city’s Riverfront Vision Plan would
restrict development over the riv-
er near the bridge and just west of
Second Street, where new buildings
could be no higher than the river-
bank.
But new projects over other
portions of the river in Uniontown
could feature buildings up to 35
feet high and 150 feet wide with
40-foot corridors in between to
preserve views. On shore, build-
ings of up to 45 feet high would be
allowed with stepbacks to soften
the impact.
Contributed by Oregon State Police
Enforcement officers pose with a sturgeon illegally caught by poachers. The officers’ faces are ob-
scured because they were working undercover on a sting that was code-named Operation Broodstock.
Contributed by Collin Golden
Mitch Hicks patrols the Columbia River above Bonneville Dam.
collapsing — most notably in
Russia, where caviar is known as
black gold. That’s fueling a mar-
ket for illegal caviar and driving
poachers to the Columbia River.
“The hottest commodity from an
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that has a market value for sure. It’s
the caviar,” says Mike Cenci, dep-
uty chief of enforcement for the
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resource is around, it’s going to at-
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rules restrict people from taking
sturgeon over 5 feet long.
It takes female sturgeon about
20 years to start producing eggs
— by which point, they’re about 6
feet long. The eggs are crucial to
the species’ future, but they’re also
a delicacy, prized as some of the
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See POACHERS, Page 2A
Panhandling creates plight for Seaside police
Law enforcement grapples
with quandary between
freedom, local ordinances
By KATHERINE LACAZE
EO Media Group
R.J. MARX — The Daily Astorrian
Edgel, a partially disabled
Vietnam vet, seeks assis-
tance in Seaside. “I don’t
try to get by, I just try to get
we need for the week in a
day,” he said. “If I get $20,
it’ll let us last two or three
days. They cut our food
stamps from $260 to $202.”
SEASIDE — Panhandling. It has a per-
sistent presence in Seaside, let alone larg-
er metropolitan areas, and it’s an issue that
forces law enforcement agencies to try to
balance local ordinances with civil rights
claims.
“It’s been an ongoing thing in every
community,” Seaside Police Chief Dave
Ham said. In cities across the country, one
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ing signs and asking for some form of as-
sistance, whether it is money, food, work or
other items.
In Seaside, panhandlers are most preva-
lent near the Safeway entrance on Roosevelt
Drive or in the core downtown area, espe-
cially during the summer months.
The Seaside Police Department could not
provide concrete numbers on how many in-
cidents of panhandling have been reported or
responded to. Ham said they don’t have a code
in their system to identify calls or situations per-
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but rather identify them as general code viola-
tions, which include other incidents, as well.
The department does get numerous calls
reporting panhandlers on a regular basis —
enough, Ham said, “that it doesn’t surprise
me you’re doing a story on it.”
‘Criminals! You’re
all criminals!’
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
A man disrupted an Astoria City
Council meeting Monday night and
tried to make citizen’s arrests of
Mayor Arline LaMear and Police
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ston was able to wrestle him to the
ground.
In a bizarre scene at City Hall,
Zachary Seidel, 29, who lives in As-
toria, refused to stop talking when
LaMear informed him he was speak-
ing about the wrong agenda item as
the City Council opened a public
hearing on the Riverfront Vision
Plan.
Seidel told LaMear she was un-
der citizen’s arrest. As he tried to
explain why, the mayor interrupted
him.
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idel said.
“I will not be quiet,” LaMear said
sternly, slamming down her gavel.
“You are asked to leave.”
See COUNCIL, Page 12A
The begging law
Begging is listed as an offense against
public peace and safety in the city’s General
Offenses Ordinance.
“No person shall beg or solicit alms or
other gratuities upon the streets or in any
public place in the city,” the ordinance states.
See PANHANDLERS, Page 12A
The Daily Astorian
Zachary Seidel, 29, was arrest-
ed Monday night after disrupt-
ing an Astoria City Council
meeting.