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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 2017)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2017 Beach advisories could rise after stricter testing change was made in the inter- est of public health. EPA tightens water quality standards Too cold By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian Beachgoers on the North Coast could possibly see an increase in the number of beach advisories issued this summer. Each summer, selected beaches are monitored for bacteria by the Oregon Beach Monitoring Program. But an increase in bacteria readings on the beach won’t necessar- ily be the cause for the rise in advisories. Rather, a change in national standards may lead to more local alerts. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently tightened the marine recre- ational water quality standard used to determine if bacte- ria levels are unsafe for water contact, according to the Ore- gon Health Authority. Since the Oregon Beach Monitoring Program started in 2004, standards for measur- ing bacteria, known as BAV — beach action value — has The Daily Astorian/File Photo The Cannon Beach Public Works Department posted signs to notify beachgoers of a sewage spill in July 2015. The city was fined $1,800 as a result. been 158 mpn, or most prob- able number, a testing method used to estimate the number of colony forming units of bacte- ria in water samples. Starting this summer, that value will drop significantly to 70 mpn, Oregon Public Health Division Program Coordinator Tara Chetock said. Chetock said the beach monitoring program lowered the value after EPA studies showed stricter standards can help reduce illness as a result of accidental ingestion of bac- teria contaminated water. “It’s important to note that when the EPA is looking at water quality standards, they are also looking at places like Miami and California where the water is warmer and more people are in the water all time,” Chetock said. “The standard was established con- sidering all beaches.” In general, Chetock said, Oregon beaches are not where people are getting sick, but the Most periods of the year, water on the North Coast is usually too cold for swimmers. According to Surfrider Foundation, an environmental nonprofit that tracks water bac- teria, there have been no recent self-reported illnesses on the North Coast. The Oregon Health Author- ity’s Beach Monitoring Pro- gram is inviting public com- ment through May 8 on a list of beaches it is proposing to mon- itor this summer, which cur- rently lists Seaside, Tolovana and Cannon Beach as sugges- tions. The three beaches have been tested multiple times and rank highly on the list due to the large number of users in the summer, Chetock said. Sources of contamination to surface waters include waste- water treatment plants, on-site septic systems, domestic and wild animal manure, and storm runoff, according to the EPA. In July 2015, a sewage leak led to a high spike in bacteria readings in the Ecola Creek Watershed. In general, Can- non Beach has a history of high bacteria test results, espe- cially after rain washes water- ways out, said Ryan Cruse, field coordinator for Surfrider’s Blue Water Task Force. Generally clean While Surfrider cannot issue advisories like the beach management program, Cruse said based on their data Can- non Beach has maintained generally clean readings since 2015. With the change in EPA reg- ulations however, Cruse said he could see the number of advisories increasing as well as the amount of testing required. “If the OBMP is ending up with more advisories, they will have to be doing a lot more testing than in the past because they will need to go back and test as soon as they can after an advisory to evaluate whether or not it needs to be kept,” Cruse said. He also noted that Surfrider is concerned with national level budget cuts within the EPA, and what affect that will have on research and public health. “If funding goes away, there will be a lot less informa- tion out there to address these issues,” Cruse said. Judge orders Port to pay for depositions Washington state Notes withheld from executive sessions on inn By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Circuit Court Judge Dawn McIntosh has ordered the Port of Astoria to cover the cost of additional depositions of its staff by Param Hotel Corp., which is suing the agency over operation of the Astoria River- walk Inn. The Port was found to have withheld until recently the notes from executive sessions in which the Riverwalk Inn was discussed in September 2014 and July and August 2015. Param’s lawyer, Colin Hunter, had sought to win the case with a motion for dis- covery sanctions, claim- ing the delay in the materi- als was highly prejudicial and had irreversibly affected his prosecution. The Port’s attorney, Luke Reese, claims the delays were unintentional “confusion between the Port and its attor- ney as to what had been pro- Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian The Astoria Riverwalk Inn is the subject of a legal dispute. duced prior to depositions, which was immediately rem- edied after the confusion was identified and well before the close of discovery.” McIntosh ordered the Port to provide and pay for the addi- tional deposition of staff in advance of trial set to start later this month, but held off on fur- ther judgment until then. Param filed suit against the Port in late 2015 after the agency chose Astoria Hospi- tality Ventures, owned by Port Commissioner Stephen Ful- ton’s brother-in-law William Orr, to take over operation of the lodging from heavily indebted former operator Brad Smithart. In his suit, Hunter claimed the Port had shown bias toward the connected Hospitality Ventures, and had wrongfully voided a contract Param had to take over from Smithart in exchange for pay- ing off his debts. Orr and his partner Ches- ter Trabucco, who still oper- ate the hotel and are negotiat- ing with the Port to lease the adjacent Chinook Building, were removed from the case last year. The duo’s lobbying of the Port Commission was deemed allowable by Circuit Court Judge Philip Nelson. Part of Nelson’s argument was the lack of any evidence indicating Fulton had “partic- ipated as a public official in any discussion or debate about the operation or lease of the hotel property” after a June 2015 meeting. But the with- held executive session notes indicated Fulton was pres- ent for discussions about the hotel. “Though it is difficult to assess to what extent, I do believe (Param) suffered prej- udice as a result of the Port’s failure to disclose these docu- ments,” McIntosh said. McIntosh, who took over mid-case after Nelson retired, said she was unsure whether the materials would have swayed his decision to dis- miss Orr and Trabucco, but that their absence had affected Param’s analysis of whether to appeal the dismissal and its decision to settle with the pair. Railroad considers options for old caboose By AARON WEST The Bulletin BEND — Moving thou- sands of pounds of cargo isn’t typically an issue for the trains that use the City of Prineville Railway, but what about when the cargo is the train itself? That’s the question the city-owned railroad is trying to answer. Railway Director Matt Wiederholt said railway staff members are consider- ing their options for moving a 30-ton caboose to the Bow- man Museum in downtown Prineville. The trip between the railway and the museum is less than a mile — practically nothing compared to the long trips the 70-year-old railway car used to make in its heyday. But since the city’s orange caboose will have to be taken off the storage tracks where it currently sits and transported on the highway to make it there, the journey seems a lit- tle bit longer than it actually is. “We’re just trying to figure out how to get it down there,” Wiederholt said. “Hopefully we’ll have it done in the next couple months or so. It’s a little challenging, but it’s doable.” The caboose, which Wie- derholt said the Prineville Railway bought in the 1970s, has seen a lot of use over the years, but it’s been out of work for nearly a decade. Originally used for hauling and housing railroad employ- ees, the caboose is outfit- ted with a generator, a stove, a desk and bunk beds for the crew members, conductors and brakemen who used to have to travel with a train. When federal safety laws that had required the use of cabooses and large railroad crews were relaxed in the 1980s, Wie- derholt said, Prineville’s caboose was moved over to W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 IN & OUT GARDENING SUPPLY is NOW OPEN in our new location at 3095 Hwy 101 N. Gearhart, Oregon 503-739-7015 Come join us for our GRAND OPENING SALE 20% OFF everything in the store all April along! the Prineville Freight Junction — via tracks, not the highway — to be used as office space. After that it was used to give kids rides, but it was retired in the mid-2000s. Rather than let the caboose sit on storage tracks at the rail- way, where Wiederholt said it would slowly deteriorate, the decision was made to donate it to the city museum. The 100- year anniversary of the rail- way is coming up in 2018, and Wiederholt said the caboose would make a great histor- ical exhibit at the Bowman Museum. “It’s worth more histori- cally at the museum than it would be if we scrapped it or sold it to someone who would use it as a hunting cabin,” he said. Which brings the Prineville Railway staff back to the ques- tion at hand: How should they transport the caboose? The issue isn’t actually the freight car’s weight, but its height. For a train car, 60,000 pounds is “fairly light,” Wie- derholt said, but at 13 feet, 8 inches tall, the caboose’s height would exceed 14 feet — the maximum height allowed on Oregon roads — when it’s loaded onto the back of a truck. “The height is giving us some challenges,” he said. Probably what’s going to happen, Wiederholt specu- lated, is that the railway will use a crane it has to lift the caboose so its wheels can be removed and it can be loaded on the back of a lowboy trailer. Then the trip to the museum can be made without smashing into the top of any bridges or power lines. conceal carry permit classes May 3 rd 1pm and 6pm BEST WESTERN 555 Hamburg Ave, Astoria, OR $45 Oregon-only $80 multi-State (Oregon included no-fee) Required class to get an Oregon or multi-State permit. Class includes: • Fingerprinting & photo • Oregon gun laws • Washington gun laws • Interstate travel laws • Interaction with law enforcement • Use of deadly force • Firearm / ammunition / holster selection 360.921.2071 FirearmTrainingNW.com : FirearmrainingNW@gmail.com urges sunscreen bill By ALEXIS MYERS Associated Press OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington state lawmakers are pushing forward with a proposal that allows students to use sunscreen at school without a note from a doc- tor and parent, a rule that six other states also are consid- ering to help protect children from developing skin cancer. The law is in place for Washington students from kindergarten to 12th grades because the Food and Drug Administration lists sun- screen as a drug product. School employees also are banned from applying it on a student. Senate Bill 5404 would exempt sunblock from being classified as a medication so children could use it on campus, at school-spon- sored events or during field trips. The state House unan- imously passed the measure last week, and it now heads back to the Senate for agree- ment on changes that were made. Republican state Sen. Ann Rivers of La Center, sponsor of the legislation, said her colleagues and con- stituents shared stories of some children coming back from field trips “burnt like a French fry.” “Every now and then, we come across a bill where we end up asking ourselves, ‘Really, do we really need a bill for this?’ It’s just kind of a no-brainer,” Rivers said. When asked about the legislation, Mona Johnson, director of student support for the Office of Superinten- dent of Public Instruction, said sunscreen had not been a significant issue until Riv- er’s bill emerged. “This issue was a surprise to us,” Johnson said. “It’s not something we’ve had lots of people be concerned about or lots of educators be con- cerned about it.” She said the superinten- dent’s office supports the legislation as long as school administrators and nurses do, too. At least four states have laws requiring schools to allow students to use sun- screen, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. They are Cali- fornia, New York, Utah and Oregon. Alabama, Arizona, Geor- gia, Louisiana, Massachu- setts and Rhode Island are considering similar legis- lation. A bill introduced in Congress last year to allow sunscreen in schools didn’t go anywhere, the NCSL said. Betsy Janes of the Amer- ican Cancer Society Cancer Action Network said some states do not have sun pro- tection laws because it might not be a problem there or it hasn’t become one yet. But there’s a common misconception that people are less likely to get skin cancer in cloudier states, such as Washington, Janes said. Some of the highest rates of melanoma — the deadliest form of skin can- cer — occur in the cloudiest states, including Washington and Oregon, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Skin cancer is progres- sive and starts when a person is young and is more at risk of sun exposure, Janes said. Thank You from the Westerholm Family It’s going on 2 months now since my dad passed away in February. The family, mom especially, has been absolutely overwhelmed by all the love, support, and generosity that everyone has shown. From fl owers, cards, and fi nancial support to hugs, food, and a simple text to say how much dad will be missed. The family wanted to announce that we will be having a celebration of life at the Knappa High School commons on June 17th from 11-2. Please bring your memories and photographs to share. The stories and pictures that have been given here and during visits have truly been cherished. Thank you all so much. Connie Westerholm, Gerritt and Family, Jason and Family