2014 wines
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Whiskey was
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WEEKEND
EDITION
FRIDAY EXTRA • 1C
142nd YEAR, No. 133
FRIDAY EXTRA • 2C
FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015
ONE DOLLAR
Dorothy
Wing
Randy
Lee Roden
Mother
arrested
in girl’s
murder
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Marilyn Tilbury, Seattle, watches for whales from the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center on Monday.
WAVE TO THE WHALES PASSING BY
Volunteers take to the shore for Whale Watching Spoken Here
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
V
olunteers Cilla and Jim Border
stood bundled up on a subfreez-
ing Wednesday morning at Eco-
la Point, their eyes and binoculars
scanning the western horizon as they
looked for small white plumes of
spray from gray whales migrating
south miles out amid the blue vast-
ness of the Paci c Ocean. Visitors
straggled in, and the Borders jump to
help them watch one of the largest,
longest migrations in the world.
The Borders, who hail from Ne-
tarts and have been traveling from
Cape Lookout to Cannon Beach,
are two of more than 200 volun-
teers the Oregon Parks and Rec-
reation Department recruited and
stationed at 25 sites along the Or-
egon Coast, Cape Disappointment,
Wash., and Crescent City, Calif.,
for Whale Watching Spoken Here,
the semiannual state promotion
to get people out to the parks and
looking for whales .
Whale watchers spotted more
than 1,900 whales between Sat-
urday and Wednesday, when the
event, centered on the peak season
of the southward migration, ended.
The next guided whale watch-
ing week runs from March 21 to
28. Gray whales are found only
in the Paci c Ocean and are esti-
mated at approximately 26,000 by
the Marine Mammal Center, They
spend May to October feeding off
the western coast of Alaska, before
making the journey to warmer wa-
ters off the coast of Mexico’s Baha
Peninsula.
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Volunteer Jim Border, center, points out toward a plume from a whale
during a whale watching session at Ecola State Park Wednesday.
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Models of a gray whale and a school bus sit on a curb while volunteer
Georgeann Silvermann sets up things for whale watching Monday.
Shooting stars
On Wednesday, the frozen tun-
dra of lawn and the ice sheets in
the parking lot belied the clear blue
skies and calm seas, perfect whale
watching weather. The Borders
looked patiently for brief succes-
sive plumes near the horizon, at
Ecola Point about 12 1/2 miles out.
“It’s like viewing shooting stars
in a shower,” said Jim.
The sighting were infectious,
as the few early morning strag-
glers congealed around whoever
happened to spot one of the south-
ward-migrating grays, moving sev-
eral miles per hour, said Jim, and
coming up every ve minutes or so
for a few quick breaths before div-
ing down again.
“The enthusiasm of people who
haven’t seen them before is infec-
tious,” he said, adding that the weath-
er and a person’s patience determines
whether or not they’ll see the whales.
The Borders and other volun-
teers report their daily ndings
back to the parks and recreation
department’s Whale Watching
Center in Depoe Bay, headquarters
of Whale Watching Spoken Here.
On Saturday, whale watchers
spotted only 83 whales along the
coast in the rain and wind, with
more than half of the guided sites
not seeing any plumes. As the
weather improved, they sighted
198 Sunday, 506 Monday, 635
Tuesday and 508 on Wednesday.
The Borders themselves spotted 24
whale plumes and the occasional
breach Wednesday.
“Yesterday (Tuesday) it was like
a chorus, and people weren’t drift-
ing off,” said Jim, who with Cilla
spent at least 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. each
day during whale watching week
helping people spot the migration.
See WHALES, Page 8A
SEASIDE — The mother of the
2-year-old girl who died at their Sea-
side home Dec. 20 is facing charges
of murder by abuse, manslaughter and
criminal mistreatment.
Dorothy Wing, 24, was arrested on
the charges by Seaside Police Thursday
afternoon.
Wing’s live-in boyfriend Randy
Lee Roden, 26, was arrested last week
on a charge of aggravated murder in
the death of 2-year-old Evangelina
Wing. An indictment led Dec. 31 ac-
cuses Roden of four counts of aggra-
vated murder, two counts of murder
by abuse, felony murder, rst-degree
See MURDER, Page 8A
Ducks set
to duke it
out with
Buckeyes
Football teams
head to national
title match in Texas
By RALPH D. RUSSO
AP College Football Writer
Ohio State is looking for its rst
national title since 2002. Oregon is
seeking its rst, period.
Pac-12 champion Oregon and Big
Ten champion Ohio State will meet
in Arlington, Texas, at the home of
the Cowboys on Jan. 12 in the rst
College Football
Playoff champi-
onship game.
“It’s perfect,”
Oregon
line-
backer Derrick
Malone Jr. said.
“I need another game. I’m glad I can
still be a part of this. If we didn’t
have another game I wouldn’t know
what to do with myself.”
See DUCKS, Page 7A
Newcomer nds community with Coaster Theatre
U of O grad lives
in Seaside, works
in Cannon Beach
By KATHERINE
LACAZE
EO Media Group
SEASIDE — Through
living in Seaside, working in
Cannon Beach and participat-
ing in community activities,
Oregon native Emily Estrada
has quickly started whittling
down her newcomer status.
Estrada, 23, moved to the
area from Eugene in July after
graduating from the Univer-
sity of Oregon in May with
a bachelor’s degree in theater
arts with an emphasis in dra-
OUR NEW
NEIGHBORS
PEOPLE NEW TO THE COMMUNITY
maturgy, or theater research.
She was drawn to Cannon
Beach by a job as the stage
manager for Coaster The-
atre Playhouse’s production
of William Shakespeare’s
“Twelfth Night.” Rehearsals
started in July and the produc-
tion ran from Sept. 26 to Oct.
25.
“I thought it would be
good to get paid for some-
thing I went to school for,”
Estrada said.
She planned to stay in
the area for a temporary hi-
atus between obtaining her
undergraduate degree and
returning to college for her
master’s degree, but now she
is uncertain what the future
holds.
She enjoys the area and
the six months she expected
to spend here have come and
gone.
See ESTRADA, Page 8A
KATHERINE LACAZE — EO Media Group
Since moving to the area in July, 23-year-old University of
Oregon graduate Emily Estrada has become involved in
both the Seaside and Cannon Beach communities. She
spends most of her time in Cannon Beach, where she
works in the accounting department at Escape Lodging’s
headquarters and acts and stage manages for the Coast-
er Theatre Playhouse. Most recently, she played two roles
in the theater’s winter production, “Beauty and the Beast.”