The peninsula’s 911
wacky wonders
Astoria puts clamps
on Estacada
PAGE 5A
SPORTS • 7A
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2015
142nd YEAR, No. 136
ONE DOLLAR
It’s all
about
the view
Town hall attendees
voice concerns
about Uniontown
development
By DERRICK DEPLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Photos by JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Lâm Qu ng points out some of his handcrafted paper lights in his barn studio Dec. 30. Qu ng began making his own paper in the late 1990s. He
opened HiiH Gallery in the Alberta Arts District of Portland in 1998.
LIVING THE HiiH LIFE
Couple makes Astoria home for artisanal paper lights
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
F
or the past 17 years, handmade paper light
company HiiH Lights has gained a na-
tional reputation for its work. Founded by
grew in the mid-2000s to include his wife, Kes-
trel Gates.
The couple has called the RoseMint Ranch
in Lewis and Clark-area home for two years,
running the gallery from a distance, with much
of their business online and through commis-
sions.
hope to hold workshops, studio sales, art open-
ings and demonstrations.
The grand opening is Feb. 21 at RoseMint
Ranch, 89120 Lewis and Clark Road.
in Portland and are in the process of setting up
their barn as a portal to their art.
“We want a space where people can come
and connect with the process,” said Gates,
during a Monday tour of the barn, where they
The Process
See HIIH, Page 10A
Skeptical residents gave city
planners an earful Tuesday night on
the Bridge Vista phase of the city’s
Riverfront Vision Plan, cautioning
against zoning changes that might
accelerate development and obstruct
views near the iconic Astoria Bridge.
The city is contemplating code,
zoning, building height and design
revisions that could shape future
development in Uniontown. The
changes could set more restrictive
standards for building over the river
than exist today, but could also ex-
pand the zoning in other places to
create a pedestrian-friendly patch
and allow a broader range of com-
mercial and residential projects.
hall meeting at the Holiday Inn Ex-
press to give city planners feedback
that will be shared with the Asto-
ria Planning Commission later this
month. Preliminary recommenda-
tions could go before the Planning
Commission and the Astoria City
Council between February and May,
Vista phase possible in June.
Hypothetical, computer-generat-
ed models of what potential develop-
ment near the bridge might look like
under the new zoning drew a mostly
negative reaction at the town hall.
The models showed buildings over
or near the river that would diminish
pedestrian views of the water and the
base of the bridge.
Roger Rocka, the former direc-
tor of the Astoria-Warrenton Area
Chamber of Commerce, described
the potential density as “really
frightening.”
Ted Osborn, who is active with
the Lower Columbia Preservation
Society, reminded city planners
See UNIONTOWN, Page 10A
coast
weekend
ABOVE LEFT: Lâm Qu ng attaches paper to the wire frame of the light in the barn studio Monday. The frames are handmade made from a variety
of things, from wire to bamboo. Scrap paper from the covering process is reused in future paper-making. ABOVE RIGHT: Kestrel Gates, right, paints
a light in the barn studio while her daughter, Mai Linh Qu ng, paints strips of paper Monday. Gates primarily uses airbrush paint for the lights, but
also uses indigo and a handmade walnut paint.
THURSDAY
Rain vacation
Cub Scouts pay tribute to veterans who died
Local pack places
swags at headstones
in Seaside cemetery
By KATHERINE LACAZE
EO Media Group
SEASIDE — Seaside’s local Cub
Scouts made sure veterans weren’t over-
looked this holiday season by placing
handmade hemlock swags at the head-
stone of each veteran buried in the Ever-
green Cemetery.
About a dozen members of Pack 540
crafted the simple but elegant swags
during their last den meeting and at the
group’s Christmas party in mid-Decem-
ber. Immediately after the party, Scouts
and their families went to the cemetery,
south of Seaside east of U.S. Highway
101, to place the decorations.
“We want the boys to learn good cit-
izenship, and part of that is honoring the
people that have come before them and
been good citizens, and certainly some
of them have paid a lot higher price than
others,” said Pack 540 Committee Chair-
woman Laurie Kautz.
Using a map provided by Stan Gandy,
scoutmaster for Troop 642 and a member
of Seaside’s American Legion Post 99,
graves of about 90 veterans buried in the
cemetery.
Kautz said it is typical for the Cub and
ans’ headstones for Memorial Day. She
decided to do something similar for the
holidays.
While wreaths are more common for
veterans’ gravesites, Kautz opted for a
See SCOUTS, Page 10A
KATHERINE LACAZE — EO Media Group
Members of Seaside’s Cub Scout Pack 540 recently made swags and
placed them at veterans’ headstones at Seaside’s Evergreen Ceme-
tery. About a dozen Cub Scouts participated in the service project,
which was one of the pack’s five Wood Badge projects.