Mariota packs
in his quack
Working on
the railroad
SPORTS • 7A
COAST WEEKEND
THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2015
142nd YEAR, No. 142
ONE DOLLAR
Wauna gift lands Westport a new place to play
Vision for 27-acre parcel includes
improved boat launch and park area
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
WESTPORT — Plans to revi-
talize a well-worn boat launch and
park area along the Columbia River
estuary recently received a major
$230,000, will be celebrated from
noon to 1 p.m. Friday at the Wau-
na Mill during a special recognition
event that marks the beginning of a
new Westport park.
Kristi Ward, a spokeswoman for
Mill completed a 27-acre land do-
nation to Clatsop County’s parks
department.
The land donation, valued at
staff from the mill and county will
be on hand at the Friday event to dis-
cuss plans for the 27 acres.
Now that Clatsop County owns
the land, it can formally pursue grant
funding to complete its Westport
Corridor and Community Plan. The
county’s proposed plan outlines im-
provements to the boat launch and
park area and access to the Westport
Ferry landing.
The county parks department
was originally approached by Geor-
county about donating the land so it
could be used as a park for the com-
munity,” Ward said. “The Westport
community has been good neighbors
and we wanted to do a nice thing for
them.”
the property, which consists of the
See WESTPORT, Page 10A
Somers
asks for
360 look
WELLVILLE
KICKOFF NO. 2
DRAWS HUGE
CROWD
County leader seeks
third-party opinion
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
Clatsop County Manager Scott
Somers — the focus of complaints
in multiple anonymous letters to
the Board of Commissioners and
The Daily Astorian — informed
the commissioners Wednesday
he will seek
a third-party
a 360-perfor-
mance evalua-
tion of himself.
Tr a d i t i o n -
ally, the Board
of
Commis-
sioners reviews
Somers’ perfor-
mance annually
Scott Somers
with a report
released
in
July. A 360-performance evaluation,
became county manager in 2012, in-
cludes input from staff, department
heads, community members and oth-
er people who surround the person
360 degrees.
“It’s important to show a broad-
er perspective to the commission,
the paper and the citizens,” Somers
said. “I would think the citizens and
commission and media would be in-
terested in the results.”
The Board of Commissioners
would have to approve the firm
for the performance evaluation.
Somers said he hopes to have at
least three proposals ready for the
commissioners by the next meeting
Jan. 28 or the first meeting in Feb-
ruary.
HICCup CEO says there
is no $5 million prize
instead of Somers hand-picking
The proposed personnel commit-
tee would be made up of seven peo-
ple including a commissioner, the
sheriff, the district attorney, a union
representative, a former county em-
ployee and two area CEOs.
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Around 100 community members met for The Way to Wellville kickoff event at Warrenton
High School Tuesday.
W
ARRENTON — Interest in “The
year challenge to promote health
across Clatsop County, grew Wednesday night
as around 100 people gathered in the Warrenton
High School cafeteria for the second town hall
kickoff event.
About 50 people came out for a similar event
Tuesday night in Seaside.
Warrenton Mayor Mark Kujala, a member
of the local Way to Wellville Strategic Adviso-
ry Council that will
lead the commu- ‘It was
nity over the next
demonstrated
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Marvin Avilez, an adviser with HICCup, speaks during The Way to Wellville kickoff event.
An alternative
At the Board of Commissioners
meeting Wednesday, Commissioner
Dirk Rohne made a motion to ap-
point an ad-hoc personnel commit-
existing recreational boat launch and
Danielle Olson
writes common
themes on an
idea board
during group
discussions at
the The Way to
Wellville kickoff
event.
was encouraged to
see so many people by the
from the county in
his town Wednesday turnout
night.
that a lot of
“It was demon-
strated by the turn- people are
out that a lot of peo-
ple are interested in interested in
healthy living and
making a healthy healthy living
community,” Kujala and making
said.
The Way to a healthy
Wellville is aimed
at communities un- community.’
der 100,000 in pop-
— Mark Kujala
ulation. The other
Warrenton mayor
four communities
selected out of 42 applicants are Greater Mus-
kegon, Mich., Lake County, Calif., Niagara
Falls, NY and Spartanburg, S.C.
New York City-based venture capitalist Es-
ther Dyson, the founder of the Health Initiative
Coordinating Council (HICCup), created The
Way to Wellville.
When the communities applied to be a part of
The Way to Wellville, each was told the commu-
nity that improves the most will win $5 million
JOSHUA
BESSEX
The Daily Astorian
See WELLVILLE, Page 10A
See SOMERS, Page 10A
Astoria schools form rules to govern gadgets
Outdated policy
hasn’t kept up with
electronic tidal wave
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
At any given time, around half of
the more than 900 devices on the As-
toria School District’s online network
are student-owned, said Mark Keyser,
the district’s network administrator.
Meanwhile, the district employs more
than 1,100 student technology devic-
es, including computer labs, printers,
mobile labs stacked with laptops and
other mobile tools.
As technology becomes more ubiq-
uitous, the district continues forming
a technology plan. During a Wednes-
day study session, its staff and board
of directors discussed policy proposals
from the Oregon School Boards Asso-
ciation on how to govern gadget use
at school.
“This policy hadn’t been revised
since 2006, so we’re way out of date,”
said Superintendent Craig Hoppes,
pointing to the district’s adopted pol-
icy from Jan. 12, 2006, on personal
communication devices.
Oregon House Bill 2426, passed in
May 2013 and effective Jan. 1, 2014,
mandated the school districts create
policies around use of personal elec-
tronic devices in their schools.
The new policy changes proposed
by OSBA, which turns state law
changes into school board policies
-
sonal communication device as an
electronic device being “capable of
electronically communicating, send-
ing, receiving, storing, recording,
reproducing and/or displaying infor-
mation and data.”
-
strict device use on campus and pro-
vide consequences for violations. The
proposed updates to the policy would
include a process for responding to
student requests to use their own tech-
nology, and an appeals process if a re-
quest is denied.
Not for Facebook
“It’s our hope that they’re only
used for educational purposes,” said
Hoppes, adding that it’s hard to con-
trol.
Board member Jenna Rickenbach
asked whether the policies encourage
the use of personal electronics. Hop-
pes said they don’t, but that it better
outlines the rules around their use for
everyone.
A new proposed administrative
regulation from OSBA would set
ground rules for personal technology
use on campus.
Craig
Hoppes
Jenna
Rickenbach
It would restrict students from us-
ing technology in a manner that dis-
rupts the educational process; taking
photographs or video unless expressly
authorized; using technology to cheat
or violate others’ privacy rights; and
accessing social media websites un-
less previously approved. The policy
would release the district from liabil-
ity for lost or stolen property, and al-
technology after violations.
See GADGETS, Page 10A