Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 2015)
12A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 Cemetery: ‘This used to be one of the nicest in the state’ Continued from Page 1A Angela Cosby, the director of the Parks and Recreation Department, has put Ocean View in her top three budget needs. “I completely understand the city’s limited resources and where you spend them,” she said. “The hard part is that a lot of these family members purchased plots and buried family members 10 or 20 years ago when it looked like a golf course. “And they were promised upkeep to that level,” she said, although what constitutes a well-cared for cemetery lawn can be open to interpretation. Ocean View Cemetery, which dates to 1897, sits on about 100 acres near a lake and has more than 16,000 plots. An irreducible fund with more than $812,550 is re- VHUYHGWRIXO¿OOWKHSURPLVHRI perpetual care. Interest earned from the fund can be used for cemetery maintenance, but JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian The Ocean View Cemetery opened in 1897. It has more than 16,000 plots. the rate of return has fallen dramatically since the reces- sion. Before the recession, Cos- by said, the return was often was 0.38 percent — or $3,085 between 9 percent and 13 per- — not nearly enough to cover cent a year. During the 2013- maintenance. ¿VFDO \HDU WKH UHWXUQ The cemetery once had ¿YH IXOOWLPH ZRUNHUV EXW that number dropped to three in 1968, Cosby said, and two in 2009. “And that’s where we started seeing this strong downward progress,” she said. The staff was cut to one in 2012 and the last full-time worker was let go in 2013. Since then, the city has taken a triage approach to the cem- etery. Ocean View is mowed twice a month during the spring and summer. The city does not irrigate, fertilize or mulch. “Ideal world? We need a body out there,” Cosby said. While the Parks and Rec- reation Department waits to hear whether a cemetery supervisor can be hired, vol- unteers have stepped forward to pick up garbage and clean headstones. Carl Hagnas, a retired con- tractor who lives in Warren- ton and has relatives buried at Ocean View, has agreed to help. He participated in a cemetery cleanup through his church a few years ago and had heard the city was under- staffed. “I want to help any way I can to shine it up,” he said. Jurgensen admits he and his wife are probably more particular about the appear- ance of their son’s gravesite than others with family at Ocean View. Jurgensen said he does not expect the city to manicure around a small tree near his son’s grave when crews mow the grass. But he would prefer not to have to lug a bucket of water from a spigot to make up for the lack of irrigation, plant grass and apply moss killer, and routinely mow just to keep the gravesite tended. The city, he believes, should do better. “It would be nice if it looked better,” Jurgensen said. “This, from my under- standing, used to be one of the nicest in the state.” Larson: Fundraising at Astor runs until Feb. 13 Continued from Page 1A The Tsunami Skippers, a competitive jump-roping team that last year made it to the USA Jump Rope tournament in Long Beach, Calif., helped publicize the fundraiser. The team is com- prised of high, middle and elementary schoolchildren from throughout the coun- ty, including several current and former students from Astor. Coached by Stacey Dun- das and based in Seaside, the team has performed at Astor for at least five years, and also for the Warrenton Grade School fundraiser organized by PE teacher Kathy Barnes. In Jump Rope for Heart, students raise money from family and friends during February, American Heart Month, to support the as- sociation’s research, public health and community edu- cation programs. PE teacher Jean Barkow started nation- al fundraiser in 1978 as the Jump-Rope-A-Thon in Mil- waukee. Kicked off last week, fundraising at Astor runs un- til Feb. 13. Students create online profiles at www.heart.org/ jump, register for their school’s event and market themselves via email and on social media to collect dona- tions. There are events at As- tor and at Warrenton Grade School. Big earner Larson didn’t just start the event at Astor and run it for nearly 20 years. In 1987, after 175 students at Astor raised $6,461, she accepted an award for her school raising the most per pupil — $36.92 — out of 143 schools in Oregon that took part. Raising more than $700 million since the American Heart Association took it nationwide in 1979, Jump Rope for Heart is a child- hood memory of millions current and former students — but not for first-grade teacher Marjo Hawkins, daughter of the woman who brought the fundraiser to Astoria. “I went to Gray School as a child, so I didn’t get to do Jump Rope for Heart,” said Hawkins, who has JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Students from John Jacob Astor Elementary watch during a performance by the Tsunami Skippers, a jump-rope group based in Seaside. heard from her husband and high school friends the fond memories of doing the event with her mother. Two of her children, now in first and fourth grade, have done and are doing the event with Babbitt, who said they are some of the top individual fundraisers. Babbitt has been a part of Jump Rope for Heart for at least 20 years. At Astor, he said, about 120 kids usually take part each year, raising $3,500 to $4,000, an aver- age of $29 to $33 per stu- dent. Babbitt doesn’t focus on how much they bring in, seeing the event as a way for kids to raise money for a good cause and promote heart health through jump- ing rope. “Jumping rope was some- thing I was made to do when I was playing college ball,” said Babbitt about drills for Pacific University’s bas- ketball team, in which they jumped rope for 20 minutes JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian ABOVE: Members of the Tsunami Skippers perform during a Jump Rope for Heart assembly at Astor Elemen- tary Wednesday. RIGHT: Stacey Dundas, coach of the Tsu- nami Skippers, turns the ropes, while student Garret Swett jumps during a Jump Rope for Heart assembly at Astor Elementary Wednesday. continuously every other day. The Skippers, Dundas said, practice at least two hours, two times a week. Babbitt gets his students 25 minutes a day, two days a week. He said that includes maybe 3 1/2 minutes a week of jumping rope, just one of many healthy activities he tries to instill in them. “My philosophy is anything you do on purpose is better than noth- ing.” Ferry: Crews expect service to restart by this weekend Continued from Page 1A existing Westport Ferry land- ing and constructing a tempo- rary dock while a permanent steel landing is built. The Oregon-side work, which costs about $2.4 million, required a shutdown of the fer- ry service this week. Crews expect the service to restart by this weekend. Another brief shutdown is scheduled when the new ferry arrives to make sure it is operational. Crews then anticipate anoth- er shutdown later in the spring, with the date to be determined. “We continue to have good communications with the con- Courtesy of Wahkiakum Public Works Construction continues on the new $5.7 million Wahkia- kum County Ferry, the Oscar B, Sept. 25. The 115-foot ves- sel is being constructed by Nichols Brothers Boat Build- ers, of Freeland, Wash. tractor, Legacy Contracting will complete the work as ,QF DQG IHHO FRQ¿GHQW WKH\ scheduled in time for the de- livery of the new ferry,” Wah- kiakum Public Works Director Pete Ringen said. 5LQJHQVDLGDÀXUU\RIZRUN is expected in the coming weeks to ready both sides of the river. Work planned on the Puget Is- land ferry landing involves re- moving and adding pilings and other minor changes to accom- modate the new ferry. The Washington-side work needs to be done within a per- PLWWHG ³¿VK ZLQGRZ´ WLPH frame that ends Feb. 28. Con- struction is not allowed on the ULYHU ZKHQ WKH ³¿VK ZLQGRZ´ time frame closes to avoid nega- WLYHLPSDFWVWR¿VKVSHFLHV Legacy Contracting Inc.’s bid for the Washington side work was $574,837. “It’s in some ways good we have the same contractor doing the same work,” Ringen said. “They have been concentrating on the Oregon side so far, and they tell us they will move over to our side of the river this week.” Nichols Brothers Boat Builders of Freeland, Wash., the company building the new ferry on a boatyard on Whidbey Is- land, plan to send the ferry down by sea, not land. Ringen said the boat builders will hire an experienced captain to bring the ferry by ocean trav- el. The plan raises some con- cerns for Ringen. Although if something goes wrong, the boat builders will be held responsi- ble. “It wasn’t designed for the ocean. It was designed for the river, but I’m sure they will look for a weather window to bring it down,” Ringen said. The “Oscar B” will car- ry 23 passenger cars, nearly double the size of the original Ferry Wahkiakum. New fea- tures will include hydraulic steering , a captain’s chair, updated electronics, ADA-ac- cessible restrooms and overall U.S. Coast Guard approval. The current ferry operates 365 days per year, at a minimum of 18 runs per day.