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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 2015)
10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2015 Rosenblum: Talk touched on her other work with cybercrime questions from the audience. 7KH¿QDOTXHVWLRQRIWKHQLJKW Speaking about common con- focused on her lawsuit against sumer complaints, Rosenblum Oracle Corp of Reedwood City, mentioned motor vehicle sales Calif. The state of Oregon con- DQG KRZ KHU RI¿FH VHWWOHG ZLWK tracted with the computer soft- a car dealership in Bend. Rosen- ware giant to create the Cover blum said she was able to person- Oregon health insurance enroll- ally give checks back to impacted ment site. The failure of the Cov- customers from that case. er Oregon site to function was “I got to hand some of them a hallmark of Kitzhaber’s third their checks and some thought term. One fallout of that setback it was a scam,” she said. “We was Rosenblum’s decision to sue always tell them if it sounds too Oracle. Rosenblum was asked if the good to be true it probably is. Well, this is one time there was lawsuit was just a cover-up for Kitzhaber, to which she said ab- an exception to that.” Her talk touched on her solutely not, earning cheers from other work with cybercrime, the crowd. “They are the ones that ripped sexual assaults and oversee- ing public record requests. By off the people of the state,” she WKHHQGRIKHUWDONVKH¿HOGHG said. Continued from Page 1A Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum gave a talk titled “A midterm assessment from Oregon’s chief law enforce- ment officer” during the Columbia Forum. Following the speech, Rosenblum answered questions from the audience. EDWARD STRATTON — The Daily Astorian file Medical assisting student Kiri Fabela checks 5-year- old and future kindergartner Deveonn Anglin’s blood pressure at last year’s P-3 Early Learning Council’s Early Childhood Health and Education Clinic at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center. JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian School: Preschool Insurance: ‘... We feel that the city is responsible for some damage. Their infrastructure failed.’ and Early Childhood Fair coming April 11 Continued from Page 1A Continued from Page 1A On April 11, the council will hold a Preschool and Early Childhood Fair at Warrenton Grade School from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Parents will be able to meet preschool and early childhood providers and learn about their curricu- lum, philosophies, tuition and more. The fair, sponsored by NW Parenting and the Astoria Moms Club, is free and includes an activity area for kids. “We want to get information to the people not send- ing their children to preschool for whatever reason,” said Dan Gaffney, a retired principal from Seaside and the face of the council, reporting on what the council’s doing with its funding. The council is in the midst of organizing its second annual Early Childhood Health and Education Clinic, which comes to the Astoria Armory April 14 and the Sea- side Civic and Convention ‘We want Center April 22. The clinic, for preschool-age children 3- to get 5 years old, provides parents information and guardians information about their child’s develop- to the ment as it relates to health and people not education guidelines. It includes screening ex- ams for motor movement, sending their speech and cognitive develop- children to ment, as well as hearing, vi- sion, height, weight, physical preschool and dental exams. In addition, parents will have an opportu- for whatever nity to talk with professionals about their child’s typical nu- reason.’ — Dan Gaffney trition, behaviors and review retired principal from their immunizations. Seaside and the face of The clinic is for everyone, the council, reporting on as kindergarten has changed what the council’s doing substantially in the last three with its funding to four years, Gaffney said. It’s funded by the Northwest Regional Education Service District’s Early Learning Council. The two clinics fall during the Week of the Young Child, April 12 to 18, by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Kindergarten Ready The Oregon Department of Education has released two kindergarten assessments over the past two years. In general, Clatsop County’s incoming kindergartens exhib- ited as much or more interpersonal skills and self-reg- ulation as the state average. Most met or exceeded the state average in early literacy and mathematics. Knappa kindergartners struggled in English and mathematics. “The bigger challenge seems to be whether they’re comfortable away from parents, whether they’re good with kids their age,” Gaffney said, adding that some parents struggle to get their kids socially acclimated for school. In addition to the big events, retired kindergarten teacher Diane Dieni is training people to run 20 kin- dergarten-readiness workshops around the county, in English and Spanish, with about 15 families per event. Upcoming workshops include April 25 at the Seaside Public Library, May 2 at WGS and May 16 at the Asto- ria Public Library. 7KHFRXQFLOKDVSURGXFHGÀLHUVDQGERRNOHWVIRFXVHG on what it means to be kindergarten-ready in Clatsop County, including that kids can: • Say their full name; • Recognize numbers one through 10 and verbally count at least 10 objects; • Identify basic shapes and eight colors; • Match and sort ties into groups by color, shape or likeness. “We’re just trying to equip parents and caregivers with the kinds of things that’s going to help prepare kids for kindergarten,” Gaffney said, stressing the parent’s role in teaching their child. The council wants to build on the involvement seen in Head Start, a free preschool for children in low-income families, Gaffney said. For instructors, the council’s trying to coordinate pre- school teacher visits to nearby kindergarten classes, and YLVHYHUVD³7KHQZHFDQPRUHFOHDUO\GH¿QHZKDWSHRSOH are doing, and make the transition as smooth as possible.” Meanwhile, “the yard is a mess” and “part of the gar- den got washed out,” Doug- las Hadley said. The Hadleys’ homeowners insurance may cover some of the structural damage, like the compromised posts, but that “still leaves a lot of other damage,” he said. ‘Matter of principle’ Factoring in the money spent from travel expenses and lost rental income, the Hadleys estimate the total Gearhart: City still owes $7.6 million on water plant financial impact is approx- imately $15,000 and grow- ing. Yet the city’s insurance company, Citycounty Insur- ance Services (CIS), which is headquartered in Salem, has told the Hadleys that the company will not pay for any of that amount. “We’re in continuing conversation with them,” he said. “Up to now, they have not provided any coverage.” The city itself is no lon- ger part of the conversa- tion, City Attorney Tammy Herdener said. “CIS may not want to involve the city,” she said, adding that, if there’s a set- tlement, it will happen be- tween the property owners and CIS. The Hadleys are await- ing a formal estimate from their insurance investigator. Herdener said that “it’s not out of the ordinary” for cities to have tort and prop- erty damage claims filed against them. Cannon Beach averages about two claims a year, she said: “Some- times less, sometimes more, sometimes none.” Because it is an active claim, representatives from CIS were not allowed to comment. Grassick de- clined to speak on the re- cord regarding the case, and City Manager Brant Kucera could not be reached for comment. The Hadleys have re- tained a lawyer. “It’s be- come a matter of principle to some extent, because we feel that the city is re- sponsible for some dam- age,” Douglas Hadley said. “Their infrastructure failed.” Visit us online at www.DailyAstorian.com Continued from Page 1A Instead of paying $1.14 per $1,000 assessed valuation, tax- payers will pay $1.05 per $1,000 for the water system, Schwab said. She recommended that the FLW\ UH¿QDQFH WKH ERQG EHIRUH May, when interest rates are ex- pected to rise again. 7KHUH¿QDQFLQJRSWLRQGRHV not extend the life of the loan, Schwab said; it still will be re- tired in 2025. The city passed two bonds to pay for the system, which was completed in 2012. In addition to the $4 million bond voters ap- proved in 2005, another $7 mil- lion bond was approved in 2011. That bond won’t be available for UH¿QDQFLQJXQWLO The city still owes $7.6 mil- lion on the water plant. It still has yet to receive full water rights from the state Water Re- sources Department and contin- ues to purchase water from the city of Warrenton for 3.5 months every year. In other business, the council: • Adopted an ordinance al- lowing medical and recreational dispensaries in the city’s com- mercial zones. The dispensaries cannot be located within 1,000 feet of another marijuana dis- pensary nor within 1,000 feet of a school, training facility or recreation facility attended pri- marily by children. • Tabled a proposed ordi- nance regulating fences until the full council is present. Councilor Sue Lorain was absent. • Heard comments from members of the audience, in- cluding Harold Gable, chief petitioner of a recall election targeted against Mayor Dianne Widdop, and former City Coun- cilor Joy Sigler. Gable and Sigler criticized Widdop’s references made about a recorded conver- sation and forwarded emails in a letter written by Widdop that appeared Tuesday in The Daily Astorian. Widdop did not re- spond to the comments. zZDXQDIFXRUJ
