How does your
garden grow?
FRIDAY EXTRA • 2C
Seagulls take
a tumble
WEEKEND
EDITION
SPORTS • 7A
FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2015
142nd YEAR, No. 183
ONE DOLLAR
Chinook
Tribe
left out
of school
lessons
Courtesy Lower Columbia Engineering
This map shows how the donated land will be redeveloped in line with the Westport Corridor & Community Plan.
‘IT’S A REBIRTH OF WESTPORT’
Many things old will be new again in East County town
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
W
ESTPORT — Leoann
Douma’s fondest mem-
ories of raising her fam-
ily in Westport revolve around the
town’s waterfront park and boat
launch on the Columbia River es-
tuary.
Douma’s two children, now 48
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and boating on the river.
“They grew up having an abso-
lute blast biking, swimming off the
dock at the boat launch and going
out in little rafts. The river has al-
ways been the biggest (attraction),”
Douma said.
Over the 50 years since Dou-
ma moved to Westport, the un-
incorporated town’s waterfront
has shown signs of disrepair. Lo-
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launch unusable at low tide, and
the parking lot has potholes and is
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
inadequate during the busy spring
Part-time deckhands Mark Hoover, left, and Brian McClain, right, direct the Oscar B Ferry into the tem-
salmon season.
However, plans are in the works porary landing during a test run Feb. 27.
to revitalize the popular park and
boat launch area.
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recently completed a 27-acre land
Andrew Niemi, of Lower Columbia
donation, valued at $230,000, to
Engineering, speaks at a celebra-
Clatsop County Parks Department
tion event to recognize the land
that will launch the county’s West-
donation that opens the door for a
port Corridor & Community Plan.
new Westport park Jan. 16. As own-
The county’s plan outlines im-
er of the land, the county can now
provements to the boat launch,
submit grant applications to fund
park area and access to the adja-
the proposed parks projects.
cent Westport Ferry landing, which
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County, Wash.’s new ferry, Oscar
B.
JOSHUA BESSEX
The Daily Astorian
See WESTPORT, Page 8A
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Bay
Center-based Chinook Indian Na-
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D-Raymond, unsuccessfully sought
this week to have the tribe includ-
ed among those Washington state
students will learn about in public
schools.
The tribe sent an urgent action
request to members and supporters
Wednesday asking them to lobby
lawmakers to include the Chinook
Indian Nation in Senate Bill 5433.
Under SB5433, school districts
would be required include the history
of the state’s 29 federally recognized
Indian tribes in their curriculum.
“Washington State Senate Bill
5433 has wonderful intentions — to
mandate the teaching of Indian His-
tory in Washington Schools,” the
tribe said in its Wednesday appeal.
“Each school will be responsible to
teach the history of their local fed-
erally recognized tribe. Chinook is
NOT federally recognized and there-
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Wahkaikum counties school’s histo-
ry lessons. Imagine our local school-
children not learning about the tribe
who hosted Lewis and Clark!”
The Chinook Tribe has waged a
decadeslong campaign to achieve
federal legal status. It was granted
in the closing days of the Bill Clin-
ton administration, but withdrawn
a year later by the George W. Bush
administration, which said a Clin-
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of Indian Affairs had turned a blind
eye to shortcomings in the Chinooks’
recognition case. Recent changes in
BIA rules have provided the tribe
with a glimmer of hope that they
may yet overcome these issues, but
nothing much has happened so far.
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to SB5433 that would have includ-
ed tribes that still seek federal rec-
ognition, such as the Chinook Indian
See TRIBE, Page 8A
Everyday
People
MONDAY
Counsel for kids
It’s a lie! Fake IRS agents target many in scam
Tell friends:
Many locals
have been
called, harassed
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Fake IRS agents have target-
ed more than 366,000 people
with harassing phone calls de-
manding payments and threat-
ening jail in the largest scam
of its kind in the history of the
agency, a federal investigator
said Thursday.
More than 3,000 people
have fallen for the ruse since
2013, said Timothy Camus,
a Treasury deputy inspector
general for tax administration.
They were conned out of a to-
tal of $15.5 million.
The scam has claimed vic-
tims in almost every state,
Camus said. One unidenti-
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$500,000.
“The criminals do not
discriminate. They are call-
ing people everywhere, of
all income levels and back-
grounds,” Camus told the
Senate Finance Committee at
a hearing. “The callers often
warned the victims that if they
hung up, local police would
come to their homes to arrest
them.”
The scam is so widespread
that investigators believe
there is more than one group
of perpetrators, including
some overseas.
Camus said even he re-
AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File
This is the exterior of the Internal Revenue Service build-
ing in Washington in 2013. Fake IRS agents have targeted
more than 366,000 people with harassing phone calls de-
manding payments and threatening jail as part of a huge
nationwide tax scam that has cost taxpayers $15.5 million.
ceived a call from one of the
scammers at his home on a
Saturday. He said he had a
stern message for the caller:
“Your day will come.”
Sen. Johnny Isakson,
R-Ga., said he got a similar
call, but realized it wasn’t a
real IRS agent.
“It was a very convincing,
convincing phone call,” Isak-
son said.
So far, two people in Flori-
da have been arrested, Camus
said. They were accused of
being part of a scam that in-
volved people in call centers
in India contacting U.S. tax-
payers and pretending to be
IRS agents.
“These criminal acts are
perpetrated by thieves hiding
behind telephone lines and
computers, preying on hon-
est taxpayers and robbing the
See SCAM, Page 8A