The school
of the rock
Braves rally
to beat Seaside
NORTH COAST • 3A
SPORTS • 4A
MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015
142nd YEAR, No. 184
ONE DOLLAR
Senator calls for transparency on boatyard
and spoken with Executive Director
Jim Knight about the boatyard.
The Port has faced withering crit-
Johnson, said even more is needed.
icism since the impending closure of
“I think that any change, any sig- the Pier 3 boatyard by April 1 was
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should be the subject of a public con- Observer and later announced by
versation with ample opportunity for Knight. Many say the Port has dis-
input, and then an on-the-record vote regarded its master plan from 2001,
as to what is the Port’s plan,” Johnson which called for a marine industri-
said, who’s heard from constituents al cluster on and around Pier 3 and
Port to talk about looming closure Tuesday
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Port of Astoria will discuss the
impending closure of the boatyard, an
advisory item during Tuesday’s Port
Commission meeting. The region’s
foremost politician, state Sen. Betsy
has since helped attract several big
businesses to the central waterfront.
And although the stated reason for
the closure is to improve stormwater,
many believe it’s a veiled attempt to
help Astoria Forest Products’ more
lucrative log-export operation.
Stormwater
Knight has said the Port has an
obligation to close a known source
Walker wins Oregon GOP straw poll
of copper pollution. In August, it
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ment of Environmental Quality that
it would have to adhere to Tier II
Corrective Action requirements after
two years of sampling revealed un-
acceptable levels of copper coming
from its stormwater drains near piers
1 and 3.
See BOATYARD, Page 10A
Access
with a
price
Big bills to view
public documents
discourage
public access
By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM
The Associated Press
KATHERINE LACAZE — EO Media Group
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., 2nd District, was the keynote speaker for the 51st annual Dorchester Conference in Seaside, held Friday
through Sunday.
Dorchester
ponders 2016
By KATHERINE LACAZE
EO Media Group
S
EASIDE — About 300 peo-
ple joined together to delib-
erate the future of the Oregon
Republican Party at the 51st annu-
al Dorchester Conference, which
featured speeches from state pol-
iticians, a 2016 presidential candi-
date straw poll and group discus-
sions on several timely issues.
The conference convened Fri-
day night at the Seaside Civic
and Convention Center and lasted
through Sunday.
The main event was Sunday’s
presidential straw vote, a confer-
ence tradition where attendees
selected who tops their candidate
list to run for the Republican Party
in the 2016 presidential election.
The winner of the 2015 Dorches-
ter straw poll was Wisconsin Gov.
Scott Walker with 39 votes.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
KATHERINE LACAZE — EO Media Group
Attendees at the 51st annual Dorchester Conference in Seaside
discuss how the Republican Party can stay relevant in Oregon, one
of the four issue discussions featured at the conference. About 300
people, primarily from the Republican Party, attended the confer-
ence, held Friday through Sunday.
was the runner-up with 22 votes.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was
third.
Other candidates mentioned
were New Jersey Gov. Chris Chris-
tie; Ohio Gov. John Kasich; Ken-
tucky Sen. Rand Paul; ; former
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin; former
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee;
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; Mas-
sachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren;
and a few others. Not all confer-
ence participants voted in the poll.
A few attendees, during the
open comment session before the
vote, suggested Jeb Bush could be
a problematic candidate for his last
name alone — he is the son of for-
mer president George H.W. Bush
and the younger brother of former
president George W. Bush, who
both are widely unpopular with
Democrats.
“I feel so strongly we’re just
shooting ourselves in the foot if we
vote for Jeb Bush” in the Repub-
lican presidential primaries, said
Ginny Brewster, of Happy Valley.
Others felt Bush did a good job
as governor of Florida and that
having gubernatorial experience
is important for the president. He
could likely overcome his name’s
associations, they said.
Supporters of Walker talked of
his practiced leadership, his ability
to win a governorship in a tradi-
tionally blue state and his market-
ability.
Alison Bruun, president of the
Dorchester board of directors, said,
no matter who is selected, the Or-
egon Republicans must get orga-
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See CONFERENCE, Page 10A
RICHMOND, Va. — The pub-
lic’s right to see government re-
cords is coming at an ever-increas-
ing price, as authorities set fees and
hourly charges that often prevent
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Though some states have taken
steps to limit the fees, many have not:
• In Kansas, Gov. Sam Brown-
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that it would have to pay $1,235 to
obtain records of emails between
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who is now a prominent statehouse
lobbyist.
• Mississippi law allows the state
to charge hourly for research, re-
daction and labor, including $15 an
hour simply to have a state employee
watch a reporter or private citizen re-
view documents.
• The Associated Press dropped
a records request after Oregon State
Police demanded $4,000 for 25
hours of staff time to prepare, re-
view and redact materials related to
the investigation of the director of
a boxing and martial arts regulatory
commission.
• Locally, The Daily Astorian was
initially told it would cost $1,090
for six months of emails between
County Manager Scott Somers and
six department heads. In the paper’s
response to the county, they sent a
slightly narrowed request and ap-
pealed the $1,090 cost stating it was
an onerous charge, having the effect
of denying the request. The Astorian
received the requested emails on a
disk for no charge.
Whether roadblocks are created
by authorities to discourage those
seeking information, or simply a
byproduct of bureaucracy and tight-
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freedom of information requests ul-
timately can interfere with the pub-
lic’s right to know. The costs are a
See ACCESS, Page 7A
The ‘feelings doctor’ goes to school
Kids call her the feelings
doctor, said Meegan Anderson,
a therapist with Clatsop Behav-
ioral Healthcare.
Since January, Anderson
has been counseling more than
60 students across the Astoria
School District as part of a new
effort by CBH and local school
districts to put mental health
counselors where kids go to
class. Anderson’s uncovered
some startling issues facing chil-
dren.
“I found that in this area …
we do have kind of a high level
of suicidal ideation,” Anderson
said, adding that self-harm is
also prevalent. “Cutting is huge,
even at 10 years old.”
Within the last week, she
said, students have gone to the
hospital for evaluation after
exhibiting suicidal tendencies.
Within the last month, some
have gone to residential treat-
ment. And it’s a problem she’s
seen cross socioeconomic
boundaries.
The response when she hears
about suicidal thoughts, Ander-
son said, depends on whether
the student has a plan or the
means to follow through. She
tries to tap into the student’s nat-
ural coping mechanisms, wheth-
er that be sports, art or another
activity they like.
“I really think we need a
suicide prevention program
in place,” said Anderson, add-
ing that awareness of the issue
among peers is key.
Warrenton Grade School
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to invite her in to meet with stu-
dents during the school day. She
said being in a school has less-
ened the stigma associated with
seeing a counselor.
See COUNSELOR, Page 10A
Meegan
Anderson
counsels
more than
60 students
throughout
the Asto-
ria School
District.
EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily
Astorian