Coast Guard breaks
housing ground
Gulls take Fish
Invite, again
NORTH COAST • 3A
SPORTS • 4A
142nd YEAR, No. 200
TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 2015
ONE DOLLAR
Astoria
backs
off dog
park
Mayor cites budget
woes at parks and rec
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Photos by JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
The Astoria Column glows teal in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The Column will remain lit throughout the month of April.
ALIGHT WITH
AWARENESS
Ruh, roh.
The Astoria City Council Mon-
day night backed away from a dog
park because of budget constraints
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Department.
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a dog park one of its goals for this
year and had zeroed in on a poten-
tial deal with Columbia Memorial
Hospital to temporarily use John
Warren Field, the former football
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Fishermen.
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ation Department already strug-
gling with upkeep at existing
parks, the council voted 4-0 at the
request of Mayor Arline LaMear
to remove a dog park from its pri-
orities.
See DOG PARK, Page 12A
Cost of
burials
jumps
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Sharon Moore, a specialist in the SA Peer Center, speaks during
a ceremony in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month at
the Astoria Column Friday.
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Members of the U.S. Coast Guard gather under the Astoria Column during
an event in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month Friday.
People gather at the base of the Astoria Column to listen to speak-
ers during a ceremony in recognition of Sexual Assault Aware-
ness Month Friday.
The cost to bury a loved one
at Ocean View Cemetery just got
more expensive.
Fees will jump by 40 percent
through June and then go up an-
other 10 percent in July. Annual
fee hikes are also possible for the
next several years.
The Astoria City Council vot-
ed 4-0 Monday night for the fee
increases to help improve patchy
maintenance at the city-owned
cemetery in Warrenton.
The average cost had been
$1,660 for burial and $655 for
cremation, which was consider-
ably lower than public and private
cemeteries in Oregon. The fees
had not been increased since 1996.
Budget cuts during the reces-
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Recreation Department to elimi-
nate staff at Ocean View and ra-
tion maintenance.
See BURIALS, Page 12A
Mink industry thrives despite threats
Farmers bolster
security, practice
sustainability
security, working for Ore-
gon-based Fur Commission
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prompted the Canadian fur
industry to solicit his services,
and the European industry is
By JOHN O’CONNELL
looking into modeling its se-
Capital Press
curity program after his ap-
proach.
Kevin Flynn once evaluat-
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ed U.S. military bases for se- 18 years in domestic law en-
curity breaches and protected forcement, employment with
convoys from attack.
the U.S. Army military police
Nowadays, Flynn puts and U.S. Air Force Security
those battleground skills to Forces and private securi-
use for mink farmers, check- ty contracting in the Middle
ing their operations for vul- East.
nerabilities and advising them
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MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI — EO Media Group
how to avoid the threat of rity will become more import-
attacks by animal rights ex- ant for other sectors of animal Joe Ruef holds a mink at his farm in Mount Angel.
tremists.
agriculture — and even for
,QWKH¿YH\HDUVKH¶VEHHQ farms that grow genetically broaden their focus.
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in charge of mink industry PRGL¿HGFURSV²DVDFWLYLVWV
³,W¶V D QHZ DUHD´ )O\QQ vacuum there, where nobody
was applying any of this to the
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With U.S. pelt sales peak-
ing at $400 million in 2013,
the mink industry represents
a tiny niche in U.S. agricul-
ture. It remains, however, a
large target for harassment
by animal rights extremists,
Fur Commission USA Ex-
ecutive Director Michael
Whelan said. He said mink
producers were victims of
20-25 attacks per year from
the late 1990s into the early
2000s. Since then, the num-
ber of attacks has dropped
dramatically, with about 15
recorded during the past de-
cade; 13 of those occurred in
2013.
See MINK, Page 12A