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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 9, 2015)
Making the Dollar Spring into Gardening BUSINESS • 4A COAST WEEKEND THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2015 142nd YEAR, No. 202 ONE DOLLAR Photo Courtesy of Sea Lion Defense Brigade A California sea lion hauled out at the Port of Astoria’s East End Mooring Basin bleeds from a fresh wound. The National Oce- anic and Atmospheric Adminis- tration is investigating the possi- ble shooting of sea lions. JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian The Port of Astoria has received a total of about $4.6 million in discretionary funds from the FAA’s Airport Improvement Grant for the runway over- lay project to fix the drainage system and repave Runway 13-31 (the runway running up and down the photo) at the Astoria Regional Airport. To cov- er its 10 percent local match, the Port received a Connect Oregon V infrastructure grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation of $480,000. HAVE A GOOD FLIGHT! Astoria Regional Airport attracts millions in government grants By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Bullet casings at East End Mooring Basin prompts investigation By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian W ARRENTON — The Astoria Regional Airport attracts a lot of interest, IURPDEORVVRPLQJFLWL]HQV¶À\LQJ club and a private air taxi service wanting to be its private operator to the U.S. Coast Guard Base and tenants from UPS to Lektro’s elec- tric tugs. It also attracts interest from government grants, more than $5 million of which are touching down at the airport this summer to rehabilitate one of its runways. At the next Port Commission meeting, it will vote on whether to approve a contract with Precision Approach Engineering to overhaul the drainage and repave Runway 13-31, which cuts northwest to southeast. “It will generate a ton of con- struction jobs,” said Mike Weston, the Port’s director of business de- velopment and operations. The Federal Aviation Admin- istration approved the project ear- lier this month, including nearly $700,000 worth of engineering ser- vices before and during construc- tion by Precision Approach, which has been providing such services to the Port since 2009. The Port has received a total of about $4.6 million in discretionary funds from the FAA’s Airport Im- provement Grant for the runway overlay project, Weston said. To Agents probe possible sea lion shootings On Monday, members of the Sea Lion Defense Brigade reported ¿QGLQJEXOOHWFDVLQJVRQWKH(DVW End Mooring Basin causeway. Over the Easter weekend, they’d posted pictures of several animals on their Facebook page with open wounds and pockmarks that look as if they’d been shot. “We can tell you that NOAA of- ¿FHRIODZHQIRUFHPHQWKDVUHFHLYHG a complaint, and we are investigat- ing the possible shooting of sea li- ons at the East End Mooring Basin,” said Sean Stanley, a special agent with the National Oceanic and At- mospheric Administration. Stanley wouldn’t comment further, citing the ongoing case. See SEA LIONS, Page 10A JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian An MH-60T Jayhawk hovers over Taxiway A2 at the Astoria Regional Airport. The airport is used by the U.S. Coast Guard as well as private pilots, and UPS. MORE INSIDE Turn to Page 7A to read about how the Flying Club aims to make learning to fly affordable. cover its 10 percent local match, the Port received a Connect Ore- gon V infrastructure grant from the Oregon Department of Transporta- tion of $480,000. “Hopefully in the end, the Port has an obligation of about $30,000,” Weston said of the $5 million project, which the Port will vote on April 21 to accept the engi- neering of by Precision Approach. The company’s representatives on the project were out at a conference and unavailable for comment. Fixing the pipes Walking the 4,900-foot Runway 13-31 Tuesday, Weston points out the cracks, creases, sinkholes and other signs of age on an equally vintage runway and drainage sys- tem underneath. See AIRPORT, Page 7A Vandals target North Head Lighthouse er, exposed parts of the structure. Long Beach Police received a report but park rangers handled the incident. See VANDALS, Page 10A See CABIN, Page 10A KATIE WILSON — EO Media Group In the process of being repaired following years of weather damage, North Head Lighthouse suffered minor damage last week from vandals who painted words on the exterior and nearby sidewalks. the lighthouse. North Head light- house is in the process of being re- stored and much of it is engulfed in plastic tenting and metal scaffolding; the vandals only painted on the low- Clackamas cabin could predate storied expedition MOLALLA (AP) — Protected inside a workshop hidden among Clackamas County farmland is a mysterious log dwelling that may prompt a rewrite of Oregon’s long- held history. If experts’ theories pan out, the 18-foot-wide structure — called the Molalla Log House — predates the start of Lewis and Clark’s 1804 ex- pedition by a decade. The current thinking is that the large, inventive log building could have been handmade by Russian farmers and craftsmen sent by Cath- erine the Great to settle in the Wil- lamette Valley. Growing wheat and gathering beaver and elk pelts here could have aided the tsarina’s strug- gling Alaskan fur trade. That the log cabin was made by foreigners is clear. It’s unlike pioneer construction seen in Oregon until now. 7KHIRRWORQJ'RXJODV¿UORJV By KATIE WILSON EO Media Group CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT STATE PARK, Wash. — The 117-year- old North Head Lighthouse at Cape Disappointment State Park was van- dalized last week, park rangers discov- ered early in the morning March 30. There are no suspects and the prank has not been repeated as of April 6, but Park Ranger Nick Schwalb said, “We’ll be looking out for it.” Rectangles of white paint create a sort of patchwork on the side of the lighthouse and nearby buildings, covering spots where the vandals spray-painted words and anarchist symbols in three different colors of paint. The vandals also hit a portion of the sidewalk running between his- toric outbuildings near the parking lot and vacation rentals up hill from Lewis and Clark may not have EHHQ¿UVW