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SPORTS • 4A
NORTH COAST • 3A
TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2015
142nd YEAR, No. 205
CROWN Z TO GP
Products evolve with mill
Sardine
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nixed
West Coast season
called off amid
drop in numbers
By JEFF BARNARD
Associated Press
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
A forklift operator moves packages of Brawny paper towels.
By MIKE WILLIAMS
EO Media Group
W
AUNA — When Crown
Zellerbach opened the
mill at Wauna in 1965 it
manufactured Chiffon, Marina and
Nice N Soft bath tissue; the No.
3 paper machine started making
newsprint in 1967.
The brands have changed since
then, and the plant, now owned by
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factures newsprint. The mill is ever
evolving, adapting to corporate
branding, product trends and eco-
nomic realities.
Now the Wauna Mill is known
for MD and Angel Soft toilet tissue
and Brawny paper towels.
Clatsop County’s largest private
employer also produces Vanity Fair,
GP’s top-selling table napkins.
In addition, the mill manufactures
private-label products. The company
declines to discuss its private con-
tracts in deference to its clients.
No. 6 and Brawny
Fisheries managers have decid-
ed to call off the West Coast sardine
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cause of rapidly dwindling numbers,
hoping to save an iconic industry
from the kind of collapse that hit in
the 1940s and lasted 50 years.
Meeting outside Santa Rosa, Cal-
LIRUQLDWKH3DFL¿F)LVKHU\0DQDJH
ment Council voted Sunday to close
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It had little choice. Estimates of
sardine abundance have fallen be-
ORZWKHOHYHOIRUDPDQGDWRU\¿VKLQJ
shutdown.
“We know boats will be tied up,
but the goal here is to return this to
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a council member and commercial
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ment.
The council next will decide
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tor in the latest collapse, which could
trigger an emergency shutdown
of the current season, which runs
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beck’s novel “Cannery Row,” the
once-thriving sardine industry
crashed in the 1940s.
It revived in the 1990s when
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Washington waters, but population
estimates have been declining since
2006, and catch values since 2012.
See FISHERY, Page 5A
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Jim O’Brien tests the tensile strength of samples of Brawny paper towels. The strength is measured
both while the paper towels are dry and wet. The samples are also tested for absorbency.
The No. 6 paper machine, one
of the latest additions to the mill,
cranks out Brawny paper towels at
a staggering rate. Large rolls are
stored in a cavernous warehouse
before moving on to the next step,
known as converting.
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such as capacity, roll width and
other details, are trade secrets the
company is unwilling to share; the
information could help competitors.
Every hour technicians sample
the product to ensure it measures
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machine and tugged in multiple di-
rections until it tears. Then another
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
sample is tested wet.
“Obviously with towel or tissue, Bundler operator Craig Zacher inspects a freshly wrapped package
those products people use when they of Brawny paper towels at the Wauna converting plant.
get wet, especially towels, … we ac-
tually test the strength when it’s wet Puzey, mill quality manager.
bency and other criteria. It’s all part
as well as (when it’s dry),” said Craig
The towels are tested for absor- of making customers happy, said
Kristi Ward, public affairs manager
for the Wauna Mill.
“That’s why we do this,” she
said. “We want our customers
happy with the product when they
open it. We want it consistent ev-
ery time they buy it, performing the
way they want it to.”
If a batch fails to meet minimum
standards, it does not go on to the
next stage. Instead it gets re-pulped
and becomes another batch of pa-
per. That doesn’t happen often.
“We’re testing every hour, and
we’re on top if it pretty good,”
Puzey said. “It’s not very often
you’d see something spike, be-
cause if that were to happen they’d
see an indication in their process
control parameters.”
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Residents
of Eastern Washington are frustrat-
ed with the more populous Westside
of the state. And nowhere was that
frustration more prominent than one
day last month in the Capitol. On the
docket were cougars and wolves, two
hot-button issues that split the state
right down the center of the Cascade
Range.
In one hearing, Eastside ranchers
were asking senators to loosen the
state’s law against using hounds to
chase cougars and keep the predators
away from livestock.
In another hearing, an Eastside
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
The state’s longstanding east-west
divide has popped up several times
this legislative session, and it usually
involved agriculture. Divisive issues
such as wolves, cougars, trails and
even honeybees have all surfaced this
session in the state Capitol.
It’s not surprising, or new. The is-
sues change, but the division between
Eastern and Western Washington —
sometimes called the Cascade Curtain
— predates statehood. As the pioneers
debated how best to divvy up the Or-
egon Territory into states, they argued
about East versus West.
More than 125 years later, some
Eastside lawmakers want a re-do.
See WASHINGTON, Page 5A
See INSURANCE, Page 5A
See MILL, Page 12A
Washington’s east-west divide predates statehood
county commissioner told legislators
that his constituents were fed up with
wolves.
They continue to attack cattle and
sheep, costing ranchers tens of thou-
sands of dollars. All the while wolves
remain protected under state and fed-
eral endangered species laws that draw
most of their support from Westside
groups and individuals.
In the weeks since, lawmakers have
agreed to take a close look at the wolf
problem. The hounds, however, will
remain on the leash.
For the day, Eastern Washington
was 1 for 2. Not bad, considering the
Westside’s population — and represen-
tation in the Capitol — is more than
three times as large as the Eastside’s.
State mulls higher
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and deductible
6$/(0 ² 2I¿FLDOV DW WKH 2UH
gon Department of Forestry are get-
ting anxious, as the Oregon heads
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insurance policy the state has tradi-
tionally purchased.
Forest landowners, lawmakers
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over a proposal that would more than
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deductible, from $20 million to $50
million.
“As far as the Department of For-
estry is concerned, if there’s going
to be a policy, we’d like to see it in
place as soon as possible because the
ODVWWZR\HDUVZH¶YHVHHQ¿UHVHDUO\
in the season,” said Rod Nichols, a
spokesman for the Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry. “Because of the
dry, warm conditions, we could see
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Northwest and Oregon.”
The state usually has a policy in
place by April, but the past two cost-
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reconsider whether to issue coverage
to the state. The state “sent a contin-
gent to London” earlier this year to
present a case for Lloyd’s to contin-
ue insuring the state, said Tim Keith,
administrator of the Emergency Fire
Cost Committee that oversees mon-
ey raised through fees paid by forest
landowners. Oregon State Forester
Doug Decker is currently discussing
the proposal with lawmakers and
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whether to purchase a policy this
year.
One Washington, two sides
By DON JENKINS
EO Media Group
Oregon
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