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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 2015)
AHS students serve Cereal for Charity Warriors face ¿HUFH7LJHUV NORTH COAST • 3A SPORTS • 4A 142nd YEAR, No. 216 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015 ONE DOLLAR Local tourism jobs No. 1 in Oregon Library, cemetery, aquatic center XSJUDGHV SODQQHG Spending would address public concerns about maintenance By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian A line forms outside the Bowpicker Fish & Chips during lunchtime on a sunny Saturday. Expanding restaurant choices are helping drive a shift in visitor demographics. On a given night, 27 percent of population is visitors to county By (':$5'675$7721 The Daily Astorian C latsop County has many reasons to be celebrating its cash cow during the U.S. Travel Association’s Nation- al Travel and Tourism Week, May 2-10. Travel Oregon’s recently re- leased annual report on travel im- pacts by Dean Runyan Associates TXDQWL¿HV WKH PDVVLYH HFRQRPLF impact of visitors to Clatsop Coun- ty. “Nationally, travel and tourism has become America’s No. 1 ser- vices export,” CEO Todd Davidson of Travel Oregon said, adding that tourism services comprise 10 per- cent of all U.S. exports. Travel Oregon is a semisep- arate state agency created by the Oregon Legislature in 2003 to promote tourism to Oregon. Da- vidson and Linea Gagliano have ALEX PAJUNAS — The Daily Astorian File been on a tour of the state, pro- moting the Dean Runyan study Tourists from the Star Princess cruise ship pose with a Port of Astoria welcome sign before venturing and the revamp of its “7 Wonders beyond the Port’s Pier 1 security check point and into Astoria in September 2013. Cruise ship traffic is of Oregon” marketing campaign a significant drive of tourism traffic an dollars. (http://traveloregon.com/7won- ders), the closest wonder being the According to the most recent re- entire Oregon Coast. port, 22.3 percent of Clatsop Coun- LEARN MORE ty’s employment in 2013 could be To access an interactive online database for Dean Runyan Year-over-year increases tied to the travel industry, the high- Associate’s study on the economic impacts of tourism, visit The report shows year-over- est mark in the state and just barely http://tinyurl.com/l429voj year increases in tourism’s impact ahead of Lincoln County. Clatsop on Clatsop County, including a County’s annual overnight visitor more than 27 percent increase in spending generates $27 in employ- specializes in economic and mar- days in 2014, divided by the coun- direct spending, from $405.2 mil- ee earnings and $4.20 in local and ket research for Dean Runyan and ty’s population, translated to 27 lion in 2010 to $516.7 million in state tax revenue. has been doing such reports for percent of its population on a given 2014. The report found that every “It’s probably been … five the past 15 years. Dean Runyan’s night being visitors. $94,460 spent by visitors creates years of real increases in real reports on Oregon stretch back to See TOURISM, Page 10A one job; and every $100 in visitor spending,” said Bill Klein, who 1991. Astoria, which is exploring a new library complex with housing and retail at Heritage Square, could spend $80,000 QH[W¿VFDO\HDUWRUHSODFHWKHURRIDWWKH city’s existing library on Duane Street. The proposed capital improvement fund money for the roof is an expensive reminder that the city will have to main- tain its aging library even as it pursues a long-delayed upgrade. A city budget committee Tues- day night tentatively endorsed library VSHQGLQJIRUWKHQH[W¿VFDO\HDUZKLFK starts in July. The budget committee, which will make a recommendation to the City Council, also supported a spending plan for parks and recreation that would ad- dress maintenance challenges at Ocean View Cemetery and repairs at the Asto- ria Aquatic Center. Public complaints about the con- dition of Ocean View, the city owned cemetery in Warrenton, led the City &RXQFLOWRVLJQL¿FDQWO\LQFUHDVHEXULDO and cremation fees. While the proposed budget does not include a dedicated maintenance super- visor for Ocean View, the city would expand professional service contracts to help improve maintenance at the ceme- tery and other park grounds. The city would also spend $72,000 in capital improvement fund money for weed eradication and reseeding at Ocean View and, perhaps, other park grounds. The Aquatic Center, meanwhile, would get $250,000 in capital improve- ment fund money for repair work such as replastering the pool. The proposed capital improvement fund budget also includes $35,000 for a parks master plan, which would chart community interest in existing and fu- ture city parks, and $55,000 for a point of sale system and registration software for park facilities. coast weekend THURSDAY Spring Unveiling Masons honor top Warrenton scholars $32,000 in scholarships given at banquet By (':$5'675$7721 The Daily Astorian JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Warrenton senior Cale Biel shakes hands with Archie Cook, worshipful master of Gateway Lodge No. 175, as he accepts his honor student certificate. The banquet was sponsored by members of Gateway Lodge No. 175 Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. WARRENTON — In 1960, Gate- way Masonic Lodge member Ervin Lee Atkins suggested the idea for the Honor Student Banquet paying tribute to Warrenton High School’s top per- formers to fellow lodge brothers John T. Carden, and Forrest Hensley. By the next year, they’d held the initial event at the Crab Pot Restaurant in Warren- ton. On Monday night, 55 years later, his son Ron Atkins Jr. sat at the entrance to the WHS gym, where he and his fel- low brothers from Gateway Masonic Lodge No. 175 gathered with students and their families to honor their perfor- mance in school. They also gave 13 graduating se- niors a total of $32,000 in scholarships. The bulk of the lodge’s scholar- ship money comes from the fortune of former WHS teachers Dick and Har- riet Baldwin, a childless couple who bequeathed more than $1 million for the lodge to invest in student scholar- ships. Since 2000, Masons estimate the fund has given more than $1 million to about 160 students. Gil Gramson, a Warrenton lumi- nary and mason, said the lodge actu- ally awarded about $90,000 this year. Scholarships given from the Baldwin’s fund can be renewed up to four years in a row, meaning many former WHS grads and current college students are still taking advantage of the scholar- ships. The fund, which Gramson said is more than $1.5 million, pays for them all out of its interest. 7RSDZDUGV In addition to the Dick and Harriet Baldwin/Gateway Lodge Scholarships, the Masonic Lodge gives out two awards. Senior Katherine Carey took home the Edwin L. Mowick Outstand- ing Student Award, and senior Brianna Marsch earned the Murl G. Peterson Award for Scholastic Achievement. “I’ve been in this for four years,” said Marsch, an honor student for all four years of high school and now WHS’ valedictorian. She was one of eight hon- ors students in the senior class at the ceremony, along with eight juniors, eight sophomores and seven freshmen, many surrounded by family members Monday over a prime rib dinner. See MASONS, Page 10A