What are
they reading?
FRIDAY EXTRA • 3C
142nd YEAR, No. 223
Letting the
steelhead go
WEEKEND
EDITION
FRIDAY EXTRA • 2C
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2015
ONE DOLLAR
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Maori artists
from New
Zealand explore
the coast
Grant funding
increased, scope
narrowed to
balance costs
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
T
he past week has seen an
indigenous culture travel
7,000 miles across the Pa-
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the mouth of the Columbia River to
share their art and culture.
Six visiting Maori clay artists,
as part of a 10-day cultural ex-
change organized through Clatsop
Community College, have spent
this week on the North Coast tour-
ing, meeting with local dignitaries,
bonding with Chinookans and even
trying to pique the interest of local
high school students about their
backgrounds and art.
On Thursday night, they were
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nity with the opening of the “Uku-
Aotearoa: Spirit of Materials” art
exhibit running until July 30 at the
CCC Arts Center, 1799 Lexington
Ave. The event was attended by
members of the Chinook Nation,
other regional tribes and the Maori,
who all exchanged gifts and songs.
The Maori were showered with
gifts from the local community.
“I’m a real advocate for the
indigenous people,” said CCC ce-
ramics instructor and indigenous
Hawaiian artist Richard Rowland,
a central organizer in the exchange
along with staff and college faculty,
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Senior citizens will probably
have to wait until Christmas before
they can enjoy a remodeled Astoria
Senior Center.
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improvements at 11th and Exchange
streets by August, but construction
bids came in higher than anticipated.
So the city went searching for
more grant money and narrowed the
scope of the project, eliminating ren-
ovations in the basement.
See CENTER, Page 12A
Hello,
tufted
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See MAORI, Page 12A
MORE INFO
From 6 to 8:30 tonight,
the visiting Maori artists
and Clatsop Community
College writing instruc-
tor Nancy Cook give a
free public presentation,
“Uku-Aotearoa: The Spirit
of Materials,” at the CCC
Performing Arts Center,
588 16th St. in Astoria. This
presentation will include
a community conversa-
tion that examines critical
issues surrounding cultural
landscape, collective and
individual vision and the
value of myth and memory.
The Maori are also lead-
ing hands-on workshops
firing local art and their
own in a traditional paper
kiln on-site at the CCC Arts
Center from 10 a.m. to 3
p.m. today and Saturday.
Senior
Center
redo gets
go-ahead
Photo courtesy of Laurel Fleet
From left, visiting indigenous artists Colleen Waata Urlich, Eddie Daughton, Carla Ruka, Clatsop Com-
munity College instructor Richard Rolwand, Shoalwater Bay Tribe Councilwoman Mechele Johnson,
Rhonda Halliday, Baye Riddell, Dorothy Waetford and Todd Douglas took in the Pacific Northwest for-
ests around Willapa Bay as part of their cultural exchange to the region.
After a greeting by the
Chinook Nation at Fort
Columbia, Wash., the
visiting Maori clay artists,
including, from left, Baye
Riddell, Dorothy Waetford
and Carla Ruka, took part
in the Long Beach Loyal-
ty Days parade.
Fire Mountain
students enjoy
Earth Day at
Haystack Rock
By ERICK BENGEL
EO Media Group
CANNON BEACH — The four-
month nesting season of Haystack
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early last month, and seven students
from Arch Cape’s Fire Mountain
School spent their sunny Earth Day
morning, April 22, welcoming them
back after the birds’ eight-month ex-
cursion over the sea.
Melissa Keyser, the Haystack
Rock Awareness Program’s educa-
tion coordinator, led the students —
Genevieve “Gigi” Gardner, 5; Otto
Submitted photo
See PUFFINS, Page 11A
Long Beach dog park plan hits end of leash
City Council
tries to weigh
money for parks
for dogs, people
By NATALIE ST. JOHN
EO Media Group
LONG BEACH, Wash.
— In 2011, Long Beach
City Council members began
talking about establishing a
dog park. For a while, “dog
park” was even on a list of
goals that was displayed in
City Hall.
City officials like the idea
of being a “dog-friendly
city.” At a November 2014
council meeting, they shared
an Everett Herald article,
“Northwest’s Long Beach
Peninsula is a Perfect Pet
Getaway” that claimed that
Adrift Hotel guests “can
step out onto the beach and
let your dog roam off-leash,
as is possible in many other
locations on the peninsu-
la.” But the poster in City
Hall has been taken down.
The park is not any closer
to being built, leashes are
now required on the beach,
and a new city policy that
prohibits dogs on city ath-
letic fields has eliminated
the largest traffic-free public
space where citizens could
play with their dogs.
In recent interviews, city
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says cities usually don’t get
serious about dog parks un-
til citizens start pushing for
them.
What it takes
to build a park
Chinook Observer file
Dogs used to be allowed to play on the beach off-leash,
but now leashes are required on public land. This pup is
competing in a previous year’s Doggie Olympics.
a suitable property have pre-
vented the project from mov-
ing forward.
Ellen Escarcega, chair-
woman of the Seattle group
Citizens for Off-Leash Areas,
“We need a safe area for
humans and animals to be
free, and not break leash
laws,” said Councilman Ste-
ven Linhart on April 23. Lin-
hart and Councilman Mark
Perez have been perhaps the
most vocal supporters of the
project. Both men say the
park would improve quali-
ty-of-life for peninsula res-
idents and create an added
draw for dog-owning tour-
ists.
See DOG PARK, Page 8A