TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2015
143rd YEAR, No. 35
ONE DOLLAR
µ7KH*RRQLHV¶KRXVHJRHVRIIOLPLWV
Glut of visitors overwhelms neighborhood
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
It turns out, when it comes to
Astoria’s success at capitalizing
on “The Goonies” as a big-time
tourist draw, there can be too
much of a good thing.
Just a few months after the
Astoria- Warrenton Chamber of
Commerce staged the ¿ lm’s 30th
a nniversary c elebration in Asto-
ria and Cannon Beach, both the
chamber and the city of Astoria
are now trying to keep Goonies
fans away from the iconic house
featured in the 1985 cult classic.
For 14 years, homeowner San-
di Preston has let fans — within
reason — approach, photograph,
gawk at and geek out on her prop-
erty in Uppertown . In the past, she
has even opened up her house to
them.
“Sandi ... has been very, very
accommodating,” City Councilor
Russ Warr said.
But, with an estimated 1,200
to 1,500 visitors swarming around
the house almost every day this
summer, Preston and her neigh-
bors near 38th and Duane streets
are experiencing fan fatigue.
“The tourism at the Goonies
house has, over the last three or
four years, absolutely exploded,”
Warr said at Monday’s City C oun-
cil meeting.
Preston recently asked the
chamber and the city to do what-
ever they can to limit public ac-
cess to her home.
“She was overwhelmed and
looking for help to try to get some
semblance of normal life back,”
Regina Willke, the chamber’s
marketing director, said. “It’s just
a constant stream of people com-
ing at all hours of the day.”
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
See GOONIES, Page 10A
Blue tarps cover the face of the Goonies house.
Clearing
the air
Astoria to ban
smoking in parks
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
ABOVE: Jeanie Clay, left, and Archie Clay, right, both from Grants Pass, work to take down their kites near the end of Day 1 of the Wash-
ington State International Kite Festival in Long Beach, Wash. The Clays have been coming to the kite festival since 1998. “It’s just a big
festival,” Jeanie Clay said. “It’s kind of like a big kite -flying flying reunion.” “A family reunion,” Archie Clay added. The Kite Festival will be
open until Sunday evening. Admission is free. BELOW LEFT: Dozens of kites fill the sky above Long Beach during Day 1 of the festival.
BELOW RIGHT: Barry Tislow, of Renton, Wash., needs some help as he tries to pull down his 750-square-foot kite at the festival.
KITE FESTIVAL LIFTS OFF
6WRU\DQG3KRWRV
By JOSHUA BESSEX
The Daily Astorian
The Washington International Kite Festival has taken À ight in Long Beach, Wash. Hundreds of kites will dot the sky
above the beach for the festival through Sunday, featuring shows, sport -kite competitions, and kite-making.
Admission to the festival is free. More information is at www.kitefestival.com.
The days of smoking a cigarette
during a stroll in an Astoria park could
soon be over.
The City Council voted Monday
night to move ahead with a ban on
smoking and tobacco use in parks.
The prohibition, which will likely be
approved in September, is meant to
promote wellness, decrease exposure
to secondhand smoke, discourage litter
and provide an example for children.
Clatsop County banned smoking
and tobacco use in county parks earlier
this year. Last year, Oregon prohibited
smoking in state parks except in vehi-
cles, campsites and sections of day-use
parks marked as safety rest areas.
The City Council, at the request of
City Councilor Cindy Price, agreed to
add marijuana to the ban. State law al-
ready prohibits smoking marijuana in
public.
The city has estimated it could cost
between $2,500 and $6,750 to install
signs about the ban in parks. Clatsop
County would provide $750 toward the
signs from the Oregon Tobacco Preven-
tion and Education Program.
City Councilor Drew Herzig sug-
gested the city pursue grant money or
other alternative funding for the signs.
&XOWXUHVKLIW
Some residents doubt the city will
adequately enforce a smoking ban in
parks, but Herzig and others predicted
a prohibition would lead to a cultural
shift and would be largely self-enforc-
ing.
“I think something like this, acting
as a disincentive to smoking, will ben-
e¿ t people who are trying to quit, will
provide cleaner air for people who are
not smoking,” Herzig said. “And like
smoking in restaurants — or not smok-
ing in restaurants — that is basically
once it becomes part of the culture, it
enforces itself.”
No one from the public spoke
against a ban, but City Councilor Russ
Warr dissented in the 4-1 vote to ad-
vance the ordinance.
“I have a real, basic problem deep in
my heart when people ban things that
are legal to do just because they don’t
like them,” he said.
In other action Monday night, the
City Council:
• Agreed to delay a sewer improve-
ment project along 16th Street until
next summer so the work will not con-
À ict with the remodeling of Clatsop
See COUNCIL, Page 10A
/RFDO¿UH¿JKWHUVUHWXUQIURP(DVWHUQ2UHJRQ
By DANI PALMER
EO Media Group
Thirteen Clatsop County firefighters ar-
rived home likely ready for a shower and
sleep late Sunday night. The baker’s doz-
en were part of a task force who responded
to the Cornet fire south of Baker City ear-
ly Thursday morning. They returned after
homes and businesses in that Eastern Ore-
gon area were considered out of danger.
It’s not that often local crews respond to
a fire elsewhere in the state, Cannon Beach
Fire and Rescue Chief Mike Balzer said.
It’s been two years since Clatsop County
was called upon — the last was the 2013
Government Flats fire in The Dalles .
With heat and drought conditions lead-
ing to fires throughout the state, “They’ve
got a lot going on,” Balzer said. “It was
only a matter of time before they got out to
request assistance from the coast.”
Locally, the Knappa Fire District sent
four firefighters to help. Warrenton sent
three, Seaside and the Lewis and Clark Vol-
unteer Department two and Cannon Beach
and Gearhart each sent one firefighter.
Lewis and Clark Fire Chief Jeff Golight-
ly served as the task force’s leader and all
but the Gearhart Volunteer Fire Department
sent a fire engine or water tender, as well.
“We like to help out,” Warrenton Fire
Chief Tim Demers said. “We don’t like to
see our brothers and sisters fight fires and
us not do anything. We like being there, be-
ing involved.”
Structure protection
Oregon’s Office of the State Fire Mar-
shal requested the Clatsop County Fire
Task Force assist in structure protection.
The Emergency Conflagration Act, autho-
rized by Gov . Kate Brown, gives the mar-
shal authorization to mobilize firefighters
See FIREFIGHTERS, Page 10A
Les Zaitz/The Oregonian
The Canyon Creek Complex fire burns towards a rural
subdivision of John Day Friday. Homes in the area were
ordered evacuated as the fire burned out of control.