The daily Astorian., August 18, 2015, Image 10

10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2015
)ire¿gKterV: ‘We like
being there, being involved’
Continued from Page 1A
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
A sign outside the Goonies house driveway invites guests to visit other places around
Astoria as well as write their opinions to be shown to the City Council at a later date.
*oonieV: ‘It just got out of
hand in our community’
Continued from Page 1A
To help stem the tide, the city
placed a sign near 38th Street
on Monday that reads: “Access
closed to Goonies house.” Two
months ago, the city posted signs
prohibiting Goonies parking on
38th Street, an effort that has less-
ened vehicular traf¿c at the house
but not foot traf¿c, Warr said.
“Most people ... think that
it’s an attraction, when it really,
in fact, is a private residence,”
he said.
SenVe of entitlement
Though the narrow, dead-
end street is still open to the pub-
lic, Preston wants fans to respect
her privacy and stay off of the
premises.
“The (caliber) of people/gen-
erations is changing, and not for
the better,” Preston wrote on the
The Goonies 30th Anniversary
Facebook page. “They don’t
have a sense of family or com-
munity but feel entitled and let
no one get in their way. We see it
daily with the threats against us;
all because we choose to have
some privacy. It’s been unre-
stricted for 14 years and we are
worn out.”
Preston has put up blue tarp
around the front and side of the
house to prevent fans from ad-
vancing into her yard, stepping
onto their porch and peering
through their windows — a not
uncommon occurrence, Warr
said.
The overwhelming majori-
ty of Goonies fans are “lovely,
friendly, warm people,” he said.
“But there are a few who are re-
ally abusive, and several have re-
fused to leave the property when
asked to. They’ve offered to ¿ght
the homeowner. And those kinds
of things are the things that make
it really impossible for them.”
While some fans have made
their displeasure known, others
got the message.
“We were disappointed. We
just wanted to take a quick pic-
ture to show that we were there,”
Emerald Bishop of Bremerton,
Wash., said, retreating from the
Goonies house Monday with
her new husband, Bradley Bish-
op, and their chihuahua mix, Ol-
lie. “But we were ¿ne with not
being able to see it; we know
that it’s a private residence and
that people live there.”
Critical maVV
Neighbors began to notice
that Goonie fandom was reach-
ing critical mass well before the
30th anniversary, according to
Roger Warren, who lives near
38th Street.
“A couple of years ago, we
saw it just turned into a circus.
During the summer months, it
was just thousands and thou-
sands of people,” he said, adding
that drivers in the vicinity often
faced solid gridlock. “It just got
out of hand in our community.”
That’s when Warren and
others approached the chamber,
which has since tried to shift
the fan focus away from the
Goonies house.
In a recent email to their
Goonies fanbase, the chamber
wrote: “With vandalism, theft,
excessive litter, obnoxious park-
ing jobs, late night visitations and
more the neighborhood has quite
the turmoil in their backyard.”
Warren estimates that be-
tween 10,000 and 15,000 people
visited the Goonies house during
the 30th anniversary celebration
in June. This ¿gure matches the
chamber’s estimate — 12,000 to
15,000 — of how many people
pilgrimaged to Astoria speci¿-
cally to commemorate the pop
culture phenomenon.
The chamber has urged fans
to view the house from a dis-
tance — for example, from Co-
lumbia Fields below the house
or from the Astoria Riverwalk at
35th Street.
The chamber had hoped
the Oregon Film Museum —
housed in the old Clatsop Coun-
ty Jail building used in “The
Goonies” prison break scene —
would draw people away from
the Goonies house. The ¿lm
museum offers the house as a
backdrop on their green screen
set, where people can insert
themselves into an image of the
house as an alternative to visit-
ing it. “Now I think they just do
both,” Willke said.
In addition, the Astoria Riv-
erfront Trolley has asked con-
ductors, when they point out the
Goonies house, to discourage
visiting.
5eVidential to
commercial
One big problem remains:
The city can suggest that people
not walk the street in front of the
Goonies house, but “as long as
that’s a city street, it is a public
thoroughfare,” Warr said, “and
we can’t stop people from going
on a public thoroughfare.”
During a recent meeting
among city staff, the idea of
turning the street into a private
road was discussed but not acted
on, Warr said.
Willke said the chamber may
petition the city to go that route.
“In the near future, that house
may not be accessible for people
to walk up to,” she said.
Will Caplinger, a neighbor
with a background in land use
planning, argues the city has
violated Astoria’s comprehen-
sive plan by allowing Goonies
activities to grow unchecked in
the neighborhood.
“There are rules that must
be followed with these sorts of
things,” he said. “If somebody
proposed this use out of the blue,
it would for sure go through the
land use process.”
In practice, if not on paper,
the neighborhood has morphed
from a residential to a commer-
cial area, he said.
“The city has done this ac-
tion without even an inkling of
a thought as to how (we should)
preserve the residential character
of this neighborhood,” he said.
At Monday’s council meet-
ing, Warr acknowledged, now
that “the monster’s been creat-
ed,” “it’s a really dif¿cult prob-
lem, and I think that it’s going to
take some time to cure. But the
city and the chamber together
are working very hard to try to
¿gure out what to do with it.”
and equipment to help lo-
cal resources battle blaz-
es that threaten lives or
structures.
When that threat was
reduced, Clatsop Coun-
ty’s crew was sent home,
Knappa Fire District
Chief Paul Olheiser said.
His department fights
as many wildfires as
structure fires per year,
but they “burn real differ-
ent.”
Wildfires are “real
weather and fuel depen-
dent,” Olheiser said. The
stronger the winds, the
faster the fire spreads.
And hot, dry conditions
make a blaze even harder
to contain.
Improved weather con-
ditions over the weekend
helped crews make prog-
ress on Oregon’s largest
wildfire, Balzer said. Ex-
pected to merge with the
Windy Ridge fire, the Cor-
net-Windy Ridge blaze,
sparked by a lightning
strike, has burned more
than 150 square miles and
destroyed six homes, ac-
cording to reports.
On Monday, firefight-
ers continued to build
containment lines around
the fire’s perimeter.
Special training
Task force members.
such as those dispatched
to Eastern Oregon, must
complete special training
first consisting of about
130 hours worth of class-
room and field work to get
wildland certification, Ol-
heiser said.
Knappa’s 28 firefight-
ers receive continued
training annually at Camp
Rilea. The wildfire pro-
gram provides hands-on
experience and the oppor-
tunity to work as a crew,
he added.
About a dozen of Can-
non Beach’s 24 volunteers
Les Zaitz/The Oregonian
The Mason Spring Fire, as seen from south of Canyon
City, shortly after it flared up Thursday afternoon.
are certified to battle the
state’s wildfires, as well.
“It’s a big commitment
from the guys if they want
to do it,” Balzer said. But,
he added, those who do are
“excited about the chance
to go out and help.”
The entire county bat-
tled local wildfires near
Arch Cape last year.
And while a fire is nev-
er desired, the Warrenton
Fire Department got the
chance to “sharpen things
up” when it assisted the
Oregon Department of
Forestry in the Fort Ste-
vens blaze last month,
Demers said.
That fire scorched 27
acres and took about three
days to control.
According to the Or-
egon Department of For-
estry, more than 620 fires
have burned on lands pro-
tected by the department
and forest protective as-
sociations in Oregon this
year. The majority, more
than 420, are caused by
humans, including the re-
cent County Line 2 fire on
the Warm Springs Indian
Reservation.
As the dry weather
continues, the Department
of Forestry and the state
fire marshal are asking for
the public’s help in pre-
venting fires by reducing
fire-prone activities.
“There is a good
chance we will get called
out again,” Balzer said.
AUGUST 22nd | 4-8 pm
It has been said, “Creativity knows no age”
and the residents at Suzanne Elise would
certainly agree with that statement. They
will be hosting an art show featuring local
artists from the Seaside area. There will also
be a silent auction. Proceeds will benefit the
Alzheimer’s Assocation.
ART
SHOW
Cindy
Price
Drew
Herzig
Russ
Warr
Zetty
Nemlowill
& Silent Auction
Arline
LaMear
August 22nd
4-8pm
Council: Sewer project along 16th
Street delayed until next summer
Continued from Page 1A
Community College’s Patriot
Hall.
The college will cover the
roughly $50,000 cost to post-
pone the work. The college
had told the city it would like-
ly cost several hundred thou-
sand dollars to delay work
on Patriot Hall for the sewer
project.
• Approved a contract with
the Astoria-Warrenton Chamber
of Commerce for Promote Asto-
ria funds.
The city’s contract with the
chamber for the tourism promo-
tion money was a decade old,
an oversight that drew criticism
during a review of the city bud-
get earlier this year.
• Heard Mayor Arline
LaMear’s appointments to a
task force on homelessness,
mental health, medical and law
enforcement issues.
The Coalition to Develop
Partnerships for Dealing with
Homeless-Community Interac-
tions will include Police Chief
Brad Johnston; Elaine Bruce,
director of social services at
Clatsop Community Action;
Sumuer Watkins, executive di-
rector of Clatsop Behavioral
Healthcare; Brian Mahoney,
Clatsop County’s public health
director; City Councilor Herzig;
Karin Temple, citizen represen-
tative; Lisa Reid, for the Astoria
Downtown Historic District As-
sociation and Chamber of Com-
merce; Lance Peeler, the rector
at Grace Episcopal Church; and
an emergency room representa-
tive from Columbia Memorial
Hospital.
• Agreed to have a future
City Council discussion on Àuo-
ride in the city’s drinking water.
Astoria voters approved Àu-
oride in 1952 and again in 1956.
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention has
found that drinking Àuoridated
water helps prevent tooth decay.
The CDC listed the Àuoridation
of drinking water among the
10 great public health achieve-
ments of the 20th century.
But many Oregon cities, in-
cluding Portland, have resisted
Àuoride.
City Councilor Zetty Nem-
lowill said the city should con-
sider whether to put the question
before voters.
She said people can make
the individual choice whether to
use Àuoride.
“I think I would feel com-
fortable advocating for choice,”
Nemlowill said after the meet-
ing.
Suzanne
Elise
assisted living community
a p a r t of
the
a v a m e r e f a m i l y of c o m p a n i e s
503-738-0307
101 Forest Drive
Seaside, OR 97138
www.suzanneelise.com
Contact: Jeanne Devitt