Astoria gets
¿ rst win
10 years ago: Fort
Clatsop burns
SPORTS • 7A
OPINION • 6A
143rd YEAR, No. 71
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2015
ONE DOLLAR
THE BIG REVEAL
A new
leader
sought
for The
Harbor
Departing director
placed on leave
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
The Astoria Column renovations become clearly visible as crews from Safway Services LLC. take down the scaffolding. The scaffolding
is expected to be completely removed by today.
Astoria Column restoration comes into focus
By JOSHUA BESSEX
The Daily Astorian
T
he scaffolding is coming down from around the Astoria
Column, revealing the newly restored murals and nearly
marking the end of the $1 million restoration project that
began in May.
The scaffolding is expected to be completely removed by the
end of the day, but crews still need to install the doors and clean
the interior of the Column, among other things, before it will be
open to the public.
The last restoration project on the 125-foot-tall monument
took place in 1995.
See before and after restoration pictures on the Friends of the
Astoria Column Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/1OY6t9O
The Harbor is searching for a new
administrator.
Executive Director Julie Soder-
berg has left the region’s primary
nonpro¿ t support agency for victims
of domestic violence and sexual as-
sault.
Jason Schermerhorn, chief of the
Cannon Beach Police Department
and
interim
chairman
of
The Harbor’s
board,
said
Soderberg an-
nounced in a
letter in late
August her in-
tention to move
to Minnesota.
She is an em-
Julie
ployee of the
Soderberg
Harbor until
the week of
Oct. 23, he said, but has been placed
on leave.
Early last month, Soderberg an-
nounced in an email to community
partners that the Harbor was going to
suspend services for about 10 days.
The outage ultimately lasted several
hours, according to Chris Wright, a
community resource specialist with
The Harbor.
“We are hoping this break in ser-
vices will allow time for the board of
directors to utilize outside resources
to gain a new standard necessary
for moving forward in a profes-
sional manner,” Soderberg said in a
statement the morning after the an-
nouncement.
See THE HARBOR, Page 10A
Do not get
your shovels
out, just yet
No clamming
until at least
mid-November
By KATIE WILSON
EO Media Group
A Seaside man led law enforcement on a
wild chase through a Cullaby Lake neighbor-
hood Tuesday afternoon, crashing into a yard,
breaking into a deputy sheriff’s home and
allegedly assaulting the deputy’s wife before
being arrested.
The suspect, Donald Sanders, 34, is facing
multiple charges including burglary, reckless
driving, eluding, criminal mischief and ha-
rassment.
Clatsop County Sheriff’s 2f¿ ce Chief
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
LONG BEACH, Wash. — There
won’t be any razor clam digs in
Washington or Oregon until at least
mid-November, state ¿ shery manag-
ers say.
Samples collected from beaches
in both states show that levels of the
marine toxin domoic acid are still
above health department thresholds.
In the last round of tests in
mid-September, levels dropped
slightly in Long Beach to 19 parts
per million, only just below the
Washington Department of Health’s
threshold of 20 ppm. Now, those are
back up at 41 ppm in the samples
collected.
“Mostly that’s a factor of which
12 clams get selected for sampling,
I think,” said Dan Ayres, coastal
shell¿ sh manager with the Wash-
ington Department of Fish and
Wildlife. It’s also possible the clams
are still picking up additional toxin,
he added. The algae that produces
domoic acid is still present off the
coast.
See CRASH, Page 10A
Crews work the scene after a car chase ended with the suspect
driving on a yard at Cullaby Lake Lane.
See CLAMMING, Page 10A
Crews remove stairs and scaffolding from around the Astoria Col-
umn Tuesday.
Using a chain of people, crews from Safway Services LLC lower
scaffolding from the top of the Astoria Column Tuesday.
Driver captured after car crashes near home
Seaside man tries to
escape by running inside
a deputy sheriff’s house
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian