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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 31, 2015)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2015 143rd YEAR, No. 126 ONE DOLLAR A humpback whale breaches near the Astoria Bridge in September. Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian A YEAR IN REVIEW Whales ahoy, LNG in waiting, super sports, strong salmon runs and crab, clams take a break The Daily Astorian Daily Astorian/File Photos 2: Sea lions and seals rest on the docks of the East Mooring Basin in March. 0: Oregon Liquefied Natural Gas protesters gather outside the Clatsop County Fair and Expo Center before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Public Comment Meeting in September. 1: Nick Clark, owner of Nature’s Choice Alternative Medicine, holds a bud of Mango strain marijuana under a magnifying glass. 5: Seaside’s Sam Hinton watches his drive off the tee on the second hole of the golf game against Valley Catholic at Gearhart Golf Link in April. John Wifler, the pilot of the fake fiberglass orca, is pulled from the capsized vessel in the Co- lumbia River outside of the East End Mooring Basin on June 4 . An effort to use a fake orca to scare off hundreds of sea lions crowding docks off the Oregon coast has ended, at least temporarily, with the fiberglass creature belly-up after it was swamped by a passing ship. W e may be out on the edge and rural, but we never seem to lack for news of any kind. We had our share of the staples of crime and govern- mental coverage, but also shared with the world our creative attempts to oust sea lions from the Lower Co- lumbia and reveled in those uncommon ocean mammals seeking nourishment in our nearer shores. We lost a embattled coun- ty manager, but gained new leadership in Astoria and watchdogged the LNG con- troversy in Warrenton that has the state in waiting. Ore- gon decided it was OK to get high, locals decided it was not OK to go Goonie to the extreme. Sports teams kicked it up at state and elk kicked it up all over the county. The Astoria Column was reborn and uncovered, while Hood to Coast was almost blown away. Hospital exec brings enthusiasm to new role Finding a new home in Seaside, and loving it By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian SEASIDE — Janiece Zauner is the new chief oper- ating of¿ cer and chief nursing of¿ cer at Providence Seaside Hospital. She began on an in- terim basis in April and loved OUR NEW NEIGHBORS HIGHLIGHTING PEOPLE WHO ARE NEW TO THE COMMUNITY the weather during the coast’s “best summer ever.” “We’re just settling in, and we’re still a little bit like tourists,” she told a gathering of the Seaside Downtown De- velopment Association this month. “That makes it really fun. It doesn’t matter what the weather’s like, there’s always something going on. It really is a treasured space.” Zauner has served as a nurse manager, business and project manager at Prov- idence Portland Medical See ZAUNER, Page 4A Enjoy just some of these top stories of 2015. There were many more and some that should have been on this list, but it’s a solid start. In Friday, we offer a humorous, cartoon look at some of the more offbeat stories in Friday Extra. Hope you stay tuned for that and for what’s ahead in 2016. Columbia River becomes refuge El Niño, which has caused unusually warm ocean tem- peratures and a scarcity of prey along the West Coast, has driven many animals into the Columbia seeking refuge, as smelt, salmon and other ¿ sh runs remain strong. The most notable climate refugees have been Cali- fornia and Steller sea lions, which have come in by the thousands as far upriver as Bonneville Dam and the Wil- lamette Falls in Oregon City. The pinnipeds have become both a tourist attraction and a source of animosity, with thousands of tourists À ocking to see them at the Port of As- toria’s East End Mooring Ba- sin, while some animals have washed up with apparent bul- let wounds. Adverse ocean conditions have also led humpback whales into the Columbia to search for food. Onlookers have been treated to whale sightings within hundreds of feet of the Astoria and Wash- ington waterfronts, marked by crowds of pelicans, sea lions and seagulls following the large marine mammals. LNG controversy Oregon LNG is waiting to see whether a Portland land use attorney appointed by the city of Warrenton will ap- prove the permit applications the energy company needs to build a liTue¿ ed natural gas terminal and pipeline on War- renton’s Skipanon Peninsula. It is one of several hurdles Oregon LNG needs to clear before it can construct the facility. See 2015, Page 7A New Year’s resolution: Sell Flavel properties Bids came short of reserve price of $180,000 By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Selling the M&N Build- ing, a long-vacant and dilap- idated set of storefronts on the northeast corner of Ninth and Commercial streets, has been tabled until next year. The building had been part of a sealed bid auc- tion in November by Re- alty Marketing/Northwest, a Portland broker chosen to handle the sale. Sha- ron Peede, the executive vice president of compa- ny, con¿ rmed Wednesday that none of the offers met the minimum reserve price of $180,000 set by Mary Louise Flavel, the grand- daughter of Capt. George C. Flavel and owner of the building and another prop- erty on the south side of Commercial Street. See FLAVEL, Page 4A