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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 2016)
10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016 6WRUPV County pays for damage costs out-of-pocket Continued from Page 1A needs to repair parts of Pier 1 before taking another log ship. Yet to be determined is the DPRXQWRIVHGLPHQW¿OOLQJLQ the Port’s slips and mooring basin, as the Columbia Riv- er turned milky brown with debris from upriver. Evert estimated $15,000 to remove each inch of sediment from the west end basin. Crumbling waterfront The effects of last month’s storms are most evident to the public along the Astoria Riv- erwalk, where next to the Bar- bey Maritime Center, a row of locust trees was uprooted and fell toward the Columbia River. Dave Pearson, deputy di- rector of the Columbia River Maritime Museum, said the storm surges topped the rock wall that runs along the river, pulling away the soil under the trees. Astoria Public Works Di- rector Ken Cook said the city LGHQWL¿HGDUHDVRIHURVLRQ along the waterfront during last month’s storms. He esti- PDWHGPRUHWKDQLQ damages. Daniel Grassick, the pub- lic works director in Cannon Beach, said the city experi- enced erosion on the beach- front and settling on a couple of streets. He said the city had to dump sand at the end of some streets where storm surges caused erosion and ex- posed underground utilities. $VVHVVLQJGDPDJH The state and FEMA are touring storm damage in the counties covered by Gov. Brown’s emergency dec- Policy: Ranchers are hard-pressed to ¿QGJUD]LQJODQG Continued from Page 1A The resentencing of Harney County ranch- ers Dwight and Steven Hammond to five years in prison is just one of many examples throughout ranching areas of the West in the last several decades of the heavy handedness of federal agencies in acquir- ing more land and squeez- ing out ranches to satisfy environmentalists who want a national park from the Yukon to Yellowstone, Kuchenbuch said. The government agen- cies deny squeezing ranch- es. It’s not coincidence that agencies have bought many Okanogan County ranches and that there have been problems between the gov- ernment and ranchers in Nevada and other Western states, she said. “We believe they are systematically squeez- ing us out. They use every means possible. Direct buy- outs, conservation ease- PHQWV¿UHVDJHJURXVHDQG wolves. The Endangered Species Act. Sometimes they pay 10 times the mar- ket value and every parcel sold jeopardizes those left,” Kuchenbuch said. “We do not trust that they will leave people alone, as witnessed with the Ham- mond family,” she said. laration, trying to help the governor determine whether the storm damage is beyond what the state can handle, and whether federal assistance is needed. The assessments don’t guarantee federal assistance. and try whenever possible WR ¿QG RXU SHUFHQW PDWFK in this manner as opposed to coming up with a hard cash match which wasn’t budgeted for by a county or city,” she said. Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Last month’s storms broke and bent dozens of wood- en and metal pilings along the Port’s central water- front, including the West End Mooring Basin. Library: ‘I think the council is straining to move forward, realizing we will not please everybody’ neighboring Waldorf Hotel, also known as the Merwyn, will likely arouse the ire of preservationists who view the historic hotel as a relic RIV$VWRULD,QDGGLWLRQ the American Legion regards the library as a veterans’ me- morial and believes the Flag Room should not be altered, LaMear wrote in a summary. Continued from Page 1A band, Casey, and her father, 5RG+DHEHUOHIRXJKWD¿UH DORQJVLGH ¿UH¿JKWHUV RQ their ranch last summer and begged them not to back- burn 1,000 acres of their private land. The agency did it any- way to protect homes but destroyed Haeberle Ranch timber, miles of fencing, the family’s mountain cabin and a set of corrals. “We were told afterward that there is no restitution for our losses,” Kuchen- buch said. again struggled with how — or if — to move forward on Heritage Square. Councilors did settle on a range of possible options for a renovated library, including some of the same ideas the council had previously con- sidered and rejected. The city could expand the library where it stands on 10th Street — into the base- ment, the parking lot, or the vacant Waldorf Hotel, which the city would have to ac- quire and demolish. Or the city could contin- ue to look at a new library at Heritage Square. 7RXFK\VXEMHFW 6XUSULVHGE\SULFHWDJ Backburning is so touchy that agencies don’t talk about it on their radios, rather commands are given in person, she said. The homes could have been protected had the U.S. Forest Service allowed the Kuchenbuchs and Gebbers Farms to continue building D ¿UHEUHDN IURP SULYDWH ranch land onto forest ser- vice property, she said. But the agency never fought the ¿UH RIIHQVLYHO\ RQO\ GH- fended homes, she said. The forest service has VDLG LW GRHVQ¶W DWWDFN ¿UHV when it’s not safe to do so but that its goal in the Okanogan was to put them out. Protecting towns was the SULRULW\ DQG ¿UH UHVRXUF- es were spread so thin that rural residents were left to fend for themselves in many places, Kuchenbuch Burned out said. E\ZLOG¿UHV When that happens, they A couple of dozen ranch- es have been burned out by don’t have time to wonder ZLOG¿UHV WKDW EXUQHG PRUH whether a backburn they do than 1 million acres of or other efforts are legal, Okanogan County in the she said. “We are forced to defend past two summers. State and federal grazing allot- ourselves in any manner we ments cover 50 to 80 per- know. If the Hammonds (in cent of that, Jack Field, Oregon) are arson-terror- executive vice president of ists, then so were a whole the Washington Cattlemen’s lot of people up here in- cluding the agencies and Association, has said. Ranchers are hard- civilians who did whatever SUHVVHGWR¿QGJUD]LQJODQG they needed to save their One-third of 600,000 acres property,” she said. “It’s hypocritical for the burned in the Okanogan, Tunk Block and North Star government to employ the ¿UHVLQZDVFDXVHGE\ same practices they con- agency backburning, Okan- victed the Hammonds of,” ogan County Commissioner she said. The Hammonds, who Jim DeTro has said. Ranches in several parts have already served sen- of the county lost private tences in jail, should be par- timber, grazing grounds, doned, she said. “The law needs to be hay, barns and equipment to agency backburning that ¿[HG´ VKH VDLG ³6R WKH\ don’t make common citi- ranchers opposed. Kuchenbuch, her hus- zens into criminals.” Clatsop County pays for damage costs out-of-pock- et, Tiffany Brown said, and FEMA typically reimburses 75 percent of the costs once a formal declaration has been made. “We track man hours The work session, called after a December council meeting where councilors appeared surprised by the estimated price tag at Her- itage Square, was the latest installment in a yearslong conversation about the need to modernize the library and redevelop an empty pit on Duane Street. Any option the City Coun- cil pursues is bound to raise the hackles of some resi- dents, Mayor Arline LaMear pointed out. “I think what- ever we do is going to be a tough sell,” she said. Waldorf a challenge Daily Astorian/File Photo The Astoria City Council is struggling over how to renovate the Astoria Public Library. Expanding the library into the basement — which would require an elevator and two sets of stairs for egress — would mean adding library staff to address security concerns, while expanding into the library’s parking lot would reduce parking. Meanwhile, any attempt to expand the library into the LaMear said the city should not plan to renovate the library without also making plans to tear down the Waldorf, which she con- siders a derelict building. Chunks of the hotel’s roof, cornice and siding have fall- en onto the library, plugging the roof drains and causing thousands of dollars in dam- age, City Manager Brett Es- tes said. “I would argue against renovating (the library) un- til something’s done with the Merwyn. It’s a danger,” LaMear said. “We’ve had a lot of developers look at that building — a lot — and noth- ing pencils out. So how long are we going to let that build- ing deteriorate in the name of preservation?” City Councilor Russ Warr argued against building a new library in Heritage Square, saying that the expense alone should rule out the option. “I have not unmovable feelings but pretty strong feelings that (the current lo- cation on 10th Street) is the place that makes sense to build the new library,” Warr said. Councilor Cindy Price agreed, saying that the coun- cil has a moral obligation not turn its back on the existing library building, which she and Warr fear would sit emp- ty if a new library goes in at Heritage Square. LaMear, however, be- lieves that the building would not go unused for long. VWFHQWXU\OLEUDU\ Councilors Drew Herzig and Zetty Nemlowill said WKDW D QHZ VW FHQWXU\ OL- brary — coupled with afford- able housing, which the city desperately needs — would represent the best use of the Heritage Square site. “I think the council is straining to move forward, realizing we will not please everybody,” Herzig said. “Whatever our decision is, we will make some of our citizens unhappy, and that makes us very unhappy, too, because we’re going to have to live with it. But it’s one of those situations where we have to cut a Gordian knot.” 8QLRQIHHV2UHJRQLVRQHRIPRUHWKDQVWDWHVZKHUH public sector employees are forced to pay mandatory fees Without mandatory ZKLFKKDVEHQH¿WHG fees, workers who economically from decline to join the “It could have a huge im- unions’ work better union would still pact on public sector unions in wages and working UHDS WKH EHQH¿WV RI that the lifeblood you depend conditions. the union without “Our belief is on would effectively dry up, paying any of the that is union dues,” said Keith this truly is anoth- FRVW ODERU RI¿FLDOV Cunningham-Parmeter, a law er attempt by the said. professor at Willamette Uni- haves to have more Oregon’s public versity who specializes in la- and to have the have sector workers are nots just do what bor law. Keith under no obligation Oregon is one of more than they’re told,” said Cunningham- to join the union, VWDWHV ZKHUH SXEOLF VHFWRU Hanna Vaandering, Parmeter but they often have employees are forced to pay president of the to take action to mandatory fees. Other states Oregon Education opt out of paying Association, which already prohibit that practice. full dues in favor of Public sector employees’ represents 43,000 paying lower “fair union membership averages teachers and support share” fees, Cun- 17 percent in states that ban staff at community ningham-Parmeter mandatory fees compared with FROOHJH DQG . said. While dues 49 percent in states, such as campuses. “We will might cover the Oregon, that allow mandatory survive and will cost of some of the fees, according to an amicus continue to advo- union’s political ac- brief by a group of social sci- cate for public edu- Hanna tivities, “fair share” entists in support of the labor cation.” Vaandering fees are restricted Labor union of- unions. to paying for col- 2I¿FLDOVZLWK2UHJRQSXE- ¿FLDOVUHIHUWRPDQ- lic sector labor unions said datory fees as “fair share” fees lective bargaining, grievances the case is an attack on the because the money pays for and other non-political ser- democratic principles of labor the cost of collective bargain- vices, the law professor said. Depending on the contract, unions and on the middle class, ing and pursuing grievances. Continued from Page 1A some workers who decline to join the union still have to pay full dues upfront and then ap- ply for a rebate for amount of the dues that would have gone toward the union’s political ac- tivities. The Oregon Education As- sociation, for instance, pro- vides rebates usually within a month of when workers apply for a rebate, said spokeswom- DQ/DOLD+LUVFK¿HOG About 10 percent of eligi- ble workers seek the rebate, she said. While labor unions are fo- cused on a worst-case scenar- io in which the court would prohibit all mandatory fees, the court also could make a more limited ruling, Cunning- ham-Parmeter said. The court could choose to ban the opt-out process and require that workers opt into paying the full dues, he said. The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Me- dia Group and Pamplin Media Group.
