PROTESTERS
STILL DEFIANT
FISHERMEN
SCORE BIG WIN
PAGE 5A
143rd YEAR, No. 150
SPORTS • 7A
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016
ONE DOLLAR
A whale of a mystery
Marine experts
seek answers
in death of
humpback
By KYLE SPURR and
KATHERINE LACAZE
The Daily Astorian
and EO Media Group
Resources ‘exhausted,’
police chief says
S
EASIDE — The dead
24-foot humpback whale
that washed ashore on the
north end of Seaside’s beach
Sunday caused quite a stir.
A couple of dozen onlookers
stopped to watch Tuesday as a
team of marine experts from Port-
land State University and Oregon
Marine
Mammal
Stranding
Network volunteers performed a
necropsy on the animal, which had
been moved slightly inland and
north on the beach. Some came to
town speci¿ cally to see the whale.
The team collected biolog-
ical samples that will be used to
help determine a cause of death.
If there are no “smoking guns,”
such as bullet holes or something
stuck in the mammal’s throat, then
it can take days or weeks to deter-
mine a cause of death, said Keith
Chandler, the general manager of
Seaside Aquarium.
It was clear the animal did not
die from old age, as it was only
about a year old, Chandler said. He
said it is not unusual to see a whale
wash ashore on the North Coast,
but they tend to be gray whales.
Humpbacks are rare — Chandler
said he has only see a few in his 20
years with the stranding network
— but the species was spotted in
nearby waters recently.
Hopes
fade in
search
for man
By LYRA FONTAINE
EO Media Group
Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Jason Hussa, left, Mollie Schmidt, center, and Melinda Essig, right, volunteers with the Oregon
Marine Mammal Stranding Network, perform a necropsy of the whale while bystanders watch
Tuesday. More photos at www.dailyastorian.com
LEFT: A vol-
unteer makes
a measure-
ment near
the eye of the
whale car-
cass during
a necropsy
Tuesday.
BELOW:
Volunteers
and research-
ers with the
Oregon Ma-
rine Mammal
Stranding
Network and
Portland State
University
make mea-
surements of
the whale car-
cass during
a necropsy
Tuesday.
See WHALE, Page 10A
CANNON BEACH — After a search that
brought in crews from throughout the state,
of¿ cials announced they
will curtail major efforts
in Cannon Beach to ¿ nd
Raymond Hickman, t he
87-year-old Haystack
Heights man who
was reported missing
Saturday morning.
“As the fourth day
ends, we’ve exhausted
all different outlets that
Jason
we could go to and that
Schermerhorn
we could access, as
well as just exhausted
our resources,” Cannon Beach Police Chief
Jason Schermerhorn said at Tuesday’s Cannon
Beach City Council meeting. Throughout
the week, rescue teams from Clatsop , Wash-
ington , Tillamook , Multnomah and Clack-
amas counties and Mountain Wave Search
and Rescue scoured the coastline, highways
and trails.
About 75 people helped with the search,
using four-wheel -drive vehicles, horses, and
a drone from a Hamlet resident that À ew over
areas they couldn’t access and took photos
that were extensively reviewed, Schermerhorn
said.
See SEARCH, Page 10A
Alliance wants
tobacco off
limits until 21
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Hold the pickles for this sport
Seaside rec
district offers
pickleball for
all skills, ages
By KATHERINE
LACAZE
EO Media Group
SEASIDE — Pickle-
ball doesn’t have a lot, or
really anything, to do with
pickles. It’s a simple volley
game, similar to a slow-
moving version of tennis that
uses shorter paddles, a light
perforated plastic ball and a
badminton-sized court.
Community members on
the North Coast can learn
more about the game, thanks
to a new program being
offered through a partner-
ship of the USA Pickleball
Association and the Sunset
Empire Park and Recreation
District.
The program, held at the
Camp Rilea Armed Forces
Training Center gymna-
sium, started in January
with demonstrations and
instructions. It’s not too late
to get in on the fun, though.
The group is meeting every
Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1
p.m. through Feb. 20.
See PICKLEBALL, Page 5A
SALEM — A coalition of 20 health orga-
nizations has launched a campaign to combat
a sobering trend: About seven kids every day
become new smokers in Oregon.
The coalition wants state lawmakers to
raise the legal age to buy tobacco from 18 to
21 in an effort to keep it out of high schools.
The Institute of Medicine projects that
law change would reduce smoking by about
25 percent among 15- to 17-year-olds.
Hawaii in December 2015 became the
¿ rst state to pass such a law, and the idea is
gaining traction in more than 100 municipal-
ities around
the country,
from New
York City
to Kansas
City, Mo. California and New Jersey had
similar proposals in its legislatures earlier
this year.
In Oregon, a couple of lawmakers have
already tried to pitch the idea. Most recently,
Senate Majority Whip Elizabeth Steiner
Hayward, D-Beaverton, moved legislation in
2015. The bill stalled in the Senate Judiciary
Committee as other issues took priority.
See TOBACCO, Page 10A
Katherine Lacaze/ EO Media Group
Lauren Fisher, of Seaside, got her first taste
of pickleball during a session at the Camp
Rilea gymnasium in Warrenton.
DAILY LISTINGS
INSIDE • 5A