The daily Astorian., February 16, 2016, Page 10A, Image 10

10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2016
Talking Trash: Trails End demolishes structures, harvests remains
Continued from Page 1A
The county’s recycling, on
the other hand, follows a course
that branches out into the state-
side and worldwide commodi-
ties marNets Though it brieÀy
shares space with the county’s
trash at the transfer station, the
materials soon part company.
Instead of heading to the
land¿ll, recyclables head to
regional recyclers and materi-
al-recovery facilities, and, from
there, to mills and plants that
take the county’s output and
use it as raw material — turn-
ing spent cardboard into usable
cardboard, used paper into fresh
paper products, shattered glass
into bottles and old plastic into
new plastic.
Finally, consumers purchase
the products made from recy-
cled materials, recycle them
again, and thereby keep the
materials’ life cycle spinning.
But, outside the Recology
collection services, people ¿nd
ways to reuse and recycle mate-
rials otherwise destined for a
land¿ll.
Trails End Recovery
Custom Excavating and
Trails End Recovery — two
businesses housed under the
same Warrenton operation
owned by Dean and Evie Lar-
son — are major players in the
local recovery game, taking
existing material and sending
much of it back into the com-
munity for reuse.
Trails End, a material-recov-
ery facility, demolishes struc-
tures — from residential houses
to commercial buildings — har-
vests the remains and resells
them to customers looking
to incorporate them into their
construction and landscaping
projects.
In fall, Trails End tore down
the A Coastal Lock-n-Key
building on Seventh Street. And
before that, Trails End and Cus-
tom Excavating turned the side
yard of a private Skyline Avenue
residence into a terraced par-
kette, a project that involved dis-
mantling a decrepit house (the
LANDFILLS
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
A pile of dirt, rocks, and wood pieces is seen reflected in a puddle at Trails End Recovery.
owners gave the wood to local
carpenters).
After checking a building
for lead, asbestos and harmful
chemicals, Trails End goes to
work.
Whatever can be salvaged
intact — like doors, windows,
Àooring, two-by-fours, river
rocks and stepping stones — are
¿rst removed so they can be sold
to customers “as is.” The com-
pany has sold recovered wood
beams to people building decks,
barns, patios and Àower beds.
“We try to not demo any-
thing that’s nice,” Alex Raichl,
Trails End manager, said. “It’s
always nice to tear something
down and reuse it if possible.”
The other materials — the
rock, stones, bricks, asphalt and
concrete — are ground up and
made available for purchase.
These materials get piled up in
the expansive yard at the busi-
ness’ base of operation on Air-
port Lane, along with tar roof-
ing, strips of siding and natural
materials like soil, sand and yard
debris.
Recovered metal is taken to
metal recycling companies in
Portland, and whatever wood
material isn’t repurposable gets
sent to regional mills where it is
burned to make steam for paper
production.
Many contractors in Astoria,
Warrenton, Seaside and Knappa
bring their leftover materials to
Trails End Recovery. And, when
residents drop off their yard
debris at the Astoria Transfer
Station, Recology Western Ore-
gon brings it to Trails End.
The materials that don’t get
resold or recycled — like soiled
carpet and worn-out plumbing
— go to the McMinnville land-
¿ll, something that would have
happened anyway.
“Until we get to a point
where we’re at zero waste gener-
ation, it’s gotta go somewhere,”
Fred Stemmler, general man-
ager of Recology Western Ore-
gon, said of land¿lls. “We still
create trash, so you need to have
a place to put your residual.”
However, Raichl said, “We
don’t want anything going to a
land¿ll that could come here.”
In 2014, the company col-
lected nearly 3,845 tons of
materials with a residual of
about 462 tons — an 88 per-
cent recovery rate, according
to company ¿gures. (The state
Department of Environmen-
tal Quality said that the com-
pany’s recovery information
falls under the con¿dentiality
agreement between the depart-
ment and company, so the
DEQ could not independently
con¿rm the ¿gures.)
“If we keep sending gar-
bage and things that are not
garbage to the land¿ll in
McMinnville, it will ¿ll up,”
he said. “At some point, it
will cost everybody in our
area more money because we
will have to go to a (farther)
land¿ll.
The recovered construc-
tion-and-demolition
detri-
tus, the machines that grind it,
the vehicles that convey it —
every component is the prod-
uct of a fossil fuel-based infra-
structure — as is the wider
recycling movement, which
still involves energy-intensive
manufacturing processes.
“Being green,” in other
words, depends on energy-in-
puts that harm the environment
to some degree. Even com-
posting food waste can give
off methane in small amounts.
“We still have to live here
on earth as humans,” Dean
Larson said.
Two public Clatsop County resources testify to the value of
repurposing what would otherwise remain an inert ode to waste-
fulness: the Warrenton soccer fields and the new CMH Field in
Astoria, both of which are built on top of landfills.
“Something like a sports field is one of the best potential uses
for an old closed landfill,” said Tim Spencer, project manager in
the soil waste program for the state Department of Environmental
Quality’s northwest region. “It’s something that’s become a lot
more common the last 10 to 15 years. We’ve seen a lot of projects
of this nature, and especially in the Portland area.”
Last year, the team behind CMH Field — the centerpiece of the
$10-million Astoria Sports Complex on Williamsport Road — won
a Phoenix Award, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
award honoring individuals and groups who transform contaminat-
ed areas into community assets.
The landfill beneath the field is rigged with a piping system
so that, as materials decompose, migrating gases will route out
through engineered exits.
On Ridge Road, the Warrenton soccer fields, built before such
technology came into vogue, sit on a former dump that experi-
enced “operational issues and problems with groundwater con-
tamination” and closed in 1986, according to a DEQ report.
The concern with old landfills is that methane can creep out
through subsurface soils.
However, “The city of Warrenton is on a regular monitoring
schedule. They’ve been monitoring quite a few locations for a fairly
long time and haven’t detected anything of concern,” Spencer
said. “The methane gas issue really isn’t a concern out in the open
air because, relatively speaking, it involves slow seepage and
diffusion. So it wouldn’t even be detectable in the atmosphere but
in a confined space.”
COMPOST
Fort George Brewery sends its spent grains from the brewery
in the Lovell Building to Dirk Rohne’s farm in Brownsmead to feed
his cows. Meanwhile, the spent grains from their smaller brewery
in the pub leaves in drums to a handful of local farmers to feed
their pigs and chickens, or to use in their gardens.
In addition, every once in a while, employees will set aside a
5-gallon bucket of food waste for a farmer’s pigs.
Jack Harris, president of Fort George Brewery, said it is hard
to find places to compost, and would like the city to have a full-
fledged compost program, because “unfortunately, most food
waste goes in the garbage.”
Astoria Coffeehouse & Bistro has donated its coffee grounds to
private residents for their gardens. And it gives some of its food
waste — such as unsold baked goods — to homeless people,
according to a server who asked to remain anonymous.
“We have girls to come pick it up and leave it on the Riverwalk,”
the server said.
Shallon Winery in Astoria reuses its peaches and blackberries
leftover from wine fermentation and gives them to a local farmer,
who feeds them to her sheep and pigs.
“Of course, the sheep can get a little tipsy,” Paul van der Velt, the
owner and winemaker, said.
But the bene¿ts of recycling
usable materials come from
conserving natural resources —
including the trees that won’t
be felled, and the fuel that
won’t be burned to reap and
deliver them — while slowing
the growth of local land¿lls.
“Things that can be recy-
cled, things that can be repur-
posed, things that can be reused
need not go there,” Raichl said.
Shooting: A related ATF investigation is ongoing into where Ferry got the gun
Continued from Page 1A
given every opportunity to sur-
render peacefully to uniformed
of¿cers,” Marquis said. “He
not only refused but made
statements that now seem to
indicate that he intended to do
worse.”
Marquis said he personally
reviewed the body camera foot-
age from Goodding and David-
son, the lengthy interview of
Davidson and other evidence,
leading him to the conclusion
that Davidson was justi¿ed in
shooting Ferry. There will be
no grand jury inquiry.
The police of¿cers repeat-
edly announced themselves, at
¿rst used less-than-lethal force,
and, at the time Davidson ¿red,
his partner had been gravely
wounded and he had the right
to be concerned Ferry might
continue to ¿re, according to
Marquis.
Davidson’s status with Sea-
side Police is for the depart-
ment to decide, Marquis said,
but the District Attorney’s
Of¿ce has determined David-
son committed no criminal acts
and acted in the best traditions
of law enforcement.
In any case involving the
use of deadly force, regional
law enforcement must collabo-
rate in an investigation. Oregon
State Police, the lead agency,
had investigators attend the
autopsies and review and
gather evidence.
Once the state police con-
cludes its own full investiga-
tion, the 911 calls and some
body camera footage may
become open to public disclo-
sure, Marquis said. Such dis-
closure will not happen this
week.
A related investigation by
the federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms is ongo-
ing into where Ferry, who as
a felon was not authorized to
have a ¿rearm, got the gun he
used to kill Goodding.
Goodding was well known
in the Clatsop County law
enforcement community.
“His death has hit all of us
where we live,” Marquis said.
“Despite the pain, it was criti-
cal that a full and fair investi-
gation of the shooting of Mr.
Ferry take place. As to the fun-
damental issue of justi¿cation, I
am satis¿ed that has been met.
“We will not soon forget
the kind heart, compassion and
dedication of Jason Goodding.”
Ex-wife: ‘He wanted to be good for his girls. He wanted to be good for me’
Continued from Page 1A
‘He knew his failures’
To the extent that Ferry’s
daughters — two educated and
well-adjusted young women
— enjoyed a stable upbringing,
they have their mother to thank.
For though Klaaborg tried
to make her marriage work, she
eventually realized she needed
to keep Ferry’s lifestyle away
from them.
“He was never ugly to them,
but you notice bad things attract
Àies. I shielded the kids from
that,” she said. “I just wanted
my children to have a normal
life.”
Although Ferry could be a
helpful parent — to both his
daughters and to Klaaborg’s
sons from a previous marriage
— “he was not cut out to be a
dad,” she said. “It was too much
to ask (of) him, because he
couldn’t even really take care of
himself.”
When she ¿nally drew
the line, Ferry didn’t hold a
grudge.
“He knew his failures —
and that’s what made it hard for
him, that he knew his failures
and shortcomings,” she said.
“He knew how inadequate he
was.”
Ferry tried to be an active
part of his daughters’ lives after
the divorce.
“He would remember birth-
days, and, whenever he was
able to, he would do something
nice,” she said. “My girls, they
loved him. And they knew that
he was a loving person, he just
... he just was not able to do the
best he wanted to do.”
Over time, he reached out to
them less and less.
“He would call every now
and then. He always was look-
ing for some sort of guidance.
And you try to keep a nice con-
versation,” she said. “You’re
trying to keep the positive
mood; that’s really all you can
do. You can’t run somebody
like a puppet on a string, but
you can try to keep the pos-
itive mood inside somebody
going.”
Early childhood
education
Klaaborg makes no excuses
for Ferry, who was a habitual
criminal. But she suspects the
path his life took can be traced
back to childhood trauma.
“He wasn’t a spoiled child.
De¿nitely not,” she said.
She said Ferry, who was
adopted, dropped out of school
in ¿fth grade and spent much
of his life functionally illiterate.
Many of his letters from prison
were handwritten by someone
else.
“He was embarrassed to
write because he didn’t know
how to write,” she said. “He
learned to read and write in the
prison system. He got much bet-
ter at it.”
Klaaborg, who is now a land-
scaper, worked as an elementary
school teacher in Switzerland
and at Head Start in Seaside.
She has long been an advocate
for funding early childhood edu-
cation, something she believes
Ferry could have bene¿ted
from.
“Every time a new person
is born, there’s a new chance,”
Klaaborg said.
Ferry was in and out of jail so
often that it stopped fazing him;
he became accustomed to pun-
ishment, she said.
“If you’re looking for reg-
ularity, and you’re looking for
structure, jail provides that. You
get a meal, you’re warm ... It
doesn’t ¿x the problem,” she
said. “What ¿xes the problem
is, you have the early childhood
education values. That’s what
prevents it. Everything else is a
Band-Aid after that ... That is his
life story.”
One of Ferry’s daughters
now works as a toddler teacher
in Washington state.
“What I care about is that we
learn something from this tragic
incident,” Klaaborg said, adding
in a message. “I hope this world
can lay the grounds to prevent
this by raising happy, strong
children that can be responsible
for their actions.”
‘We loved him’
Days after the Seaside shoot-
ing, Klaaborg opened a German
Bible that Ferry had given her
more than a decade ago.
Flipping through the pages,
she discovered a note from
Ferry — an epitaph for their
Scalia: Justice ‘had a great sense of humor’
Continued from Page 1A
“People talk to you Betsy,
and they walk away, and they
think, ‘You know, I think I’m
Betsy’s best friend.’
“And you walk away with
that feeling with him. And
it was not an uncomfortable
lunch, when you talked to him,
it was just friends talking.”
Fick described Scalia as
con¿dent, but not arrogant.
“He was very inviting. He
was a down-to-earth guy,” he
said. “He’s known for his sharp
tongue on differing views, but
at the same time, he respected
those people.
“He had a great sense of
humor.”
Fick has kept the note,
signed “Nino,” that Scalia sent
in 2007 after Fick shipped
another salmon to make up for
the one that had spoiled.
At a dinner commemorating
his 20th year on the Supreme
Court, Scalia wrote, Harvard
Law School gave him a copy of
a handwritten letter, dated June
22, 1844, that Justice Joseph
Story had written to belatedly
thank a friend who had sent
a “superb salmon” months
before.
“I could not say better,” the
judge wrote Fick. “The ¿sh
was a real treat, which my wife
and I, and numerous friends,
enjoyed enormously. It is rare
enough to get a wild salmon,
and rarer still to get one that has
not been frozen.
“I’m sorry, by the way, for
the mix-up that wasted the ¿sh
you had sent earlier. Blame it
on Brian.”
relationship — scrawled on a
yellow Broadway Cab receipt
(in someone else’s handwriting,
of course):
“Always will I love you. But
it’s time to go our separate ways.
You can’t do things to hurt your-
self anymore because of me.
You are free, and I wish it could
have worked. I love you,” she
read aloud at her dining room
table, her voice breaking.
At some point, Ferry had
slipped it into the large antique
tome, which had once belonged
to his great-grandmother, along
with an ultrasound scan of Ferry
and Klaaborg’s twins dated two
months before their birth.
He could not have known
that Klaaborg would ¿nd the
items only after his death.
“I never took the time to
really look until just a few days
ago,” she said. “I open it up, and
I see all this stuff inside it.”
The Daily Astorian reached
out to both of Ferry’s daugh-
ters for this story; one did not
respond, and the other said she
wasn’t ready to speak publicly
about her father.
“He wanted to be good for
his girls. He wanted to be good
for me. He couldn’t, because
he didn’t know how,” she said.
“The girls meant a lot to him.
And we were his support. We
were. And I know he loved
us, and we loved him. We just
couldn’t make it all the way per-
fect. We couldn’t, because he
was messed up from a long time
ago.”
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