DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2016
143RD YEAR, NO. 166
ONE DOLLAR
INSIDE: MEDICAL POT NOW, RECREATIONAL TO FOLLOW IN SEASIDE • 2A
70 miles
shielded
Conservation efforts
save thousands of acres
in 3aci¿c County
By MATT WINTERS
EO Media Group
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Daric Williams paints one of the probation offices in the new Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday.
MORE SPACE, MORE JAIL BEDS
Sheriff’s
2f¿ce soon
to move to
Warrenton
L21* BE$CH, Wash ² In the past
Tuarter century, 3aci¿c County has become
a focal point for land-conservation efforts
3rivate groups based elsewhere in the
3aci¿c 1orthwest presently own more than
16 sTuare miles of land here, in addition to
about 50 to 55 sTuare miles of conservation
property managed by federal, state and local
agencies
7he armed takeover of the 0alheur
1ational Wildlife Refuge in Southern 2re-
gon heightened public awareness of some
of the trade-offs of conserving land ver-
sus using it for income-producing activities
such as forestry and ranching 7he refuge’s
former occupiers are incensed about federal
land ownership in the West However, with
legal title to about 25 percent of the land
in 3aci¿c County, the federal government
is a substantial (but not dominant) property
owner here
1evertheless, a small but vocal group of
county residents has expressed concerns for
years about incremental losses from local
tax rolls 7heir worries stem from property
being acTuired and set aside by conserva-
tion groups and public agencies, sometimes
working together
See PACIFIC COUNTY, Page 10A
Legislators
rush to pass
minimum
wage credits
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
$RRE1721 ² 7he Clat-
sop County Sheriff’s 2f¿ce
is less than two months
away from relocating to a remod-
eled building in Warrenton, a move
that could free up space in $storia
and ease jail overcrowding
7he Sheriff’s 2f¿ce is moving
from its current location below
the county jail in $storia to a ren-
ovated building it will share with
the 3arole and 3robation Division
Sheriff 7om Bergin said he
plans to turn the empty space in
$storia into an opportunity for
the overcrowded jail to add more
beds 7he tentative plan is to move
administrative of¿ces and the con-
trol center downstairs, opening
room upstairs for 15 to 20 extra
beds in the 60-bed jail
“I’m hoping to be able to increase
the upstairs by Tuite a few beds,”
Bergin said “I’m hoping I could at
least increase the jail by 25 percent”
Expanding the county jail has
been a goal of Bergin’s for years He
says the community needs a jail that
is three times the size
Each year, about 3,500 peo-
ple are booked and released
Inmates are regularly released
without having to post bail due to
the overcrowding 7he jail rents
about 10 beds from 7illamook
County for at least $200,000 a
year
In 2012, voters rejected a $14
W
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
$long with remodeling the
,500 sTuare-foot 3arole and 3roba-
tion building, a new 1,200-sTuare-
foot modular building is being con-
structed to store evidence
$n entire building used for
evidence storage is a welcome
upgrade, Bergin said, compared
to the small lockers currently used
to store evidence $dditional evi-
dence is stored upstairs in the old
jail, which is now the 2regon )ilm
0useum
7he Board of Commission-
ers approved a $42,581 contract
with Spacesaver Specialists Inc
Wednesday night to install an evi-
dence storage system inside the
modular building
S$LE0 ² $ bipartisan duo in the state
House of Representatives is working to
forge an 11th hour deal to offset the cost
of minimum wage increases to small busi-
nesses, nonpro¿ts and employers in natural
resources industries
State Reps Brian Clem, D-Salem, and
-ohn Davis, R-Wilsonville, have proposed
giving tax credits to certain employers who
are most likely to struggle ¿nancially to meet
the reTuirements of a new three-tier mini-
mum wage plan
“Clearly, based on the vote in the House
and Senate, the only bipartisan thing about
the minimum wage bill was bipartisan oppo-
sition to it,” Davis said “Even among those
who voted for it, there was a lot of conster-
nation and reluctance $s part of that, there
also were assurances from leadership that we
would be able to work on the proposals fur-
ther $fter the bill passed, more folks real-
ized the devastating effects the bill is going
to have on small businesses”
Clem, who voted for the bill, said he
was concerned that small employers would
have to lay off workers due to the cost of
See RELOCATION, Page 5A
See CREDITS, Page 5A
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin walks through the construction site for the new Clatsop Coun-
ty Sheriff’s Office.
‘I’m hoping to be
able to increase the
upstairs by quite a
few beds. I’m hoping I
could at least increase
the jail by 25 percent.’
Tom Bergin
Clatsop County sheriff
million proposal to add 100 beds
to the jail
7he voters have spoken, Bergin
said, and he is now focused on ¿nd-
ing ways to address jail overcrowding
without relying on a bond measure
7he $15 million relocation
project is being funded through a
special project budget approved
by the Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners
“Instead of going to the peo-
ple and saying ‘I need all of this
money’ It’s just better to try to
hopefully give the jail a little
breathing room,” Bergin said
Evidence storage
Groups seek emergency measures to save salmon
Hot summer led to massive sockeye die-off
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
Last year took a massive toll on
sockeye salmon in the Columbia and
Snake rivers, as high water tempera-
tures killed hundreds of thousands of
¿sh returning from the 3aci¿c 2cean
Conservation groups are pointing
the ¿nger at federal dam operators,
and have asked the 8S $rmy Corps
of Engineers to come up with emer-
gency measures to avoid a repeat in
2n )eb , groups sent a letter to
Col -ose $guilar in 3ortland criti-
cizing the Corps’ “inability to pro-
tect returning adult salmon from high
water temperatures,” and said another
major die-off could push Snake River
sockeye to the brink of e[tinction
“,f the $rmy Corps fails to adopt
and implement emergency mea-
sures, it risks causing further massive
¿sh kills, unauthorized take, failure
of mandatory legal duties to protect
endangered species and jeopardizing
the continued existence of the Snake
and Columbia rivers’ salmon and
steelhead populations in 2016 and
future years,” the letter states
Both Columbia Riverkeeper and
Snake River Waterkeeper signed onto
the letter, which does not propose any
speci¿c measures but points to sev-
eral statistics underlining the urgency
of the situation 7hey emphasized 6
percent of endangered Snake River
sockeye died before ever making it to
Lower *ranite 'am in 201
7he Clean Water $ct reTuires
temperatures in the Columbia River
to stay at or below 68 degrees to pro-
tect native salmon and steelhead
Rock 3eters, senior ¿sheries biolo-
gist for the $rmy Corps’ 1orthwest
Division, said temperatures varied in
201 but eclipsed 0 degrees in -uly
See SALMON, Page 5A
Contributed photo
High water temperatures led to a massive die-off of sockeye salmon on the Columbia and Snake rivers in 2015.
