3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
Astoria man
dies in head-on
crash on US 30
The Daily Astorian
A 29-year-old Astoria
man died after a two vehi-
cle, head-on crash Monday
on U.S. Highway 30 about
20 miles east of Astoria.
Randall T. Haines, 29,
was driving a 2003 Ford
Focus eastbound at about
5:30 p.m. when he drifted
onto the shoulder. Haines
lost control, crossed over
into the westbound lane and
struck a 2013 Ford Fusion
head-on.
Haines was pronounced
dead at the scene.
The driver of the Ford
Fusion, Edward D. Levick,
66, and his passenger, Nydia
A. Levick, 97, both from
Sequim, Washington, were
taken to Columbia Memorial
Hospital in Astoria. Nydia
Levick was then transported
to Oregon Health & Science
University for life threaten-
ing injuries.
U.S. Highway 30 was
closed in both directions for
more three hours.
Oregon State Police was
assisted by the Knappa Fire
Department, Medix Ambu-
lance, Clatsop County Med-
ical Examiner, Clatsop
County Sheriff’s Of¿ce and
the Oregon Department of
Transportation.
State police continue to
investigate the crash.
Clam digging extended
through March for Long
Beach, Ocean Park
EO Media Group
OLYMPIA, Wash. —
State shell¿sh managers
have extended clamming
at Long Beach-Ocean Park
through March.
The
Long
Beach-
Ocean Park area was pre-
viously scheduled to be
open through March 10.
Although Long Beach is
open daily through the
end of the month, optimal
digging conditions occur
when the low tide is 1 foot
or lower, said Dan Ayres,
coastal shell¿sh manager
for the Washington Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife.
“There are several days
early in the month when low
tides will be high enough
to make digging dif¿cult,”
Ayres said.
Ayres noted that the sea-
sonal shift of low tides from
evening to morning takes
place in March. When low
tides occur in the afternoon
or evening, no digging is
allowed before noon. When
low tides take place in the
morning, no digging is
allowed after noon.
Diggers at Long Beach
should be aware that low
tides will shift back and
forth between morning
and evening multiple times
during the month of March.
“Low tides are a little
unusual this March, which
means diggers should be
sure to check tide informa-
tion before heading to Long
Beach,” Ayres said.
Long Beach will be open
on evening tides March 1-10
and March 15-23 and will be
open on morning tides March
11-14 and March 24-31. A
full list of low tides in March
is posted on WDFW’s razor
clam webpage at http://1.usa.
gov/1pebYa7, where diggers
should check for any poten-
tial changes to the opening at
Long Beach.
In north Paci¿c County,
the Twin Harbors digging
area that extends from the
entrance to Willapa Bay
north to the vicinity of West-
port remains closed. Levels
of the marine toxin domoic
acid remained above the 20
parts per million threshold at
all three Twin Harbors test
sites as of Feb. 10 and Feb.
11.
WDFW has razor clam
recipes as well as advice on
digging and cleaning clams
on its Web page at http://1.
usa.gov/1nDN03w
Under state law, diggers
can take 15 razor clams per
day and are required to keep
the ¿rst 15 they dig. Each
digger’s clams must be kept
in a separate container.
All diggers age 15 or
older must have an applica-
ble 2015-1 ¿shing license
to harvest razor clams on
any beach. Licenses, ranging
from a three-day razor clam
license to an annual combi-
nation ¿shing license, are
available on WDFW’s web-
site at ¿shhunt.dfw.wa.gov
and from license vendors
around the state.
Oregon’s wolf population
exceeds 100, state says
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Ore-
gon now has more than 100
wolves.
The state Department of
Fish and Wildlife released its
annual wolf report Monday,
and it shows Oregon had 110
known wolves in 2015, a 36
percent increase over the year
before.
The agency said in a news
release it doesn’t count a wolf
without hard evidence, and
biologists believe the actual
population is likely higher.
State wolf coordinator
Russ Morgan says north-
east Oregon continues to
have the most wolves, but
there has been additional
movement into the south-
ern part of the state.
The report says wolves
killed 10 sheep, three
calves and one working
dog last year. That’s down
from 2014, when wolves
killed 30 sheep and two
cattle.
Seven wolves died in
2015 — three of them were
illegally shot.
West Coast port slowdown
cost businesses $770 million
Associated Press
YAKIMA, Wash. — A
new report says the labor dis-
pute that led to a slowdown at
all West Coast ports last year
cost Washington state busi-
nesses nearly $770 million.
The Yakima Herald-Re-
public reported that a recent
study from the pro-trade
advocacy group Washing-
ton Council on International
Trade study found unshipped
and delayed exports cost
businesses roughly $556
million.
Agriculture
products
were hit the worst.
The International Long-
shore and Warehouse Union
and the Paci¿c Maritime
Association battled over con-
tract negotiations from Octo-
ber 2014 to March 2015,
leading to the slowdown.
Longshore union spokes-
man Craig Merrilees said
Monday he had not seen the
report. But he said econo-
mists have criticized previ-
ous studies trying to tease
out such ¿nancial impacts as
exaggerated and inaccurate.
Minimum wage tax
credit proposal on hold
Lawmakers
could take up
idea next session
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — A legislative
proposal to offset the cost of
minimum wage increases to
small businesses, farmers and
other natural resources employ-
ers appears to be on hold until
at least 2017.
State Reps. Brian Clem,
D-Salem, and John Davis,
R-Wilsonville, had proposed
giving tax credits to certain
employers who are most likely
to struggle ¿nancially to meet
the requirements of a new three-
tier minimum wage plan. The
plan was laid out in Senate Bill
1532, which passed both legisla-
tive chambers earlier this month.
During negotiations with
legislative leadership, the plan
was whittled down to tax cred-
its of no more than $15 mil-
lion a year only for employers
involved in animal production,
aquaculture, crop production,
¿shing, hunting, trapping and
food manufacturing.
That amount was insuf¿cient
to cover the additional costs of
all of those employers, so law-
makers would have had to ¿nd
a way to prioritize how to divvy
out the tax credits, Clem said.
Ag interests wanted
more time
A group of associations rep-
resenting agriculture has indi-
cated it wants lawmakers to take
more time to ¿gure out those
details, rather than push through
legislation this session, which is
scheduled to end by Sunday.
“The reality is that more time
is needed to fully run cost and
bene¿t scenarios to ensure any
wage relief actually bene¿ts the
agriculture industry as a whole,”
representatives from the agricul-
ture industry wrote in a letter to
Clem. “We believe there may
only be one shot at alleviating
Sean Ellis/EO Media Group
Farmers, onion processors and small business owners from Malheur County protest
minimum wage hikes at the state Capitol in January. A legislative proposal to offset
the cost of minimum wage increases to small businesses, farmers and other natural
resources employers appears to be on hold until at least 2017.
the burden SB 1532 imposes on
agriculture. The solution must
meet the needs of our member
families without picking winners
and losers among the industry.”
The letter was signed by the
Oregon Farm Bureau, Oregon
Dairy Farmers Association,
Oregon Association of Nurs-
eries, Northwest Food Proces-
sors Association, Oregon Cat-
tlemen’s Association, Oregon
Blueberry Commission, Ore-
gon Seed Council, Columbia
Gorge Fruit Growers Associ-
ation, Far West Agribusiness
Association and Oregon Wheat
Growers League.
dollars. This is really a de facto
tax we were trying to impose.”
Clem, who voted for the
minimum wage bill, said he was
concerned that small employers
would have to lay off workers
due to the cost of the increased
minimum wage while larger
employers would easily be able
to absorb the cost.
The tax credit would have
reduced the effective wage
rate for those employers. The
amount would gradually climb
in tandem with the minimum
wage, reaching up to $2 per
hour per employee in July 2022.
‘Extremely
disappointed’
Clem and Davis said their
original concept also would
have set smaller increases in the
minimum wage and lifted a ban
against setting higher wages in
Portland. It became clear early
on in negotiations that both of
those proposals were too com-
Too complex
“I’m extremely disap-
pointed that our bipartisan effort
to try relieve some of the signif-
icant burden imposed by the
minimum wage bill has been
reduced so far,” Davis said.
“Part of why there is so little
interest in the current proposal
is it’s just so small. If we were
going to try to cover part or all
of increase each year to all busi-
nesses, it is hundreds of mil-
lions and possibly billions of
plex to push through the wan-
ing days of the Legislature’s
35-day session, Clem said.
The minimum wage plan
hikes minimum wages over a
period of six years. The amount
differs in each of three regions
and is set according to a coun-
ty’s median income and cost of
living. In Portland, minimum
wage will reach $14.75 in the
Portland area, $12.50 in rural
and coastal counties with strug-
gling economies and $13.50 in
the rest of the state by 2022.
Clem said he plans to pur-
sue the wage support proposal
in 2017.
“I think it’s fair to say the
independent-minded Democrats
are satis¿ed that if ag thinks we
can wait then we can wait to get
it right,” Clem said.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
W A NTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A
Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500
ADVERTISEMENT
The PU D ’s rig ht to
d ig a t Sta tio n C a m p
The Chin ook O bserver, The D a ily Astoria n , the
W a shin gton Sta te D epa rtm en t H istoric Preserva tion ,
the L ew is a n d Cla rk N a tion a l Pa rk , a n d the Chin ook
d escen d en ts, ha ve a ll been floggin g the Pa cific Cou n ty
PU D #2 for repla cin g tw o u tility poles a t Sta tion Ca m p
tha t w ere lea n in g a n d in d a n ger of fa llin g over.
The d istribu tion lin e in q u estion serves a ll the hom es
a lon g tha t section of H w y 101, the D ism a l N itch Rest
Area , a n d ca rries phon e a n d ca ble a s w ell. The n ew
ea stern m ost pole ca rries a tra n sform er tha t serves tw o
n ea rby hom es. The pow er lin e ha s been there for
a lm ost 70 yea rs.
The Chin ook O bserver a n d Astoria n m a k e m u ch of the
fa ct tha t the PU D ha d a 50-yea r ea sem en t tha t expired
20 yea rs a go. As they shou ld , bu t I’m pretty su re tha t
the im plica tion s of the expired ea sem en t a re ju st the
opposite from the cla im s of the PU D ’s in d ign a n t critics.
Pa cific Cou n ty’s on lin e record s show tha t the PU D
obta in ed a n ea sem en t on Ju ly 9, 1946, “to con stru ct,
m a in ta in , a n d opera te a n electric light a n d pow er lin e”
on the M cGow a n fa m ily la n d , in clu d in g a right of
a ccess, for a period of 50 yea rs.
So w ha t ha ppen ed a fter the ea sem en t expired on Ju ly
8, 1996? An sw er: the PU D con tin u ed to m a in ta in a n d
opera te its pow er lin e a cross the M cGow a n property,
“open ly, con tin u ou sly, u n in terru pted ly, a n d a d versely”
to the rights of the M cGow a n fa m ily, for a period of 20
yea rs. In m y opin ion , a fter 7 yea rs, the period of
a d verse possession in W a shin gton Sta te, the PU D ha d
perfected a “prescriptive ea sem en t” to opera te its
pow er lin e a cross the M cGow a n fa m ily la n d in
perpetu ity.
This is ju st w ha t PU D m a n a ger D ou g M iller sa id , ju st
before the O bserver, the Astoria n , a n d sta te a n d
fed era l officia ls “provid ed in form a tion tha t ra ised
d ou bts a bou t M iller’s version of even ts.”
The on ly ca vea t to this con clu sion w ou ld be if the
M cGow a n fa m ily, a t som e tim e a fter 1996, ga ve
w ritten perm ission to the PU D to opera te the pow er
lin e a cross their property. Tha t w ou ld cha n ge a n
“a d verse” occu pa n cy to a “perm issive” on e. Y ou r
reporter cou ld check , bu t tha t ju st n ever ha ppen s.
The a rticles sa y tha t this la n d is bein g tra n sferred to
the N a tion a l Pa rk in M a rch, a n d q u otes the Pa rk
m a n a ger tha t “the F ed era l govern m en t d oes n ot issu e
ea sem en ts.” N o problem . The PU D ’s prescriptive
ea sem en t w ou ld be a solid en cu m bra n ce a ga in st the
n ew title of the F ed era l govern m en t. If the N a tion a l
Pa rk w a n ted to reloca te this pow er lin e u p on the
hillsid e, I’m su re they cou ld a t F ed era l expen se.
I visited the site. It a ppea red to m e tha t the n ew poles
ha d been in sta lled very n ea rly in the sa m e holes from
w hich the old poles w ere rem oved . L a st yea r’s gra ss
ha d been cru shed by the PU D ’s pole tru ck s. I sha re the
reporters’ a n d the Chin ook d escen d en ts’ con cern s for
the historic a n d cu ltu ra l va lu e of Sta tion Ca m p. Bu t
com pa red to the w hole history of this site, the PU D ’s
im pa cts from this em ergen cy pole repla cem en t w ere
pretty m in im a l.
The a rticle sa ys tha t the PU D , a n d Sta te a n d F ed era l
officia ls ha ve a ll a greed to sit d ow n a n d w ork ou t a
n ew pow er lin e ea sem en t before the site is ha n d ed
over to the N a tion a l Pa rk in M a rch. I’m plea sed tha t
the PU D w ou ld be w illin g to give the Sta te a n d F ed s
som e form of con su lta tion in a record ed ea sem en t.
O n e of m y poin ts in this letter is to n ote tha t the PU D
ha d every right to repla ce those poles ba ck in
D ecem ber, w ithou t a sk in g a n yon e’s perm ission . The
PU D d id n othin g w ron g. So w hen the pa rties sit d ow n
a t the ta ble, it w ou ld be a rea lly good id ea for the Sta te
a n d F ed era l officia ls to sta rt w ith a n a pology to the
PU D for givin g ou t m isin form a tion a n d m a k in g
n ega tive rem a rk s a bou t the u tility.
It’s a little la te for the Chin ook O bserver a n d D a ily
Astoria n to pu blicly a pologize. N ext tim e, w hen it’s
their pow er pole a bou t to fa ll over, w hen the ra in is
sid ew a ys a t 50 M PH a n d the PU D is ou t there restorin g
their pow er, they ca n ju st sa y tha n k you .
D a ve Ba rb er
Retired U tility Rea l Esta te M a n a g er
Publica tion of this a rticle w a s pa id for by the a uthor,
a fter The D a ily Astoria n declined to publish it a s a letter
to the editor.