143RD YEAR, NO. 183 DailyAstorian.com
MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
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SPORTS 5A
PAGE 3A
Gillnetters want state to halt ban
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Commercial gill-
netters said Oregon should halt its
phased-in ban of their salmon ¿ sh-
ing method in the main channel of the
Columbia River.
Speaking to the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlfe Commis-
sion on Friday, panelists representing
gillnetters said alternative commer-
cial ¿ shing methods are expensive
or unproven, and plans to develop
salmon runs in side channels show
little promise.
Astoria ¿ sherman Jim Wells, pres-
ident of Salmon for All, said only big
migratory ¿ sh returns the past cou-
ple years have kept gillnetters operat-
ing. He said limiting gillnetting to the
Columbia’s side -channel sloughs will
cost commercial anglers two-thirds of
their income.
“We’ve been lucky to have big
runs,” Wells said. “Our income is
coming off the mainstem. We need to
be there.”
He and others asked the commis-
sion to halt implementation of the
main channel gillnetting ban, which
takes full effect in 2017. The commis-
sion wasn’t scheduled to take action
Friday, but invited panels to speak on
the issue.
Opposing view
Sport ¿ shing groups, led by the
Coastal Conservation Association,
take the opposite view.
More than two-dozen backers,
many of them wearing red CCA caps,
attended the commission meeting to
support the Columbia River Harvest
Eagle dies after attack by rival
Management Plan adopted by Oregon
and Washington in 2013.
The sport¿ shers argue that gillnet-
ting is an indiscriminate method that
catches and kills salmon whether they
are hatchery raised or wild.
“With over a dozen Columbia
River salmon and steelhead stocks
listed under the (federal) Endangered
See GILLNETTERS, Page 10A
Paci¿ c
Coast
Seafood
heads
home
Fish processor
to rebuild plant
in Warrenton
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
John Dudley/Submitted Photos
An injured male bald eagle looks forlorn and droopy on a small log after a fight with another eagle Friday morning in Gearhart.
Despite efforts, rescuers
can’t save injured bird
By LYRA FONTAINE
and R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
G
EARHART — A bald eagle injured in
a ¿ ght with another eagle did not sur-
vive the weekend.
The ¿ ght, possibly over a mate, took
place at Gearhart’s Necanicum Estuary Fri-
day morning.
“Sadly, the eagle didn’t make it
through his ¿ rst night with us,” Josh
Saranpaa, director of the Wildlife Center of
the North Coast said Saturday.
Eagles do battle
A male bald eagle was injured after a fight with another
eagle Friday morning in Gearhart.
At about 11:30 a.m. Friday, Gearhart
resident John Dudley was washing the win-
dows of his Little Beach home when neigh-
bor Brian Fennerty called out , “Are you
watching this?”
Dudley, a photographer, followed Fen-
nerty toward the shore where two adult
eagles were brawling.
“One was attacking the other on the
ground,” Dudley said.
The ¿ ght began in the shallow water
of the channel, he said. The injured eagle
attempted to ¿ nd safety on the sand, but the
attack continued.
When Fennerty and Dudley approached,
the attacking bird “peeled off and left the
other one,” Dudley said. The injured eagle
“really looked in bad shape .”
Through binoculars and the long lens of
his camera, Dudley could see the injured
eagle sitting on the sand. Its wings were
listless and hanging on his side and his
head was down.
“He was in bad shape,” Dudley said.
“He looked dirty, waterlogged and bloody.”
See EAGLE, Page 10A
WARRENTON — Paci¿ c Coast
Seafood is coming back to the Ski-
panon River.
A town hall Saturday with state
Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose,
in the Warrenton City Commis-
sion chambers was especially ¿ t-
ting, given the $3 million she helped
secure from the state Legislature to
return the city’s largest employer.
With Daniel Occhipinti, general
counsel for Paci¿ c Seafood Group,
Johnson announced the company’s
intent to rebuild and start process-
ing seafood by spring of next year
at the former Paci¿ c Coast Seafood
plant on the western banks of the
Skipanon . The plant burned down in
June 2013.
See PROCESSOR, Page 10A
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
A fire tore through the Pacific
Coast Seafood plant in Warren-
ton in June 2013, leaving hun-
dreds without work until Pacific
Seafood relocated to a former
seaplane hangar at North Tongue
Point. The company plans a re-
turn to Warrenton by next spring.
Hygienist strives to infuse fun in dental visits
Seeks to reduce
anxiety, educate
or some of us, going to the
dentist is regarded as just
one of those unpleasant neces-
sities of life.
A study done by the
Columbia University College
of Dental Medicine found
that 9 to 15 percent of Amer-
icans avoid seeing the dentist
because of anxiety and fear.
That’s about 30 to 40 million
people.
Cathy Jo Kirkpatrick calls
it “dental anxiety.”
A d ental h ygienist at Gear-
hart Dentistry for the last eight
years, Kirkpatrick says more
and more dental of¿ ces are
F
striving for a positive experi-
ence for the patient.
At Gearhart Dentistry,
Kirkpatrick says, “Dr. (Stepha-
nie) White likes to have a spa-
like atmosphere, because den-
tal anxiety is so common. It
doesn’t have to be that way.”
From water fountains in the
lobby to chairs with massage
technology , “There’s tech-
niques, methods and materi-
als that can be used to allevi-
ate people’s fears, so that they
can have a positive and com-
fortable experience,” Kirkpat-
rick said.
“And once they get to know
us and realize it doesn’t have to
be uncomfortable, that allevi-
ates their fears, they relax and
the dental anxiety becomes
less and less.”
Kirkpatrick loves her job
and loves to educate people on
dental care. After all, she has
dedicated the last 12 years of
her life to it.
She took two years of pre-
requisites at Clatsop Commu-
nity College, then two years
full time in the d ental h ygiene
program at Mt. Hood Commu-
nity College, before joining
Gearhart Dentistry.
Submitted Photo
See HYGIENIST, Page 10A
Her co-workers helped Cathy Jo Kirkpatrick celebrate her
birthday at work earlier this month.