DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, MARCH 28, 2016
143RD YEAR, NO. 188
SEAGULLS
FLY SOUTH
SPORTS • 7A
ONE DOLLAR
OSPREY WITHOUT
A NEST IN SEASIDE
PAGE 3A
Missing plane found in Columbia River
Bodies found;
one recovered,
other will be soon
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
Divers have found the pri-
vate plane that disappeared into
the Columbia River Wednes-
day afternoon and the bodies
of the pilot and passenger, the
Clatsop County Sheriff’s 2f¿ ce
announced Friday .
The sheriff’s d ive t eam
described the aircraft, an antique
AT-6 North American military
trainer, as broken into pieces and
scattered on the bottom of the
river.
The bodies of the pilot, John
McKibbin, 69, of Vancouver,
Washington, and Irene Mustain,
63, of Woodland, Washington,
were located. Divers recovered
McKibbin’s body, but the tangled
wreckage and position of the
fuselage prevented them from
successfully removing Mustain’s
body , the Sheriff’s 2f¿ ce said.
Her body was marked and will
be recovered soon.
The families have been
noti¿ ed.
Special salvage equipment
will be needed to remove the
plane debris and Mustain’s
remains from the site, Sheriff
Tom Bergin said. No date has
been set, but he said the removal
could happen early this week.
“This was an extremely tech-
nical dive, and, as s heriff, I am
grateful for the work these men
did today, not only for the fam-
ilies who lost their loved ones
See PLANE, Page 10A
John
McKibbin
AN EGGS-CELLENT ADVENTURE Mayor
Widdop
will not
run again
Gearhart leader
has had ‘23 years
of volunteering
for everything’
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
GEARHART — Mayor Dianne Wid-
dop, who survived a divisive recall elec-
tion last year, will not run for re-election
in November.
Widdop, who joined the City Council
more than two decades ago, was elected
mayor in 2012 .
“Absolutely and positively, I have no
intention of running for of¿ ce again,”
she said . “Between the Budget Com-
mittee and the City Council, I’ve been
involved with the
city since 1993.
This is 23 years of
volunteering for
everything.”
As
mayor,
Widdop’s policy
initiatives
have
included new rules
on short-term rent-
als , the improve-
ment of the Ridge
Mayor Dianne
Path, regulation
Widdop
of Neacoxie Barn
and guidelines for recreational vehicles.
She presided over the opening of the
city’s ¿ rst water treatment plant.
Widdop also serves on the Seaside
Municipal Airport Advisory Committee,
a role she will retain.
In 199, Widdop’s ¿ rst bid for City
Council ended in a tie. After a second
election in 1995, she won by a substan-
tial margin.
Widdop served on the council for 16
years before running for mayor in 2012
after the retirement of Kent Smith, who
had served in that role for 20 years.
“Kent Smith is a good friend of mine,
so I always knew that while he was run-
ning, I wouldn’t run against him,” Wid-
dop said at the time.
Juno and Olin Keyser, 2 and 7, collect eggs during the Easter egg hunt at Tapiola Park on
Saturday. More photos online at dailyastorian.com
See WIDDOP, Page 10A
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
At the sound of bells, children run down a hill to collect eggs during the Easter egg hunt at Tapiola Park on Saturday.
Hundreds go hunting
for eggs in annual
Easter tradition
By JOSHUA BESSEX
The Daily Astorian
he ¿ re engine siren pierced the air as
children ran full speed through Tap-
iola Park in search of 5,000 colored
eggs during the annual Easter egg
hunt Saturday.
More than 500 people attended the hunt,
sponsored by Astoria Parks and Recreation,
which also featured games and face -painting.
It took less than 5 minutes for the kids to col-
lect all the eggs.
Olin Keyser and Ruby Klemple, each 7
½ years old and veterans of the Easter tradi-
tion, each collected more than a dozen of the
colored hard -boiled eggs and eagerly traded
them for goody bags ¿ lled with candy and
small toys. The hard -boiled eggs, which are
used to keep the hunt more environmentally
friendly, will be donated to a farm to be used
as feed.
T
New director traded badlands for Goonies town
C
oming from the bad-
lands of central and east-
ern Montana, Julie Hrubes
said she is still getting used
to everything being so close
together.
Hrubes took over last
month as Clatsop Commu-
nity College’s new com-
munications and marketing
director, after Patricia War-
ren retired from the college
earlier this year. The college
split Warren’s duties into two
positions, with Hrubes doing
communications and mar-
keting, and Sunny Klever
the director of the college’s
foundation.
With less than two months
on the job, Hrubes said she is
attending meetings, shaking
hands and generally trying to
get the college out into the
community. In marketing, she
is trying to match the commu-
nity’s needs with what the col-
lege offers, and waiting until
the college’s new president is
hired before she forms a more
in-depth plan.
Hrubes said the differences
between here and her child-
hood home are striking .
“I truly went to a one-
room schoolhouse in the mid-
dle of the prairie, with three
students and a teacher who
lived in a room in the back,”
said Hrubes, who eventu-
ally attended high school and
community college in the
small frontier town of Miles
City.
Hrubes earned a bachelor’s
in education and a master’s in
communications from Mon-
tana State University Bill-
ings, where she worked for 15
years in the student services
department, much of it spent
on the road, crisscrossing the
state and region recruiting
students.
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
See HRUBES, Page 10A
Julie Hrubes started last month as the director of commu-
nications and marketing at Clatsop Community College.