10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2016
Dolphin: ‘Most likely it was sick’ Coin: It could be
Continued from Page 1A
“There wasn’t anything
we could do for him,” Tif-
fany Boothe of the Seaside
Aquarium said. Boothe said
responders don’t know yet if
the cut caused the dolphin’s
death.
“Most likely it was sick.
When a cetacean is on the
beach, there’s usually a rea-
son. Most of the time they’re
sick,” she said.
Boothe is part of the Ore-
gon Marine Mammal Strand-
ing Network, a coalition of
scientists and volunteers
who help with rescue and
recovery of stranded ocean
mammals and research the
causes of strandings. She
and her aquarium colleague
Keith Chandler coordinate
responses to beached whales,
dolphins, sea lions, seals and
other marine mammals on the
northern Oregon and south-
ern Washington coasts.
Northern right whale dol-
phins are social animals that
often travel in packs of 100
or more members, accord-
ing to the NOAA website.
Worldwide, there are about
68,000 of the animals. They
are protected under the fed-
eral Marine Mammal Protec-
tion Act, and since the 1970s,
there have been international
efforts to protect this and
other dolphin species. How-
ever, northern right whale
dolphins are still sometimes
accidentally caught in gill-
nets, driftnets and purse
seines, and are sometimes
deliberately taken in Japan.
Northern right whale dol-
phins inhabit the “deep,
cold temperate waters of
the north Pacific Ocean” off
the coasts of northern Baja
California, the West Coast,
Alaska, Russia and Japan,
according to NOAA. In the
U.S., Boothe said, the spe-
cies tends to concentrate in
the waters off the coast of
central California.
“It’s a very unique ani-
mal for us to have in this
area. They tend to stay in
warmer waters. But there is
warm-water current that runs
off the Oregon Coast that
sometimes gets pushed up
north,” Boothe said. “That’s
when you’ll see them in our
area.”
Leonetti said this dolphin
was about 5 feet long, and
worth between
$350 to $1,000
weighed about 90 pounds —
a bit small for males, which
usually range in size from
about 6 to 10 feet. Boothe
and Leonetti did not know
the dolphin’s age.
Researchers at Portland
State University collected
the dolphin’s body on Mon-
day. They will do a necropsy
at their lab, Boothe said. The
Portland State biologists will
study the animal’s stomach
contents for clues about his
diet, check for signs of illness
and injury, and check for par-
asites, traces of heavy metals
and other threats to cetacean
health.
“A lot of it is to see what’s
going on generally with the
animals in our area, and why
the animal died, if we can ¿g-
ure it out,” Boothe explained.
Continued from Page 1A
found in cleanups in Cannon
Beach.
Buried treasure
The opening of North
Holladay Drive to renova-
tion was a treasure hunter’s
dream.
When bulldozers ripped
up the street earlier this year,
a secret city was revealed,
“like it must have been in the
early days,” is how Seaside
City Manager Mark Win-
stanley described it.
For a treasure hunter, it
was fertile soil.
“Immediately I was like,
‘Oh my God!’” Wolslagel
said.
Employees advised him
the street was off limits during
work hours for his safety and
the safety of others, but he
was welcome to return after 6
p.m. and weekends.
“I started swinging,”
Wolslagel said, referring to
the use of his Garrett AT Pro
Detector, the same one used
on the National Geographic
Channel’s “Diggers.”
Wolslagel quickly found
— well, nothing is quick for
hunters — buffalo head nick-
els and Mercury dimes.
He scraped through dirt
and uncovered Indian war
buttons, a 1903 Barber
quarter.
“I kept swinging, Indian
heads — Indian heads all
over the place,” he said.
Wolslagel worked “as
Beware: Company has 1.6 million customer contracts
Continued from Page 1A
the category of home service
agreements, which are not reg-
ulated by the state Department
of Consumer and Business
Services.
“If you look closely at it,
they’re not using the word
‘insurance,’” said Jake Sun-
derland, public information
of¿cer for the state agency.
“They’re not violating the
insurance code in any way, but
that doesn’t necessarily mean
that we’re giving it the green
stamp. We’re just saying it’s
outside of our authority.”
What’s more, the com-
panies are not working with
regional utility providers,
another common point of
confusion.
“Customers call us asking
if it’s something that the city
promotes,” Sue Dohaniuk,
operations supervisor in the
Astoria Finance Department,
said. “We have nothing to do
with that.”
HomeServe USA, in par-
ticular, has a history of
attracting bad press because
of controversial marketing
practices. Residents nation-
wide have alleged that the
company has engaged in
deception by sending out
mailers that appeared to
come from local govern-
ments or utility companies.
That said, the forms sent
to North Coast communities
this year haven’t crossed that
line and make it clear that
HomeServe USA is an inde-
pendent company.
On the other hand
None of this suggests that
the companies are peddling
scams.
In addition to offering
several thousand dollars’
worth of coverage, Ameri-
can Water Resources deploys
its own trained contractors
within service areas to do
repair and replacement work,
whereas HomeServe USA
shops around for contractors
on behalf of customers.
“It’s a product that some
people might think is neces-
sary and valuable to them,
and that’s why it’s actually
speci¿cally de¿ned in law
— in case someone does feel
One of the mailers arriving at homes offering a “water line
protection program.”
that’s appropriate for them,”
Sunderland said.
American Water Resources
and HomeServe USA — both
of which have an A-plus rat-
ing with the Better Business
Bureau — correctly point out
that homeowners are ¿nan-
cially responsible for water
and sewer lines that run from
the house to the meter.
“The city stops all respon-
sibility at the meter,” Terry
Ager, a water-quality techni-
cian for the city of Warren-
ton, said. “So, basically, it’s
the customer’s responsibility
from the meter to the home
and throughout the house.”
In some states, the two
companies are classi¿ed as
insurance and do partner with
municipalities.
The Better Business
Bureau lists 156 customer
complaints closed against
American Water Resources
— a New Jersey-based com-
pany owned by American
Water — within the last three
years, and 59 complaints
closed within the last 12
months.
But the company also has
1.6 million customer con-
tracts, Denise Venuti Free,
a company spokeswoman,
said. Compared to the size
and scope of the business, “I
would say that that’s pretty
good,” she said.
As for HomeServe USA
— a Connecticut-based
subsidiary of HomeServe
PLC — the Better Business
Bureau lists 221 complaints
closed within the last three
years, and 77 closed in last
12 months. That’s from a
base of 2.3 million customers
and 3 million service plans,
according to Myles Meehan,
HomeServe’s senior vice
president of public relations.
“While we don’t like to
have complaints from any of
our customers, the number
we have is relatively low,” he
said.
Buyer beware
Sunderland encourages
potential customers to do
their homework and pro-
ceed with caution before pur-
chasing a plan. Homeowners
should know exactly what the
companies cover, what they
don’t and what conditions
would void a contract.
American
Water
Resources, for example, will
Forrester: µI’m con¿dent that this
next transition will be a success’
Continued from Page 1A
As editor and publisher,
Forrester introduced an array of
features to the Astorian – such
as In One Ear, Everyday People
and Friday Extra – and related
publications, including Coast
Weekend and Our Coast mag-
azine. The newspaper produced
a number of special series under
his leadership, including three
examinations of child care in
Clatsop County, three on the
Port of Astoria, another titled
“Teachers Talk About Teach-
ing,” as well as others.
The company’s newspapers
also collaborated on a yearlong
series on climate change, which
won one of three awards of
merit in the Grantham Awards
for environmental journalism
in 2007. Another companywide
series covered changing pat-
terns in forest land ownership.
Both efforts were initiated by
Forrester.
In the 1990s, Forrester
committed the resources of
The Daily Astorian and his
extended family to restoration
of the Liberty Theater. For
about a decade, the Astorian
absorbed the administrative
costs of the nonpro¿t Liberty
Restoration Inc.
The most recent innovation
Forrester pushed is EO Media
Group’s collaboration with the
Pamplin Media Group that
established a statehouse news
bureau and Oregon Capital
Insider, a digital newsletter.
“Steve has made an indel-
ible mark on this newspaper
and the greater Astoria com-
munity,” Perry said. “His
community leadership helped
restore the Liberty Theater and
put Astoria on the map as a
vibrant, historic city.”
The transistion
Astorian Advertising Direc-
tor Betty Smith said, “My
entire career has been in work-
ing for family-owned compa-
nies, directly with the owners.
I spent 20 years working for
Nordstrom and watching their
transfer from the fathers to the
sons. I came to the beach and
joined another family owned
business with a legacy. I’m
con¿dent that this next transi-
tion will be a success.”
Forrester is one of three
principal owners of EO Media
Group. Others are his brother,
Mike, and a cousin, Kathryn
Brown, who is publisher of the
East Oregonian.
“We know that a hallmark
of healthy family-owned busi-
nesses is that they plan ahead
for the retirements of key fam-
ily members,” Brown said.
“Our family began actively
planning for success more than
20 years ago, and has managed
smooth transitions as Steve’s
parents, my grandmother and
my mother retired over the
years. I’m con¿dent that we
will manage well through this
transition.”
not cover “pre-existing con-
ditions,” like longstanding
leaks, or claims arising from
acts of nature like Àoods or
hurricanes. The coverage is
meant for the normal wear-
and-tear associated with
underground plumbing, such
as tree-root invasion.
Property owners may also
want to investigate whether
their water and sewer lines
need coverage at all, whether
the piping is even likely to
experience damage that will
demand attention.
And, of course, it can be
instructive to read through
online user reviews and look
into consumer complaints
¿led with the Oregon Depart-
ment of Justice.
“I would just be ‘buyer
beware’ on this,” Ager said.
“I would de¿nitely read the
¿ne print.”
Barbara Aguirre, a War-
renton resident, read the
mailers and thought it all
sounded like a great idea.
But something triggered her
skepticism.
“There’s so many of us
that could just sign on the
dotted line and send money
before we realize that we
might have made a mistake,”
she said.
much as he could” his ¿rst
time out, and came back
again the next day.
“I’m walking up the
streets and kept walking and
pulling all kinds of dimes
out,” he said.
His big catch was the
gold coin, a shiny glint about
an inch in the dirt that set the
detector singing.
Last call
In the next few days, the
city of Seaside will asphalt
North Holladay Drive and
the street will be sealed up
once again.
In the meantime, Wolsla-
gel and Sillett are out hitting
the street.
They won’t have much
time, as the city expects to
be laying down curbs this
week and paving the streets
by Memorial Day weekend.
They’d prefer the North
Holladay Drive renovation to
remain on the down low.
“I don’t want anyone
to know — people would
go crazy,” Wolslagel said.
“People from Portland and
everywhere.”
As for the gold piece,
“There will be a lot of hunt-
ers wanting to see it,” Sillett
said. “Finding it is better than
keeping it.”
Although Wolslagel beat
him this time, the two trea-
sure hunters plan to compare
year-end tallies.
“He got me on this one,”
Sillett said. “But I’m rocking
on the gold rings.”
Ryan
Wolslagel
holds a
glass buoy
he found
along the
beach in
Gearhart.
R.J. Marx
The Daily
Astorian
P resc h o o l a n d ea rl y c h i l d h o o d
R ESO U R CE R EFER R A L FA IR
Warrenton Grade School
820 SW Cedar St.
Warrenton, OR 97146
P arents of soon-to-be preschoolers
e
r
’
u
o
Y ited!
Inv
Saturday
April 16 TH
10 AM -1 PM
Come meet the local preschools
and early childhood providers –
learn about their curriculum,
philosophies, tuition and more!
Free!
and
Activity area
provided
for kids
C LATSOP K INDER R EADY , NW P ARENTING ,
AND OTHER LOCAL RESOURCES WILL BE
ATTENDING TO PROVIDE INFO TO PARENTS
Sponsored by: MOMS Club of
Astoria, Clatsop Kinder Ready
& NW Parenting
momsclubofastoria.org
Early Childhood
Health & Education Clinic For
Clatsop County Kids
SIGN UP TODAY!
FREE For all 2-5 year olds, regardless of income
April 13, 2015
Astor Elementary School
3550 Franklin Ave., Astoria
April 19, 2015
Seaside Convention Center
415 First Avenue, Seaside
Early screening is an important step to successful learning.
Your child will receive the following exams and screenings:
~ Physical ~ Hearing ~ School Readiness ~Speech
~ Nutrition ~Vision ~Dental ~Immunization
Call your local elementary school or Head Start center for an appointment by April 6 for the
Astoria clinic or April 14 for the Seaside clinic.
Limited transportation help is available upon request. se habla espanol.
Sponsors are NW Early Learning Council, NW Educational Service District
and Clatsop Kinder Ready. Major health & education groups of
Clatsop County are partnering to make this clinic possible.