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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 5, 2016)
143RD YEAR, NO. 216 DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2016 ONE DOLLAR FISHERMEN WIN SLUGFEST SPRING UNVEILING SPORTS • 7A COAST WEEKEND It’s not enough for the salmon Judge: Salmon recovery requires big dam changes By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press Sis��r�’ � rs� �u� Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Kibby, 85, for the first time Wednesday. BELOW: Patricia Kibby, ABOVE: Marti Johnston, 70, tears up as she hugs her sister, Patricia a cruise ship Wednesday morning. left, and Marti Johnston, right, talk after Kibby disembarked from Siblings meet after 70 years A massive habitat restoration effort by the U.S. government doesn’t do nearly enough to improve Northwest salmon runs, a fed- eral judge ruled Wednesday, handing a major victory to conservationists, anglers and oth- ers who hope to someday see four dams on the Snake River breached to make way for the fi sh. In a long-running lawsuit, U.S. Dis- trict Judge Michael H. Simon in Portland rejected the federal government’s latest plan for offsetting the damage that dams in the Columbia River Basin pose to salmon, saying it violates the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Pol- icy Act. See SALMON, Page 10A Cruise ship brings long-lost family together By ERICK BENGEL The Daily Astorian T AP Photo/Rick Bowmer Two sockeye salmon swim in the Colum- bia River with a Chinook salmon, middle, at the Bonneville Dam fish-counting win- dow near North Bonneville, Wash. ears of love and elation fi lled Marti Johnston’s eyes when she saw her big sister, Patricia Kibby, among the pas- sengers disembarking from the cruise ship Norwegian Jewel as it unloaded Wednesday morning in Astoria . It was the fi rst time the women, now 70 and 85, had met in person. Born of the same mother but different fathers, Johnston, of Longview, Washington, spent most of her life completely unaware of her sister, and then many more years not know- ing how to connect with her. All of that changed earlier this year when Johnston’s niece — the daughter-in-law of a third half-sister, Dolly Musante — tracked her down. In late winter, Johnston had her very fi rst phone conversations with her two older sisters. When she and Kibby sat down to begin catch- ing up on two lifetimes’ worth of stories, “I cried the fi rst time,” she said. “It went really well.” As the cruise ship approached in the Colum- bia River , Johnston found herself pacing the pier with her husband, Bill — more excited, she said, than a child on Christmas Eve. When the tenders docked, she studied the passengers’ faces and held up a sign reading, “Hi sis.” Then the sisters saw each other, and sec- onds later they were holding each other — momentarily frozen in an embrace that made up for all the hugs they couldn’t share during the decades of confusion and separation. Asked how she felt, Kibby’s voice caught on the emotion of the moment: “I’m just excited — nervous, excited, thrilled.” And off they went to spend the day together. Split-up siblings Johnston, Kibby and Musante are the last - known living offspring of a woman named Thelma Faye Darling, whose habit of having children, sending them away, then having more children and sending them away kept many of the siblings from knowing one another while growing up in California. “Our mother tossed us all out with the bath- water when we were babies, and that was kind of our story,” Musante said. “There were six of us, and we were all tossed out.” Kibby — who has worked in many By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian When she started as a sixth-grade teacher at the then K-8 Lewis and Clark Consolidated School in 1976, Gayla Hollaway remembers her salary was about $9,000 and the librarian had one of the only per- sonal computers on campus . During more than 39 years as an educator in Asto- ria, Hollaway saw the standalone district she started with merge into Astoria School District and technol- ogy advance to where she now uses Google Chrome- books to help teach her students. Hollaway, who retires this summer as the lon- gest-tenured teacher in Astoria after more than 39 years, was one of the many staff and faculty hon- ored for tenure and excellence at the inaugural Tradi- tion of Excellence awards Wednesday at Astoria High School. See AWARDS, Page 10A See COURT, Page 10A See SISTERS, Page 10A By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian Fishers wary of Pacifi c Seafood Group’s purchase A federal court order blocking Pacifi c Seafood Group from purchasing Ocean Gold Seafoods will remain until a trial into whether the sale would create a monopoly. Commercial fi shermen won a prelim- inary injunction against the sale last year in U.S. District Court in Medford. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s order Tuesday. The fi shermen allege that Pacifi c Seafood’s acquisi- tion of Ocean Gold, a large fi sh proces- sor in Westport, Wash- ington, would estab- lish a monopoly in the groundfi sh, whiting Frank and coldwater shrimp Dulcich markets. Pacifi c Seafood, a Clackamas-based company that is a domi- nant player in fi sh processing and distribu- tion, announced after a legal setback last year that the deal for Ocean Gold was canceled. But the company, led by Frank Dulcich, wanted the court to compel arbitration as part of a previous antitrust suit by fi shermen that was settled. The district court declined, a decision also upheld by the appeals court. Top of the class at Astoria schools Gayla Hollaway, right, the longest-tenured teacher at Astoria School District, was honored Wednes- day by the Astoria School Board and the district’s foundation, including school board members Jea- nette Sampson, left, and Grace Laman. Hollaway, a sixth-grade teacher with more than 39 years in the district, will retire after this year. Court backs fi shermen in antitrust suit