TRACK AND FIELD: ASTORIA GIRLS RACE TO STATE SPORTS • 4A DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, MAY 16, 2016 143RD YEAR, NO. 223 ONE DOLLAR THE SALMON CANNON 3000 ELECTION 2016 Primary interest is high A quarter of ballots already in for Tuesday’s primary election By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau Photos by Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian Wyatt Jackson, left, releases several Chinook salmon into the Skipanon River on a slide, nicknamed the Salmon Can- non 3000. Next to Jackson are Brian Xochipiltecatl, center, and the slide’s creator, sophomore Brandon Williamson. SLIP SLIDIN’ TO THE SKIPANON Warrenton High’s Salmon Cannon 3000 sends ish on their way By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian W ARRENTON — Kids lined up behind Warrenton High School Friday for a chance to help release student-raised Chinook salmon into the Skipanon River, one net at a time. Warrenton High Fisheries Inc., the nonproit, student-run hatchery, let kids scoop a small net full of salmon from a bucket and send them down the Salmon Cannon 3000, a series of spray-painted plastic gutters sloping down toward the Skipanon. “The ish have to travel about 48 feet,” said sophomore Brandon William- son, a isheries student and the slide’s designer. Williamson estimates he spent about 15 to 20 hours on the slide. After the ish were dropped into the gutter, they had an equal chance of going left or right, before looping down the bank and into the river. Williamson went up and down the bank of the Skipanon Friday, steady- ing rocks that held some parts of the lengths of gutter in place, and trying to scare away a sea otter waiting for the in- gerlings to slip out the end of a track. Warrenton receives surplus eggs each year from local hatcheries through the Salmon Trout Enhancement Program, including 20,000 Chinook, 6,000 coho salmon and 500 steelhead trout this year. Students incubate the eggs and raise the salmon to ingerlings before releasing them at community events. Fisheries program teacher Steve Por- ter said his students probably kept alive about 85 percent of the salmon they received as eggs last year. He said more than 5,000 salmon were released Friday. In a high school tradition, graduating seniors will release many more. SALEM — About one-fourth of the state’s nearly 2.3 million registered voters had turned in ballots for Oregon’s primary election by the end of Thursday, according to the Secretary of State’s Ofice. County clerks said they were expecting a more robust turnout — up to 60 percent of voters — before the 8 p.m. Tuesday deadline because of strong interest in the contests for the Republican and Democratic nominations for president. “Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are both bringing in more participation this elec- tion,” said Marion County Clerk Bill Bur- gess. “It’s hard to know what the votes will come up with in terms of results.” Voters also will be deciding party nomi- nees for governor and secretary of state and local ofices. Here’s what you need to know for voting in the last days of the election: • The time has passed for vote by mail for See PRIMARY, Page 10A Pamplin Media Group Election workers Frank Pauley and Bev Clayton-Quiring sort ballots Friday at the Marion County Clerk’s Office. Cannon Beach may hike water rates LEFT: Salmon in sophomore Brandon Williamson’s Salmon Cannon 3000 slid nearly 50 feet down a set of gutters into the Skipanon River. RIGHT: Warrenton High Fisheries, a student-run hatchery , is expecting to release more than 20,000 salmon and steelhead this spring. New city planner has a lot on her plate From vacation rentals to food carts, ‘there is so much going on’ storia City Planner Nancy Ferber is well aware of how important her role is to pro- viding direction and approval on building per- mits, economic devel- opment and historic preservation. Ferber also knows the large shoes she is ill- ing by replacing Rose- mary Johnson, who retired last year after a 35-year career. Ferber said she is up for the challenge. An average day consists of balancing his- toric preservation rules, addressing the housing A Increase is ‘just the beginning’ By LYRA FONTAINE The Daily Astorian CANNON BEACH — Cannon Beach res- idents may pay more for their water next year. City staff suggested water, wastewater and storm drain rate increases at the May bud- get committee meetings. They also suggested a study to bring the city’s rates “up to market rate.” Without the hike, money would need to be transferred from the city’s general fund, as it has in years past. Staff has proposed a 7 percent increase in monthly water charges, which would go from $795,000 to $845,000 in next year’s budget. The 7 percent increase is “just the beginning,” Public Dan Works Director Dan Grassick Grassick said. The amount is a conservative estimate, Grassick said, because the city will not get the entire 7 percent. “When you raise your prices, people tend to conserve,” he said. Ratepayers may see an Submitted Photo See FERBER, Page 10A Nancy Ferber is the new city planner in Astoria. See WATER RATES, Page 10A