143RD YEAR, NO. 232
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, MAY 27, 2016
ILWACO BOYS
TAKE STATE TITLE
ASTORIA WAS FLUSH
WITH FINNISH NEWS
SPORTS • 8A
OPINION • 4A
Water
district
decides
to ditch
the dam
LIBRARIAN
FOR LIFE
Astoria library director retires
after a life in the stacks
Warrenton could
lose emergency
access over river
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The Skipanon Water
Control District voted Thursday to move
ahead with the removal of the Eighth Street
Dam after again inding that the structure
does not help with lood control and poses
too great a risk.
The water district’s board agreed to part-
ner with the Columbia River Estuary Study
Taskforce to remove the dam and improve
water quality and ish habitat on the Skipanon
River. The project will not include an emer-
gency access bridge sought by the city after a
divided City Commission declined to renew
an agreement with the water district and the
task force.
“It appears after (Tuesday) night that they
are not interested in a bridge,” Tessa Scheller,
the chairwoman of the water district’s board,
said at a meeting at the Paciic Grange.
See DAM, Page 9A
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
TOP: Jane Tucker, library director at the Astoria Public Library, will retire after 17 years with the library. ABOVE: Patty Skinner, senior
library assistant, embraces Jane Tucker, library director, during her retirement party Thursday evening at Astoria Public Library.
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
J
ane Tucker, who is retiring this month
after 17 years as Astoria Public Library
director, isn’t just leaving a job: “I’m
leaving 49 years as a librarian,” she
said. “I won’t lie — it’s been deeply
emotional.”
Except for a brief spell in the business
ield, Tucker has devoted her life to libraries
and literacy — to making new readers.
“I’m passionate about libraries,” she said.
“I found a love of them very early in my life.”
Under her management, the library
launched reading programs for toddlers, pre-
schoolers and older children; a summer read-
ing program that grew from about a dozen
children participating to about 400 in recent
years; and Libraries ROCC (Rural Outreach
to Clatsop County), which extends library ser-
vices to out-of-town children without access
to a tax-supported library.
At a retirement party for Tucker Thurs-
day evening at the library, State Librarian
MaryKay Dahlgreen said Libraries ROCC is
“a model, an absolute model” of great librar-
ian work.
For lifelong learners, the library has been
hosting adult-oriented events, such as Oregon
Humanities Conversation Project lectures,
where experts and scholars discuss salient
topics — from death and dying to government
surveillance — with the community.
Anne Odom, a senior library assistant, will
serve as interim manager while the city hires
Tucker’s successor.
“Jane has made an incredible difference,
not just in Astoria, but in Clatsop County
and in libraries around Oregon,” said Dahl-
green, who was on the committee that hired
Tucker.
Come for
the food,
comedy,
music, hikes
Cannon Beach weighs
tourism grant proposals
‘Turning it around’
Mayor Arline LaMear, a former school
librarian who later became librarian of the
Columbia Memorial Maritime Museum, said
the Astoria Public Library was a “scary place
to come” before Tucker arrived.
See TUCKER, Page 10A
‘I’m leaving 49 years as a librarian.
I won’t lie — it’s been deeply emotional.’
Jane Tucker
By LYRA FONTAINE
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH — The Cannon
Beach Tourism and Arts Commission heard
pitches this week for three new events: a night
market, comedy festival and a “CoastWalk.”
Candidates hoping for a share of the
tourism and arts fund of about $286,000
approached the commission seeking grants
to draw visitors for extended stays. Nine
applicants requested more than $400,000,
which may be used for personnel, special
events, signage, attractions, promotional
materials and advertising.
retiring library director at the Astoria Public Library
See PROPOSALS, Page 9A
Seventh-graders’ inquisitive nature inspires teacher
Every Wednesday and Fri-
day for the next couple of weeks,
The Daily Astorian features an
area teacher as we head toward
graduation and summer break.
Annie Forman
Broadway Middle School,
life science and language arts,
seventh and eighth grades
Why did you
become a teacher,
and what was your
biggest surprise?
While completing my under-
graduate degrees at The Ever-
green State College in Olym-
pia, Washington, I spent my
summers as a camp coun-
selor in Case Inlet in the Puget
Sound. This is where I began
to truly enjoy the creativity
and inspiration that young peo-
ple can produce when they are
given the opportunity to work
and learn together. This, as well
as work facilitating research
activities for student groups at
a biological preserve in Costa
Rica, solidiied my decision to
become an educator.
My biggest surprise came
when I began teachingsev-
enth-grade life science at Broad-
way. Throughout my prepa-
ration to become a teacher, I
always assumed that I would
only want to work with high
school students. However, after
watching seventh-graders grow
mold on bread and extract DNA
from a strawberry, I have real-
ized that there is something truly
Teachers Talk About Teaching
remarkable about the inquisi-
tive nature of a middle school
student. They show their emo-
tions on their sleeves; they let
you know when something is
awesome — and they don’t hold
back when they feel otherwise.
What part of
the job do you
enjoy the most?
I get the most satisfaction
when I can watch my students
operate autonomously in my
classroom. I love it when we get
to that point in the year that they
know where to ind materials
and do what they need to start
the period.
What is the
most challenging
part of your job?
Maintaining a connec-
tion with all 108 seventh-grad-
ers (not to mention 40-plus
eighth-graders later in the day) is
deinitely the most challenging
part of the job. I try and get to
know each student personally, to
understand at least one thing that
makes them unique. Although
this is deinitely the most chal-
lenging part of being ateacher, it
Annie Forman
is likewise the most crucial …
and in the end, most validating.
A classroom should not be an
arena with myself as the center
of attention, but a community in
which participants feel that they
have a role and a purpose.
— Edward Stratton