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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 11, 2016)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JULY 11, 2016 Repairs on waterfront may suspend trafic, trolley City hopes to avoid shutdowns By ERICK BENGEL The Daily Astorian Some needed repairs to wooden bridges at the north ends of Sixth through 11th streets may disrupt vehicle low and Astoria Riverfront Trolley trips for a few weeks this summer. The Oregon Department of Transportation recently inspected the timber structures and determined that the poor condition may pose safety risks. The repairs are intended to keep the bridges at a 3-ton load limit. At a special meeting Fri- day, the Astoria City Council awarded a $43,031 contract to OBEC Consulting Engi- neers to assist in designing the repairs. The project is expected to cost approximately $150,000. The money will come from the city’s capital improvement and Promote Astoria funds. The state gave Astoria until Aug. 1 to get the repairs under- way, though the city is work- ing with the department to extend that deadline, since the design process alone could take two weeks. Meanwhile, the Public Works Department is looking to hire a contractor to start the repairs immediately after the design work is inished. “We’re in a place where, if the repairs are not done, the bridges have to be shut down due to the safety con- cerns expressed by the ODOT bridge engineers,” City Man- ager Brett Estes said, adding that the bridges would become pedestrian-only. The bridges provide access to properties and businesses built on the Columbia River’s edge. They also support a sec- tion of trolley tracks that run east-west along the riverfront. Nathan Crater, the assistant city engineer, said he didn’t know how often, or how long, the bridges would be closed to trafic and trolley rides during the planned 30-day construc- tion window. “Really, the goal is to have zero shutdown time,” he said. “That might not be achievable. ‘We’re in a place where, if the repairs are not done, the bridges have to be shut down due to the safety concerns expressed by the ODOT bridge engineers.’ City Manager Brett Estes There might be some minimal disruptions.” If there are disruptions, he said, the construction crews will try to work strategically to avoid inconvenience. The city may prioritize the work so that most repairs are completed during the irst two-and-a-half weeks. The repairs will happen underneath the bridges. Estes said the city will keep the Astoria Riverfront Trol- ley Association, the Astoria Chamber of Commerce, and property and business own- ers in the area apprised of any scheduled shutdowns. City Councilor Russ Warr, noting the tight time frame, said “it’s absolutely imperative that we get moving on this as quickly as possible.” ‘A balancing act’ Trolley representatives expressed concerns about the repairs taking place during their busiest time of year. “August is our main mon- ey-making month,” Frank Kemp, the trolley’s mainte- nance coordinator, told the council. “We’re hoping to run as much as possible.” Jim Wilkins, vice president of the nonproit trolley asso- ciation, said, “We have peo- North Carolina fugitive arrested after surrendering in Warrenton Suspected of murder, dismemberment By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian A 25-year-old man wanted for murdering a woman in North Carolina knocked on the back door of the Warren- ton Police station Friday night to turn himself in. David Isaiah Godwin, of Newport, North Carolina, told a Warrenton oficer that the police were “looking for me,” and he was wanted for murder. The oficer found Godwin had an arrest warrant out of North Carolina for homicide and dismemberment and was listed as armed and dangerous. According to North Car- olina media reports, God- win is accused of murdering 37-year-old Wendy Tamagne in her apartment Tuesday eve- ning. Oficers said the woman was found beaten, strangled, stabbed, and her body was dismembered. Godwin was arrested with- out incident and booked into Clatsop County Jail. A detective from Morehead City Police Department in North Carolina was contacted by Warrenton Police and will be starting the process to bring Godwin back to face charges. Godwin faces no local charges and is believed to David Isaiah Godwin have possibly taken a bus from North Carolina to Oregon, according to police. Monarch listing decision due in 2019 Endangered or threatened status could affect biotech crops By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Federal wildlife oficials have three years to decide whether monarch butterlies should be protected under the Endangered Species Act under a legal settlement with environmentalists. The government’s decision could have implications for genetically engineered crops resistant to glyphosate herbi- cides, which environmentalists blame for the loss of milkweed that’s crucial for the monarch’s survival. The Center for Food Safety and the Center for Biolog- ical Diversity iled a law- suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service earlier this year for failing to make a timely decision whether to list the species as threatened or endangered. Courtesy of Elizabeth A. Sellers/USGS Environmental groups have settled a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for not making a final deci- sion whether to list monarch butterflies as endangered or threatened within 12 months of finding such a listing may be warranted, as required by federal law. Under the terms of the set- tlement deal, the agency has until June 2019 to determine whether Endangered Species Act protection for the butter- lies is warranted or not. The environmental groups will be entitled to compensa- tion for their attorney fees as prevailing parties in the law- suit, according to the deal. Unless they’re able to strike an agreement with the government as to the total amount of compensation within two months, the plain- tiffs can ask the court to order a payment. The Fish and Wildlife Ser- vice may also get three addi- tional months to make a deci- sion, depending on whether the Center for Biological Diversity iles new lawsuits related to Endangered Spe- cies Act deadlines, or obtains additional remedies in such litigation. The agency had found in 2014 that substantial evidence indicated that a threatened or endangered listing may be warranted for the monarch, but did not make a inal deci- sion within a year, as required under the federal law. Populations of the but- terly declined roughly 90 percent over the past two decades, which the environ- mental groups attribute to the popularity of glyphosate-re- sistant biotech crops. These crops have increased the prevalence of glyphosate, which is highly effective at killing the milk- weed that monarchs depend on for food at the larval stage, according to the plaintiffs. If the species does gain Endandered Species Act protection, environmental groups may push for federal requirements that farmers set aside reserves of non-biotech crops, reducing glyphosate usage. Butterly watchers seek out the litting insects By DIANE DIETZ The Register-Guard EUGENE — Four women set out in the west Eugene wetlands to chase the ephem- eral lashes and lutters of July-awakened butterlies. They sought the East- ern tailed-blue, the ochre ringlet and — were they to be lucky — the California tortoiseshell. The comely insects skimmed the swaying heads of dry grasses, wove down among the stalks, popped up and turned in the air before disappearing again, low down. “Why don’t you stop and stay still for a moment so we can look at you?” retired psy- chiatrist and volunteer nat- uralist Jo von Hippel said to a chocolate brown, common wood-nymph butterly. Though the litting creatures are sometimes hard to follow, the butterly ties together — as if by invisible ilament — peo- ple, landscapes and continents. The butterly, for exam- ple, was the subject of high- level international diplomacy in Ottawa recently at the so-called three amigos summit of Mex- ican President Enrique Pena Nieto, President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The monarch butterly, Pena Nieto told the amigos, “is a spe- cies that, in its pilgrimage, we can see how our countries are intertwined.” The butterly is a genteel creature. Although a bird will consume a butterly, a butter- ly eats naught but the nectar of lowers — a vegan without an attitude. “They’re beautiful and sweet,” said Kathryn Kemp, retired mental health counselor and novice butterly watcher. Unlike the pursuit of bird- ing, butterlying takes place at a civilized hour because but- terlies don’t come out until the day warms to at least 60 degrees. “If I can wear a T-shirt it’s good butterlying,” said David Hagen, member of the North American Butterly Association’s Eugene-Spring- ield chapter. Butterly watchers tend to be gentle people, too. Some prac- tice catch-and-release, which allows them to net butterlies, gently scoop them into a clear cup, examine them — and then set them free again. “I’m sorry we’re disturbing you,” Kemp said upon liberat- ing a tiny Eastern tailed-blue. “You are so cute.” For some butterly watchers, even a gentle netting is too dis- turbing, and they advocate but- terlying with special binocu- lars that feature a short focal point. A picture with a date and time stamp is enough for verii- cation that they saw the species. In the west Eugene wetlands, the butterly watchers saw three common wood-nymphs before they even left the parking lot. In a half-mile walk, they spot- ted 39 butterlies belonging to a half dozen species. The outing, one of three that day, was for the purpose of an annual count, which the orga- nization compiles and scientists can use to establish the range of butterlies and the characteris- tics of their habitat. ple come from all over the world to ride this trolley, and we know that it’s going to have to be shut down at some intervals.” Crater said the trolley asso- ciation can join the planning discussions so perhaps the repairs can work around the trolley schedule. “We’ll work with you guys to try to minimize disruption,” Crater told Wilkins, adding, “It’s a balancing act, and we’re obviously trying to keep every- body’s interests in mind here.” He said OBEC is aware the situation is dire, and that they will need to work fast. Eventually, all of the repair work will be removed once the bridges get replaced as part of the Waterfront Bridge Replacement Project, which will be inanced with a $9.5 million grant the city received in federal bridge replacement funds through the State Trans- portation Improvement Pro- gram. That project is sched- uled to begin in the fall of 2017. The immediate repairs “will be designed to include only what has been deemed abso- lutely essential in order to min- imize the expenditure of funds prior to the upcoming planned replacement of the structures,” according to the staff report. In the meantime, how- ever, “these are repairs that are needed to be able to con- tinue to keep the 3-ton vehicle load that’s in place now,” Estes said. Waterslide repairs In other business, the coun- cil awarded a $12,125 con- tract to The Pool & Spa House to replace a broken pump and failed valves on the Astoria Aquatic Center’s waterslide. The popular waterslide has been closed since June 17 because of the needed repairs. The Pool & Spa House hopes to complete the work before the end of July, said Angela Cosby, director of the Asto- ria Parks and Recreation Department. Though it might be too soon to know whether the slide shutdown has signiicantly impacted the aquatic center’s revenue, “June and July are our busiest months of the year with school being out,” Cosby said, “so we have a lot of dis- appointed kiddos right now.” Citizen Police Academy returns to Astoria this fall The Daily Astorian Astoria Police are host- ing the ninth annual Citizen Police Academy this fall. Classes will be held every Thursday evening from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. from Sept. 15 to Oct. 20. The academy is open to community members who are interested in learning more about how their local police department operates. The goal is to form and maintain partnerships between the community and the police by educating com- munity members about the role of law enforcement and encouraging citizens and the police to work together, according to the police. Participants will learn about and experience the day-to-day operations of the department. They will tour the department, learn about criminal investiga- tions, functions of patrol, see basic defensive tactics, tour the jail and have the option to shoot various department irearms. Participants must be 18 or older. All applicants are sub- ject to a criminal background investigation. An application packet can be downloaded from the Police Department sec- tion on the City of Astoria website or by emailing Ofi- cer Andrew Randall at aran- dall@astoria.or.us. Applications need to be turned into the Astoria Police Department no later than 5 p.m. on Aug. 22. Applicants will be noti- ied by mail if they have been accepted to the academy. Cool weather, extra lows are a boon to Yakima River sockeye Associated Press YAKIMA, Wash. — Several thousand sockeye salmon could soon make their way up the Yakima River, helped along by cooler weather and a wave of extra water lowing down the river. The Bureau of Reclama- tion began releasing an extra 6,000 acre-feet of water from its reservoirs Thursday and continued the release through the weekend to boost the low of water reaching ish in the lower section of the river, the Yakima Her- ald-Republic reported. Bureau biologist Joel Hubble said the cool and potentially rainy conditions in the forecast are ideal for sockeye and summer Chi- nook salmon that have been waiting in the cooler Colum- bia River rather than head- ing up the warm Yakima River toward their spawning grounds. “There’s three or four thousand sockeye waiting near Bateman Island,” said John Easterbrooks, regional ish program manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. “The ish are hid- ing in cool places, and they will head up the Yakima if conditions are good.” Conditions in the lower river are frequently a concern for ish biologists because the slow-moving water tends to get too warm in the sum- mer, making salmon stressed and sick. But the extra water isn’t enough to cool the river on its own, Easterbrooks said. It takes almost a day for water to low from the cool moun- tain reservoirs to the warm, slow lower river, and by that time, it’s warmed up. 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