DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 18
ONE DOLLAR
GOLF: COAST INVITATIONAL BRINGS OUT THE CHAMPIONS SPORTS 4A
Council rules library to stay put
FOR RENOVATING EXISTING LIBRARY
Concerns about cost, public support of expansion
FOR NEW LIBRARY
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Zetty
Nemlowill
Cindy
Price
Russ
Warr
Schools
fi nd lead
in water
Drew
Herzig
Arline
LaMear
A fractured Astoria City Council voted
Monday night to scale back a library project,
directing city staff to study how to renovate
the aging library without asking voters for a
bond sale.
A majority found that the high cost and
lack of public support were obstacles to
expanding the library at 10th and Exchange
streets, branching into the vacant Waldorf
Hotel next door, or building a new library
at Heritage Square. The cost estimates for
the six options that had been under review
ranged from $7.2 million to $24.1 million,
which would likely have required a bond
measure or loan.
See LIBRARY, Page 10A
ACROSS THE BIG POND
Astoria, Seaside fi nd
trouble spots as early
test results return
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Several water taps have been switched off
in Astoria and Seaside as lead-testing results
for local school districts start to trickle in.
Superintendent Craig Hoppes of the
Astoria School District said two fountains
at Astoria High School tested at 17 and 74
parts of lead per billion, respectively, and
were shut off.
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency recommends schools collect 250
milliliter fi rst-draw samples of stagnant
water from outlets used for consumption,
taking them out of service if the lead level
exceeds 20 parts per billion. The trigger for
treatment in a public water system is 15 parts
per billion.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
See LEAD, Page 10A
Jeremy Yuenger, 9, casts his fishing line into the waters of Coffenbu ry Lake on Monday at Fort Stevens State Park. Yuenger is
from England and on vacation with his family.
Clinton highlights lack of women in offi ce
This story is part of Divided
America, AP’s ongoing exploration
of the economic, social and polit-
ical divisions in American society.
By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY
Associated Press
Hillary Clinton and Mary
Thomas have little in common,
except for this: They both hope to
add to the meager ranks of Ameri-
ca’s female elected offi cials come
January.
You know about Clinton, but
probably not Thomas — a con-
servative Republican, opponent
of abortion and Obamacare, for-
mer general counsel of Florida’s
Department of Elder Affairs. She’s
running in Florida’s 2nd District to
become the fi rst Indian-American
woman in Congress. It’s no easy
task.
“There is still a good ol’ boys
network that is in place,” she
says, though she insists that “A
lot of people see the value in hav-
ing different types of people in
Washington.”
Even as Clinton attempts to
shatter what she has called “the
highest, hardest glass ceiling,”
other women like Thomas are test-
ing other, lower ceilings. There are
many: Women in the U.S. remain
signifi cantly underrepresented at
all levels of elected offi ce.
“Historically, we have centuries
of catching up to do,” says Missy
Shorey, executive director of the
conservative-leaning
Maggie’s
List, one of a number of groups
supporting female candidates.
More than half
Though women are more than
half of the American population,
they now account for just a fi fth
of all U.S. representatives and
See DIVIDED, Page 10A
AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser
Republican candidate for Florida’s Second
Congressional District Mary Thomas, right,
talks to supporters at DSH Firearms in Tal-
lahassee, Fla. in July.
Port awards million-dollar stormwater bid
Hunsinger and
Fulton call foul
over process
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Bill Hunsinger
Stephen Fulton
Over the objections of two com-
missioners calling the bidding pro-
cess unfair, the Port of Astoria
Commission awarded a multimil-
lion-dollar contract for stormwater
improvements to Conway Construc-
tion Co. on Monday
The company will build a sys-
tem to pump stormwater from
much of the Port’s central water-
front to a series of settling ponds and
bioswales. The state Department of
Environmental Quality required the
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system after the Port’s stormwa-
ter tests in 2014 showed high lev-
els of copper entering the Columbia
River from drains at the end of Pier
3, under a dock near Bornstein Sea-
foods and another at the base of the
agency’s western slip. Copper can
damage the olfactory and naviga-
tional abilities of salmon and other
marine life.
The state required the Port have
the system operational by June 30,
but has not taken any action as
long as the agency makes progress.
By not complying, the Port could
lose its stormwater permit, and the
ability to use large swaths of the
waterfront.
The Port was originally going to
award the contract a week ago, when
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
See PORT, Page 10A
Much of the Port of Astoria’s central waterfront will under-
go stormwater improvements.
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