DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 25
ONE DOLLAR
BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR JAKE
THE ALLIGATOR MAN NEARS
COAST WEEKEND • INSIDE
Trapped in an emergency? Just text
Astoria Dispatch launches text-to-911 project
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
Astoria Dispatch is one of the irst
emergency call centers in the state to
start accepting text messages.
The local dispatch center unveiled
the new technology this week, giving
residents another option in an emer-
gency situation. Receiving text mes-
sages allows dispatch centers to meet
the public expectation of communi-
cating by text, while beneiting the
hearing impaired.
Through a partnership with Mult-
nomah, Clackamas, Washington,
Columbia and Clark counties and the
city of Woodburn, Astoria Dispatch is
a part of a six-month pilot project.
The Oregon Ofice of Emergency
Management agreed to fund the proj-
ect, and will use feedback to expand
regionally. The Portland-metro area
was chosen irst since it borders
Washington state, which already uses
text-to-911. In Astoria, emergency
calls are regularly received from
Paciic, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz and
Clark counties across the river.
Not having capability in Ore-
gon creates possible confusion and
risks to residents in southwest Wash-
ington whose texts are not received
and go unanswered, according to the
state emergency management ofice.
Jeff Rusiecki, Astoria 911 communi-
cations manager, said the goal is to
have texting available statewide by
2018.
See TEXT-TO-911, Page 5A
County fair tugs at the kid in us all Fish
cleaning
stations
gutted
Concerned about
dumping innards into
the Columbia River
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Matthew Cano leads a cow to a water bucket at the Clatsop County Fair on Tuesday at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds.
Critters, carnival, karaoke and crunchies continue through Saturday
T
he Clatsop County Fair is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. through Saturday. The carnival is open noon to 10 p.m. • Entrance
for adults is $2, kids 12 and younger is $1. Parking is $1 per vehicle • Armbands allowing admission to all rides are $25.
CLATSOP
COUNTY FAIR
SCHEDULE
Today
3 p.m.: Raeann Phillips
5:30 p.m.: Clatsop County
Karaoke Contest
7 p.m.: Craig Morgan
Tucker Delay, 5, carries a piglet to a warming
lamp on Monday during setup for the Clatsop
County Fair. The fair will run until Saturday.
Kids compete in the tractor pull competition at
the Clatsop County Fair on Tuesday at the Clat-
sop County Fairgrounds in Astoria.
On the opening day of the Clatsop County Fair,
attendees ride a roller coaster Tuesday at the
fairgrounds.
Kids compete in the tractor pull competition
during the opening day of the Clatsop County Fair
on Tuesday at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds.
Friday
3:30 p.m.: Two Crows Joy
5:30 p.m.: The Olson
Bros. Band
7:30 p.m.: Showdown
Saturday
10 a.m.: Logging Show
Noon: 4-H Fashion
Revue
12:30 p.m.: Reach the
Stars Dance
1:30 p.m.: 50/50 Line
Dancers
3:30 p.m.: Fern Hill
5 p.m.: Matt Hundley
7:30 p.m.: Brownsmead
Flats
Daily
Farmers Market
Puzzlemania
Kid’s Pedal Tractor Pull
The Oregon Reptile Man
Manfred the Talking Horse
Heather Pearl
No more ish cleaning at the Port of
Astoria.
The Port is shutting down cleaning sta-
tions at the West and East mooring basins
starting today because of environmental
concerns. The stations will stay closed until
the agency can ensure no ish guts or other
remains are being tossed into the Columbia
River.
The closure comes three days after the
start of the popular Buoy 10 salmon ish-
ing season. “It’s the worst time of year to
do it, but I cannot let another moment go
by if we’re doing” something wrong, Jim
Knight, the Port’s executive director, said.
The Port Commission on Tuesday voted
to have staff work out an operating agree-
ment with a local man who cuts ish at the
West End Mooring Basin for a fee. Knight
said the discussion got him thinking about
how the Port has long allowed ish remains
to be dumped into the river. The practice is
an issue up and down the coast and river, he
said, and one the state Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality is taking a closer look at.
See PORT, Page 12A
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
The Port of Astoria is shutting down
popular fish cleaning stations at the
West and East mooring basins until it
can ensure no fish remains are being
dumped in the Columbia River.
Forrester witnessed North Coast’s transformation
The Daily Astorian
aily Astorian Editor and
Publisher Steve Forrester
retires Friday after 28 years
at the publication’s helm. In
this interview with Chinook
Observer Editor and Publisher,
Matt Winters, Forrester talks
about coming here, the era of
change the newspaper covered
as well as one particularly dif-
icult story.
D
Matt Winters: A lot
of people in Astoria still
remember your parents and
bother Mike being involved
at The Daily Astorian. You
come from a long line of Ore-
gon journalists. Was it a nat-
ural decision for you to get
involved in the business?
Steve Forrester: Like
most adolescents, you try to
do everything but what your
father does. so I did a num-
ber of other things, including
running a guy’s political cam-
paign and enjoyed that. But
eventually I ended up doing
this.
After Portland State, I
worked for the Sellwood Bee
and then ive of us got together
and we started Willamette
Week in 1974. I was the man-
aging editor. None of us would
have predicted 42 years ago
that the Oregonian would be
heading for oblivion and Wil-
lamette Week would be left
standing.
Q: At some point you and
your co-founders decided to
sell?
A: We’d run out of capi-
tal so we had to sell, and we
sold it to the Register-Guard in
Eugene, so it was at that point
I left.
Longtime Washington cor-
respondent A. Robert Smith
offered me his bureau. He
wanted to retire, wanted to
go do something else, and I
was sort of rootless and foot-
loose and single and it sounded
great, so I did it. I bought his
bureau in 1978.
Q: Did you know many
people there when you
arrived in D.C.?
See FORRESTER, Page 12A
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Steve Forrester, retiring editor and publisher of The Daily
Astorian, chats with John Goodenberger, left, Ann Car-
penter and Sean Fitzpatrick at a community open house
for the newspaper Wednesday.