DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 28
ONE DOLLAR
ASTORIA REGATTA: THE LOWER COLUMBIA HERITAGE FESTIVAL INSIDE
Draft fl ood maps shrink some hazard zones
Some cities would
see reductions
MAPS ONLINE
http://maps.co.clatsop.or.us/appli-
cations/index.html
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
Click on “Map Layers” tab and se-
lect “Draft FEMA Revisions 2016.”
New federal fl ood plain maps
would shrink the fl ood hazard zones in
Cannon Beach, Gearhart and Seaside
and lower the estimated fl ood eleva-
tion level at a key levee in Warrenton.
Property owners will have a
chance to see the impact of the Fed-
eral Emergency Management Agen-
cy’s draft fl ood plain maps on Clat-
sop County communities at an open
house next week.
The event — scheduled for 6
p.m. Monday at the Seaside Civic
and Convention Center — will focus
on FEMA’s latest revisions to fl ood
maps in Gearhart, Seaside, Cannon
Beach, Clatsop County and Warren-
ton Levee System No. 1.
The product of a multi year county-
wide study, the maps — plotted with
Lidar, a surveying technology that
uses laser — will help residents and
offi cials determine fl ood hazards in
certain areas. When adopted, the maps
will infl uence development, fl ood
WHAT UNITES US
insurance rates and land use decisions
on the North Coast for years to come.
“There were generally decreases
in the fl ood hazard zones, even
though elevations were about the
same or may have increased in some
locations,” said David Ratté, regional
engineer with FEMA Region X, who
See FLOOD MAPS, Page 9A
Smyth to
take lead
at Jewell
Former Knappa
superintendent
is new principal
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
AP Photos/Gerry Broome
Lennis Waller sews United States flags at Annin Flagmakers in South Boston, Va.. Marc Leepson, a historian and author of “Flag:
A Biography,” sees a difference in American sentiment about the flag versus other countries and their own flags. It isn’t just the
omnipresence of the flag, but the devotion paid to it, from the incredibly detailed federal flag code on how to handle it to the
country’s national anthem which pays tribute to it, to the nationally recognized day set aside for the sole purpose of honoring it.
Other countries love their flags too, of course, but Leepson sees little comparison. “One hundred percent, I can’t think of another
symbol that unites America more,’” he said. “A lot of it is emotional. The emotions transcend your political views.”
Even in fractured land, there’s much unity
This story is part of Divided
America, AP’s ongoing exploration
of the economic, social and political
divisions in American society.
By MATT SEDENSKY
AP National Writer
OUTH BOSTON, Va. — Out-
side the Annin Flagmakers
factory in this perennial swing
state, a summer of discontent is
brewing. They feel it inside, too —
national divides that seem to grow
deeper each passing week. Yet as
their hands glide over broad stripes
and sew bright stars to craft the most
unifying American symbol, the
workers sound far more alike than
different.
Asked to name life’s most
important elements, the same
answers come back: family, work
and faith. Presented with the idea
of living in a foreign land, they uni-
S
MORE INSIDE
Poll asks which presidential
candidate would make the
country more united or more
divided. Page 12A.
formly say no, America can’t be
beat. Nudged to sum up the val-
ues Americans broadly share, they
point to their handiwork and what it
stands for — freedom, opportunity
and pride.
“We may be divided on some
things, but when it comes down to
the most important things we come
together,” said Emily Bouldin, a
66-year-old seated before a jabber-
ing sewing machine on an Annin
production fl oor awash in red, white
and blue. “Because we realize,
together we stand, divided we fall.”
See DIVIDED, Page 12A
Red bobbins to be used in assembling U.S. flags are kept
in a box at Annin Flagmakers in South Boston, Va. Unity
even emerges in the country’s disunity. A new poll by The
Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research
finds 85 percent of people see the country as more politi-
cally divided than in the past. Eighty percent believe Amer-
ica is greatly divided on the most important values even as
62 percent believe their local community is united.
Terrence Smyth, the former superinten-
dent of Knappa School District and principal
for Knappa High School, has been named
principal of Jewell School.
The move comes after former principal
Mike Scott took a vice
principal position at
Lewis and Clark Ele-
mentary School in St.
Helens.
Scott was hired as
principal three years
ago, along with Super-
intendent Alice Hunsa-
ker. He had been prin-
cipal of Desert View
Terrence
Elementary School in
Smyth
Hermiston, and said
part of the move west
was to be closer to his parents in Clatskanie.
“I’m looking to retire here in this next
year or two,” Scott said about his most recent
move to Columbia County. “I just wanted to
be back in elementary strictly.”
Scott said he was head of the committee
that chose Smyth as principal. The district
interviewed six people, he said, and Smyth
stood out because “he had a better sense of
the district already.”
Smyth resigned from Knappa in Janu-
ary after less than six months on the job, cit-
ing stress-related health concerns from long
hours, extracurricular events and the 2 1/2-
hour daily commute between Knappa and
Jewell. He lives next to campus in a dis-
trict-owned house with Hunsaker, his partner
of more than fi ve years. Shortly after leaving
Knappa, he was substituting for teachers and
administrators at Jewell, at one point stand-
ing in for Scott.
Before Knappa, Smyth was principal of
Springwater Trail High School in Gresham
for eight years, and at Sunrise Middle School
in Clackamas County for four years prior. He
said the plan was originally for him to lead
grades 7 through 12 and Scott kindergar-
ten through sixth grade . Hunsaker was not
immediately available for comment.
“It’s not as steep a learning curve,” Smyth
said of overseeing an estimated 160 students
at Jewell School, compared to about 500 in
Knappa.
“It’s just kind of destiny,” he said.
“You’ve just got to roll with your destiny. It
sure wasn’t what I thought it was going to
be or what I planned on, but it’s a really nice
fi t.”
Fisheries frustrations: State management under fi re
Fishermen lost
time waiting on
Washington rules
By KIMBERLY CAUVEL
Skagit Valley Herald
MOUNT VERNON, Wash.
— Although the region’s salmon
fi sheries are well into their sum-
mer seasons, much turmoil
remains concerning the man-
agement of the state’s fi sheries.
Fishermen lost time on area
rivers and lakes this spring
because the state and tribes had
trouble reaching an agreement
on seasons and allotments.
Those in fi sheries-related
businesses were hurt because
of the uncertainty over whether
fi shing would be allowed at all.
Others feel the fi sheries
confl ict drowned out other
issues, such as the battle to
bring a catch-and-release
steelhead fi shery back to the
upper Skagit River, reported
the Skagit Valley Herald .
Getting to an agreement
This year marked the fi rst
time in about 30 years that
the treaty tribes and the state
Department of Fish and Wild-
life, which co-manage the
region’s fi sheries, failed to
reach an agreement on sea-
sons and allotments by their
usual deadline, putting the
summer fi sheries in doubt.
With an agreement reached
in mid-May and approved
by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration in
mid-June, the summer seasons
started at their usual time. That
was good news for fi shermen.
More good news is that the
sockeye salmon runs came ear-
lier than expected and in larger
numbers than forecast, Fish &
Wildlife fi sheries planner Kirt
Hughes said.
That frustration over how
the seasons and allotments are
set remains.
“Things need to change.
Our state needs to do a better
Christina Becker/Skagit Valley Herald
See FISHERIES, Page 9A
Greg Howell boats back to shore after catching four fish in Bak-
er Lake. Howell said that the sockeye were jumping in July.