3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2016
Filling Empty Bellies
needs a county license
Buck provides
free lunches
downtown
By DERRICK
DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Corri Buck is learn-
ing even good deeds require
paperwork.
Buck, who has served free
lunches to the homeless in
Astoria on weekdays since
November 2014, has been
told by Clatsop County she
needs a license or she has to
stop.
The county has determined
that Buck’s Filling Empty
Bellies mission is a “benevo-
lent meal site,” so she needs
a temporary restaurant license
from the county to satisfy
state food sanitation rules.
“I am going to have a
picnic in the park with my
friends,” Buck said deiantly
Thursday afternoon while
serving spaghetti, peaches,
rolls and snickerdoodles to
the homeless from the back
of her Ford Edge at Peoples
Park.
Michael McNickle, the
county’s environmental health
supervisor, said he wants to
work with Buck on obtaining
the license quickly. Buck said
she already has a food han-
dler card, another government
requirement.
The state’s food sanita-
tion rules apply to organiza-
tions and individuals who dis-
tribute home-prepared food to
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Corri Buck hugs Chris Crone before handing out food and
supplies to people in the parking lot of 12th Street and
Exchange Street in 2015.
the needy. The intent is to help
make sure the food is safe and
wholesome.
“What it does is gives us
a record so in case there is a
foodborne illness or another
illness that comes from that,
we have a way to track those
back,” McNickle said.
McNickle said the county
is not trying to stop Buck. “I
don’t want to shut her down.
I just want to make her legal,”
he said. “And, also, it protects
her as well as us.”
Location issues
Buck has said she started
her mission after God told
her to feed the homeless. She
used to drive around down-
town before setting up noon
outposts outside the American
Legion, at the Astoria Armory
and, now, at Peoples Park at
16th Street.
Filling Empty Bellies left
the Armory in July after com-
plaints from some neighbors
and concern from Armory
board members. While most
of the homeless who would
come for lunch behaved,
there were instances of pub-
lic defecation, squatting, drug
exchanges and drunkenness.
“Unfortunately, like is
often the case, there’s a few
bad apples that ruin things
for everybody,” said Bruce
Jones, the president of the
Armory’s board.
Riverfolk, which has the
proper licensing, now pro-
vides food to the homeless
at the Armory on Sundays.
Buck, Jones said, seemed
resistant to regulation.
“She was frustrated,
because what she wants to
do is serve lunch, and she
does that very well,” Jones
said. “She doesn’t want to
deal with the other issues.
That’s not what she wants to
be bothered with.”
Jones, a former com-
mander of U.S. Coast Guard
Sector Columbia River who
is running for City Council,
said the food sanitation rules
are not overly burdensome.
“You have to kind of expect,
in 2016, you can’t just serve
meals out of a car and not
expect the health department
to eventually show up,” he
said.
Some
social-service
experts discourage giving
free food to the homeless
without also steering peo-
ple toward housing assis-
tance programs, mental
health counseling or drug
and alcohol abuse treat-
ment. Free lunches, some
worry, enable people to
live on the streets instead
of seeking help.
But Buck shakes off phil-
osophical questions about
the best way to respond to
homelessness and zeroes in
on the basic fact that hungry
people need to eat.
“These people are hun-
gry,” she said. “They have
the absolute right to eat a
meal.”
Multiple agencies help in serious rollover on Highway 26
The Daily Astorian
A log truck that rolled over
after a crash on Highway 26
Thursday caused serious inju-
ries and closed the highway for
several hours.
Hamlet Fire was called to
assist Elsie-Vinemaple ire
with the incident in front of
Baker’s General Store. Units
from Banks and Seaside ire
departments were called in to
assist as well.
The investigation found
that a loaded log truck, oper-
ated by John Thomas Budge,
55, of Vernonia, was traveling
westbound on Highway 26,
just passing the Elderberry Inn
Restaurant, when it struck the
rear of a 2003 Ford F550 tow
truck, operated by Fred Baltin
Miller, 72, of Seaside.
The log truck traveled
off the roadway, struck an
embankment, overturned and
lost the load of logs across the
roadway.
At the time of the crash,
several Oregon State Police
Fish and Wildlife Division
Troopers had just arrived at
the Elderberry Inn Restau-
rant for a scheduled meeting
and quickly took control of
the scene, supplying irst aid
to the injured operator of the
log truck. The troopers utilized
their patrol vehicles to stabi-
lize the truck and trailer until
ire personnel arrived, as well
as assisted Hamlet Fire & Res-
cue in extricating Budge, who
was trapped.
Budge was transported to
Oregon Health & Science Uni-
versity by Life Flight with
serious injuries. Miller, sus-
tained minor injuries and went
to a local hospital. The investi-
gation continues.
Highway 26 was closed for
4.5 hours for the investigation.
“When we arrived, there
were logs on the highway,
on the shoulder — a little of
SHANGHAIED
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Submitted Photo
Crews respond to a log
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(Behind the Chamber
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everywhere,” Seaside Fire
Chief Joey Daniels said. “We
helped picking stuff up, helped
with trafic control after they
shut down the highway.”
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Construction started this week on a new Panda Ex-
press at the corner of Ensign and Discovery lanes in
Warrenton.
New Panda Express
coming to Warrenton
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON
—
Panda Express is coming to
Warrenton.
The American Chinese
food chain started construction
this week on a new location at
the corner of Discovery and
Ensign lanes in the North Coast
Retail Center, slated to open in
December.
“We see tremendous poten-
tial in this region so we are very
excited for the opportunity to
offer additional jobs to resi-
dents and become ingrained
in the community,” Thien Ho,
a spokeswoman for Panda
Express, said in a statement.
The company is the larg-
est Asian-themed restaurant
chain in the U.S., with more
than 1,900 locations. Warren-
ton’s is the irst coastal loca-
tion north of the San Francisco
metro area. The nearest loca-
tions to Warrenton are in Hills-
boro, Cornelius and Longview,
Washington.
Vince Ibarra, senior real
Submitted Photo
American Chinese food
chain Panda Express re-
cently updated its logo
and building exteriors.
estate analyst for Panda
Express, said Warrenton had
been on the company’s radar
for about three years because
of retail activity in the area and
the proximity to Astoria and
Seaside.
“Warrenton has deinitely
been a top target for us, but we
will continue to look at all mar-
kets along the coast,” he said.
“Each store opening gives us
the opportunity to welcome
20 (to) 25 new associates from
the local community into the
Panda family, and we’re very
optimistic about our growth
prospects in the area.”
In Loving Memory of
Annabel Margaret “Ann” Myers
The family of Ann Myers
invites you to sign the
guestbook of her online memorial at
www.OceanViewAstoria.com.
Please share a favorite memory or story
while you are there.
Thank you for your thoughts and support.
Lorraine Smith, Daughter
John Myers and Bruce Myers, Sons
Ocean View Funeral and Cremation Services
1213 Franklin Avenue | Astoria, Oregon 97103
503-338-7200