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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 2016)
ASTORIA FALL SPORTS PREVIEWS PAGES 10A-11A DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2016 144TH YEAR, NO. 44 ONE DOLLAR Geologist aims to shake up council Filing deadline for candidates was Tuesday By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Astoria High School senior Raina Christian begins construction Monday on an art installation that will be displayed at the Gar- den of Surging Waves during the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. ADOPTED ASTORIAN HONORS CHINESE HERITAGE High school senior celebrates Mid-Autumn Festival SEASIDE — Seaside might have felt a rumble as geologist and environmental con- sultant Tom Horning threw his hat in the ring in a bid for City Council. Horning will challenge Council President Don Johnson in Ward 3 in November. Horning, 62, is a lifelong Seaside resi- dent dedicated to rais- ing awareness of the unique and dire peril the city faces from its proximity to the Cas- cadia S ubduction Z one. “Tsunami prepared- ness should touch every issue,” Horn- Tom ing said. “I’m willing Horning to make tsunami pre- paredness the highest priority of the city.” In his opinion, the city administration is not doing enough. “The city likes to not rock the boat too much,” he said . “They like to appear in control.” Candidates for city elections had until Tuesday evening to fi le for the November ballot. See HORNING, Page 5A By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian No vote hackers A dopted at age 8 from the Guangxi province of China, Raina Chris- tian said she recently become interested in her heritage. The incom- ing Astoria High School senior started learning Mandarin again, and started searching for a senior project she was passionate about. “When the Garden of Surging Waves started, I remember being really fascinated that Astoria has such a deep Chinese history,” Chris- tian said. Christian connected her heritage with Astoria’s, and is organizing the area’s fi rst Mid-Autumn Festival around the full moon next month for her senior project. “It all kind of came together,” Christian said. “The garden was there, and I was asking about my heritage, and I was like, ‘Why don’t I just put on a celebration to cele- brate the Chinese heritage in Asto- ria. And I knew that one of the big- gest holidays — the Mid-Autumn Festival, or the Harvest Moon festi- val — was coming soon.” The Daily Astorian/File Photo See CHRISTIAN, Page 12A The story screen at the Garden of Surging Waves will be festooned with LED lights and red lanterns from Sept. 13 to 17 for a celebration of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. State takes measures to guard voter rolls from cyber criminals By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau ‘When the Garden of Surging Waves started, I remember being really fascinated that Astoria has such a deep Chinese history.’ Raina Christian SALEM — Oregon’s secretary of state says her agency has taken appropriate pre- cautions to minimize the risk that personal information submitted by the state’s voters could be hacked. In the wake of recent security breaches in Arizona and Illinois, state elections authori- ties received an alert from the FBI by way of the federal Election Assistance Commission. The FBI’s alert recommended states check whether certain IP addresses had attempted to access protected information maintained by state elections agencies. The recommendation was incorporated into the Secretary of State Offi ce’s ongoing security measures to protect the state’s cen- tralized voter registration database, Secre- tary of State Jeanne Atkins said Tuesday. Astoria High School senior See HACKERS, Page 5A Across the river, ‘A gun without bullets’ Washington State Patrol’s new communications system makes it hard for cops to communicate By NATALIE ST. JOHN EO Media Group LONG BEACH, Wash. — So far, Washington State Patrol’s fl awed “P25” radio communica- tions system has cost taxpay- ers $40 million. Many of the state’s roughly 600 troopers are concerned about paying a more personal price for the new “nar- rowband” digital radio sys- tem — they say it could cost a trooper his or her life. A critical August Perfor- mance Audit from the Wash- ington State Auditor’s Offi ce , and other related public records confi rm something skeptics of the ambitious proj- ect have been saying for quite some time: While P25 has a lot of bells and whistles, right now at least, it can’t ensure that troopers in rural areas can communicate reliably, or get help quickly. That compro- mises the safety of offi cers, and the public at large, audi- tors said. Many critics of P25 agree. “Law enforcement has never been a more dangerous profession,” Washington State Troopers Association Presi- dent Jeff Merrill said Saturday. “To take away our primary tool — a working radio — is tantamount to giving us a gun without bullets.” Local consequences In a lengthy report, audi- tors concluded that the ongo- ing project, which will cost at least $53 million, has been plagued by missed deadlines, misunderstandings, unantic- ipated technical problems, a lack of transparency, mounting expenses and underwhelming results . Of particular concern to local cops, the auditors found that in some rural areas, includ- ing parts of Pacifi c and Wah- kiakum counties, coverage has actually gotten worse. Certain new features don’t work reli- ably, or don’t work at all. Other local agencies, which are all still using older analog sys- tems, can no longer hear troop- ers over the radio, so troopers now have to rely on a network of state and local dispatchers to convey calls for emergency backup. Critics of the project think this dangerous commu- nications gap could also widen the cultural gap between state cops — Department of Fish and Wildlife and Department of Natural Resources also use WSP’s radio system — and the local cops they work with on a daily basis. See SYSTEM, Page 7A
