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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 2016)
MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: AREA TEAMS TAKE THE FIELD SPORTS 10A DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2016 144TH YEAR, NO. 78 ONE DOLLAR Brown to keep death penalty ban if elected Associated Press Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian PORTLAND — If elected in November, Gov. Kate Brown plans to maintain a mora- torium on the death penalty in Oregon. Spokesman Bryan Hockaday told The Oregonian Monday that Brown has made clear her personal opposition to capital punishment and her support of the current moratorium. Former Gov. John Kitzhaber announced the moratorium two weeks before the scheduled 2011 execu- tion of Gary Haugen. Gov. After Brown took over Kate Brown the ofice in Febru- ary 2015, she said she would continue the halt to executions until further study. Hockaday said the governor directed her general counsel to review the policy and practical implications of the state’s capital punishment law. He said Brown will con- tinue the moratorium because “serious con- cerns remain about the constitutionality and workability of the law.” Reasons for her decision include the “uncertainty of Oregon’s ability to acquire the necessary execution drugs required by statute,” Hockaday said in an email. “Look- ing nationally, America is on the verge of a Seaside School District Superintendent-emeritus Doug Dougherty shows the conditions of the boiler room at Gearhart Grade School on Thursday in Seaside. Passage of a $99.7 million bond proposal would allow the schools to move to a new campus. See BAN, Page 7A Infrastructure woes add to tsunami fears Social Security recipients get drop in bucket By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press I t’s one thing to hear about the crum- bling condition of Seaside’s high school, middle school and Gearhart Elementary School. It’s another to take a tour and see them irsthand. Even on a relatively good day there’s no masking the horizontal and vertical cracks on walls in each of the schools. It’s hard to miss the weird metal covers adhering to the Seaside High School gymnasium roofs, used to block rusted metal clips used as roof tie-downs that break off and fall onto the gymnasium loor. Administrators worry that one could pop out and strike a student. Replacement cost is an estimated $577,000. On a rainy day, the buckets in the com- puter room ill not only with classroom trash but the steady drips from a ceiling where plugging holes is like playing whack- a-mole. Pine needles get stuck on scuppers and rainwater leaks through the building’s stucco walls and onto warped and uneven loors. And at Broadway Middle School, a trip to the boiler room reveals a running pond forming on the ground underneath anti- quated machinery, as a sump pump churns to calm the rising low. Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Seaside High School Head Custodian Lonnie Lear looks up at one of the panels missing from the ceiling because of water damage in one of the computer labs. Encapsulated asbestos is a problem at Seaside’s schools. R.J. Marx The Daily Astorian See SEASIDE, Page 7A WASHINGTON — Millions of Social Security recipients and federal retirees will get a 0.3 percent increase in monthly bene- its next year, the ifth year in a row that older Americans will have to settle for historically low raises. There was no increase this year. Next year’s beneit hike will be small because inlation is low, driven in part by lower fuel prices. The federal government announced the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, Tues- day morning. By law, the COLA is based on a government measure of consumer prices. The COLA affects more than 70 million people — about 1 in 5 Americans. The average monthly Social Security payment is $1,238. That translates into a monthly increase of less than $4 a month. Medicare Part B More bad news for seniors: Medi- care Part B premiums, which are usually deducted from Social Security payments, are expected to increase next year to the point in which they will probably wipe out the entire COLA. See SOCIAL Security, Page 5A Cannon Beach wants disabled beachgoers ready to roll Chamber leads effort to buy beach-access wheelchairs By LYRA FONTAINE The Daily Astorian CANNON BEACH — Unlike neighboring cities Sea- side and Manzanita, Cannon Beach does not offer beach-ac- cessible wheelchairs for visitors. The Chamber of Com- merce and partners Remax Coastal Advantage, Martin Hospitality and Escape Lodg- ing hope to bring sand-friendly wheelchairs to Cannon Beach by next summer. At a City Council work session last week, the city agreed to work with the chamber on the acces- sibility project, which could mean storing the wheelchairs at City Hall. Chamber representatives said the wheelchairs would enhance visitor experience and allow beach access for disabled people outside of a vehicle. “Sadly, not all of our guests are able to experience the magniicent wonder of Ore- gon because of disabilities,” said Matthew Weintraub, the chamber’s destination mar- keting manager. “The project needs the city’s involvement to be executed as effectively as possible. One of the major reasons we’d like the city to be a stakeholder and possibly take spatial ownership of these chairs is that you’re in close proximity to the ADA-accessi- ble ramp by the beach.” The chamber seeks to pur- chase one adult chair and one youth chair that would be free for public use. The nonmotor- ized beach wheelchairs have a base cost of $2,500 each and include 4- to 5-inch-wide tires that keep the chair above sand, Weintraub said. See CHAMBER, Page 5A The Cannon Beach Cham- ber of Com- merce is lead- ing an effort to purchase beach-friendly wheelchairs. A beach wheelchair from Deming Designs is shown. Deming Designs
