ILWACO WRESTLES WAY TO TOP AT ANNUAL WARRIOR INVITE SPORTS • 10A
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 118
ONE DOLLAR
Seaside
ex-Mayor
Larson
dies at 80
It’s a
bird,
a plane
… a
buoy?
Outgoing leader fought
long bout with cancer
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Seaside’s longtime Mayor
Don Larson died Sunday afternoon at his
home in Seaside after a long bout with can-
cer. He was 80 years old.
“This is a major-league loss is the best
way I can put it,” City Manager Mark Win-
stanley said. “The
mayor was one of the
most outgoing may-
ors that I have ever
experienced.”
Larson served as
Seaside’s mayor from
2002 to November,
when he stepped down
from his post. Prior to
becoming mayor, he
Don
served on the city’s
Larson
Planning Commission
before being elected to the City Council in
2002.
A member of Clatsop County’s Pub-
lic Safety Board, Larson was recognized as
Mayor of the Year by the League of Oregon
Cities in 2009.
See LARSON, Page 7A
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
A U.S. Army Chinook helicopter from Washington’s Joint Base Lewis-McChord flies over the Columbia River delivering a stranded
buoy picked up from a beach near the entrance of Tillamook Bay to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Aids to Navigation Team Astoria on Tongue
Point for repair on Monday. The buoy weighs 14,000 pounds and was high and dry on the beach, necessitating a pickup by helicopter.
U.S. Army copter
helps deliver
stranded buoy
Johnson steps aside
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
The Daily Astorian
T
he U.S. Coast Guard needed to recover a
buoy that usually marks the navigational
channel into Tillamook Bay but had
beached south of the entrance. The device
was beached too far inland to be recovered by
a boat, and at 14,000 pounds was too heavy
for the Coast Guard’s Jayhawk helicopters.
A U.S. Army Chinook helicopter from
Joint Base Lewis-McChord helped out Mon-
day, landing on the beach, roping the buoy
and lifting it off the beach. The Army air crew
flew the buoy along the North Coast and into
the mouth of the Columbia River, dropping
the device in front of the Coast Guard’s Aids
to Navigation Team at Tongue Point. The
crew of the cutter Fir, a buoy tender, pulled
the device in.
Barber
is named
Seaside
mayor
Petty Officer 1st Class Levi Read/U.S. Coast Guard
A U.S. Army Chinook helicopter from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington pre-
pares to pick up a 14,000-pound buoy that washed ashore just south of the entrance
to Tillamook Bay. The Army flew the buoy, which normally marks the navigable chan-
nel into Tillamook Bay, to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Aids to Navigation Team in Astoria.
SEASIDE — Jay Barber became mayor
Monday night, following in the footsteps
of former Mayor Don Larson, who died
Sunday.
At the council’s last meeting, Barber put
his name forward to fill Larson’s unexpired
term. City Council President Don Johnson
did the same. But before a City Council vote
was held, Johnson withdrew his name from
consideration.
“There comes a time to step back and let
others carry the torch as Mayor Larson and
I have done for many years,” Johnson said.
“I believe it is now time for me to pass that
torch. It pleases me to nominate Jay Barber
to fill the mayor’s term.”
See BARBER, Page 7A
Astoria violated drinking water standard
Water is still
safe to drink
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Submitted Image
The Bear Creek watershed is the source of
Astoria’s drinking water.
Astoria violated a federal
drinking water standard this
year after using a higher than
normal amount of chlorine to
treat organic matter in the water
supply.
The city said residents do
not have to boil water or take
any other precautions. Peo-
ple who are elderly, pregnant,
have an infant or have severely
compromised immune systems,
however, could be at increased
risk and should seek medi-
cal advice about drinking city
water.
The city expects to have the
problem fixed by the end of
December.
Customers will be noti-
fied next week of the viola-
tion to satisfy a public disclo-
sure requirement by the Oregon
Health Authority.
The contaminant level in
the water is not an emergency.
The city has to notify custom-
ers within 24 hours when there
is an emergency.
“I’m still drinking the
water,” said Ken Cook, the
director of the city’s Public
Works Department.
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
See WATER, Page 7A
Jay Barber is sworn in as Seaside may-
or by City Manager Mark Winstanley.