DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2017
144TH YEAR, NO. 134
ALL TIED UP
CRAB BOATS STAY ANCHORED AS STRIKE EXTENDS UP AND DOWN WEST COAST
ONE DOLLAR
Wave of
vehicle
break-ins
hits county
Sheriff’s Office and
police investigating
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
Damian Mulinix/For EO Media Group
All packed up but nowhere to go is how many of the Ilwaco, Wash., crabbing fleet found themselves after a price strike put the
brakes on heading out. Fishermen are waiting for processors to bring prices back up to $3 a pound.
By PHOUNG LE
Associated Press
On Christmas Day, the Clatsop County
Sheriff’s Office was flooded with calls
related to vehicle breaks-in that occurred in
Svensen and Knappa. In one case, a Svensen
man lost about $4,000 worth of custom-made
steelhead fishing rods.
The string of thefts “probably happened
Christmas Eve night and into the early morn-
ing hours of Christmas,” Sgt. Jason Hoover,
of the Sheriff’s Office, said.
Then, on New Year’s Eve, rural War-
renton from roughly Ridge Road to Sunset
Beach got hit with more than a dozen simi-
lar crimes, including one involving a victim
who had about $500 in cash stolen.
More than 30 incidents of unauthorized
motor vehicle entry have been reported since
Christmas Eve — and those are just the
county cases. Astoria, Warrenton and Sea-
side police are also investigating a series of
thefts from vehicles, according to Hoover.
“Most of the time, when you have one
or two, you start having kind of a surge of
them,” he said.
In all but a few cases, the victims left their
vehicles unlocked, and in darkened drive-
ways, according to a Sheriff’s Office release.
See BREAK-INS, Page 7A
S
EATTLE — Dungeness crab could
be harder to come by if hundreds
of fishing boats remain tied up at
docks from California to Wash-
ington state by a dispute between crabbers
and seafood processors over the price of the
sought-after crustaceans.
Crab fleets that have been fishing in parts
of Oregon and near San Francisco are now
anchored, and other vessels in Washing-
ton state and Northern California have opted
not to go out as their season gears up, said
John Corbin, a commercial crab fisherman in
Warrenton and the chairman of the Oregon
Dungeness Crab Commission.
“We have about 1,200 boats that are tied
up and are willing to stay tied up until pro-
cessors bring the price back to $3 (a pound)”
from the latest offer of $2.75, Corbin said
Tuesday.
At Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco,
crab pots remained stacked up along the
docks during what typically would be a busy
season. From Half Moon Bay, California, to
Westport, Washington, crabbers said they
would stay put.
Larry Andre, a commercial crab fisherman
in Half Moon Bay who had been fishing since
November, said he supports the strike.
“We’re tying up because they’ve asked
us — other ports — to support them,” Andre
said.
‘This is one
beautiful
campus’
Museum will convert
auto shop into a pond
Dungeness crab sit in a bin near a boiler at Fisherman’s Wharf Tuesday in San Fran-
cisco. Dungeness crab could be harder to come by if fishers from Canada to North-
ern California continue their strike over the purchase price. The strike started Dec.
28, after Pacific Choice Seafood in Humboldt County, Calif., offered to pay $2.75 a
pound for the tasty crustacean. Crabbers whose seasons had already opened had
negotiated a price of $3 per pound.
Annette
Traverso
of the Ali-
oto-Lazio
Fish Co.
looks over
near-emp-
ty tanks
of Dunge-
ness crab
Tuesday.
Thousands of pounds
It doesn’t sound like much, but a quar-
ter drop in price is a lot when thousands of
pounds of crab is involved, he said, adding
that the situation is a lot harder on those who
have not yet started crabbing.
The commercial Dungeness crab sea-
son along the West Coast opened in waves
this year, and crabbers had been getting $3
a pound, Corbin and other fishermen said.
In some parts of Washington, Oregon and
California, crabbing was delayed as state
AP Photos/
Eric Risberg
See STRIKE, Page 7A
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
A sliver of commercial property off
Marine Drive will become a pond for sail-
ing model boats, part of the Columbia River
Maritime Museum’s vision for a park-like
campus around the Barbey Maritime Center.
The museum last week purchased North
Coast Auto Service from owner Denis Renaud
for $850,000. The auto repair shop will oper-
ate for up to two years before the conversion.
“For us, this completes the campus,”
said Sam Johnson, the museum’s director.
“There’s always more land here and there,
but for us, this is one beautiful campus.”
Long time coming
Johnson said the museum has been work-
ing with Renaud for several years to acquire
the property.
“I think Mr. Renaud was finally interested
in retiring, and we were concerned about the
property,” Johnson said. “He could have sold
that property to any number of people for
any number of uses.”
See MUSEUM, Page 7A
Pearl of Seaside hotel pleases city planners
Revised plan
wins consensus
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — The hurdles
that stalled a luxury hotel plan
on the Prom appear to have
been overcome as the Planning
Commission granted a variance
to allow the proposal to move
ahead.
Owner Antoine Simmons
of Pearl Coast Lodgings LLC
and architect David Vonada
appeared Tuesday night with
revised plans eliminating the
most contentious parts of the
Pearl of Seaside project that
was struck down by the City
Council on appeal last summer.
Simmons, with his wife,
Rocio, owns and operates four
boutique hotels in Seaside and
Cannon Beach, including Sea-
side’s Gilbert Inn and the Inn at
the Prom.
Plans for the Pearl called for
three stories, a penthouse floor
and tower roof.
A two-level parking garage
on Beach Drive with 41 inside
spaces would have been sup-
plemented with an additional
10 outdoor spaces on Avenue
A.
But minimum stall lengths,
back-out and lane widths
required a variance from the
Planning Commission. Sim-
mons also requested a height
variance of 7 feet because of
grade differences on various
parts of the property. After sev-
eral months of testimony, the
Planning Commission granted
both variances.
The parking plan was ulti-
mately rejected by the City
Council after an appeal by
neighbors.
‘Back to drawing board’
The new plan eliminates
the need for setback vari-
ances by reducing parking and
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
See HOTEL, Page 7A
The proposed location for the new hotel, Pearl of Seaside.