7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2017
Break-ins: Keep cars locked, parked in well-lit areas
Continued from Page 1A
“And they’re leaving some
very valuable items inside of
those vehicles,” said Hoover,
who is investigating the case
with Deputy Nate Baldwin.
Possessions reported sto-
len include firearms, binoc-
ulars, electronic equipment,
Christmas presents and hun-
dreds of dollars in cash.
Interestingly, the thieves
in the Svensen-Knappa
area took big-ticket items,
whereas those in rural War-
renton took only money and
left expensive objects behind.
“It could have been a lot, lot
worse than it was,” Hoover
said.
Property protection
Law enforcement agen-
cies urge people to keep their
cars locked, parked in well-
lit areas and the alarms acti-
vated. Anyone planning to
leave a car overnight, or to be
away from it for a significant
period of time, is encouraged
to remove all valuable items.
Homeowners with security
cameras may want to keep
one trained on their vehicles,
the Sheriff’s Office said.
“It’s little things that can
keep people from being vic-
tims,” Hoover said.
In addition, vacationers
can ask the Sheriff’s Office to
conduct extra patrols of their
home and property.
Lastly, the Sheriff’s Office
recommends that people
update their list of high-value
items with make, model and
serial number.
“This will assist investi-
gating deputies and officers
enter your stolen items into
our database if you are unfor-
tunate to become a victim of a
theft or burglary,” the release
said. “This also will assist
investigators in positively
identifying stolen property,
when recovered, and attach
these items with suspects.”
Hoover said the inves-
tigation is ongoing, but
added that he and Baldwin
have promising leads in the
Svensen-Knappa cases. The
Sheriff’s Office was able to
recover some, though not all,
of the fishing rods and return
them to the Svensen man.
City residents with infor-
mation on possible suspects,
or with questions regard-
ing property protection, are
asked to contact their city
police department. County
residents can contact the
Sheriff’s Office at 503-325-
8635 and ask for Hoover or
Baldwin.
Museum: Auto shop
owner plans to stay
open ‘at least another
couple of years’
Continued from Page 1A
As part of the deal, the
museum will lease North
Coast Auto’s building to the
company for up to two years.
“I’m 76 right now,”
Renaud said, adding that he
and his wife, Mariena, were
looking to retire. On Monday,
Renaud said, he informed his
employees.
“They still have work,”
he said. “We’ll still have the
place open, and it will be
for at least another couple of
years.”
Depot commons
Damian Mulinix/For EO Media Group
Crab fishermen head back to land after packing up the fishing vessel Noyo Dawn in anticipation of the opening of com-
mercial crab season. A 25 cent price difference has halted the season’s start up and down the coast.
Strike: ‘It’ll definitely put a pinch on supply’
Continued from Page 1A
officials tested for domoic acid
to ensure crabs were safe to
eat.
Just before Christmas,
Pacific Choice Seafood in
Eureka, California, dropped
the price to $2.75 a pound
to local fishermen, said Ken
Bates, vice president of the
Humboldt Fishermen’s Mar-
keting Association. Dunge-
ness prices could go lower
in following seasons if that
lower price holds, he worried.
“When Pacific Group
decided in Humboldt County
to reduce the price, they fig-
ured that this place would
fold,” Bates said. “It didn’t.
Fishermen didn’t go fishing
for that price.”
Pacific Choice Seafood
and Oregon-based Pacific
Seafood, which owns Pacific
Choice, did not immedi-
ately respond to requests for
comment.
Corbin said other proces-
sors have joined in offering
$2.75 a pound. The 25-cent
price difference could mean
about $7,000 to $10,000 a
boat for smaller operations,
Bates said.
Strikes have happened
before as Dungeness crab
AP Photo/Eric Risberg
Crab pots sit on a processing pier and the back of a boat
at Fisherman’s Wharf.
fishermen and seafood pro-
cessors haggle over the open-
ing price of the sweet crusta-
cean. It remains unclear what
impact it will have on supply.
Tribal fleets in Washing-
ton state continue to crab,
and crabbing is happening in
Puget Sound as well. So there
is some crab on the market.
“There’s going to be some
fresh crab in Washington state,
but not big volumes like what
you’ll see when the whole
coast opens up,” Corbin said.
Bill Currie, a crab fisher-
man based out of Westport,
Washington, said he’s watch-
ing to see what others do when
the crabbing season north of
Long Beach kicks off. Fish-
Continued from Page 1A
eliminating four second-floor
rooms. The second floor —
the main level— will now be
dedicated to parking and some
office space, Simmons said.
“We eliminated the ocean-
front second floor,” Simmons
said after the meeting. “It takes
away our oceanfront, which
is costly, but overall will give
us enough rooms to make it
feasible.”
The building will have
sloped roofs and dormer win-
dows, with an 80-foot tower,
an architectural feature already
allowed as an exception to
the building height under city
ordinance.
Neighboring buildings are
close to or exceed the requested
building height, according to
Vonada.
Because of an 8-foot grade
difference between the east and
west sides of the building, an
additional variance was needed
to allow the increase to 60 feet
for the roof height at the west
building wing, an addition of
15 feet over the 45 feet allowed
by current zoning.
According to Vonada’s
project narrative, the building
will “fill the gap” that currently
exists between the Worldmark
Neighbors object
Neighbors Susan and Dan
Calef, whose home at 25 Ave-
nue A is adjacent to the pro-
posed structure, said they fear
the new hotel will block their
views and sunlight.
“We have some concerns
Opening the view
The museum acquired
the Barbey Maritime Center,
then a run-down train depot,
in 1986 from the Burlington
Northern Santa Fe railroad.
The building was used as a
wood shop to build a gillnet
fishing boat displayed in the
museum’s main exhibit hall.
In 2010, the museum began a
$2.5 million restoration of the
train depot, which is some-
what hidden to drivers com-
ing from the east into Astoria.
“It opens up the view
entirely,” Johnson said of raz-
ing North Coast Auto. “It will
be protected forever.”
The most valuable and
respected source of local news,
advertising and information for
our communities.
www.eomediagroup.com
ermen will be allowed to set
gear today ahead of a Satur-
day start.
“If everybody stays, I’ll
stay. I’m not going to be going
out,” Currie said.
He said a $2.75 per pound
price seems reasonable,
though $3 would be better.
Mike Shirley, who buys
crab wholesale from fish-
ermen at facilities in Ore-
gon and Washington, said
“until this dispute is resolved,
we’re standing united with the
whole process and not buying
any kind of crab.”
“This doesn’t just affect
one side, it affects every-
body,” said Shirley, who
co-owns Garibaldi Landing
Hotel: ‘We have a lot of work in front of us’
and adjacent hotels and condo-
miniums to the south.
The Inn at the Prom,
described as ‘generally in
poor condition and in need
of replacement,” will be
demolished.
Vonada described the neigh-
boring Beach Drive lot as an
“eyesore for tourists who can
readily view it from the Prom
walkway and guest rooms in
the taller neighboring building.
It is the goal of this develop-
ment to combine both parcels
and develop a hotel that fits the
context of its location in an aes-
thetically pleasing manner.”
Without a height variance,
the proposed development
would have been reduced by
two stories — approximately
20 units — and “render the
project infeasible.”
“As you can see our goal
was to go back to the draw-
ing board, figure out a way to
do this with some of our neigh-
bors,” Simmons said.
Fishermen and Ilwaco Land-
ing Fishermen, which offers
commercial seafood offload-
ing, processing and other ser-
vices. About 20 employees
are at home as a result, he
said.
“I hope we get this settled,
and everybody can get back
to work,” Corbin said. “It will
definitely put a pinch on sup-
ply eventually, but we hope
it doesn’t go on forever here.
It’s getting to be a matter of
principle at this point.”
Johnson said the museum
is contracting with an architect
to design what will be known
as the depot commons, a park-
like setting based around the
Barbey Maritime Center.
North Coast Auto will be
razed and replaced by a small
pond — a minimum of 20
feet in diameter and 18 inches
deep — for sailing model
boats. Johnson said the con-
version creates more oppor-
tunities for the museum’s
science, technology, engi-
neering, arts and mathemat-
ics educational programs. The
museum already has students
coming to the Barbey Mari-
time Center to build robots,
testing them in a backyard
pool.
“They are perfect teaching
tools,” Johnson said of model
boats. “They are relatively
inexpensive and come in a
wide variety of styles.”
Although gated off, he
said, the pond will be open at
times to the public for sailing
their own boats.
about the size of the structure
coming up around us,” Dan
Calef said. “We are concerned
that our house will be com-
pletely dwarfed by this.”
Calef said he feared the
home would be “completely in
the shade.”
“Any sun we get really
helps the house dry out a lot,”
he added.
Susan Calef said she was
distressed by extra traffic and
a loss of privacy from the new
hotel.
The family’s concerns were
not enough to sway planning
commissioners.
“I, as all of the voting mem-
bers of this body when this
came to us, last time voted in
favor of it,” Commissioner
Richard Ridout said. “Now
it is much more palatable to
most people having objections
and I would certainly vote for
it. I have no problem with the
height. It looks right, it fits
right.”
Commissioners Bill Car-
penter, Chris Hoth, Ray
Romine and Steve Wright
added their votes in unani-
mously granting the height
variance.
“We have a lot of work in
front of us,” Simmons said
after the meeting.
Your partner in
Health & Wellness
What are your goals this year?
Get Fit
• Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehab 503-338-4052
• A Matter of Balance class 503-338-7564
• Strong Women, Strong Bones class 503-338-7564
• Tai Chi 503-338-7564
Manage Pain
• Physical Therapy Services 503-338-7555
• Chronic Pain Management class 503-338-7564
Eat Healthier
• Diabetes Education 503-338-4012
• Living Well with Diabetes class 503-338-7564
• Healthy Eating for Successful Living class 503-338-7564
Quit Tobacco
• Tobacco Cessation 503-338-7564
Help Others
• Volunteer 503-325-4321
• Donate 503-325-3208
Make the
Call!
2111 Exchange Street, Astoria, Oregon • 503-325-4321
www.columbiamemorial.org