Seaside’s
Jackson Januik
144TH YEAR, NO. 149
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2017
SEAGULLS SOAR PAST VALLEY CATHOLIC
ONE DOLLAR
SPORTS • PAGE 10A
College opts out of timber suit
Follows county
in exit from case
MORE INSIDE
Benton County remains in suit on Page 2A
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Clatsop Community College
Board voted 4-3 Tuesday to opt out
of a timber lawsuit brought by Linn
County against the state.
The $1.4 billion claim alleges the
state has been in breach of a contrac-
tual obligation to maximize revenue
from timber harvests in favor of con-
servation and recreation goals.
The lawsuit was certifi ed as a
class action that could potentially
cover 15 counties and about 130 tax-
ing districts, including 30 in Clat-
sop County, which contains 23 per-
cent of the state forestland at issue.
Most counties and taxing districts
had to decide by today whether to
opt out of the legal action . Most
chose to take no action, by default
remaining plaintiffs .
The Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners voted to opt out
earlier this month, while the Port
of Astoria Commission voted to
stay involved . The Jewell School
Board posted the lawsuit as an
The Clatsop
Community
College Board
voted to opt
out of a $1.4
billion timber
suit against
the state.
Ted Shorack
The Daily Astorian
See TIMBER SUIT, Page 7A
CHOKE POINT
PORT OF PORTLAND’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
CALLS FOR INVESTMENT IN TRANSPORTATION
Lawmakers
seek to fi nd
compromise
on tax reform
Slow progress with just
a week before session
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
AP Photo/Don Ryan
SALEM — The heads of the state House
and Senate said Monday they still have not
brought together opposing sides over how to
fi x the state’s unstable revenue system and a
$1.8 billion shortfall in the next two years.
State House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Port-
land, and Senate President Peter Court-
ney, D-Salem, have been leading an effort
to negotiate a compromise between pub-
lic unions and business leaders. But they
are making slow progress with just a week
before the 160-day legislative session.
“I’m very discouraged right now,” Court-
ney said. “We do not have them in the room
together.”
Traffic gridlock in Portland has a ripple effect across the state.
‘I’m very
discouraged
right now.’
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
I
n a recent snowstorm, Port of Portland
Executive Director Bill Wyatt was in his
offi ce, looking at the clear, deiced run-
ways at the Portland International Airport.
Then he thought of the many people who
couldn’t get to the airport because of the
clogged or icy highways and roads.
“I think it’s a perfect metaphor, really, for
the value and the importance of transporta-
tion,” he said. “It’s great to have a wonder-
ful airport, but if you can’t get there, who
cares?”
During a luncheon Tuesday at the Bar-
bey Maritime Center with the North Coast’s
political and business movers and shakers,
and in a meeting with The Daily Astorian,
Wyatt pitched the need for consensus on a
new transportation funding package in the
legislative session that starts in February .
Wyatt, a 67-year -old native Astorian,
said the presentation would likely be his last
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
See TRANSPORTATION, Page 7A
Port of Portland Executive Director Bill Wyatt speaks to a crowd during an event Tues-
day at the Barbey Maritime Center in Astoria.
Peter Courtney, D-Salem
state Senate president
‘If we do nothing in Oregon this year, the state of Idaho will
spend more on road system improvements than Oregon will.
And … Idaho’s a state that’s about 10 percent our size.’
Bill Wyatt
The two groups last year waged the most
expensive political battle in the state’s his-
tory over a $6 billion corporate sales tax
measure. Voters overwhelmingly defeated
Measure 97 on the November ballot.
Since then, victorious business leaders
have acknowledged the state needs more
revenue stability. The state is overly depen-
dent on income-tax revenue, which fl uctu-
ates drastically with economic spikes and
dips. However, business leaders say they
won’t support new business taxes until law-
makers curtail rising costs associated with
the Public Employees Retirement System.
Courtney said he spurred the Legisla-
ture’s budget writers last week to release a
budget without any new revenue to give law-
makers a reality check on what they’re fac-
ing in terms of cuts. Budget writers unveiled
a plan that would entail kicking more than
350,000 people off Medicaid, larger class
sizes, university tuition hikes and cuts in
child welfare workers.
Beyond having informal meetings with
business and labor leaders, Gov. Kate Brown
See TAX REFORM, Page 7A
Port of Portland executive director
Space-age pod offers tsunami evacuation option
Klipsan woman
ready for worst
By DAMIAN MULINIX
For EO Media Group
KLIPSAN, Wash. — Jeanne
Johnson originally thought that
moving to the beach was a dream
best left for retirement. The child
of a Navy man, she grew up
moving from seaport to seaport.
“I love the ocean. It makes me
feel good,” she said.
P eople no longer have to live
where they work anymore. And
Johnson, a director of business
development at Microsoft, was
tired of living so far from the
water.
“I have a job where I can
work from anywhere, which is an
incredible blessing,” she said over
coffee at her new home in a gated
Klipsan, Washington, neighbor-
hood. “So where would you live
if you could live anywhere? It
certainly wasn’t where I was.”
But as soon as Johnson started
looking at the Columbia-Pacifi c
region, the fi rst thing that came
out of her friends’ mouths was
the word “tsunami.” So she bal-
anced the romantic draw of the
ocean with the pragmatism of a
planner and sought out the inno-
vative Survival Capsule.
A new start
Johnson — who survived a
second bout with cancer last year
— prides herself on her thor-
oughness, and weighed a number
of factors when choosing where
to live.
“I really wanted the Pacifi c
Ocean. I wanted good weather
most of the time. I really wanted
a low cost of living. You build
your wish list,” she explained.
She had originally settled on
Manta, Ecuador, an oceanfront
city with a European vibe and a
few thousand American expa-
triates . But fate had other plans
— as she was getting ready to
move there last spring, Ecuador
suffered a 7.8 magnitude earth-
quake that killed nearly 700
people.
See POD, Page 5A
Jeanne
Johnson’s
tsunami
pod weighs
300
pounds,
so she had
a custom
base with
locking
wheel roll-
ers made
in order to
easily
maneuver
it.
Damian
Mulinix
For EO Media
Group