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COAST WEEKEND: 2016 READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS INSIDE DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2017 144TH YEAR, NO. 150 ONE DOLLAR HOMECOMING NEW LEWIS AND CLARK SUPERINTENDENT SEES ‘MAGIC’ IN PARKS College vote on lawsuit invalid Error likely leaves college in timber suit By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Clatsop Community College will likely remain a plaintiff in Linn County’s timber lawsuit against the state after a board mem- ber’s vote was invalidated for being submit- ted by email. The college board voted 4-3 Tuesday to opt out of the $1.4 billion lawsuit. Chair- woman Rosemary Baker-Monaghan, Karen Burke and Robert Duehmig voted to stay in the lawsuit. Board members Patrick Wing- ard, Tessa Scheller and Anne Teaford-Cantor voted to opt out. Esther Moberg, who was not at the meet- ing and was unable to attend via telecon- ference, submitted her vote to opt out in an email, which Monaghan counted and nobody at the meeting challenged. The college said Wednesday that a con- cerned constituent contacted Burke and questioned the validity of Moberg’s vote. Lewis and Clark National Historical Park’s new Superintendent Jon Burpee stands outside Fort Clatsop on Tuesday. See COLLEGE, Page 7A By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian Graduation rates inch upward n a late summer Saturday in 1995, Jon Burpee vis- ited Fort Vancouver in Vancouver, Washington. He had just earned his bachelor’s degree in history at the University of Washington, and he was still figuring out what to do with it. Burpee had visited the fort, as well as Fort Clatsop, with his parents when he was about 8 years old. He credits park rangers for bringing the history of these two places to life and igniting in him a lifelong passion for history. But on that summer ‘A national day, the recent college gradu- ate was not as impressed with park is at the ranger who gave him a its best tour of the fort. “It really depressed me because it’s an amazing when it place,” Burpee said. “It made is of the me sad enough that I wanted to do something about it.” community The very next day, Burpee signed up as a vol- and not just unteer, beginning a decade- slong career with the National a national Park Service that has carried park that him to parks and monuments across the country. Last week, happens Burpee, 44, began his latest chapter as the superintendent to be in a of Lewis and Clark National community.’ Historical Park. Burpee replaces former Burpee superintendent Scott Tucker, Jon Lewis and Clark National who transferred to become Historical Park’s new superintendent of Sleeping superintendent Bear Dunes National Lake- shore in Michigan last June. Following his departure, Marcus Koenen served as interim superintendent. For Burpee, who grew up in Washington state and whose parents live in Longview, working at Lewis and Clark is a homecoming. Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian In Clatsop County, the Astoria School District’s graduation rate dropped 1.97 percentage points, from 74.83 percent in the 2014-15 school year to 72.86 per- cent in 2015-16. Seaside School District’s rate also fell by 1.03 points, from 75.41 per- cent in 2014-15 to 74.38 percent this past year. See BURPEE, Page 7A Lewis and Clark National Historical Park had a record number of visi- tors last year with 284,531 exploring the many trails and exhibits. See GRAD RATES, Page 7A O Mixed results in Clatsop County The Associated Press and The Daily Astorian Oregon’s high school graduation rate improved in 2016, but the results in Clatsop County were mixed. Figures released by the state today show 74.8 percent of students earned a diploma in four years, a percentage-point increase from the year before. Oregon regularly has one of the nation’s lowest graduation rates, and the uptick still leaves it below the national average of 83 percent. The state has set an ambitious goal of attaining a 100 percent graduation rate by 2025. At home Clatsop County worries about flu readiness Only a quarter have received shots locally By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian With the number of flu-re- lated deaths in Oregon on the rise this flu season, Clatsop County Public Health offi- cials are concerned that resi- dents are not sufficiently pre- pared for outbreaks. So far, only 26 percent of county residents have received flu shots, county immuniza- tion coordinator Nancy Maz- zarella-Tisch said. “Clatsop County is pretty embarrass- ingly low,” she said. The flu, which usually spreads across the United States from September through March, results in roughly 200,000 hospital- izations and 36,000 deaths nationally each year. Since the only way to confirm that someone has what officials call an influenza-like illness is through a mouth swab, the county cannot count the exact number of cases in a given season. There have been at least 200 confirmed cases in the county so far, but there likely are many more peo- ple who have not been tested, Public Health Director Mike E.J. Harris/EO Media Group County Public Health officials are worried about prepara- tions to combat the flu with only 26 percent immunized. McNickle said. So far, Oregon has docu- mented at least 83 outbreaks , defined as more than three flu cases in a confined group such as a retirement home or office space. Clatsop, Columbia, Lincoln and Tillamook coun- ties combined saw three out- breaks earlier this month, but none since, according to Ore- gon Health Authority statis- tics. Since mid-December, the number of visits to emergency rooms in the four counties has steadily risen from roughly 1 percent of all visits to 5 per- cent last week, according to the state. There is no way to tell if the number of influen- za-like illnesses has peaked yet for this season, Mazzarel- la-Tisch said. So far, three elderly res- idents who have died in See FLU, Page 7A
