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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 2017)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2017 Trolley: Old 300 needs more volunteers Continued from Page 1A Cordero, bookkeeper for the group, said volunteers are cog- nizant that every $1 added to the fare could double the asso- ciation’s revenue, but are still hesitant to raise rates. “I fear that we’d lose vol- unteers if we do that,” she said, adding the novelty of a passenger’s $1 ride is part of what draws out many volunteers. Frank Kemp, a mainte- nance coordinator and sev- en-year volunteer with the trolley, said some conductors are advertising a $2 all-day fare to help boost revenue, but only voluntarily. “That’s part of the aura … of the trolley, is being able to ride for $1,” he said. Funding for trolley track maintenance has historically come from lodging taxes in the Promote Astoria fund. Estes said the City Council has agreed to cover mainte- nance costs this year, but with the understanding that the trolley association will share in the costs moving forward. He said looking at fair increases is one way to create more revenue throughout the trolley’s operation. “You can only make so much money from spaghetti feeds,” Estes said. Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Ted Langdon, the Astoria Riverfront Trolley scheduler, works on the exterior of the trolley. Old 300 is 93 years old and needs plenty of maintenance. This old trolley Last week, Kent Taylor joined Kemp and a couple of other volunteers patching dry rot, checking the brakes and polishing the windows of Old 300 — 93 years old, to be exact — which undergoes maintenance throughout the winter months while off duty. “It’s like an old house,” Taylor said of his minor inci- sions to remove and replaster areas of dry rot on the wood paneling. “You don’t want to go exploring much.” Kemp said luckily every- thing on Old 300, a former municipal trolley in San Anto- nio, was meant to be replaced. The trolley association scours the country for parts, which Kemp said has become more difficult as other cities have started their own rides. Taylor, who’s been with the association three years, said he needed something to do after having worked his whole life before retiring to Astoria from Indiana. Work- ing on the trolley during the down season helps keep him busy. Come spring and sum- mer, he said, “That’s the perk, Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian ABOVE: Kent Taylor, a volunteer with the Astoria River- front Trolley, works on touching up sections of paint on Old 300. RIGHT: Trolley volunteer Russ Thompson works to fix up the trolley. being able to drive.” Conductors on the trolley act as ambassadors, sharing history of the area and meet- ing tourists from around the world. Volunteer coordina- tor and motorman/conductor Russ Thompson said he still trades letters with a couple from Germany who wanted their picture taken with a trolley conductor. But giving all those visi- tors a special experience takes a lot of manpower. “It takes 28 people a week to run this thing” in peak season, he said. A youthful core Thompson said the trol- ley has about 30 core conduc- tors, but would like to have 50 to lessen the load on oth- ers. Conductors need only be 18 and have a driver’s license. But as with many other volunteer groups, the trol- ley’s conductors are decidedly above retirement age. Cordero said that besides herself and another woman in her early 30s, the average age of con- ductors is in the 70s. Several high school seniors have tried the trolley as a senior project, she said, but none stuck with it. “I don’t know why younger people don’t volun- teer,” she said. “It’s not a big time commitment.” Conductors sign up online for whichever shifts fit their schedules. Some conductors take only one three-hour run a month. Cordero said she works seven days a week and has never found conducting for the trolley too much of a time crunch. “It’s kind of my social life,” she said. “I do it because I enjoy it. It’s fun. Rather than going and sitting in a bar, I’d rather drive a trolley.” Syphilis: County to request up Bill: Michigan is the only state to $10,000 to counter outbreak in US with a 10-cent deposit Continued from Page 1A Continued from Page 1A Syphilis is an infection spread through contact with sores during vaginal, anal or oral sex, according to the fed- eral Centers for Disease Con- trol and Prevention. Infected mothers can also transmit the infection to their unborn babies. The infection is typi- cally treated with antibiot- ics. Left untreated, the dis- ease can cause serious health complications. McNickle noticed that the problem was “out of con- trol” after reviewing the data in late 2016. State offi- cials based their decision to declare an outbreak on the fact that last year’s num- bers were outside of the nor- mal parameters, McNickle said. “In order for the funds to be available to address this issue the way it should be, it needed to be declared an out- break,” he said. below 80 percent for two consecutive years. Unre- deemed deposits are kept by distributors. In both 2014 and 2015, the return rate was below 80 per- cent, and so the deposit will double April 1. Under the proposed law, containers that don’t have the correct deposit amount on the label will be allowed in stores until Sept. 1, 2018. It’s not clear how the bill will pencil out, though. “Can you kind of describe how this will work and why this seems to work OK?” Rep. Phil Barnhart, D-Eugene, said during the committee hear- ing Wednesday. “I don’t think we have a bunch of opponents coming in here because they have to come up with a nickel they didn’t collect.” Paul Romain, an attorney and lobbyist for the Oregon Beer and Wine Distributors Association, acknowledged that money could be lost. He said Barnhart’s inquiry was the “big 64,000-dollar question, except it’s more than $64,000.” “Whenever you start a sys- tem, you have a transition period,” Romain said. “It’s a risk, frankly, that the indus- try has to take to make the transition.” Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-On- tario said the bill was “nec- essary to allow the transition, even though the program has Funds to fight The county will file paperwork requesting up to $10,000 to counter the out- break, McNickle said. The funds will go toward sup- plies and staff time at special clinics. Once the health depart- ment knows how much fund- ing it will receive from the state, it will schedule special clinics in Seaside and Astoria to treat those with the infec- tion as well as their partners, Wikimedia Commons A poster from the Works Progress Administration from around the 1930s-1940s, when penicillin was first being used to treat syphilis. McNickle said. The health department also will reach out to the Clatsop County Jail about screening those who are booked on methamphet- amine charges. But officials are hop- ing residents can avoid these steps. “Prevention is the best cure from a public health per- spective, so please use protec- tion when engaging in sexual activities” McNickle said. AP Photo/Don Ryan Used bottles are redeemed at a bottle collection site in Beaverton in 2011. That year, the Legislature passed a law requiring the deposit increase to 10 cents should the rate of return dip below 80 percent for two consecutive years. big holes in it.” Romain said the group he represents also initially resisted the deposit increase. 10 cents in Michigan Michigan, the only other state with a 10-cent deposit, had a 94.2 percent return rate in 2014, according to the Michigan State Treasury. A lobbyist for the Brewers Guild also testified in support of the bill. The Oregon Liquor Con- trol Commission is responsi- ble for administering the bottle deposit program. Although the agency didn’t take an official stance on the legislation, its administra- tive policy and process direc- tor, Jesse Sweet, said the bill would create a “grace period” in the transition to the 10-cent deposit and provide “neces- sary flexibility” for retailers. Starting Jan. 1. the state is also going to require depos- its on additional types of bev- erage containers — such as kombucha.
