144TH YEAR, NO. 166
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2017
Rohne
Bringing Clatsop Care Center
files for
BACK FROM THE BRINK Port seat
Former county
commissioner may
challenge Fulton
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Former
county
commissioner
Dirk
Rohne will run for the
Port of Astoria Com-
mission position held
by Stephen Fulton in
the May special dis-
trict election.
Fulton’s post is
one of three positions
on the five-member
Dirk
Port Commission on
Rohne
the ballot in an elec-
tion that could determine the direction of the
Port. Fulton has been critical of the Port’s
management and leadership, creating ten-
sion among divided commissioners.
See ROHNE, Page 7A
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Clatsop Care Center in Astoria has long operated with a deficit. Efforts to sell the aging building have been unsuccessful, so far.
Health district
may hire outside
company to run
day-to-day ops
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
T
he Clatsop Care Health District may
hire a management company to replace
its departing CEO, a move the district
hopes will improve the bottom line of the
oldest care facility in Astoria.
Though the district itself is financially
secure, Clatsop Care Health and Rehabili-
tation Center on 16th Street — also known
as Clatsop Care Center — has long operated
with a deficit.
The center is expected to end this fiscal
year with an operational deficit of $606,000.
Property taxes and timber revenues will
make up the difference.
The district is looking to bring in outside
management, in part, to prevent the center
from closing, District Chairwoman Karen
Burke said.
“As a public health care district, we need
to stay in the black,” she said.
While the center is onerous to manage
and staff, the chronic budget shortfall is
due to a decline in census, as well as cuts to
Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.
The center is licensed to serve more
than 70 residents, both long-term residents
and short-term care rehabilitation patients,
including people recovering from surgery.
But, in recent years, the number of resi-
dents has gradually dropped. Then, last year,
the district relocated about a dozen long-
term residents because of a shortage of cer-
tified nursing assistants. All residents now
occupy the fourth floor. The center currently
keeps 24 beds.
Although the care center is still not
making money, the downsizing stabilized
losses: It shrank the deficit but didn’t fix the
problem.
“We’re still a bit in the red as far as
the care center goes,” Burke said, adding,
“We’re not losing more money than we
were, whereas before we were kind of hav-
ing increasing losses on a regular basis, and
that is not happening.”
Meanwhile, the district is no closer to
selling the aging building — a maintenance
headache driving up operational costs —
than it was last year. Though brokers have
shown the building to interested developers,
no offers have been made.
If the building is sold, the new owner
would continue to lease it to the district
while residents transfer to other locations.
See CENTER, Page 7A
Oregon judges ask for more pay, bigger pensions
Want to attract
young attorneys
to the bench
By SAUL HUBBARD
The Register-Guard
SALEM — A contingent of
Oregon’s roughly 200 state judges
visited the state Capitol this week
on what has become a familiar
quest: more pay and, indirectly,
bigger pensions.
Since 2014, lawmakers have
given elected state judges raises of
‘We’re not doing this for the
money. But (Oregon) needs to
pay (judges) appropriately for
the kind of work that they do.’
Today, a Supreme Court judge
makes $147,560 a year, an appeals
court judge $144,536, and a circuit
court judge $135,776.
They want more.
Thomas Balmer
This year, judges want lawmak-
ers to pass a bill that would lock
in another three years of raises
between 2018 and 2020, increas-
ing their pay by a further 12.7 per-
cent to 14.2 percent. Those raises
would cost the state around $11.2
million during the next four years.
Oregon Supreme Court chief justice
between 17.4 percent and 18.6 per-
cent, depending on the court they
work in.
The Legislature has given
judges three separate raises of
$5,000 a year. And, in 2015, law-
makers also agreed to automat-
ically give all judges the same
annual cost-of-living raises that
non-union state managers get into
the future, usually 2 to 3 percent a
year.
After fire,
city rallies
to rescue
Charitable efforts aid
those displaced by blaze
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH — Cannon Beach
hearts and pocketbooks are turning outward
as residents seek to assist those displaced
from the North Larch Street apartment build-
ing destroyed by fire Sunday.
A GoFundMe account and fundrais-
ing efforts by the Cannon Beach Commu-
nity Church are each gathering donations for
those who lost their homes and belongings.
“We’re trying to raise as much as we can
to help them out,” Emmas Lindsay, owner
of Dogs Allowed, said Thursday, after cre-
ating an online fundraising appeal. “It’s
a very small town, especially in the winter
months. We are one big family. Everybody’s
got everybody’s back. The three people that
were displaced, everybody knows them, they
know everybody. They just make what the
town’s about.”
See BLAZE, Page 7A
Lock in raises
See JUDGES, Page 7A
Cannon Beach Fire and Rescue
Fire consumed 124 N. Larch St. in Can-
non Beach on Sunday, leaving three
residents displaced.
Businesses go dark for #adaywithoutimmigrants
Area eateries,
Astoria students
joined the strike
Associated Press
and The Daily Astorian
AP Photo/Eric Gay
A young girl helps hold a U.S. flag as a group marches
through downtown heading to the Texas Capitol during an
immigration protest Thursday in Austin, Texas.
PHILADELPHIA — The
heart of Philadelphia’s Ital-
ian Market was uncommonly
quiet. Fine restaurants in New
York, San Francisco and the
nation’s capital closed for
the day. Grocery stores, food
trucks, coffee shops, diners
and taco joints in places like
Chicago, Los Angeles and
Boston shut down.
Immigrants around the U.S.
stayed home from work and
school Thursday to demon-
strate how important they are
to America’s economy, and
many businesses closed in sol-
idarity, in a nationwide pro-
test called A Day Without
Immigrants.
The boycott was aimed
squarely at President Don-
ald Trump’s efforts to step up
deportations, build a wall at
the Mexican border and close
the nation’s doors to many
travelers. Organizers said they
expected thousands to par-
ticipate or otherwise show
support.
It was unclear how many
people participated, but in
many cities, the actions were
disruptive, if not halting.
More actions are being
planned for May 1 — known
as May Day, the internation-
ally recognized holiday honor-
ing workers.
“I fear every day whether
I am going to make it back
home. I don’t know if my
mom will make it home,” said
Hessel Duarte, a 17-year-old
native of Honduras who lives
in Austin, Texas, with his fam-
ily and skipped class at his
high school to take part in one
of several rallies held around
the country. Duarte said he
arrived in the U.S. at age 5 to
escape gang violence.
See PROTEST, Page 6A