COAST WEEKEND: FISHERPOETS GATHERING STARTS FRIDAY INSIDE
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2017
144TH YEAR, NO. 170
ONE DOLLAR
More than 800 job seekers attend career fair
By LUKE WHITTAKER
EO Media Group
Students play
a game at one
of the booths
at the Clatsop
County Career
and Job Fair
Wednesday
at the Clatsop
County Fair-
grounds.
One came with plans to be a police
offi cer, but fi rst needed a pinch of
advice. Another wore a suit and a
bow tie, looking for an opportunity to
shadow a doctor. Most were simply
seeking summer jobs.
In all, more than 800 job seekers
from nine area schools and the com-
munity attended the third annual Clat-
sop County Career and Job Fair on
Luke Whittaker
EO Media Group
Spence
runs for
Port seat
Wednesday , where they met with
more than 70 local employers at the
Clatsop County Fairgrounds.
The fair was open to area schools
fi rst, adults in the afternoon.
Looking for work
Some students were ambivalent
about future plans, others wanted
summer work and a few were keen on
a career. The Warrenton junior in the
suit and black bow tie wasn’t hesitant
when asked his ambitions.
“I would like to become an ER
doctor,” Robert Barber said. “I’ve
been looking for a job shadow with
one of the hospitals. I spoke to both
Columbia Memorial Hospital and
Providence Seaside.”
Barber wasn’t the only one con-
sidering a career in health care .
Sergei Davis, a senior at Astoria
High School, met with Lektro air-
craft tug company and Hampton
See FAIR, Page 4A
TEEN PREGNANCY
An urban-rural divide
Retired administrator
sees newness as plus
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Frank
Spence
Frank Spence, a
former city and county
administrator, has fi led
to replace John Raichl
on the Port of Asto-
ria Commission in the
May special districts
election.
Raichl, a former
sheriff and county
commissioner
who
was appointed in
2014, is not running
for election.
Spence, 81, who has served on the Port’s
budget committee, spent most of his career
working for city and county governments in
Florida. He relocated to Astoria in 2013 to
be near his son and family in Long Beach,
Washington.
“I’m a relative newcomer, and I see
that some of the members have … a his-
tory, and maybe some of that friction comes
from previous history and having been
living in this area for a long time,” Spence
said.
Six different cities
Spence was a city manager for about 45
years at six different cities in Florida, includ-
ing Miami Beach, Miami Springs, Biscayne
Park, Loxahatchee Groves, Mangonia Park
and North Palm Beach. He was also a county
administrator for Florida’s Alachua and Put-
nam c ounties.
Since moving to Astoria, he has served
almost three years on the Port’s budget com-
mittee, and more than two on the Astoria
Planning Commission.
“After serving on the Port’s budget com-
mittee for the past few years, I have seen
the administration fi nally get their fi nan-
cial house in order with the help of consult-
ing fi nancial professionals working closely
with their auditor,” Spence said in a state-
ment about his candidacy. “As a former city
manager and county administrator, responsi-
ble for multimillion-dollar budgets, I know
the importance of having a clear, fi rm control
and understanding of your fi nances. I now
want to continue that fi nancial oversight as a
Port commissioner.”
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Jesse and Sarah Bubar and their children Ema, left, Isabel, center, and Clara at their home in Warrenton.
Teen birth rate is signifi cantly
higher in Oregon’s rural counties
Teen pregnancy
The teen birth rate is at a record low in the U.S., but
there is a persistent urban and rural divide.
Births*
Urban counties
2015 2007
Area
Percent
change
Rural counties
2015 2007
Percent
change
U.S.
18.9
38.1
-50%
30.9
49.1
-37%
Oregon
17.2
32.2
-46.6%
29.3
42.8
-31.5%
Area teen birth rates by county, 2015
County
Births*
31.6
Tillamook
31
Columbia
30
Clatsop
27.7
Multnomah
Washington
Clackamas
19.5
15.6
*Birth rate per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Oregon Health Authority
See SPENCE, Page 11A
Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
S
arah Bubar and her boyfriend,
Jesse, had talked about having
a baby.
She was a Warrenton High
School sophomore who got “baby
fever” after helping to care for her
sister’s newborn. By her junior
year, though, she changed her
mind.
“I decided I didn’t want to have
a baby,” Bubar remembers. “I just
wanted to graduate high school, get
to college, get through college, and
be fi nancially stable.
“And that day I found out I was
pregnant.”
The teen birth rate in the United
States is at a record low, a public
health success story. Teen pregnan-
cies have fallen in urban and rural
areas across the country, but the
decline has been narrower in rural
pockets like Clatsop County, leav-
ing a persistent divide.
Teenagers who live in rural
counties are signifi cantly more
likely to give birth than in urban
counties, a geographic disparity
that can infl uence social mobility.
Young women who choose to
become parents can build healthy,
responsible relationships into
adulthood. Unintended pregnan-
cies, however, can interrupt edu-
cation, cause emotional rifts within
families, and alter career paths,
challenges that are often more
pronounced in rural communities
where options are limited.
See DIVIDE, Page 5A
Clatsop County looks to identify mass shelters
Contract to
assess options
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
An assessor will evaluate
open areas in Clatsop County
over the next few months for
possible mass shelters in the
event of an earthquake, tsunami
or other major emergency.
The Clatsop County Board
of Commissioners voted
Wednesday night to approve
a $30,000 contract to Stacy
Burr to provide the countywide
assessment.
The county received a
$30,000 grant for the assess-
ment last year
tion during a tsu-
from the state Mil-
nami rather than a
itary Department’s
suitable location for
h omeland s ecurity
a mass gathering of
g rant p rogram. Clat-
displaced residents.
sop County Emer-
Once the assess-
gency Management
ment is fi nished,
reached out to four
Burr will provide an
emergency planning
in-depth improve-
consultants in Jan-
ment plan for all
Stacy Burr
uary, and Burr was
fi ve cities and unin-
the sole respondent.
corporated areas of the c ounty.
While the county has She will meet with representa-
already identifi ed snapshots of tives of each of these districts
possible assembly areas, many through planning meetings and
of them do not have necessary coordinate with non govern-
equipment and resources for ment organizations such as the
mass care, Emergency Man- American Red Cross.
ager Tiffany Brown said. Many
In other business Wednes-
of these areas, for instance, day, commissioners:
simply represent a safe eleva-
• E xpressed support for a
t ransportation f unding p ackage
at the state Legislature . Clatsop
County anticipates a $5 million
annual shortfall in funding for
county roads, bridges, culverts
and its transportation system.
The package would pro-
vide an estimated $9.2 million
in revenue for Clatsop County
over the next fi ve years, accord-
ing to the Association of Ore-
gon Counties. While 98 percent
of the county’s paved roads are
in good condition, three out of
69 bridges are structurally defi -
cient, according to the Oregon
Association of County Engi-
neers and Surveyors.
• Agreed to send a letter
to the Oregon Youth Author-
ity expressing opposition to
the closure of the North Coast
Youth Correctional Facility in
Warrenton. The letter cites $6
million in possible lost payroll
and local purchasing revenue
as well as a loss of jobs.
“Clatsop County has a
small population which makes
the economic impact of the
NCYCF very signifi cant for
our county,” the letter says.
Kathi Merritt, a library
media specialist at the youth
facility’s South Jetty High
School, and Amanda Rob-
inson, an executive special-
ist, spoke in favor of the let-
ter during the meeting’s public
comment section.
Gov. Kate Brown has pro-
posed closing the youth facility.