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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 2017)
DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2017 144TH YEAR, NO. 177 ONE DOLLAR Clatsop Care hires private management firm Nursing home in danger of closing By ERICK BENGEL The Daily Astorian The Clatsop Care Health Dis- trict Board has hired a Salem-based private management firm to man- age the district’s day-to-day opera- tions, a decision board members hope will prevent the closure of Astoria’s oldest nursing home. At a special meeting Friday, the board unanimously approved a con- tract with Aidan Health Services, Inc. The company will replace CEO Nicole Williams, who was hired by Columbia Memorial Hospital. The board told an audience of sev- eral dozen at Tuesday’s regular meet- ing that Clatsop Care Health and Rehabilitation Center — known as Clatsop Care Center — on 16th Street would shut down next fiscal year unless Aidan can resolve the facility’s financial troubles. The center is pro- jected to end this fiscal year with an operational deficit of $606,000. If the care center closed, some res- idents could be moved to other facili- ties within the district. The board has discussed selling the Clatsop Care Center building — which it values at $2 million — but is not actively mar- keting it. “We’re in crisis mode here. We’re in absolute crisis mode. We’re react- ing as fiscally responsible people to try to save the district, in my mind,” Jeff Hazen, a district board member, said. “I want to provide good health care — good, quality health care — and the only way we can do that is to keep the doors open and bring in a management company that has great experience turning around facilities to make them work.” Aidan’s term begins April 1 and runs through June 2019. The agree- ment can be renewed in one-year increments. For now, Jessica Klein, the district’s director of human resources, will serve as interim CEO. “We’re not closing in June. We’re not going to have that happen, so we’ve got to step in,” Mark Rem- ley, an Aidan owner, said. “And if we have to make tough decisions, we’re going to have to make tough deci- sions for the health of the facility long term.” See CLATSOP CARE, Page 7A ON TO STATE ... AGAIN! Snow and hail carpet the coast Winter weather blast continues The Daily Astorian Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian The Seaside bench cheers after a basket in Round 1 of the 4A State Championship against Cascade on Friday in Seaside. The Daily Astorian T he state capital of Oregon 4A basketball will once again Friday night at the Gulls’ Nest. And the Seaside girls are back for have a strong presence at the state tournament, with a their annual Run at the Ring, as the Lady Gulls punched their ticket good chance of scoring a championship sweep. For to ride for the fourth year in a row, with a 38-31 victory Saturday the fourth time in six years, the Seaside boys will be there, hav- night at Molalla. Both teams open tournament action Thursday in ing secured their spot at state with a 68-49 win over Cascade Forest Grove. Read about the wins on Page 10A Snow will continue through Tues- day morning in Coast Range areas like Jewell and Vernonia, accord- ing to the National Weather Service. A winter weather advisory is still in effect until 7 a.m. Tuesday. Affected areas could see 6 to 12 inches of snow, with the snow level rising to 3,000 feet by Tuesday afternoon. More than 20 accidents and stalled vehicles have been reported through- out the county since Saturday. One accident on U.S. Highway 26 early Saturday morning killed a 55-year-old Portland woman. Roberta Ann Lundquist lost control of her Toyota while traveling 36 miles east of Seaside. Her car slid off the icy westbound shoulder and struck trees before com- ing to a stop. Lundquist was pro- nounced dead at the scene, and mul- tiple agencies were investigating for about five hours as one lane of the highway was closed. Early Sunday morning, Nicholas Allen Tagg, 30, of Astoria, was driv- ing his car when it slid into a ditch on 466 N.W. Warrenton Drive. Tagg allegedly then deserted his vehicle See STORMS, Page 7A Pot lab causes a ruckus in Jewell Jeff Ter Har/For The Daily Astorian School appeals commercial project The 2016-17 Seaside girls basketball team, four-time state tournament qualifiers. By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian hat is the best children’s picture book ever written? Suzanne Harold, the new children’s librarian at the Astoria Library, submits it is Mau- rice Sendak’s 1963 classic, “Where the Wild Things Are.” “It is possibly the only perfect children’s book out there. Most of them have flaws,” she said. “When- ever I’m in a book group with other librarians, we’ll say, ‘Well, there is no perfect children’s book!’ And then someone will pause and go, ‘Except maybe, Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian The battle over a proposed mari- juana laboratory less than half a mile from Jewell School reached Clatsop County Hearings Officer Dan Olsen Friday. The school district, which appealed the project last month, argued the site is not physically or socially suitable for a marijuana busi- ness, while Marc Plew, from Happy Valley, argued he has followed the letter of the law. “My intent is to build a profes- sional, retail/wholesale CO2 botani- cal processing laboratory,” Plew told Olsen. Last year, Plew purchased slightly more than 1 acre at the southeast- ern intersection of Oregon highways 202 and 103, the site of a former tav- ern long-since closed and torn down. Plew said the commercial zoning, highway access and quiet, rural set- ting attracted him to the site. See HAROLD, Page 7A Astoria Children’s Librarian Suzanne Harold leads a class for children on Thursday at Astoria Library. See POT LAB, Page 7A New kid’s librarian knows ‘Where the Wild Things are’ Harold expands reading programs W
