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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2017)
DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, APRIL 3, 2017 144TH YEAR, NO. 197 ONE DOLLAR Beaches undergo a spring spruce up 5,000 volunteers clear 56,000 pounds of trash The Daily Astorian Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian ghost story illuminated by a campfire during the Ghost Stories David Snower, an Oregon Ghost Conference attendee, tells a nce and the second time it has called Seaside home. Bonfire event on Friday in Seaside. This is the sixth annual confere PARANORMAL IS NORMAL AT The annual SOLVE Spring Oregon Beach Cleanup celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Oregon Beach Bill by removing 56,000 pounds of litter and marine debris from the Oregon Coast on Saturday, event organizers said. The Oregon Beach Bill was a landmark piece of legislation granting the public recre- ational access to all Oregon beaches. Nearly 5,000 volunteers scoured the coastline at 45 locations from Fort Stevens State Park south to Brookings. “Marine debris is one of the biggest issues facing our oceans and beaches,” said SOLVE CEO Maureen Fisher. “Every piece of trash picked up today has a tremendous impact on the health of Oregon’s wildlife and coastal communities.” See CLEANUP, Page 4A GHOST FEST Tour explores Seaside’s own haunted history Daily Astorian/File Photo The state will resume hazing cormorants on the Oregon Coast to protect salmon. By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian Another rude awakening for cormorants S EASIDE — When it comes to study- ing paranormal activity, one of the most important elements to understand is quite normal. It’s history, according to Rocky Smith, the organizer of the sixth annual Oregon Ghost Conference. “It’s the interest in this history that con- nected me to this place. It’s asking the question, ‘W hy do ( paranormal) things happen here?’” he said. He explained this to about 100 paranormal enthusiasts huddled together on a crisp Friday night around the postcard mural on the corner of Edgewood and Oceanway s treets. Friday was the fi rst day of the three-day conference, where about 800 people from around the country came to listen to paranor- mal lectures, share ghost stories and even do a ghost investigation in the Bridge Tender on Broadway. In this moment, participants gathered to experience the different haunted nooks and crannies along the P romenade and downtown streets . Nancy Thompkins traveled from Anacortes, Washington, to the conference intrigued for that reason. Her interest in ghosts began when she saw one when she was a child, she said. “I like history and knowing what happened where,” Thompkins said. “You can feel a resid- ual energy in a place like this. You can feel it, but you don’t know why.” See GHOST FEST, Page 4A Oregon Ghost Conference Director Rocky Smith points to a historic building while giving a ghost tour to conference attendees on Friday in Seaside. tour filled with Rocky Smith, Oregon Ghost Conference director, gives a ghost und. Turnaro e Seasid the at historic information on Friday Campaign to protect salmon starts again By KATIE FRANKOWICZ For The Daily Astorian Cormorants facing possible death by shot- gun blast at their colony near the mouth of the Columbia River don’t seem to have started house-hunting in less dangerous neighbor- hoods farther down the coast. But as the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife once again prepares to coordi- nate non lethal hazing projects at various Ore- gon estuaries this spring, biologists will watch for changes in cormorant colonies south of the river. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the massive double-crested cor- morant colony on East Sand Island, began a culling program in 2015 in an effort to man- age the growing colony and reduce the num- ber of young salmon the birds were estimated to consume annually. That year, the Army Corps’ contractors killed a total of 2,346 adult See CORMORANTS, Page 7A Park gift shop manager has natural love of history Neal takes over shop duties at Fort Stevens J efferson, Iowa; Ames, Iowa; and Fort Stevens were all settled or built in a span of 10 years beginning in the mid- 1850s. The three places with ties to the Civil War era helped Laura Neal — who was raised in Jefferson, went to college in Ames and now works at Fort Stevens — develop a natural love of history. Neal, 24, became the Friends of Old Fort Stevens’ gift shop manager in January. She replaced Jim Forst, who retired after holding down the fort’s store for 15 years. She certainly is no stranger to seeing historical areas from a visitor’s point of view. Neal’s father is a high school history teacher in Iowa. As a child, Neal spent many vacations touring historical sites around the country with her family. Though she never visited Fort Stevens, she spent a lot of time in southern Oregon. The scenery and recre- In 2016, she became ational opportunities an interpreter, allow- stuck with her as she ing her to host kayak made her decision to tours on Coffenbury move to the W est. Lake, wildlife view- After earning an ings on the Tressel environmental sci- Bay Trail, talks at the ence degree with Peter Iredale ship- a minor in biology wreck and tours of Laura Neal from Iowa State the fort itself, among University, Neal other things. moved west in summer 2014 to “It’s fun being involved in work part time at Fort Stevens. the behind-the-scenes aspect of “Oregon really stood out that,” Neal said. to me as the best,” she said. For her current position, “When I came out here for the she ensures there’s wood at interview, it just felt like the campsites throughout the park, right fi t.” orders items for the store, man- She spent most of that fi rst ages bookkeeping and hosts summer cleaning and maintain- tours on busy days. ing areas throughout the park. Neal said she hopes to orga- nize more events and post signs that help visitors understand the historical signifi cance of vari- ous sites. She recently organized a history quest, in which visitors can follow an informational pamphlet leading them to let- ters throughout the park. After fi nding the last letter, they then scramble them to fi nd a word matching a site at the park. The site will have a hidden box, which holds items they can redeem at the store for a prize. “We have a lot of forts and batteries, but people don’t nec- essarily know what they are,” Neal said. “It’s a fun way to teach the kids about history.” — Jack Heffernan