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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 19, 2017)
CLATSOP CLASH: ASTORIA SOFTBALL WINS WILD ONE SPORTS • PAGE 10A DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2017 144TH YEAR, NO. 209 Cannon Beach treads water on rates Health care could take budget hit 350,000 Oregonians could lose coverage By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau SALEM — With about a month to go before a critical revenue forecast, Oregon’s budget writers released a more detailed list of cuts to address the state’s approximately $1.6 billion budget gap if new revenue isn’t raised. The cuts are across the board and intended to show what it would take to balance the state’s budget. For example, about 350,000 Oregonians would no longer be eligible for coverage under the recent Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion, and a ballot mea- sure to require the state to pay dropout pre- vention, college readiness, and career and technical education for high school students would only be partially funded. The co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means released a similar docu- ment in January, with fewer specifi cs. Since then, subcommittees have been working on different areas of the state’s budget to fi gure out where agencies and programs could be cut to make those targets. Hike for upkeep By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian CANNON BEACH — After four hours of heated debate, the public works committee decided Tuesday to table a plan that would increase water rates in Cannon Beach by 40 percent . Instead of recommending the plan at the May 2 C ity C ouncil meeting as originally planned, members of the committee decided to schedule a spe- cial meeting May 9 to discuss issues each had with the proposal . “I think it’s a lit- tle rushed. We need a more robust con- Dan versation about pri- Grassick orities and where all the money goes,” public works com- mittee ice chairman Richard Bertel- lotti said . “The reality is we have to raise some rates to do some main- tenance, but we need to understand why it is needed.” Dan Grassick, the city’s public works director, said the average com- bined sewer and water rate in Cannon Beach would increase from about $52 a month to $70 beginning in July . ONE DOLLAR ‘RIDE FOR REDD’ HORSE SHOUT OUT TO SALMON $1.6 billion gap Lawmakers face an approximately $1.6 billion gap between what the state is expected to realize in revenue and what it would take to pay to maintain existing services. See HEALTH CARE, Page 5A Trio travels the river to promote salmon runs Infrastructure needs The water and wastewater master plan seeks to fi nance about $3.4 mil- lion in water infrastructure, as well as about $1.3 million in wastewater projects, according to the Civil West Engineering Services study commis- sioned by the city. These projects would focus on rehabbing or replac- ing a variety of systems, including brittle water lines and water storage tanks. “We are retaining the same rate structure, just increasing the base price and unit price to fund opera- tions, maintenance and capital proj- ects,” Grassick said. But members of the public works committee took issue with how proj- ects were prioritized, how high the rate would jump, and, most notably, the lack of involvement the commit- tee had in forming the plan. “We were frozen out of this pro- cess,” Bertellotti said. “That’s got to change or there is no reason to have a public works committee.” Grassick said he apologizes for not including them in the two prelim- inary planning meetings last year. He also said committee members were given the master plans in December, but due to travel and weather com- plications couldn’t meet until now to discuss it. See WATER RATES, Page 5A By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian orthbound traffi c stalled momentar- ily on Old Youngs Bay Bridge Tues- day afternoon. Plodding along on horse- back, a line of cars stretching behind them, were Idahoans Kat Cannell and Katelyn Sprad- ley. The two women, each riding a horse and with another pack animal following , skirted around the south side of Astoria on their way to Pipeline Road, ending their fi rst day of rid- ing in Svensen. The two explorers , to be joined by another friend in Portland, are on a seven-week, 900- mile Ride for Redd, an awareness effort to pro- mote Idaho’s endangered salmon runs. N MORE INFO Ride for Redd will soon be setting up an online fundraiser to help pay for the trip. For more info, visit www.rideforredd.org Submitted Photo Malheur Enterprise editor Les Zaitz in the weekly paper’s newsroom last year. The tiny paper was embroiled in a potentially costly public records fight with the state . Newsman challenges state, wins Going upstream Redd is a term for the spawning grounds of salmon and other fi sh. By early June, the trio will end their trip at one of those spawning grounds, the alpine Redfi sh Lake at 6,547 feet in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains. “Idaho salmon come up the Columbia, come up the Snake and then come all the way up the Salmon River, 6,500 feet in eleva- tion, 900 miles inland and they’re some of the toughest salmon in the world because of their route,” Cannell said. “Not many salmon travel that hard.” “… Sometimes referred to as the Olympi- ans of the salmon world,” Spradley added. Of the 13 salmon species on the e ndangered s pecies list, four are located in Idaho. Sock- eye salmon are listed as endangered. Spring, See RIDE, Page 7A Photos by Damian Mulinix/For The Daily Astorian TOP: Kat Cannell and Katelyn Spradley ride up through a south Astoria neighbor- hood Tuesday afternoon. The two, and a third rider joining them in Portland, are rid- ing to Redfish Lake, Idaho, to bring atten- tion to endangered salmon populations. ABOVE: Kat Cannell laughs with members of her support team as she and Katelyn Spradley rode through Astoria Tuesday. Zaitz is a former Oregonian reporter By KATY MOELLER Idaho Statesman BOISE, Idaho — Les Zaitz has been liv- ing and working at a ranch near John Day in Eastern Oregon for more than a decade — not exactly where most would expect to fi nd one of the state’s top investigative journalists. The 61-year-old is a former reporter and editor for The Oregonian who favors jeans and boots as daily attire and a cowboy hat when not in the offi ce. He grew up on the west side of the state in Keizer, and started muck- raking as a teenager, probing high school bud- gets in response to grumbling about cuts. “I did an investigation of the athletic department’s budget,” he recalled. “They were in the red, and other departments had to cut spending.” He followed the money to fi nd out why. Pulitzer Prize fi nalist Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian Almost a half-century later, the two-time Pulitzer Prize fi nalist hoped to relax more after retiring from The Oregonian following exhaustive coverage of the armed occupa- tion at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. But he’s still working long hours and break- ing big news, now for a weekly newspaper that he owns with his family, The Malheur Enterprise. Katelyn Spradley, left, and Kat Cannell start their horseback journey from the Pacific Ocean up the Columbia, Snake and Salmon river basins to Idaho Tuesday morning on Sunset Beach. See ZAITZ, Page 7A