LETTERS: 100 WORDS FOR 100 DAYS OF PRESIDENT TRUMP PAGE 7A
DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, MAY 1, 2017
144TH YEAR, NO. 217
ONE DOLLAR
Airport
bond
looks
to future
Coast Guard
picks Astoria for
two new cutters
The Daily Astorian
The U.S. Coast Guard has selected
Astoria as the new home for two fast
response cutters by 2021, a decision
that will expand the agency’s footprint
on the North Coast and provide a sig-
nificant financial boost to the city.
The 154-foot Sentinel-class cut-
ters replace the 1980s-era, 110-foot,
Island-class patrol boats on the coast,
which are nearing the end of their ser-
vice life.
Astoria had been competing with
Newport for the two new cutters.
“I’m exceedingly pleased to get
this news,” Astoria City Manager Brett
Estes said. “I think it’s going to be able
to add on to the existing Coast Guard
presence in our community.”
Estes said the Coast Guard expan-
sion will add to the region’s economic
base. “To be able to have more Coast
Guard presence, more Coast Guard
See CUTTERS, Page 4A
U.S. Coast Guard
The Sentinel-class fast response cutter is a new Coast
Guard patrol boat that is capable of deploying inde-
pendently to conduct missions that include port, water-
ways and coastal security; fishery patrols; search and
rescue; and national defense. Named after Coast Guard
enlisted heroes, the cutters are replacing the aging Is-
land-class 110-foot patrol boats.
All it’s cracked up to be
Money to help finance
hangar, development
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Two years ago, Life Flight Network
established its first coastal base at Astoria
Regional Airport. The base, a small modu-
lar trailer wedged between the airport’s main
terminal, fueling station and the manufac-
turing company Lektro, was meant to be
temporary.
The helicopter medevac service received
a state grant last year to help finance a new,
nearly $1 million hangar and crew quarters.
Port of Astoria staff identified the best
permanent location for the hangar at the
southern end of the airport. But the Port,
which cannot afford to accommodate Life
Flight’s move, is asking county voters in the
May 16 election for $1.96 million in bonds
over three years to build the infrastructure
and make several nearby, undeveloped par-
cels shovel-ready.
The bond measure has become a hot-but-
ton political issue and a dividing line in each
of the three contested Port Commission
races.
See BOND, Page 4A
Charter
academy
surpasses
student goal
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Cannon Beach school
to open in the fall
Many festival attendees showed up for the Crab, Seafood & Wine Festival wearing a wide variety of brightly colored themed hats.
Rotary crab
feed helps fund
scholarships
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
F
or the past 35 years, the
Astoria Rotary Club has
been in the crab business.
Since the beginning of the
Astoria Warrenton Crab, Sea-
food & Wine Festival, the
Rotary has organized a crab
feed with whiskey soup.
Astoria
Superintendent
Craig Hoppes, president of the
Rotary, said the group bought
800 pounds of crab this year.
Between 35 and 40 volunteers
prepared and served crab legs
and a whiskey soup through-
out the festival. The profits
go toward the Rotary, includ-
ing three or four scholarships
the group funds each year
for graduates in Astoria and
Knappa.
“The hard part has been …
our profit on it is based on the
price of crab, and that fluctu-
ates year to year, and then we
try to fluctuate the prices of our
crab dinner,” Hoppes said.
The Rotary buys the crab
from Bornstein Seafoods,
which also provides the
shrimp for the Astoria Clowns’
iconic clown bread. Co-owner
Andrew Bornstein said each
group can buy up to 1,000
pounds in any given year.
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Rotary Club member Dan Bartlett begins preparing the group’s fa-
mous whiskey crab soup at the Crab, Seafood & Wine Festival on
Saturday. More crab festival photos online at DailyAstorian.com
CANNON BEACH — The Cannon
Beach Academy is officially set to open this
fall almost four years after the town lost its
elementary school.
The charter school had until today to
enroll at least 17 kindergartners and 17 first-
and second-graders combined. As of Friday,
18 kindergartners are enrolled and the first-
and second-grade class has been maxed out
with 22 students, board member Phil Sim-
mons said.
“We as a team, and as a community, have
been working on this for years,” Simmons
said. “When they first closed the elemen-
tary school, some families had to move, and
I was a little concerned there wasn’t going to
be enough interest. But in my heart I knew
that there was, and this victory supports this
interest.”
See ACADEMY, Page 8A
Couple fills a niche with taxi, coffee shop
Saw visitors
waiting for bus
ative Ghanaian Richard
Afornorpe jaunted along
the famous Portland Interna-
tional Airport carpet in 2002 to
meet his future wife, Kristina,
and her family.
They had met on a dat-
ing site while he still lived in
Ghana. After flights to Swit-
zerland, New York, Seattle and
finally Portland, Afornorpe
prepared to meet the person
with whom he would spend
the rest of his life.
“I was happy, excited,”
Afornorpe said with a sheep-
Job search
N
ish smile, “but it’s a very new
environment.”
The Afornorpes have
owned Downtown Coffee
Shop for a little more than a
year. Richard has been driving
the Downtown Coffee Shop
taxi — a white Cadillac Esca-
lade — since last June. He has,
for the most part, settled in
with his wife and seven foster
children — ages 7 to 22. But it
took a while.
Following their airport
meeting, the couple returned to
Kristina’s hometown to settle
into an Emerald Heights apart-
ment. Afornorpe spent nearly
two years searching for a job.
In the meantime, many of his
days were spent at home doing
laundry.
“I wasn’t used to just sitting
at one place and doing noth-
ing,” Afornorpe said. “Sitting
down can be depressing, espe-
cially since I didn’t know a lot
of people here.”
Afornorpe often would
kill time with strolls around
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
See COUPLE, Page 4A
Kristina and Richard Afornorpe in the Downtown Coffee Shop.