4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2017
The entrance
to Philip
Bales’ Man
Cave at the
Astoria Re-
gional Airport
is marked by
a collection of
conservative
stickers.
Danny Miller
The Daily Astorian
Man Cave: ‘I don’t think
it will be put to rest until
the election is settled’
Continued from Page 1A
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Emergency personnel coordinate a beach rescue drill on the Long Beach (Wash.) Peninsula Monday in preparation
for increased traffic on local beaches in summer. Since 2001, there have been more than 70 rescues and 10 fatalities.
Drills: ‘People need to know where they are’
Continued from Page 1A
them into the surf. The teams
of rescuers — one driver and
two clinging to a rescue board
— take off into the waves to
retrieve the U.S. Coast Guards-
men from Station Cape Disap-
pointment and the National
Motor Lifeboat School, vol-
unteering as victims dumped
from 47-foot motor lifeboats
offshore.
By 6:40, all five of the peo-
ple have been retrieved from
the water and laid out at a field
triage unit set up on the beach
by local emergency respond-
ers. They are labeled by color
in varying stages of injury,
from anaphylactic shock
caused by jellyfish stings to
severe burns from an engine
fire.
Preparing for summer
The volunteers gather after-
ward to debrief in a nearby
fire station. Doug Knutzen,
the technical rescue team’s
president and member since
1985, says the operation was
a success. He thanks the vol-
unteers for coming down and
hopes for a summer without
any rescues.
According to an analy-
sis by the Chinook Observer
in 2014, there had been more
than 70 rescues and 10 fatali-
ties along the Long Beach Pen-
insula since 2001, many in late
summer.
Bobbi Pulsifer, a local
dispatcher observing the exer-
cise, was on duty for more
than 20 rescue-related calls
last year, six or seven of
them legitimate emergen-
cies. She said calls often start
U.S. Coast Guard personnel were mock victims during a training exercise held near
Seaview, Wash., Monday. More photos of the drill available online at DailyAstorian.com
with tourists unaware of their
location.
“We can’t stress enough the
importance of where are you,”
she said. “People need to know
where they are.”
Knutzen stressed the
importance of callers staying
where they are and keeping an
eye on who or whatever they
see in the water to help direct
rescuers at the scene.
• Add northbound and
southbound lanes on Highway
217 through the Portland metro
area.
• Widen Interstate 205 to six
lanes from Oregon City to Staf-
ford Road.
• Widen and seismically
reinforce Interstate 205’s Aber-
nethy Bridge.
The plan raises about $509
million per year in additional
transportation funding. A trans-
portation package that failed in
2015 would have raised consid-
erably less, about $300 million
a year.
The money would come
from increases in the gas tax
and vehicle fees and a set of
new taxes over the next 10
years, including:
• Gas tax increase from 30
cents to 44 cents.
• Tiered increase in title and
registration fees, with higher
increases for fuel-efficient vehi-
cles, which pay less in gas taxes.
• Statewide payroll tax of
one-tenth of 1 percent to pay for
mass transit.
• Tolls to be determined.
• Bicycle excise tax of 5
percent.
cue team since 1999. “We’re
not cops.”
Knutzen said Hawaii
dwarfs the Pacific North-
west in drownings, but has no
prohibition on swimming. He
said rescuers try to educate
as many visitors as they can,
while staying ready to rescue
those they can’t reach before
the surf.
Don’t swim
Rescuers have erected
signs and run yearly awareness
campaigns along Long Beach
advising people against swim-
ming in the ocean, which hides
underwater drop-offs of mul-
tiple feet and rip currents that
can drag someone several hun-
dred yards out to sea.
Last summer, a 25-year-
old woman from Seattle disap-
peared after swimming in the
Transportation: Plan raises
about $509 million per year
in additional funding
Continued from Page 1A
ocean at night and has never
been found. A 12-year-old girl
from Warrenton was pulled
500 yards offshore before
being rescued by the Coast
Guard but dying later at Ocean
Beach Hospital.
“We can’t stop anyone
from going in the water,” said
Eduardo Mendez, a local fire-
fighter and member of the res-
In an emailed statement
today, Fulton said he has not
seen the report. He said staff
has still failed to answer sev-
eral of his questions about
whether
alcohol-related
activity violates Bales’ lease,
whether the Port’s insurance
adequately covers the activ-
ity and whether not disclos-
ing the activity is a viola-
tion of state law regarding
audited financial statements.
Detectives who conducted
the special investigation said
Fulton himself said the dis-
pute over the hangar was
political. Fulton and Com-
missioner Bill Hunsinger
have suggested that the han-
gar could be used to help
expand Life Flight Network,
eliminating the need for a
$1.96 million bond measure
also before voters in May.
The bonds, which Fulton and
Hunsinger oppose, would
help finance the expansion
of the medevac service and
infrastructure improvements
for future development at the
airport.
Jim Knight, the Port’s
executive director, asked the
Sheriff’s Office in March to
investigate after Fulton went
public with his allegations
against the Man Cave and
peppered Port staff and the
agency’s insurers.
The special investiga-
tion backs up Knight, who
had said the hangar does not
violate Bales’ lease with the
Port or any Oregon Liquor
Control Commission or Fed-
eral Aviation Administra-
tion rules. Port staff also said
in early April that the Port’s
insurers do not preclude cov-
erage because of alcohol use.
“I’m really appreciative
of the Sheriff’s Office tak-
ing the time out of their busy
schedule to look into this
matter,” Knight said. “It does
seem that they performed a
very thorough investigation.”
Knight said he is hope-
ful the Sheriff’s Office report
will put the issue to rest.
Fulton and Hunsinger had
told Bergin they thought the
investigation was a waste of
time and resources by the
Sheriff’s Office. Hunsinger,
according to a memo from
Knight, called Knight in late
March in frustration over
being drawn into the inves-
tigation. Hunsinger allegedly
told Knight to get a gun to
protect himself from unsa-
vory people in the commu-
nity, comments Knight com-
plained were part of a pattern
of “unprofessional, threaten-
ing and bullying tactics.”
Bergin said Hunsing-
er’s conduct was “concern-
ing, but there was nothing
criminal.”
The Sheriff’s Office find-
ings come a week before the
May election, as voters are
already casting ballots.
“It’s bothered us, my wife
and me,” Bales said of he and
his wife, Ann. “It’s bothered
us. But we didn’t have any
fear about having a bad out-
come, because we haven’t
done anything wrong.”
Bales said the accusations
against him were an obvious
political smear. “I don’t think
it will be put to rest until the
election is settled.”
• Dealer privilege tax of
1 percent on new vehicle
purchases.
The state spends about $1.3
billion a year on transporta-
tion system maintenance and
upgrades. This proposal would
bring that amount up to about
$1.8 billion.
The proposal came on the
same day a KATU-commis-
sioned poll indicated tepid inter-
est in raising the gas tax, which
is the mechanism for funding
transportation in Oregon.
Forty-nine percent of 675
adult respondents indicated a
gas tax hike was a step in the
wrong direction, while 30 per-
cent showed strong support for
an increase, according to the
poll conducted last month by
Survey USA.
The 14 lawmakers on the
Joint Committee on Transpor-
tation Preservation and Mod-
ernization will convene on
Wednesday to discuss potential
changes to the proposal before
it is written into legislation.
Public hearings on the proposal
would likely be held in June.
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