ON TO STATE: DYNASTY RIGHT ON TRACK FOR ASTORIA GIRLS SPORTS • PAGE 10A
DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, MAY 15, 2017
144TH YEAR, NO. 227
ONE DOLLAR
Celebrating 50 years of public beaches
Gov. McCall’s son
toasts Oregon’s
Beach Bill
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH — In a lot
of ways, the relationship between
the Oregon Coast and those who
live here is like a marriage vow: you
love it for better or for worse.
This love was tested as about 30
people huddled under umbrellas and
raincoats in a sporadic rain and hail
storm, only the Pacific Northwest
can provide, to celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the Oregon Beach
Bill.
The Beach Bill is what estab-
lished public ownership of the Ore-
gon Coast after a hotel in 1966
wanted to rope off a section of
sand in front the hotel for guests.
On May 13, 1967, former Gov.
Tom McCall flew his helicopter to
Cannon Beach as a statement of
his commitment to keeping all 363
miles of Oregon shoreline public for
everyone.
Oregon is one of the few states
with this broad an interpretation for
public beach access.
Sandcastles
built by the
organization
known as
the Form
Finders were
one of the
highlights
of the Beach
Bill anniver-
sary celebra-
tion in Can-
non Beach
Saturday.
‘Beach of history’
Now 50 years later, the late gov-
ernor’s son, Tad McCall, addressed
the crowd, unphased by the hail
bouncing off the lid of his ball cap,
to celebrate on the beach his dad
helped save.
“This beach is the beach of his-
tory. This is where the picture of
freedom of the beach was painted,”
McCall said.
The 73-year-old McCall traveled
from Arlington, Virginia, back to the
Colin Murphey
The Daily
Astorian
See BEACH BILL, Page 7A
IN THE MARKET
ASTORIA’S SUNDAY TRADITION RETURNS TO DOWNTOWN
Pacific
Seafood,
state clash
over growth
Company seeks break
from antitrust laws
By JEFF MANNING
The Oregonian
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The Astoria Sunday Market was open for business on Mother’s Day and runs until Oct. 8. More photos online at dailyastorian.com
ABOVE: Mary Altieri and
her two friends were at
the Astoria Sunday Market
showcasing her line of
goat milk products.
BELOW: Flowers were a
popular item at the first
Astoria Sunday Market of
the year on Mother’s Day.
NEWPORT — Pacific Seafood Group,
the industry’s billion-dollar behemoth, has
thoroughly shaken up this bustling commer-
cial fishing town with an expansion blitz that
will increase its already dominant market
position.
But before going ahead with a deal to
buy the hulking Trident Seafoods process-
ing plant in the heart of Newport’s Bayfront,
the biggest player in the West Coast seafood
business made what one lawmaker called an
“unprecedented request.”
Pacific is willing to complete the deal,
keep the Trident plant open and hire nearly
150 seasonal employees, but only if the Ore-
gon Department of Justice guarantees there
would be no objections to the deal later.
In effect, Pacific is seeking immunity to
antitrust laws from the very agency that two
years ago intervened on the side of fisher-
men in their antitrust lawsuit filed against the
Clackamas-based company.
Pacific may have overplayed its hand.
In a blistering response to the company late
Thursday afternoon, the Department of Jus-
tice threatened to take enforcement action
against the company unless it agrees to put
the Trident plant on the market for a year
and, short of a sale, operate it for at least
three years.
It accused the company of concealing an
earlier purchase of another Trident facility,
of misrepresenting the department’s position
in its talks with lawmakers, and of asking for
a kind of guarantee it can’t give.
“Your request is extraordinary as DOJ
has never granted prospective immunity of
this type and the Oregon antitrust act pro-
vides us with no express authority to grant
it,” wrote Tim Nord, the department’s lead
antitrust attorney.
At the center of the drama on the Bay-
front is Frank Dulcich, the fiercely ambi-
tious chief executive who built Pacific into
the largest seafood processor and distributor
in the western United States. The company’s
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
See CLASH, Page 7A
Hillary Murphy, right, demonstrates her product for preparing fresh garlic.
A new citizen celebrates citizenship with her first vote
Bermodes
immigrated in
2008 from the
Philippines
O
ne of the proudest
moments in Felisa Ber-
modes’ life came on March 15,
when an immigration officer
asked her for a hug.
A lithe 69-year-old with a
never-ending work ethic, Ber-
modes had just passed a natu-
ralization test and earned her
U.S. citizenship nine years
after crossing the Pacific
Ocean from the Philippines
with her husband, Igmedio, to
be near their daughter and two
grandchildren.
“The immigration officer
told me, ‘Felisa, thank you. You
can (write) and your question is
very good,’” she said.
The feat did not come easy
for Bermodes, who would regu-
larly wake up at 4 a.m. to study
before her 6 a.m. housekeeping
shifts at Clatsop Care Center.
“She and I worked for a year
every week,” said Amber Mar-
cia, one of several tutors Ber-
modes has studied with since
joining Clatsop Community
College’s literacy program in
2013.
Bermodes came to the U.S.
from Lapu-Lapu, a city of
more than 400,000 people on
the eastern coast of Cebu, an
island province in the south of
the Philippines. Bermodes had
owned a small business mak-
ing meals for workers at Lapu-
Lapu’s city hall. But there was
very little work back home, she
said, another reason she came to
the U.S.
She and Igmedio, married
for 54 years, regularly send
money, clothes and other goods
to the three sons they left behind
on Cebu. They last visited a
year ago, after a fourth son died.
“My heart is broken,” Ber-
modes said, adding the visit did
provide an opportunity to see
her more than 30 grandchildren
and great-grandchildren.
Things are simple for Ber-
modes, whose life in the U.S.
centers on work, family, her
Catholic faith and the indoor
garden she keeps in her apart-
ment. She continues studying
English at the college, and has
been helping Igmedio study for
his naturalization test.
Asked how she celebrated
her citizenship, Bermodes said,
“I just voted for the first time
in the May election. It’s very
good.”
— Edward Stratton
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Felisa Bermodes, who im-
migrated to the U.S. from the
Philippines in 2008, earned
her citizenship in March.