DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2017
144TH YEAR, NO. 238
ONE DOLLAR
Photos by Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
ABOVE: A member of the U.S. Coast Guard’s honor guard, left, and retired Capt. Robert Stevens performed the call to colors during a Memorial Day service Monday
at Ocean View Cemetery. BELOW: Spurgeon Keeth, one of the region’s last survivors of Pearl Harbor, was escorted during a Memorial Day ceremony Monday to
plant a wreath in honor of those lost in the attack more than 75 years ago. More Memorial Day photos available online at DailyAstorian.com
NORTH COAST
HONORS SERVICE
OF THE FALLEN
SEASIDE LEGION
REACHES OUT TO
HONOR AREA VETS
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Oregon Sen. Johnson seeks
fair share of lottery funds
W
ARRENTON — Jon Marsh, a for-
mer commander of the Ameri-
can Legion in Oregon, reminded
a somber crowd gathered at the Ocean View
Cemetery Monday about the purpose of
Memorial Day.
“This is not a holiday,” he said. “It’s a
remembrance.”
The way to honor the dead’s sacrifice for
America’s freedom, Marsh said, is to carry on
their legacy and provide veterans with proper
compensation, shelter, education and employ-
ment opportunities.
Veterans, friends and family gathered
Monday at the cemetery, surrounded by U.S.
flags and flowers peppering the hills and head-
stones, to remember those Clatsop County
residents who died in combat.
Memorial Day has been celebrated since
1866. The American Legion Clatsop Post 12
has organized the local ceremony in some
form since 1919.
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Jan Jackson of the Seaside Elks
recalled a time when America marked graves with
flags and “spilled our tears upon the ground, in
memory of those whose courage and valor led to
their death.”
Known as Decoration Day, the ceremony evolved
into Memorial Day, observed in communities large
and small throughout the nation.
Jackson, who was named Oregon’s Elk Officer
of the Year at the organization’s April convention in
Seaside, was introduced by American Legion Post
99 Cmdr. Steve Gibson at Monday’s legion event.
Supporting veterans
Those killed in action were honored with
prayers, poems, flowers and wreaths planted
at the ceremony. There to accompany a wreath
honoring those who died in the Pearl Harbor
attack more than 75 years ago was Spurgeon
Keeth, who was a 16-year-old U.S. Army
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Along with remembering our nation’s fallen,
the event put a spotlight on veterans’ affairs legisla-
tion in Oregon. The biggest concern is making sure
the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs is fully
funded, keynote speaker state Sen. Betsy Johnson,
D-Scappoose, said before the formal ceremony.
She said Gov. Kate Brown’s budget fails to add
voter-approved lottery funds intended for veterans’
services to the base level of support.
“The veterans were of the mind that we should
have gotten our base support plus what the voters
See SERVICE, Page 4A
Members of the American Legion Riders salute the flag as part of a
Memorial Day ceremony held in Seaside on Monday.
See SEASIDE, Page 4A
Honoring the dead
Ag faces big labor shortages
Low unemployment,
immigration fears
See LABOR, Page 9A
An artistic chef with
a love of good food
A staple at
Nanci and
Jimella’s
By DAN WHEAT
EO Media Group
It’s three weeks before the start of
harvest and the Chelan Fruit Coopera-
tive is short hundreds of workers needed
to pack this year’s cherry crop. General
Manager Reggie Collins worries about
whether some of the crop will have to go
unpicked in June and July.
“Last year, we were scared to death
and we were able to get barely enough
for our packing lines with high school
kids. This year it looks shorter,” Collins
Q&A
By DAMIAN MULINIX
For EO Media Group
Dan Wheat/EO Media Group
Benjamin Lugo ties pieces of Extenday reflective
fabric together as Fernando Licona pulls it down a
row on an ATV at Lyall Orchards in Mattawa, Wash.,
this month. The fabric helps ripen fruit. They are year-
round workers but owner Charles Lyall is concerned
about having enough pickers through harvests.
KLIPSAN
BEACH,
Wash. — It’s no surprise
that Katie Witherbee-Allsup
became a chef. From a young
age her family taught her the
importance of good food.
She’s worked in the restau-
rant industry for about 20
years now, her first job com-
ing as a busser for The Ark
restaurant in Nahcotta when
she was 14. Witherbee-Allsup
spent six years living on the
Long Beach Peninsula in her
early teens, before moving
and eventually attending Le
Cordon Bleu Culinary Insti-
tute in Portland.
She then worked as a
chef in the city, but even-
tually moved back to the
See CHEF, Page 9A