The daily Astorian., June 01, 2017, Image 1

tall ships arrive for Goonies day
COAST
WEEKEND
• INSIDE
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 2017
144TH YEAR, NO. 240
ONE DOLLAR
Surge in trespass and
abandoned junk calls
Kitten
hoarder
receives
probation
Cat adoption event
happens Friday
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
A woman arrested for hoarding more than
40 cats in her car pleaded guilty Wednes-
day to four counts of second-degree animal
neglect. She was sentenced
to three years’ probation as
part of an agreement with
the Clatsop County District
Attorney’s Office.
Kathryn St. Clare, 58, of
Lake Stevens, Washington,
was arrested in Warrenton
Kathryn
in April. She had two war-
St. Clare
rants — each carrying 10
counts of animal cruelty —
for her arrest out of Snohomish County in
Washington.
An officer in April recognized her as she
was pouring antifreeze into her 1997 green
Chevrolet Suburban in the Fred Meyer park-
ing lot. St. Clare said she was purchasing cat
food and litter from the store.
Authorities in Astoria have seen a rise recently in the number of complaints from residents about discarded vehicles and other items.
See ST. CLARE, Page 4A
Links to the
homeless, jail
overcrowding
Tour shows
value of
commercial
fisheries
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
C
omplaints about trespassing and
abandoned junk have soared over
the past five years, symptoms of
homelessness, a housing shortage and over-
crowding at the county jail.
The number of trespass calls jumped
from 45 in 2012 to 249 in 2016, according
to Astoria Dispatch, which covers the Clat-
sop County Sheriff’s Office and Astoria and
Warrenton police departments, while aban-
doned junk calls rose from 142 to 335.
Trespass calls largely stem from home-
less people camping or loitering outside
business doorways, Astoria Police Deputy
Chief Eric Halverson said. The second half
of each year has historically seen more of
these incidents, with peaks usually occur-
ring during the summer.
A look at fishing,
processing and boats
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Authorities have also seen an increase in reports of campsites around the area.
‘We’re dealing with a small
percentage of people repeatedly.’
Eric Halverson
See TRESPASS, Page 4A
Astoria Police deputy chief
BY THE NUMBERS
45
249
200
142
335
the number of trespass
calls in 2012, according to
Astoria Dispatch.
the number of trespass
calls in 2016, according to
Astoria Dispatch.
the estimated number
of beds needed to fully
resolve jail overcrowding
in Clatsop County.
the number of
abandoned junk calls in
2012, according to Astoria
Dispatch.
the number of
abandoned junk calls in
2016, according to Astoria
Dispatch.
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Positive news about successful local
efforts to build and maintain a strong fish-
ing community in Clatsop County jostled
with concerns about attracting workers at the
first ever Clatsop Commercial Fisheries Tour
Wednesday.
The tour, conceived of and hosted by Ore-
gon State University’s Oregon Sea Grant,
drew approximately 100 people, introducing
them to fishermen working in the county’s
Dungeness crab and groundfish fisheries and
taking them through seafood plants and boat
yards in Astoria.
The overall message was positive.
Fishermen, seafood processors and boat
builders talked about the sustainability of
Oregon’s fisheries, the economic benefit the
See FISHERIES, Page 4A
Transportation package is an all-or-nothing deal
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Pamplin Media Group
A provision in the Legislature’s $8 billion transportation
proposal requires the entire bill to be repealed if voters
successfully challenge any piece of it.
SALEM — Oregon’s pro-
posed 10-year, multibil-
lion-dollar
transportation
package could be repealed in
its entirety if voters challenge
even one of its provisions.
Legislators said they added
that caveat to the transporta-
tion bill because projects and
programs depend on corre-
sponding increases in taxes
and fees in the package.
“The logic is that this is a
package. If you pull one string,
the whole thing comes apart,”
said state Sen. Lee Beyer,
D-Springfield, co-chairman of
the Joint Committee on Trans-
portation Preservation and
Maintenance.
Legislative counsel, who
drafted the provisions of the
package, unveiled the first
draft of the 298-page leg-
islation to the committee
Wednesday.
The 14-member committee
will hold public hearings on
the bill Monday to Wednesday
at the state Capitol. A vote on
the House floor could come as
soon as mid-June.
‘Openly transparent’
“I am feeling relieved we
have (the package) out on the
table,” Beyer said. “I don’t
think the Oregon Legislature
has ever done as openly trans-
parent a package as this.”
Beginning last year, the
committee held meetings
throughout the state to speak
to constituents about their
transportation needs and held
open meetings at the Capitol
to negotiate specifics of the
package.
The end result would raise
about $8 billion over a 10-year
period to pay for projects to
relieve congestion, maintain
roads and bridges and enhance
safety for different types of
commuters.
See PACKAGE, Page 4A