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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 2, 2017)
144TH YEAR, NO. 241 ONE DOLLAR WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 2017 CLASS OF 2017 Graduations! area valedictorians, salutatorians and Graduates raduates • INSIDE REAL ESTATE REBOUND COAST RIVER BUSINESS JOURNAL Spunky shorebirds make rare spring stop Might have been blown off course on fl ight to Alaska By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian The plucky shorebirds have already fl own thousands of miles from New Zealand to China, across the open ocean toward Alaska. C hances are high they didn’t plan to wind up on a beach in Clatsop County. But local birders have spotted unprecedented numbers of adult bar-tailed godwits on Sunset Beach this week. Former Astoria High School teacher and local naturalist Mike Patterson spot- ted 17 alone on a stretch from Gearhart to the Peter Iredale shipwreck on Wednesday. In April, birders in Newport also reported sightings. This is rare . ‘A big deal’ Birders and biologists have recorded a num- ber of sightings of young godwits here in the fall. Usually these birds are very young and very lost. But Roy Lowe, a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and national wildlife refuge manager, says it is rare to see the birds here in the spring. Mike Patterson/Submitted Photo See BIRDS, Page 7A The shorebirds likely got blown off course on the way to Alaska. Cancer care gets new home in fall State backs Gearhart on vacation rentals ‘Repeal and replace’ still possible by ballot By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Chris Laman, director of pharmacy and oncology services for Columbia Memorial Hospital, gives members of the media a tour of the new cancer center still under construction in Astoria. The center is slated to open in October. CMH, OHSU center to offer myriad services By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian t the base of the new Knight Can- cer Collaborative on Exchange Street, crews have poured about 2.5 million pounds of concrete into a vault to house a $3 million linear particle accelera- tor shipped to Astoria from Europe. The accelerator is a centerpiece of the $16.5 million, 18,000-square-foot can- cer -treatment center, a partnership between Columbia Memorial Hospital and Oregon Health & Science University that, when it opens in October, will establish the fi rst A local radiation -therapy center on the North Coast, along with expanded chemotherapy infusions. The vault Chris Laman, the hospital’s director of pharmacy and oncology services, said radi- ation sessions are commonly divided into nine equal installments of about 20 to 30 seconds of radiation a day, fi ve days a week for nearly two weeks. Each year, the hos- pital estimates, 75 to 100 people travel from the North Coast region to Portland, Longview, Washington, or Seattle for radi- ation therapy, sometimes dedicating most of a day for seconds of therapy. The hos- pital expects 1,800 such radiation -therapy visits after the fi rst year of operation. Laman said the hospital’s setup for radiation therapy in Astoria will mir- ror OHSU’s, down to the same linear See CENTER, Page 6A Columbia Memorial Hospital/Submitted Graphic Patients at the Knight Cancer Collabo- rative will receive infusion chemother- apy on the second floor, with views of the Columbia River. GEARHART — The state Land Use Board of Appeals has upheld Gearhart’s regulations on vacation rentals, denying an appeal from residents who oppose the restrictions. The city ordinances enacted last Octo- ber regulate occupancy limits, parking and property management con- tact information. V acation rental permits are transfer- able only by inheritance. “This is a huge victory for the citizens of Gear- hart,” Mayor Matt Brown said in an email. “The Matt (short-term rental) rules Brown passed last year are work- ing very well to balance the high number of short- term rentals, improve sub- standard septic systems and replace cesspools and cre- ate safe environments for property owners, visitors and citizens.” Chad The state decision will Sweet enable the city to regulate vacation rentals the way C ity C ouncil intended, City Administrator Chad Sweet said. “This has been very contentious in Gear- hart. We are happy to have LUBA’s guid- ance,” Sweet said. Fourteen Gearhart property owners chal- lenged the short-term rental rules shortly after they were passed, citing inconsistencies in how the city defi ned “residential charac- ter,” among other issues. Despite the state ruling, efforts to get a “repeal and replace” initiative on the Novem- ber ballot can still proceed, Sweet said. T he ballot measure would repeal special regula- tion on vacation rentals related to off-street See GEARHART, Page 7A Gun thefts tied to missing go-kart owner Long Beach owner linked to burglary, guns By NATALIE ST. JOHN EO Media Group LONG BEACH, Wash. — Allegations surrounding Long Beach Krazy Kars owner Anthony “Tony” Merrill keep mounting and a warrant has been issued for his arrest . Police now suspect that, in addition to dealing drugs from his downtown Long Beach go-kart, bumper car and moped rental facilities, Merrill, 52, was the driving force behind a major burglary in January, a scram- ble to keep cops from fi nding a large cache of stolen weapons, and a failed May attempt to sell $15,000 in stolen fi rearms to an undercover cop that led to the arrests of at least four men. However, they can’t ask Merrill if he was involved — he has been “in the wind” since failing to show up for a May 19 court hearing, according to Pacifi c County Prosecutor Mark McClain. There is now is a nationwide warrant . ‘It looked like a bomb went off’ In late January, a man went to check on his brother’s home in Ocean Park, and found the back door swinging open. It quickly became clear that the property had been burglarized. Inside the house, drawers and a gun cabinet were open. Numerous items were missing, including a jewelry box and a silver tea service. In the master bedroom, a fi ling cabinet had been ransacked. The man told police “it looked like a bomb went off” inside his brother’s work- shop. A green El Camino and boat motor were gone. A large safe that had contained “a vast See MISSING, Page 7A EO Media Group/File Photo Long Beach, Washington, Police Officer Rodney Nawn searched a storage room at Long Beach Go Karts. Local police agencies served a search warrant at the neighbor- ing go-k art and bike-rental businesses owned by Anthony “Tony” Merrill in April .
