144TH YEAR, NO. 251
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 2017
EXPERIENCING
‘ALONE’
PART II
WEEKEND BREAK • 1C
EVERYTHING
AUTO
INSIDE
Health care
provider tax
barely passes
Bill now goes
to state Senate
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — The state
House of Representatives on
Thursday narrowly passed
an increased assessment on
health care providers that is
estimated to bring in more
than $600 million to help
fund the Oregon Health Plan
for the next two years.
The so-called provider
tax would raise revenue from
hospitals, insurers and coor-
dinated care organizations
— the regional networks of
providers serving patients on
the Oregon Health Plan — to
help cover the costs of Med-
icaid and to pay for a rein-
surance program, a reim-
bursement system protecting
insurers from high claims.
The legislation required a
three-fi fths vote. State Rep.
Sal Esquivel, R- Medford,
was the sole Republican
who voted with Democrats
for the plan , giving it the
required majority. Esquivel
declined to comment after
the vote.
See TAX, Page 9A
Austin White/Submitted P hoto
Holiday Friends, an Astoria-based alternative rock band, is set to release their newest album this month .
HONOR FLIGHT
One last mission
for Navy veteran
‘NIGHT TERRORS’
ASTORIA BAND RECORDS ‘THE MOST PERSONAL ALBUM WE’VE MADE’
Decades after
Korean War,
man fi nds
some peace
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
H
By PATRICK WEBB
For EO Media Group
OCEAN PARK, Wash.
— A tall, tough Texan who
worked 30 years for the Pub-
lic Utilities District is not
prone to cry.
But it happened when
Richard “Skip” Cochran
glimpsed the Korean War
Veterans Memorial in Wash-
ington, D.C.
The U.S. Navy veteran
broke down in tears as mem-
ories of his 1950s service
came fl ooding back.
“I just lost it,” said the
83-year-old Ocean Park,
Washington, man, who
recently returned from an
expenses-paid Honor Flight
to the nation’s capital.
Cochran’s
emotion
stemmed from his service as
an aircrew member on the
U.S.S. Point Cruz. The air-
craft carrier’s planes fl ew
varied missions over Korea,
some equipped with sophis-
ticated cameras which photo-
graphed the results of bomb-
ing runs.
Cochran was assigned to
catapult and landing crews
which deployed cables and
Patrick Webb/For EO Media Group
Richard “Skip” Cochran
displays the medal he re-
ceived from the govern-
ment of the Republic of
Korea to commemorate
his service in the Korean
War during the 1950s. Six
decades later, he can final-
ly talk about his most trau-
matic experience when he
pushed burning planes
from the deck of an aircraft
carrier into the ocean.
nets across the deck to bring
aircraft home safely.
One incident is indelibly
imprinted on his mind.
A plane trying to land
missed the cable. “He caught
the second cable, but it
ripped the tailhook off. He
landed on top of one or two
more aircraft.” The fl ight
deck erupted in fl ames. “I
grabbed a ‘mule’ (tractor) and
pushed the planes off the
side.”
See VETERAN, Page 9A
Cabell Tice/Submitted P hoto
Holiday Friends is performing in Portland on June 23 for their record release.
Holiday
Friends’
new album
comes
during a
time of self-
reflection.
Cabell Tice/
Submitted
P hoto
oliday Friends, an Astoria-based
alternative rock band, christened
their upcoming album “Night
Terrors” for a special reason:
When Scott Fagerland, the lead sing-
er-songwriter, began writing the epony-
mous track, he was having actual night
terrors about the band’s future, fac-
ing down his 30s, reckoning with life’s
disappointments.
The 11-track album comes during
a time of self-refl ection for Holiday
Friends, which has taken various forms
since its founding in 2008.
“We do it because we like it, and it’s
fun,” Fagerland said. “But it comes with
its fair share of frustrations,” such as
“trying to balance it with your daily life
when it’s not paying the bills.”
The indie group, though indisputably
popular on the North Coast, hasn’t yet
caught fi re as they once hoped to do.
In addition, the four band members
— now in their late 20s and 30s — are
old enough to write songs about facing
“certain things that didn’t go exactly
how you wanted them to,” he said.
These feelings underscore the new
album, where listeners will encounter a
darker, edgier, more willingly vulnera-
ble Holiday Friends than the ensemble
that delivered the lighthearted “Chicks”
in 2012 and “Major Magic” in 2014 .
“This is, hands down, the most per-
sonal album we’ve made,” bassist Zack
O’Connor said.
See BAND, Page 9A
Possible shipwreck debris uncovered in Cannon Beach
State will
examine
wood object
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Christopher Dewey with the Maritime Archaeological So-
ciety examines a wood object recently uncovered near
Cannon Beach that may be historically significant.
CANNON BEACH —
What at fi rst glance looks
like one of the many logs that
line Cannon Beach may be an
uncovered keel of a boat from
a possible shipwreck.
The wood object, which
measures about 18 feet long
and several hundred pounds,
was found Wednesday after-
noon on the beach close to the
Taft Street access by Jeffrey
Smith of Portland. L ooking
for a place to rest after walk-
ing with his wife, h e noticed
rusty square nails, notches
and square cut outs in the log
and decided to call the Can-
non Beach History Center and
Museum.
“Maybe this isn’t a big
deal, but when you look at the
square nails and the cut outs, it
looks like this is from a very
old ship,” Smith said.
After Elaine Trucke, the
museum’s director, came out
to take a look, she called the
Columbia River Maritime
Museum and Christopher
Dewey from the Maritime
Archaeological Society to help
identify the object .
“Looking at the parts makes
me think it could be from the
mid-1800s, but I’m not an
expert,” Trucke said. “In gen-
eral shipwrecks are pretty
common on the coast, but if it
were actually that old it would
be a rare situation.”
The wood is some variety
of old growth timber, Dewey
said, which would make the
object historically signifi cant .
But defi ning the age and
exact nature of the wood will
require an evaluation from
the state archaeologist’s offi ce
in Salem, Dewey said. With-
out a thorough examination ,
the object could be anything
See DEBRIS, Page 9A