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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 2017)
ONE DEAD, 10 INJURED IN TERROR ATTACK NEAR LONDON MOSQUE PAGE 5A DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, JUNE 19, 2017 144TH YEAR, NO. 252 ONE DOLLAR FESTIVAL CELEBRATES 50 YEARS WITH FAMILY, FOOD AND KRUMKAKE Parks fee comes back for review A $3 monthly charge on water customers By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian Residents will get another chance to voice their opinions on a new fee on water custom- ers as the city works through the details. The fee intended to raise money for Asto- ria’s struggling Parks and Recreation Depart- ment is on the agenda again for tonight’s C ity C ouncil meeting. The monthly $3 per water meter fee would raise an estimated $117,000 a year — money some councilors hope could help rebuild a department that has had to slash programs this year. The city continues to search for ways to sustain its roster of programs, the Astoria Aquatic Center, and numerous parks and rebuild a bare-bones parks staff. City councilors are not expected to vote on the fee tonight . City staff is still fi guring out how to go about imposing such a fee. They need more time to determine how the fee would be See PARKS FEE, Page 5A Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Brightly-colored outfits were an integral part of the Scandinavian Midsummer Festival held over the weekend in Astoria. By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian Ceremony shows off college’s new building By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian T he Astoria Scandinavian Midsummer Festival celebrated its 50th year over the weekend by landing an offi cial Oregon Heritage Tradition designation and collecting nearly 400 signatures in sup- port of building a monument in downtown Astoria. The festival now joins two other designated tradi- tions in Clatsop County — the Astoria Regatta, founded in 1894, and the Cannon Beach Sandcastle Contest, founded in 1964 — as well as over a dozen other tradi- tions across the state including the Pendleton Roundup and the Oregon State Fair. The heritage designation is reserved for events that are at least 50 years old and that represent “what it means to be an Oregonian,” according to festival organizers. To land the designation, the festival also needed to show the Midsummer F estival has appealed to a “broad spectrum of the public,” was not just any ordinary cel- ebration, that it gives the public ways to participate and that it “adds to the livability and identity of the state.” For decades now, the festival has served as a sort of annual reunion for Clatsop County residents who can trace their heritage back to some of the original Scandi- navian settlers as well as those who have “married in,” said Loran Mathews, former Astoria Scandinavian Her- itage Association president. Graduates shine at Patriot Hall Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian The tug-of-war competition made a return to the Scandinavian Midsummer Festival this year. MORE INSIDE People sculpt sand into art in Cannon Beach. Car show cruises into Seaside. See FESTIVAL, Page 7A For the fi rst time in more than 40 years, Clatsop Community College held graduation on campus. The ceremony took place Friday inside the mostly fi nished, three-story, cavernous gymnasium of the $16 million Patriot Hall redevelopment, a project paid for through state bonds and local property taxes. The graduation, including 158 two-year degrees and one-year certifi cates, high- lighted the local and state investment in the college. Chris Nemlowill, the co-owner of Fort George Brewery, was the commence- ment speaker and spoke of his own journey to making an investment in Astoria. The graduates, coming from communi- ties throughout Clatsop, Columbia and Tilla- mook counties and Pacifi c County in Wash- ington state , ranged from teenagers to those in their 70s. They included a variety of uni- versity-bound academic transfers, as well as fi refi ghters, vessel operators, nurses, medical assistants, historic preservationists, welders, auto mechanics and computer designers. Page 7A See GRADS, Page 7A An unorthodox journey ends with a college degree Kuhl’s persistence rewarded at graduation arah Kuhl felt silly about being so excited for her graduation Friday from Clat- sop Community College with an associate degree in general studies. Kuhl, 39, recently watched her daughter cross the stage to receive a bachelor’s from Hawaii Pacifi c University, and one of her two sons graduate from the eighth grade at Broad- way Middle School. S “I realized the other day I never graduated from any- thing,” she said. “I quit my school career when I was in seventh grade. I realized I never got to go to an eighth -grade graduation, and I never got to go to a high school graduation.” Kuhl, from Santa Cruz, Cal- ifornia, has had a rather unorth- odox and challenging journey from living on the streets to donning her cap and gown. Kuhl said she grew up in a family living a somewhat pagan lifestyle. In the seventh grade, Kuhl said, she, her mother and her younger sister ended up liv- ing on the streets, fi nding any- where they could to sleep for the night, from a friend’s couch to the beach. Kuhl moved out on her own by age 15, work- ing two jobs and 16 hours a day to scrape together enough cash to make rent, lying on rental applications about being 18 and learning Spanish through her jobs along the way. At 15, Kuhl took the GED exams and passed with lit- tle practice. Around that time, she met her husband, Steve. See KUHL, Page 5A Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian Clatsop Community College graduate Sarah Kuhl gets a rose from President Christopher Breitmeyer after receiv- ing her associate of general studies Friday.
