CANNON BEACH PLEIN AIR & MORE ARTS FESTIVAL COAST WEEKEND
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017
144TH YEAR, NO. 255
HOME RUN!
GASSER LOOKS BACK AT HIS FINAL, MEMORABLE SEASON
ONE DOLLAR
Oregon
Senate OKs
health care
provider tax
Bill goes to Gov. Brown
to help pay for Medicaid
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — The state Senate Wednes-
day passed an assessment on health care pro-
viders and insurers that is expected to cover
a chunk of the state’s expected $1.4 billion
budget gap.
The bill was previously passed by the
House.
P assage of the so-called provider tax
is a signifi cant milestone as the Legisla-
ture closes in on its fi nish date. The tax is
expected to raise more than $600 million in
revenue from providers over the next two
years and draw down nearly $1.9 billion in
federal funds to help pay for the state’s Med-
icaid program for the poor and disabled.
The legislation increases an assessment
on certain urban hospitals by 0.7 percent to
6 percent of a hospital’s net revenue; cre-
ates a new assessment on rural hospitals;
and places a 1.5 percent tax on insurance
premiums.
The money is intended to cover the costs
of the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s Medic-
aid program, and the concept has the support
of the state’s hospitals.
Most, if not all, of the money collected by
the assessment is returned to hospitals in the
form of Medicaid payments.
Dave Gasser gives wife Vicki a hug,
following a milestone win early in
his coaching career at Astoria.
See TAX, Page 7A
The Daily Astorian /File Photo
Portland
hotelier takes
action against
Port of Astoria
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
I
f the 2017 season were a movie, the Astoria
baseball team would have advanced to the fi nal,
knocked off Henley for their fi rst title since 2011,
and those Band of Brothers — the Fishermen
seniors — would fi nally have their state championship.
And retiring head coach Dave Gasser (played by
Gene Hackman) would be riding off into the sunset with
his 751st career victory and his sixth state title.
“Ideally, in a perfect world, we would have walked
out with a state championship just the way it started (in
2006),” Gasser said. “But those are movie scripts.”
Still, the season “was awesome,” he said. In the
playoffs, “We had to beat the Player of the Year (Andy
Avants) in Estacada’s league; then we had to beat the
Player of the Year (Hidden Valley’s Cade Kissel) in the
Skyline; then we had to turn around and play the Player
of the Year in the Greater Oregon League (La Grande’s
G.T. Blackman).”
And all three on the road.
“There was nothing easy about the route we took. I
don’t know how our kids could have done any more.”
The Daily Astorian /Submitted Photo
See GASSER, Page 7A
Dave Gasser and the coach who will replace him
next year, Glen Fromwiller, right.
Seeks legal victory on
delayed transcripts
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
‘There was nothing easy about
the route we took. I don’t know how
our kids could have done any more.’
Dave Gasser
retired Astoria High School baseball coach
Retirement home closing a sign of stress
Pacifi c County
has dearth of
nursing options
By AMY NILE
EO Media Group
LONG BEACH, Wash. — More
than a dozen seniors who call Long
Beach Retirement their home are
looking for a new place to live.
The assisted-care home on Wash-
ington Avenue is closing its doors
for good. The seniors, mostly a 75
and older crowd, are left with few
options for long-term care out-
side of a long-distance reloca-
tion or a move into a relative’s
home.
Long Beach Retirement owner
“There were some tears,” Rowe
Bob Rowe, of Tacoma, said he’s said. “It’s hard.
struggled for years to keep the fam-
Medicaid money
ily business afl oat. His grandparents,
The home was often the only
Bob and Pat Hall, passed it down to
one in Long Beach that would take
him.
Medicaid, the federal health
Rowe, 45, was born on
insurance program for the
his grandfather’s birthday
poor and disabled . However,
and given his name, so natu-
he can’t stretch reimburse-
rally, he followed in his foot-
ments from the program far
steps, too.
enough to cover costs.
But, he said, he can’t keep
“We treaded water as
the state-licensed home with
long as we could,” Rowe
limited resources running.
said.
He had trouble staffi ng the
Robin
Robin Dale, CEO for the
home and making ends meet
Dale
Olympia-based nonprofi t
for years before making the
call to shut down the 25-bed facility. Washington Health Care Association,
Now, he and employees are help- said Medicaid pays providers a state-
ing the 14 residents fi nd new places
See CLOSING, Page 7A
to live.
Param Hotel Corp. is once again seek-
ing victory in a lawsuit against the Port of
Astoria over the operation of the Astoria
Riverwalk Inn, based on the Port’s delay in
releasing executive session transcripts and
recordings.
The Portland hotel group , which had been
attempting since 2014 to take over operation
of the Riverwalk Inn from heavily indebted
former operator Brad Smithart, fi led suit in
November 2015. The lawsuit came after the
Port awarded operation of the hotel to Asto-
ria Hospitality Ventures, whose owner, Wil-
liam Orr, is former Port Commissioner Ste-
phen Fulton’s brother-in-law. Param claimed
the Port violated a deal it had made with
Smithart on the hotel, and had shown bias
toward Orr’s group.
In April, Clatsop County Circuit Court
Judge Dawn McIntosh ordered the Port to
pay for additional depositions of its staff
by Param. She found the Port had with-
held executive session materials related to
the hotel, requested by Param in November
2015, for about 13 months. Param’s law-
yer, Colin Hunter, sought to win the case
based on the omissions, arguing they were
prejudicial and had irreversibly affected his
case .
See PORT, Page 5A
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
Operation of the Astoria Riverwalk Inn is
part of a continuing legal battle between
Param Hotel Corp. and the Port of Astoria.