UFOs STILL EVASIVE 70 YEARS AFTER PILOT’S TOUCHSTONE REPORT
144TH YEAR, NO. 256
WEEKEND BREAK • PAGE 1C
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 2017
Homebuilders respond to housing scarcity
Warrenton is site
of over 500 units
in the pipeline
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Dale Barrett, a surveyor with
Otak Inc., recently walked along
an overgrown dirt road on the
western edge of War-
renton, pointing out
lots and the occasional
abandoned
home-
less camp. The road
could one day be the
main artery through
Fort Pointe, a proposed hous-
ing development hugging Ridge
Road south of the KOA camp-
ground with up to 150 homes and
a similar number of apartments.
Fort Pointe is the
largest of several pro-
posed and approved
housing
develop-
ments on the ridges
and hills around War-
renton, as homebuild-
ers respond to the housing short-
age and an improving economy.
According to Skip Urling,
Warrenton’s planning direc-
tor, myriad projects are in the
works, ranging from Fort Pointe
and smaller subdivisions to
several
new
apartment
complexes .
“By my count, there’s some-
thing like over 500 dwelling
units that are in the pipeline,”
Urling said, adding many are in
the application or conversation
phases.
See HOUSING, Page 7A
Antoine Simmons/Submitted Graphic
Antoine Simmons is planning the Skipanon Riv-
er Apartments with approximately 37 units at
the corner of First Street and Skipanon Drive.
AT REPAIR CAFE, NEW LIFE FOR BROKEN STUFF
THE FIX IS ON
Dems
give up
on new
biz taxes
Path forward on
transportation
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Harold Gable sharpens a knife at a recent Repair Cafe event . The gatherings feature people who repair a wide variety of tools,
appliances and other items, so customers don’t have to throw them away and purchase replacements.
Volunteers help repair
broken or worn-out items
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
T
ake some broken stuff, add a skilled assortment
of volunteer tinkerers, menders, builders and
all-purpose fi xers and you get Repair Cafe: a
monthly event where your items get a second, third or
even fourth chance at a useful life.
People with broken electronics, torn clothes, dull
knives and even, memorably, a shattered ceramic cobra
have turned to Repair Cafe. A group of volunteers, all
skilled in various crafts, work alone or together to fi x
the items for free.
See REPAIR CAFE, Page 6A
SALEM — Major changes to the
way Oregon taxes businesses won’t
materialize before the Legislature
adjourns, the governor and top legisla-
tive leadership said Thursday.
The
announcement
comes
after several weeks of height-
ened revenue discussions at the
Legislature,
and
months
of
disagree-
MORE
ment between busi-
INSIDE ness and labor groups
over how the state
Tax package
should tax businesses
failure could
after a divisive ballot
pave way for
transportation
measure campaign.
bill.
The
decision
effectively
tables
Page 3A
reforms to the state’s
public pension system and “clears a
path forward” for a major transporta-
tion funding package, said Gov. Kate
Brown.
It also means that a state hiring
freeze will continue and that legisla-
tion attempting to curb the costs of
state government from education to
forestry will likely advance.
Brown, state Senate Presi-
dent Peter Courtney, D-Salem, and
Speaker of the House Tina Kotek,
D-Portland, say structural changes to
the state’s tax system will have to wait
until the next long legislative session
in 2019.
The Legislature meets for approx-
imately fi ve-month long sessions in
every odd-numbered year, alternat-
ing with short month-long sessions in
even-numbered years, and is constitu-
tionally required to fi nish its business
— primarily, balancing the state bud-
get — by July 10.
With a $1.4 billion gap between
projected revenue and expenses in the
next two-year budget, only partially
closed with the Legislature’s passage
Wednesday of a new tax on health
Harold Gable hones the edge of a kitchen knife at a recent Repair Cafe event.
See TAXES, Page 7A
Storytelling through the state’s parks on the North Coast
Arch Cape
native Deur
on state parks
commission
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
ARCH CAPE — When
Arch Cape native Doug Deur
thinks about his life on the
North Coast, time spent in
Oregon State Parks seems to
be a common thread between
his memories.
“I grew up with state parks
on the coast,” Deur said. “My
family has been in this area
for generations. My grandpar-
ents watched these parks being
built — they saved their gas
rations to go to Ecola during
World War II. Every time a
baby was born, photos would
be taken at Hug Point.”
Between those personal
connections and a career study-
ing national state parks history
and North Coast cultural heri-
tage as a professor at Portland
State University, stepping up
as the new coast representative
on the Oregon Parks and Rec-
reation Department Commis-
sion seemed like a natural fi t.
Road to commission
Deur has replaced Can-
non Beach resident Robin Ris-
Maya Dooley/ Submitted Photo
Doug Deur
ley on the commission after
she reached her eight-year
term limit. The commission
establishes policies, sets fees,
acquires property and pro-
motes the state ’s outdoor rec-
reation policy, among other
tasks.
Commissioners serve four-
year terms and are appointed
by the governor, then con-
fi rmed by the state Senate.
There are two other new com-
missioners starting their terms
with Deur: Steve Grasty, rep-
resenting Burns, and Victoria
Berger, representing Salem.
When Risley came near the
end of her term in May, mem-
bers of the North Coast com-
munity started encouraging
him to apply for her spot, Deur
said.
“It’s about my personal
connection to Oregon parks.
I feel like all Oregon citizens
have an obligation to take care
of parks so future generations
can see these same places I
enjoyed and my grandparents
enjoyed,” he said. “It was an
offer I could not refuse.”
Deur has been studying
North Coast history for years,
which included publishing
“Empires of the Turning Tide.”
The book, published and
funded by the National Park
Service, details the creation of
the parks and tells the stories
of the relationship between
these places and indigenous
people.
See DEUR, Page 7A