DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017
144TH YEAR, NO. 258
ONE DOLLAR
Convention
center redo
drives high
city budget
Spending plan inches
near $75 million
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Lt. Col. Todd Hofford with the Oregon Air National Guard releases a wreath onto the waters off Cannon Beach Monday to com-
memorate the 10-year anniversary of the loss of his friend and fellow airman Maj. Gregory Young. Young’s F-15A went down
in 2007 during a training exercise, approximately 40 miles off Cannon Beach.
To honor a friend, comrade
New firefighter, health increases
The new budget is for the fiscal year that
begins in July.
The city’s general fund, which cov-
ers the mayor, council, city attorney, busi-
ness office, library and community center,
Oregon Air
National Guard,
Coast Guard pair
to commemorate
a fallen pilot
See SEASIDE, Page 4A
By COLIN MURPHEY
The Daily Astorian
O
n June 26, 2007, during
a routine Oregon Air
National Guard training
mission 40 miles off the coast of
Cannon Beach, an F-15A fighter
jet piloted by Major Gregory
Young crashed into the ocean
after he became disoriented
during the flight. His body was
recovered the next day.
One of the first responders to
the scene of the accident to search
for Young was his fellow airman
and friend Lt. Col. Todd Hofford.
Monday morning, on the 10-
year anniversary of the tragedy,
Hofford returned to the site to
lay a wreath. Hofford was trans-
ported to the site during a special
mission undertaken by the U.S.
Coast Guard to commemorate
Young’s death.
Hofford was flown in a Coast
Guard helicopter to the site where
he said a few words in remem-
brance of his friend and colleague
before releasing a wreath made
by some of Young’s family and
friends.
Hofford said he volunteered to
take the flight and lay the wreath
before heading to more memorial
events scheduled later in the day
at different locations in Oregon.
Young was a member of the
142nd Fighter Wing out of Port-
land. Hofford is still with the
same outfit.
SEASIDE — Boosted by $30 million in
transfers for upgrades to the Seaside Civic
and Convention Center, the Seaside City
Council on Monday night approved a budget
inching near $75 million.
This fiscal year’s total, by comparison,
stood at $41.4 million. City Manager Mark
Winstanley said the new budget is the high-
est he has seen in 32 years.
Bonds for the convention center renova-
tion will be sold for $15 million, then trans-
ferred to construction funds.
Capital improvements, designed to
accommodate larger groups, will add about
10,000 square feet to the 62,000-square-foot
convention center. To pay for the renova-
tion, city councilors raised the lodging tax
from 8 percent to 10 percent in November.
The additional tourist revenue will be used
to repay construction bonds over a 20- to
30-year period. The $15 million renovation
is planned to begin March 2018,
ABOVE: Lt. Col. Todd Hofford, second from left,
prepares to board a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter
that will take him to lay a wreath at the 2007
crash site of an F-15A off Cannon Beach that
took the life of fellow airman Maj. Gregory Young.
ABOVE LEFT: Lt. Col. Todd Hofford gazes out
the window of a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter
as it lifts off to take him to the site of the F-15A
crash in 2007 that took the life of his friend Maj.
Gregory Young. LEFT: Lt. Todd Hofford prepares
to lay a wreath at the crash site as the Coast
Guard helicopter hovers over the area.
Total solar
eclipse casts
spotlight on
rural town
Madras is among the
best viewing spots
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
MADRAS — Just before sunrise, there’s
typically nothing atop Round Butte but the
whistle of the wind and a panoramic view of
Oregon’s second-highest peak glowing pink
in the faint light.
But on Aug. 21, local officials expect this
lookout point just outside the small town of
Madras to be crammed with people from
around the world, all hoping for the first
glimpse of the moon’s shadow as it crosses
Mount Jefferson’s snow fields. Then, a solar
eclipse will throw the entire region into com-
plete darkness for two minutes.
The first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse
to cross the continental United States in 99
years will first be visible in Oregon, and
Madras is predicted to be among the coun-
try’s best viewing spots because of its clear,
high-desert skies, flat landscape and stun-
ning mountain views.
A wreath floats on the waves after it was dropped from a Coast Guard helicopter on Monday.
See ECLIPSE, Page 8A
PURR, WOOF
Pet love at Capitol mitigates
the stress of lawmaking
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Cris Cloyd,
chief of staff for state Rep. Jeff
Reardon of Portland, said she
came to the Capitol for work
Monday morning feeling tired
and stressed.
Holding a kitten melted the
tension away for a few min-
utes, Cloyd said.
“It has a calming effect,”
another staffer chimed in.
State lawmakers and their
staffers lined up in the House
of Representatives office suite
to participate in the “Snug-
gle Express” Monday at the
Capitol.
The Oregon Humane Soci-
ety brought in puppies and kit-
tens for legislators and staff
members to snuggle during the
lunch hour.
“This is just so exciting,”
said Naomi Zhao, an intern
in Rep. Ann Lininger’s office,
as she waited in a line that
wrapped around a wall into a
hallway, to hold a puppy.
When volunteers with the
humane society arrived with
the animals in pet carriers, peo-
ple in line gasped with delight.
“This is my favorite event
of the entire session,” another
staff member gushed.
Mounting tension
Rep. Janelle Bynum, a
freshman lawmaker from
Clackamas, organized the
See PET LOVE, Page 4A
Paris Achen/Capital Bureau
Cris Cloyd, chief of staff for Rep. Jeff Reardon, D-Portland,
snuggles Sully, an 8-week-old kitten up for adoption at the
Oregon Humane Society, during a Snuggle Express at the
Capitol in Salem Monday. The event was meant to reduce
stress in the waning days of the legislative session.