DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 1
Power blips
draw metal
balloon
warnings
ONE DOLLAR
LANE COUNTY’S EMERY WINS MISS OREGON
CROWNING GLORY
Firefi ghters see more
risk in illegal fi reworks
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — The city’s Fourth of July
celebration in 2015 saw plenty of fi reworks,
but one piece of pyrotechnics went awry.
Sheila Holden, the Pacifi c Power spokes-
woman at the time, called it “Mylargate.”
When a metal-coated balloon made contact
with a Pacifi c Power substation, sparks fl ew
and the South County went dark for hours,
disrupting celebrations, picnics and parades.
More than 8,000 customers were affected
by a metallic-skinned helium balloon that
got away, according to Pacifi c Power. Crews
found “unmistakable red, white and blue
Mylar shreds” when doing repairs .
The balloon from a nearby celebra-
tion caused a main substation transformer
to short circuit near Seaside Factory Outlet
Center. Other equipment was also damaged
on nearby poles.
See WARNINGS, Page 7A
Tone softens
in dam feud
Warrenton, water district
want fi nal resolution
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — Six months after
declaring an emergency over the Eighth
Street Dam, Warrenton has toned down bra-
zen talk of ownership and legal threats while
waiting for federal advice on what to do next.
The city asked the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers in December whether the small,
54-year-old dam over the Skipanon River
should be restored for fl ood control. The
city also wanted the Army Corps to inves-
tigate whether the Skipanon Water Control
District, which has managed the dam since it
was built with the help of the federal govern-
ment in 1963, improperly removed tide gates
on the aging structure.
Warrenton had threatened to sue the
water district to take control of the dam and
reinstall the tide gates. A Portland attorney
hired by the city initially claimed Warrenton
owned the dam, then, after more research,
described it as a federal asset integral to the
city’s levee system.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Harley Emery, left, is crowned Miss Oregon 2017 by Miss Oregon 2016 Alexis Mather at the Miss Oregon Scholarship
Program Saturday at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center. More photos online at DailyAstorian.com
By KAELIA NEAL
The Daily Astorian
fter waiting in suspense next to the top-fi ve c ontestants,
Harley Emery of Lane County was “in shock” to hear
her name called as Miss Oregon 2017.
“I’m so excited. I’m just so thrilled,” Emery said Saturday
during the 70th annual Miss Oregon p ageant. “I stood there for
a second thinking, ‘Wait, what just happened?’”
Emery said she has competed in pageants for fi ve years. She
will represent Oregon at the Miss America pageant in Septem-
ber in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Twenty c ontestants competed in swimwear, talent , interview
and other categories to highlight their personal successes and
beliefs .
A
Miss Oregon 2016 Alexis Mather accepts roses from members
of the audience as she takes the last walk of her reign during
Saturday’s Miss Oregon Scholarship Program in Seaside.
See MISS OREGON, Page 7A
See DAM, Page 7A
Gym rat drawn back to the North Coast
Former MMA
fi ghter devotes
energy to fi tness
ra Evansen has devoted his
life to fi tness.
A school dropout, who was
briefl y homeless as a young
man, Evansen found his confi -
dence as a gym rat, testing him-
self through taekwondo and
mixed martial arts.
Evansen, now 34, owns Val-
halla Alpha Fit Gym in Gear-
hart, where classes such as
power lifting, boxing, wrestling
and Zumba are offered.
“Fitness is a large pie and
we cover a large part of it,”
I
Evansen said.
The gym has classes Mon-
day through Friday, though
there is 24-hour access for
members. On Wednesdays,
Spanish Spoken Alpha Fit
allows people to train with
Spanish translation. Children
as young as 6 can also train.
A Cannon Beach native and
an only child, fi tness has always
been a big part of Evansen’s
life. “When I was younger, I
was always surfi ng,” he said.
But the road to Evansen’s
success was not always smooth.
He dropped out of school in the
seventh grade, and ran around
with an older group of boys that
led to some trouble. Eventu-
ally, when Evansen turned 18,
he began working at Cleanline
Surf Shop in Seaside.
Evansen said he decided
to make a bold move and
abruptly fl ed to California with
his best friend where they had
no place to stay. After about
eight months of being home-
less, Evansen decided enough
was enough. He left the streets
and moved to Seattle with his
father, where he was introduced
Kaelia Neal/The Daily Astorian
See EVANSEN, Page 7A
Ira Evansen racks the barbell after an overhead squat at
Valhalla Alpha Fit Gym.
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