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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 2017)
DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, JULY 10, 2017 145TH YEAR, NO. 6 ONE DOLLAR Friends, family remember beloved Astoria police officer Gillum’s service made him an all-around fixture By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian A member of the U.S. Marine Corps sounds taps at the memorial service on Saturday for Paul Gillum. Friends, family and co-workers gathered Satur- day to remember a man whose careers, passions and hobbies made him an Astoria fixture. Paul Gillum earned awards for his service in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Viet- nam War, as an Astoria Police officer and a member of the Clatsop Community College Board of Directors. He later became a deacon at Lewis and Clark Bible Church, a Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office trans- port deputy and an artist. He died suddenly on June 18, four days short of his 68th birth- day. Saturday’s memorial at the church included remembrances, an American flag salute, prayers and Christian songs. See GILLUM, Page 7A ‘Brave for five minutes longer’ CLATSOP COUNTY RELAY FOR LIFE RAISES $29,000 BEFORE THE START Paul Gillum Lawmakers head home after thorny state session Transportation a win; pension, tax reform not By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE and PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau Damian Mulinix/For The Daily Astorian A color guard from Warrenton Cub Scout Troop 509 stand at attention, as Will Caplinger sings the national anthem during the opening ceremonies of Saturday’s Relay for Life at Astoria High School. By DAMIAN MULINIX For The Daily Astorian T he theme of the 2017 Clatsop County Relay for Life asked a very simple question: “Who is your superhero?” “I know that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people,” event chairwoman Laura Parvi said during her opening remarks of Saturday’s event at the Astoria High School track. Parvi, whose husband was diagnosed with lung cancer this year, pointed to the numerous people in the crowd wearing purple survivor T-shirts as her heroes. Guest speaker Dr. Jennifer Lycette, an oncologist and medical director of the new Columbia Memorial Hospital/Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Care Center, reiterated the same sentiments. “I get to work with real life superheroes every day,” she said. “My patients inspire me every day with their own strength and perseverance. In fact, I’m in awe of them. Damian Mulinix/For The Daily Astorian See RELAY FOR LIFE, Page 7A Astoria Relay for Life chairwoman Laura Parvi speaks to the crowd prior to the start of Saturday’s event at Astoria High School. SALEM — Oregon lawmakers have adjourned a contentious legislative session. The more than five-month session yielded a two-year budget, new taxes, transportation funding, expanded health care benefits and staved off MORE the need for a second wom- en’s prison. But lawmakers INSIDE also succumbed to partisan New laws hit gridlock over corporate tax the books as reform, paring pension costs Legislature and tenant protections. adjourns “At best, our successes Page 2A are tempered by disappoint- ment,” state Senate Presi- dent Peter Courtney, D-Salem, said Friday. House Minority Leader Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte, said the session was the “most partisan and divisive” one he had “ever been a part of.” The state faced a $1.4 billion revenue shortfall in the budget for the next two years. Republicans agreed to support moderately increasing taxes on corporations in exchange for reducing the cost of public employee pen- sion costs and spending reductions, but the two parties were unable to reach an agreement. A last-ditch effort to restructure small busi- ness taxes, which would have raised nearly $200 million in the next two years, also went by the wayside. ‘Missed opportunities’ “The session will be more about missed opportunities than anything else,” McLane said. “The sound of a can being kicked down the road is resonating.” Lawmakers passed a long-awaited trans- portation funding bill, made reproductive health care free-of-charge to patients and made undocumented children eligible for health care under Medicaid. Democrats and Republicans did cooperate to pass a health care provider tax to help off- set the state’s increasing financial responsibil- ity for expanded Medicaid. Without the tax, 350,000 Oregonians would have lost health coverage, some Democrats argued. “I am just really proud of the work they did this legislative session,” said Gov. Kate See SESSION, Page 5A For Allen, a hillside garden is an adventure A 75-year-old gardener tackles steep rock wall here are five tow ropes. Three are attached to a metal guardrail and the fourth to the open door of the Astoria Senior Center bus. The fifth is wrapped around Larry Allen’s torso to form a harness. “At 75 years old, I’m finally getting to do what I wanted to do,” he says as he bends down to pat the dirt around a patch of young sunflowers. Over the past year, Allen has built a garden perched T above the Senior Center, turn- ing a rocky, weedy wall into a tiny gem. ‘Tied to a bus’ The retired civil engineer and real estate broker has always had a passion for gar- dening, but once swore he never wanted to do large, com- plicated landscaping projects ever again. “And here I am, tied to a bus!” The Astoria Seniors Peren- nial Garden is not particularly large, but it is complicated. The garden beds, bounded by rocks, more or less follow the sidewalk as it rises with the 11th Street hill. Below and to the south of these beds there’s a shallow crescent of land and a steep drop to a drive- way below. The rest of the gar- den is a hillside sloping up to the First United Methodist Church’s parking lot. To access the garden, Allen parks the bus in the church parking lot, ties a rope to the bus and himself, then carefully See ALLEN, Page 7A Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Larry Allen double-checks the ropes that keep him safe as he works on the garden wall at the Astoria Senior Center last week.
