DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JULY 11, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 7
ONE DOLLAR
Youth prison to close in new state budget
County hopes site
becomes new jail
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Clatsop County will lose the North
Coast Youth Correctional Facility but
could gain a new county jail.
The Warrenton facility was not in
the state’s two-year budget adopted
last week. Gov. Kate Brown placed
the youth facility on the chopping
block in December when she released
her proposed spending plan , hoping
to address a budget shortfall.
The 50-bed facility near the Clat-
sop County Sheriff’s Offi ce on S.E.
19th Street houses 14- to 25-year-
old males. It specializes in sub-
stance-abuse treatment, gang pre-
Major fi xes
needed for
academy’s
building
vention and corrections for parole
violators. Inmates can earn diplo-
mas, take GED exams and learn trade
skills through the facility’s educa-
tional program, featuring one of the
highest graduation rates of youth pris-
ons in the state.
“This is a big deal for the youth, the
staff, their families, Clatsop County
and the Oregon Youth Authority,”
Benjamin Chambers, a spokesman
for the youth authority, said.
The number of inmates at the facil-
ity has already been whittled down to
16. Everyone currently housed there
will be transferred by mid-Septem-
ber, and the facility will be offi cially
closed by Oct. 1.
The Oregon Youth Authority has
been coordinating with facility’s 40
staff members to search for other
work options, including positions at
youth facilities in Florence and Tilla-
mook as well as other state agencies.
Overcrowded jail
Clatsop County hired a private
fi rm in May to study the feasibility
of relocating the overcrowded county
jail in Astoria to the youth facility site.
Part of the study will examine how
See YOUTH PRISON, Page 9A
‘HELP WANTED’
NORTH COAST EMPLOYERS GET CREATIVE TO FIN
D NEW EMPLOYEES
Cannon Beach school
aims to make deadline
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH — The city voted
unanimously Monday night to approve
a lease agreement with Cannon Beach
Academy , leaving the school about a
month to secure a building permit to tackle
major renovations necessary to open in the fall.
The city has fast-tracked the process ever
since the academy was forced to change
locations to the former Preschool and
Children’s Center at 3781 S. Hemlock St.
after a cost estimate at the original location
on Sunset Boulevard was $150,000 over the
board’s $90,000 budget.
When the board decided
MORE
to pursue the former C hil-
dren’s C enter, support-
INSIDE
ers heralded the space as a
Cannon
great alternative because it
Beach
was already designed to host
tables timed
children. But a report done in
parking
early June by an independent
downtown
contractor shows the build-
Page 3A
ing is in “substantial code
non-compliance” to become
a school as it stands, which could drive up
costs. At one point, the report suggests that the
city “weigh the options of removing the build-
ing” versus doing the repair work .
City Planner Mark Barnes said this partic-
ular inspection should be considered a draft,
and that a more tailored assessment will come
after Cannon Beach’s newly hired building
offi cial reviews the academy’s building plans.
F ormer City Manager Brant Kucera and
interim City Manager Jason Schermerhorn
said there were no discussions about remov-
ing the building.
This still leaves the academy about a month
to address a series of mold, compliance with
the Americans with Disabilities Act and fi re
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Businesses in several communities in Clatsop County are facing a labor shortage and are advertising for help.
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
and BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
W
See ACADEMY, Page 4A
Submitted Photo
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The former Cannon Beach Preschool
and Children’s Center needs significant
repairs to become the new home to the
Cannon Beach Academy.
Rubi Torres preps food in the Buoy Beer Co. kitchen in Astoria. Torres is part
of the Tongue Point Job Corps Culinary Program, which helps fill the labor gap
in some local restaurants.
hen Steve Sinkler, owner of
The Wine Shack and Provi-
sions 124 in Cannon Beach,
decided to expand his business to include
a small deli, he didn’t think fi nding some-
one to work part time making sandwiches
would be so diffi cult.
It was 45 days before he fi lled the job .
Even now, it is only a temporary solution.
He had advertised the job via social
media and word of mouth, expecting to
see responses from a college student look-
ing for summer work or a local looking
to pick up more hours. He offered fl exi-
ble scheduling and an hourly wage much
higher than Oregon’s minimum wage —
$10.25 an hour in Clatsop County as of
July .
“We couldn’t even get someone to
walk in the door,” he said.
Sinkler is not alone. “Help wanted”
signs are everywhere in Cannon Beach
this summer, and employers county wide
See HELP WANTED, Page 4A
Astoria honors Snow, ‘the conscience of the Column’
Nonprofi t gives
annual report
to City Council
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian
Jordan Schnitzer holds a microphone next to former Astoria
M ayor Willis Van Dusen’s phone so the audience can hear
s tate Sen . Betsy Johnson’s remarks in honor of Hal Snow, an
Astoria attorney and founding member of the Friends of the
Astoria Column. Snow’s wife, Jeanyse, listens in the front row.
The opening guitar riff
of the Rolling Stone’s “Sat-
isfaction” suddenly rang out
across the courtyard in front of
the Astoria Column Monday
evening.
Former M ayor Willis Van
Dusen paused mid-speech and
answered his phone.
It was s tate Sen . Betsy
Johnson, calling to say a few
words about former C ity
A ttorney Hal Snow, who died
in December. Leaving City
Hall for the evening, the Asto-
ria City Council met at the
Column to hear the Friends of
the Astoria Column’s annual
report and to honor Snow, a
founding member of the group.
“Your guy was a pretty spe-
cial guy,” Johnson told Snow’s
wife, Jeanyse, “and I held him
with enormous respect.”
Johnson said there is noth-
ing “wonderful and good” in
Astoria “that doesn’t have his
fi ngerprints on it.”
City Councilor Cindy
Price, who led the special
meeting for an absent Mayor
Arline LaMear, said Snow was
survived by his wife and chil-
dren “and 10,000 Astorians.”
“I’ve never met anyone
who was a better listener,” said
Jordan Schnitzer, a Portland
developer and philanthropist
who is the president of Friends
of the Astoria Column . “You’d
always get wise counsel.”
‘He deserves credit’
Snow was a founding
member not only of the Col-
umn group but also of Friends
of the Liberty Theater and
Astoria High School Scholar-
ships Inc. In addition to these
boards and running an Astoria
law fi rm, Snow & Snow, with
See COUNCIL, Page 9A