145TH YEAR, NO. 10
‘BEHIND THE BAR’
Pacifi c Seafood
expands with
crab processing
Warrenton
plant being
rebuilt after fi re
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON
—
When Pacifi c Coast Seafood
reopens its plant in Warren-
ton, crab will be on the roster
of seafood it processes.
The Warrenton Planning
Commission on Thursday
night approved, with con-
ditions, a request to modify
a previously approved site
design for the facility . Rep-
resentatives of the seafood
company said the additional
15,000 square feet of fl oor
space requested would be
dedicated to crab process-
ing, a move that will provide
steady employment through-
out the year, they said. An
estimated 106 jobs will be
created or maintained by the
plant . Whiting and rockfi sh
will also be processed there,
as in the past.
With the Planning Com-
mission’s approval in hand,
Pacifi c Seafood represen-
tatives say crab processing
could begin at the end of the
year, in time for the com-
mercial Dungeness season
that traditionally opens in
December .
Planning Commissioner
Vince Williams approved of
the company’s decision to
add crab processing, calling
it a “good business plan.”
Pacifi c Seafood will need
to comply with 26 condi-
tions of approval outlined by
city staff, most dealing with
utilities and fi re safety and
access.
The company has been
operating in a limited capac-
ity out of the Del Mar Sea-
foods sardine processing
plant at Tongue Point in Asto-
ria following the destruction
of their Warrenton plant in a
fi re in 2013, but promised to
See SEAFOOD, Page 7A
Legal battle drives
extraordinary
salmon research
Millions spent
to help fi sh
By CASSANDRA
PROFITA
Oregon Public
Broadcasting
On a research boat on
the Columbia River, Laurie
Weitkamp with the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration grabs two
buckets fi lled with water and
about a dozen young salmon
and steelhead.
“Ooh, we got some steel-
ies!” she says.
By stretching a net across
the river below Bonneville
Dam, researchers are inter-
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, JULY 14, 2017
UNIONTOWN TAVERN
OWNER LEFT BEHIND
A VAST TROVE OF ART
WEEKEND BREAK • PAGE 1C
CHANGING HANDS
Dollar General looks at Mill Pond, while
NAPA Auto Parts eyes former Astoria Ford
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
C
hanges are afoot at two
of Astoria’s most visible
pieces of vacant land.
A new Dollar General is being
proposed for the Mill Pond neigh-
borhood. T he owner of NAPA
Auto Parts in Mill Pond, mean-
while, is preparing to buy the for-
mer Astoria Ford site off Youngs
Bay to build a new store.
Barry Hess owns 18 NAPA
branches regionally, including in
Astoria, Warrenton, Seaside and
Long Beach, Washington. He
said he is buying the former Asto-
ria Ford property from owner
Ruth Birdwell and hopes to move
into the new store by January.
Demolition crews are tear-
ing down the former auto dealer-
ship, which went vacant late last
year after Dane Gouge opened
the new Astoria Ford at the North
Coast Retail Center in Warren-
ton. Birdwell, the widow of late
Pacifi c Northwest car salesman
Ray Birdwell, took control of the
property after he died in 2013.
She could not be reached for
comment about the potential sale.
The site includes more than
3.5 acres of buildable land and
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Dollar General is looking at developing a new store in the Mill
Pond neighborhood of Astoria.
about 40 acres of submerged land
jutting into Youngs Bay. The zon-
ing is general commercial, which
allows anything from parking
lots and restaurants to hotels and
apartments. The parcels had been
listed at $3.5 million.
Hess said he is looking to
buy the entire property, which
includes four lots. “We think the
Astoria Ford piece is going to be
more visible,” he said, adding his
location in Mill Pond can be chal-
cepting the fi sh swimming
toward the ocean to see what
they’ve been eating.
What they really want to
know is whether the fi sh are
eating bugs that came from
marshes restored for their
benefi t. That’s key to proving
habitat restoration is helping
the fi sh grow and survive.
Federal agencies have
spent millions of dollars
restoring salmon habitat on
the L ower Columbia River
as part of a massive effort to
save salmon from the impacts
of hydroelectric dams.
In the Columbia Basin,
13 species of threatened
and endangered salmon
lenging for customers to navigate
through Astoria to reach. “We’re
hoping with a new location that
we’re more effi cient as far as
operations are concerned.”
Hess said the new location
will carry about twice the inven-
tory of the existing Astoria store.
He declined to comment on any
effect of the new location on the
future of his NAPA branch on
See CHANGES, Page 7A
The former Astoria Ford
site off Youngs Bay could
get new life as NAPA Auto Parts.
See SALMON, Page 7A
Locks of love
Spa owner shaves her
head to raise money for
young cancer patient
By KAELIA NEAL
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
BEFORE: Riki Irie prepares to have her head shaved on Thursday at Salon Boheme in Astoria. Irie
agreed to shave her head as part of a fundraising goal for a local cancer patient . AFTER: Irie reacts
as she sees her shaved head for the first time as supporters look on around her.
Fair hours: 10 am to 10 pm, August 1-5
Daily Admission: $4 ADULT , $2 YOUTH
5 day admission: $18 ADULT , $8 YOUTH
Daily parking: $2 5 day parking: $8
F OR T ICKETS AND I NFO GO TO : C LATSOP C O F AIR E XPO . COM
Rainie
Amusem r
en
Carniv ts
al:
$20 TH
ROUGH J
ULY 31
$30 A
T THE GA
TE
“It feels like Velcro!” Riki Irie laughed as she
rubbed her hands through her buzzed hair Thursday
at Salon Boheme.
In June , Irie made a promise to shave her head to
help raise money for Daxton Olson, a Seaside baby
with an inoperable brain tumor.
Olson, who is 8 months old, has a tumor classi-
fi ed as a strocytoma . He began a chemotherapy plan
in February.
Irie, who owns the Malama Day Spa, started
See LOCKS OF LOVE, Page 7A
Life is
Fair