MANZANITA MUSIC FESTIVAL
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 14
College
weighs
PAC
options
COAST WEEKEND • INSIDE
ONE DOLLAR
THE WRECK OF THE WESTERN SKIES
Not shipshape
Space, housing
ideas on table
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Clatsop Community College
President Christopher Breitmeyer
has raised the possibility of a pub-
lic-private partnership to develop
housing at the site of the Perform-
ing Arts Center while preserving the
building’s original purpose.
The college board has been
deciding what to do with the center,
a former church the school acquired
in the 1970s for a now non existent
performing arts program. The cen-
ter is no longer part of the college’s
academic offerings, but is a popular
rehearsal and performance space.
The operation of the building is paid
for by Partners for the PAC, a coali-
tion of user groups
The building, which dates to the
1930s, faces signifi cant deferred
See COLLEGE, Page 5A
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
U.S. Coast Guard personnel attend to the wreck of the Western Skies fishing vessel which sank at its mooring slip at the War-
renton Marina early Sunday. The boat was leaking fuel and pollution cleanup measures were taken by the Coast Guard.
Sen. Johnson
admonishes
progressives
on crime bills
Cleaning up after
abandoned vessels
sink is complicated
Democrat spoke to
district attorneys
W
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — In a rallying speech
to district attorneys from across
Oregon, state Sen. Betsy Johnson on
Wednesday chastised House Major-
ity Leader Jennifer Williamson and
other progressives
for their support
of recently passed
criminal
justice
bills.
One bill — part
of a larger effort to
limit racial profi l-
Betsy
ing by police and
Johnson
the justice sys-
tem — will clas-
sify fi rst-time, low-level possession
of illegal drugs such as heroin and
methamphetamine as misdemean-
ors. Another — intended to help
curb an upward trend of prison use
among women — will lower pre-
sumptive prison sentences for theft
and identity theft by nearly a third .
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
ARRENTON — By Mon-
day afternoon, the U.S. Coast
Guard had mostly fi nished
overseeing the cleanup of
fuel from the fi shing vessel Western Skies,
which still lay sunk on its side in a slip at
the Warrenton Marina. More than 1,000
gallons of oily water mixture was removed
from the vessel by Global Diving and Sal-
vage, a contractor hired by the Coast Guard
using $40,000 from the Oil Spill Liability
Trust Fund.
The removal of the Western Skies, how-
ever, will likely fall to the city of Warren-
ton, with the owner unable to be located and
limited state funds for removing commer-
cial vessels.
Responding to spills
Chief Petty Offi cer Bradley Bennett and
Lt. Berit Boyle are two of several regional
pollution responders with the Coast Guard’s
The wreck of the Western Skies fishing vessel, which sank at its mooring at the
Warrenton Marina early Sunday and was leaking fuel, remains on its side with pol-
lution cleanup measures surrounding it on Monday. The wreck was being attended
to by U.S. Coast Guard personnel.
Incident Management Division based at Air
Station Astoria. After receiving a call early
Sunday morning about the sunken boat, the
two started gathering information before
heading to the scene.
Boyle said neither the Coast Guard nor
the marina could reach the owner, a situa-
tion that plays out a few times a year.
See MARINA, Page 7A
‘HYPOTHETICALLY, IF WARRENTON WANTED SOME MONEY,
WE COULD LOOK AT HAVING THEM DO THE WORK,
AND THEN REIMBURSING SOME OF THE EXPENSES.’
Rachel Graham | Policy and environmental section manager for the Oregon State Marine Board
See JOHNSON, Page 7A
New dock gussies up Warrenton Marina
City completes
$2.1 million project
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Major work was completed last week on a new
dock at the Warrenton Marina as part of a $2.1
million project funded by the city’s Urban Renew-
al Agency. As of Wednesday, commercial fishing
vessels were already using the new facility.
WARRENTON — A few balloons
still bob on their strings along the new
dock. “Welcome back!” they proclaim
in red letters outlined in silver against a
backdrop of exploding fi reworks.
Major work on a replacement dock
and associated gangways in the Warren-
ton Marina wrapped up last week and
the fi rst commercial fi shing vessel came
back to tie up there Friday. The project,
budgeted at $2.1 million and funded by
the city’s Urban Renewal Agency dol-
lars, was a long time coming, said Har-
bormaster Jane Sweet.
“The marina’s shaping up to be
a really nice place,” said Warrenton
Mayor Henry Balensifer. “The work
is never done, but this is a signifi cant
investment we’ve made.”
The marina has more than 350 slips
divided between commercial and recre-
ational vessels. In the middle of improve-
ment work last December, Sweet noted
the marina’s aging infrastructure, saying
the fi shermen deserved a new dock.
“They work hard,” she said at the
time.
“It’s a long time coming,” agreed
Mark Kujala, owner of Skipanon Brand
See DOCK, Page 7A