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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 24, 2017)
107TH OREGON COAST INVITATIONAL STARTS TODAY SPORTS • PAGE 10A DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, JULY 24, 2017 145TH YEAR, NO. 16 ONE DOLLAR There goes the sun Eclipse could bring chaos to Oregon’s forests and mountains By ZACH URNESS Statesman Journal Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian The Southeast Seaside Urban Renewal Plan includes work to repair infrastructure such as sidewalks and roads in the community. The plan also identified a need for improvements to stormwater and sewage infrastructure as well as other transportation projects. Southeast Seaside seeks a turnaround Whoever scheduled the solar eclipse for Aug. 21 should be fired. That’s the joke, at least, among land man- agers bracing for the tidal wave of humanity expected to descend on the nation’s public lands for the once-in-a-lifetime event. Millions of visitors are projected to swarm the forests and mountains in states within the eclipse path of totality, at the same time wildfire danger and summer tourism is reaching its apex. “It literally could not be happening at a worse time,” said Jean Nelson-Dean, public information officer for Deschutes National Forest in Oregon, the first state that will get eclipse views. “It’s the peak of fire season. Our emer- gency responders are going to be spread thin. And the forest is going to be filled with a lot of people who don’t camp very often and might have little experience with the out- doors,” Nelson-Dean said. See ECLIPSE, Page 7A Urban renewal plan still has hurdles to clear By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian EASIDE — Round one of an urban renewal plan that would involve critical bridge and school improvements in south- east Seaside has moved a step forward. The Planning Commission determined this month that the report presented by Elaine How- ard Consulting met the city’s criteria as speci- fied in the master plan. Next step is the City Council, which is scheduled to hear details of the report at the city’s Aug. 14 meeting. The report presents renewal area boundaries and provides cost estimates. Southeast Seaside’s infrastructure goals, pre- pared in a May goal-setting session, include a pedestrian bike bridge, parks projects and upgrades to unincorporated properties in the area. Covering almost 560 acres of land along South Holladay, Avenue S from U.S. High- way 101 east and the southern section of High- way 101, the urban renewal district would make up about 21 percent of the city’s total acreage and 22 percent of Seaside’s assessed value. “One of the places where urban renewal agen- cies can be very effective is in matching money,” City Manager Mark Winstanley said. “If the Oregon Department of Transportation, as an example says, ‘We are going to give you money for the Avenue U Bridge, but we are only going to give you 90 percent of the money,’ the urban-renewal agency could pay for 10 per- cent of the project. You might be able to build a bridge early because you are only providing matching money, not the major portion.” Submitted Drawing See SEASIDE:, Page 7A The city’s former Tsunami Advisory Group prepared this map showing Seaside’s most endangered areas including the south part of Seaside. S AP Photo/David Zalubowski The annular solar eclipse is seen as the sun sets behind the Rocky Mountains from downtown Denver in 2012. Hotels and campsites are sold out as some communities are preparing for unparal- leled numbers of visitors. More of the same weather on the way Rest of summer as dry and warm as first half By TOM BANSE Northwest News Network A writer in the genre of the weird Donihe a star of bizarro fiction n the world of bizarro fiction, Kevin Donihe is somewhat of a superstar. The wiry, 40-year-old author has published more than 10 novels and twice won the nascent genre’s top annual book award. Trying to escape writer’s block, Donihe left his home state of Tennessee sev- eral months ago for Astoria, where he has quickly settled in and begun work on two new books. Donihe hails from Kingsport, a small city in the hills of northeast- ern Tennessee. By age 5, he said, I it was clear he would be an author. By his mid-20s, he’d published his first novel, “Shall We Gather at the Garden?,” about a commune of cir- cus midgets with supernatural pow- ers who are infiltrated by the book’s protagonist. Donihe said he was inspired by Victorian and Edwardian horror and modern and postmod- ern authors such as Franz Kafka and William S. Bur- roughs. He started out writ- ing horror fiction, which he felt had a market he could tap into. “But what I really wanted to write was strange, idiosyncratic stuff, that really didn’t have a niche, or didn’t See DONIHE, Page 7A If you liked the warm, dry start to our Northwest summer, you’ll probably like the rest of it. There’s no change to the dominant weather pattern in sight. The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center released newly extended forecasts on Thursday for one month and three months out. For the Pacific Northwest, the outlook includes a good chance of above normal temperatures in August and it stays dry. Weather Service Meteorologist Ted Buehner in Seattle said the rest of summer and early fall look much the same. “Really good odds on warmer than aver- age temperatures during this 90 day period,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that it will always be warm, but the overall average will tend to be warmer.” See WEATHER, Page 7A Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian Bizarro fiction author Kev- in Donihe stands in front of a sculpture modeled by friends af- ter Muninn, a raven from Norse mythology belonging to Odin, used in Fort George Brewery’s Festival of the Dark Arts. AP Photo/Charlie Riedel Kids play on rocks in Sunset Bay as the sun sets over the Pacific Ocean on Sun- day in Coos Bay.
