DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JULY 25, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 17
Mushen
to resign
from Port
ONE DOLLAR
GIVING BACK
VOLUNTEER CREW HELPS CLEAN UP CEMETERY MESS
Commissioner cites
health reasons for exit
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Robert Mushen, who led the Port of Asto-
ria Commission through a tumultuous period
of infighting, said he will resign as commis-
sioner for health reasons.
Mushen, 73, was appointed to the Port
Commission in 2014 to replace Commis-
sioner Jack Bland and ran unopposed for
election in 2015. A Cannon Beach resident,
he has often served as an emissary between
the Port and South County.
He will announce his
resignation during today’s
Port Commission meet-
ing. The commission will
appoint a replacement to
fill out the remaining two
years of Mushen term.
In April, Mushen suf-
fered a blood pressure
Robert
spike during a heated dis-
Mushen
cussion among commis-
sioners and Port Attorney Eileen Eakins. He
briefly lost the ability to speak coherently
during a vote, after which the meeting was
canceled and he was taken by paramedics to
Columbia Memorial Hospital.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Andrew Schwarzman, right, and Johan Ruiz, left, with the U.S. Coast Guard took time Monday morning to volunteer with
about 20 of their colleagues to help tend to Ocean View Cemetery in Warrenton.
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
See MUSHEN, Page 4A
W
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
ARRENTON — Following
numerous complaints from the
community and criticism from
the Warrenton City Commission about
the “shameful” condition of its grounds,
the sprawling Ocean View Cemetery is
getting some much-needed love.
Crew members from the U.S. Coast
Guard cutter Alert worked most of the
day, chopping down weeds between
grave markers, removing trash and debris
and cleaning up around markers and
headstones at the cemetery Monday.
They wanted to give back to the com-
munity, they said.
“It definitely gets us moving forward,”
said Astoria Parks Maintenance Super-
visor Jonah Dart-McLean. “You can’t
really substitute the labor of 20 odd peo-
ple with what we’ve got currently.”
Ocean View is located in Warren-
ton but owned and operated by Asto-
ria’s Parks and Recreation Department. It
is maintained by a two-person part-time
crew. This year, the parks department
fielded a number of complaints, most
recently from the Warrenton city commis-
sioners, regarding uncut grass between
gravestones and a flourishing population
of dandelions, but says funding cuts and
staff levels make it difficult to maintain
the cemetery to the level expected.
“I think that’s where the community
really saw the impact this year,” said
Astoria Parks Director Angela Cosby.
In the last six months, the city of Asto-
ria has discussed a variety of ways to bet-
ter fund the parks department. Last week,
the Astoria City Council conducted the
first reading of an ordinance that will
increase the lodging tax to 11 percent,
generating additional revenue for parks.
Though the city will be able to fun-
nel money to parks after the ordinance
is finalized in a second reading, the tax
increase itself will not be implemented
until January.
A member of the U.S. Coast Guard clears away weeds from a headstone at
Ocean View Cemetery in Warrenton on Monday.
See CEMETERY, Page 4A
Pearl of
Seaside’s
owner pulls
plug on plans
Pending sale prompts
end of luxury hotel
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Some neighbors may rest a
little easier as plans for a luxury hotel on the
Prom were scrapped this month.
After a year of Planning Commission and
City Council review — and a challenge to
the state’s Land Use Board of Appeals — an
application for a variance for the proposed
45-room Pearl of Seaside at 341 S. Prom was
withdrawn because of the pending sale of the
property.
City councilors took action Mon-
day to suspend any further action on the
appeal, according to City Planner Kevin
Cupples.
Owner Antoine Simmons indicated
the purchaser was not planning to pursue
the proposed development project, so the
request for an 8-foot property variance “has
effectively been withdrawn from consider-
ation at this point,” Cupples said.
Two other Simmons properties, Sea-
side’s Gilbert Inn and the Inn at the Prom,
are included in the sale.
“The offer came out of left field and
was too good to pass up,” Simmons said. “I
couldn’t say ‘no.’”
Personnel with the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Alert volunteer on Monday to help clear
weeds and perform other maintenance at Ocean View Cemetery in Warrenton.
See SEASIDE, Page 4A
‘KEEPING IT LOCAL’
For Krist Novoselic, music
remains a hard habit to break
By CAROLYN
LAMBERSON
Spokesman-Review
HAVE A LISTEN
Giants in the Trees
When: 8 p.m. Aug. 12
Megan Blackburn/Spokesman-Review
Ray Prestegard, Krist Novoselic, Jillian Raye and Erik
Friend are Giants in the Trees. The band played two shows
in eastern Washington last weekend — on Friday at the
Big Dipper in Spokane and on Saturday at Republic Brew-
ing Co. in Republic.
SPOKANE, Wash. —
Krist Novoselic knows that the
majority of people who came
to the Big Dipper last Friday
night, or to Republic Brewing
on Saturday, will be there to see
him.
They will know little to
nothing about the band he’ll
be playing with, Giants in the
Trees. The simple fact is that
Where: Fort George Brewery and
Public House, 1483 Duane St.
Info: fortgeorgebrewery.com
for fans of Novoselic’s previ-
ous band, the landmark ’90s
grunge trio Nirvana, the chance
to see him in an intimate setting
like the Dipper or rural Repub-
lic will be impossible to ignore.
Novoselic, 52, is OK with
this. Because as Giants in the
Trees is finding out, curios-
ity may bring the crowds in,
the music makes them stick
around.
“It seems like people are into
it,” Novoselic said in a recent
phone interview from his home
in Wahkiakum County, in the
southwestern corner of Wash-
ington. “We get good applause.
I appreciate that people stick
See NOVOSELIC, Page 9A