DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 26
CLATSOP COUNTY FAIR
FAIR-LY PHOTOGENIC
ONE DOLLAR
Bill could
stabilize
the crab
fi shery
Extends agreement
between three states
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Thousands of people attended the Clatsop County Fair in Astoria last week. The event featured live music, 4-H competi-
tions, entertainment and a wide variety of rides and games. Find more photos online at DailyAstorian.com
Dungeness crab fi shermen can heave a
sigh of relief.
A bill that advocates say will lead to
much-needed stability for the West Coast’s
valuable Dungeness crab fi shery passed the
U.S. Senate Friday and now heads to the
president’s desk for signature into law. The
bi partisan bill permanently extends a tri-state
agreement between Washington state, Ore-
gon and California to manage the multi mil-
lion dollar fi shery.
“The Dungeness crab fi shery is an
economic pillar of our coastal communi-
ties, supporting thousands of fi shing and
processing jobs,” U.S. Sen. Maria
Cantwell, D-Washington , who introduced
the bill in 2014, said in a statement. “By pre-
serving the t ri-s tate a greement, we can sus-
tainably manage our crab fi sheries for many
years.”
West Coast Dungeness crab is unique in
being one of the few fi sheries on the ocean
See CRAB, Page 7A
Port seeks
to protect
airspace
LEFT: The barn at the fairgrounds in Astoria was full of animals and their human owners for the 4-H competitions .
RIGHT: People marveled at the rides and games at the fair. BELOW: Children and adults took advantage of the rides .
Agency concerned
about development
near Astoria airport
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The Port of Astoria
is looking to change Warrenton city code to
protect the space around the Astoria Regional
Airport from potential development.
Airport Manager Gary Kobes recently
laid out a proposal by a subcommittee
of the Port’s Airport Advisory Committee
to replace a section of the Warrenton
code with a public use airport zone
developed by the state Department of
Aviation.
“Over time, one of the problems with
airports is encroachment of developments
around critical areas of the airport,” Kobes
said. “The zone change part would deal with
keeping at bay inappropriate uses like res-
idential uses below the traffi c pattern and
around the approaches.”
He said the Port is also trying to establish
a D epartment of A viation-model safety and
compatibility overlay zone to protect the six
approaches to runways from obstacles such
as trees that can force pilots to approach
from a higher altitude.
See PORT, Page 7A
A personal perspective on highway vehicle accidents
Starr responds
to wrecks on
Highway 30
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
I
n 1993, Al Starr was
involved in a serious car
crash and injured his neck. At
just 34 years old, he believed
his working days might have
been over.
“You play the hand you’re
dealt,” Starr said. “I didn’t
think anyone would hire me.”
That turned out to be true,
but Starr discovered his road
back to the workforce a few
years later when he founded
a company called Afford-
able Towing and Repair. Now
operating in its 17th year, it
responds to accidents on U.S.
Highway 30 from Astoria to
Knappa.
“Now I’m a workaholic
again,” Starr said.
Starr, 57, of Astoria, has
lived in Clatsop County his
entire life. He washed trucks
out of high school, but the
accident left his neck partially
disabled. Now a veteran at
accident scenes, Starr is able to
analyze situations, including
when a person may be going
into shock, rather quickly.
“Some of the stuff that hap-
pens brings me back to old
memories,” he said.
Tight schedule
Starr keeps a dispatch radio
handy that indicates when he
must respond to an accident.
When a call comes in, he puts
all other tasks aside.
“Everybody wants some-
thing every second,” he
said. “You run a pretty tight
schedule.”
Though he used to receive
at least a couple of calls a
week, the quantity of wrecks
Starr responds to has subsided
a bit. He theorized the heavier
traffi c in the area nowadays
may be limiting the number of
high-speed collisions.
Starr has developed rela-
tionships within the Asto-
ria Police Department, Ore-
gon State Police and Clatsop
County Sheriff’s Offi ce. He
once even allowed police to
train in the yard where he
stores wrecked cars.
One of their main priorities
at accident scenes is to open
the road to traffi c as soon as
possible, Starr said. As the
years have fl own by, they’ve
See STARR, Page 7A
Al Starr