3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2017
Legal battle ends in dispute over
insurance in Pacific Seafood fire
Processor sought
additional payment
Luke Whittaker/EO Media Group
Hillary Trusty and Jaxon Allen, 7, take a test drive.
Popular go-kart track
reopens in Long Beach
Former owner
target of raid
By LUKE WHITTAKER
EO Media Group
LONG BEACH, Wash. —
The past two weeks have been
a feverish race of repairing,
repainting and replacing. On
Friday, however, Fun Beach
Speedway reached the check-
ered flag as owners Glenn
and Hillary Trusty opened
for their first official day of
business.
By 1 p.m., more than 250
riders had fulfilled their need
for speed, Glenn Trusty said.
The price is $10 per session,
which lasts about five min-
utes and equates to about
10 laps. Double occupancy
go-karts are available for $15.
The height requirement is
54 inches. A smaller, “junior
track” is available for younger
drivers.
Twenty-four
glistening
gold go-karts neatly line the
track that has undergone an
overall makeover the past few
weeks.
“The track was always
known for being a fun track,
it just wasn’t always known
for being the safest,” Trusty
said.
Initially, a lot of attention
was focused on cleaning up
glaring issues at the facility,
but repairs and improvements
to the track and equipment
have been extensive, albeit
less apparent. The facility was
closed after an April drug raid
targeting the former owner.
The most obvious change
is the go-karts themselves.
“All the carts are band
new,” Trusty said. “They’re
state-of-the-art for safety.”
They purchased 20 sin-
gle carts and four double
carts from J & J Amusements
based in Salem.
“They’re local, Ameri-
can-made carts,” Trusty said.
“That meant something to
us.”
Each go-kart has been cal-
ibrated to the same maximum
speed and outfitted with four-
point harness belts.
“I won’t say the speed
they’re set at, but I will say
they are as fast or faster
than the carts that were here
before,” Trusty said. “You can
drift the corners.”
A lap typically takes about
30 seconds. Along the track
are safety improvements —
including new, spring steel
railing. A system that can con-
trol the carts’ speed remotely
has also been installed.
“If there’s an accident on
the track, we can stop every-
body by pushing a button,”
Trusty said.
A pit gate was also added
to give the pit crew more pro-
tection. At night, racers will
be able to see better under
brighter lights since a new
LED light system has been
installed.
“We’ve made a lot of
changes for safety for the pub-
lic and staff,” Trusty said.
Comments sought on
Port dredging project
The Daily Astorian
The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers is taking public
comment on a project pro-
posal by the Port of Astoria
to dredge the West Mooring
Basin.
The project involves
dredging up to 109,000 cubic
yards of accumulated sedi-
ment from more than 11 acres
within the marina over the
next decade. Up to 54,500
cubic yards of accumulated
sediment would be dredged
during the first year, and up to
54,500 additional cubic yards
would be dredged over the
remaining nine years.
The dredge depth would
range from 6.0 to 17.0 feet of
mean lower low water. The
Port plans to use a suction
dredge operating from a float-
ing barge, disposing of the
dredged material in the flow
lane of the Columbia River
through a submerged pipe.
Comments are due by
Sept. 2 and can be emailed to
danielle.h.erb@usace.army.
mil or mailed to: U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Regu-
latory Branch, Danielle Erb,
P.O. 2946, Portland, Oregon
97208-2946.
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Pacific Seafood is preparing to end an
18-month legal battle with an insurance
carrier over a fire that destroyed the com-
pany’s Warrenton seafood plant in 2013.
Lawyers for Dulcich Inc., doing busi-
ness as Pacific Seafood, and Alterra
Excess & Surplus Insurance Co. signed
a stipulation for dismissal with prejudice,
which would bar Pacific Seafood from
bringing the same claim again. The case
had been scheduled to go to trial in U.S.
District Court in October.
“Plaintiff and defendant, by and
through their counsel of record, hereby
stipulate that this action and all claims
herein be dismissed with prejudice and
without attorney fees or costs to any
party,” the stipulation stated.
Details were not available because
of a protective order keeping many doc-
uments in the case confidential. Attor-
neys for Dulcich Inc. declined to com-
ment, while attorneys for Alterra were
not immediately available for comment.
A fire destroyed Pacific Seafood’s
Warrenton plant in 2013. Federal inves-
tigators found that a roofing contractor
SALEM — Gov. Kate
Brown has authorized about
125 Oregon National Guard
members to be activated
today to help with wildfires in
the state.
Brown in a statement Sat-
urday said a combination
of wildfires and preparation
for the Aug. 21 solar eclipse
requires “more boots on the
ground.”
The Oregon National
Guard is scheduled to assist
with fires burning near Crater
Lake National Park.
Brown has also requested
that an Oregon Army National
Guard medical evacuation
helicopter unit support the
state Department of For-
estry for wildfires in south-
western Oregon beginning
Wednesday.
using a propane torch to adhere materials
caused the space between two roof layers
to catch fire.
The seafood processor claimed $32.4
million in damage and received the full
$10 million from its primary insurer,
Westport Insurance Corp. But the com-
pany claimed Alterra did not honor a
contract to provide up to $15 million in
excess of Westport’s policy. Pacific Sea-
food sued Alterra for breach of contract.
Alterra had merged with Evanston
Insurance Co., which denied Dulcich’s
allegations. The insurer claims, among
other things, that Dulcich failed to mit-
igate or avoid the alleged damages and
that the company’s losses did not exceed
the limit of the Westport policy.
Pacific Seafood has been subleasing
a hangar at the Port of Astoria’s North
Tongue Point property while it rebuilds
its plant in Warrenton at an estimated cost
of between $23 million and $25 million.
The company hopes to open the plant
in December for the Dungeness crab
season.
Army Corps seeks comment on
Fort George project in Warrenton
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
is seeking public comment on
a proposed distribution cam-
pus by Fort George Brewery at
the North Coast Business Park
in Warrenton.
The site design includes a
46,100-square foot distribution
center, a 20,000-square-foot
warehouse, parking, a disc golf
course, pedestrian pathways
and an outdoor event space.
The overall area is about 10
acres, six of which are classi-
fied as wetlands. The campus
would impact 4.1 acres of wet-
lands, requiring 17,010 cubic
yards of fill, mainly for grad-
ing of the project site.
The project also includes
construction of Bugle Road, a
proposed three-lane collector
roadway with bike lanes and
sidewalks, which would result
in permanent fill to 0.6 acres of
wetlands.
Fort George proposes to
install erosion and sediment
control measures to minimize
impact during construction.
Stormwater facilities would
be constructed to treat runoff
from the campus. The perma-
nent wetland impacts would
be mitigated through wetland
preservation and mitigation
bank credits. The Corps will
determine the type and amount
of compensatory mitigation
needed to offset environmen-
tal losses.
Comments may be submit-
ted until Sept. 11 through dan-
ielle.h.erb@usace.army.mil
or: U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers, Regulatory Branch,
Danielle Erb, P.O. 2946, Port-
land, Oregon 97208-2946.
Fort George Brewery
Fort George Brewery is planning a distribution center,
warehouse and event space on 19th Street in Warrenton.
W A NTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
August 18th & 19th
Fri 7:30am - 5:30pm / Sat 7:30am - 5:00pm
Brown calls on
National Guard
for wildfires
Associated Press
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
Pacific Seafood claimed $32.4 million in damages from a fire that destroyed its
plant in Warrenton in 2013.
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