3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2017
Boat crash
on river leads
to citation
The Daily Astorian
A man needed to be pulled
from the water Monday fol-
lowing a two-boat crash on
the Columbia River near lower
Desdemona Sands, although
no serious injuries occurred.
Curtis Lowery, 58, was
trolling for salmon in the area
in an aluminum 19-foot Duck-
worth with one passenger —
Joseph Goldsyby, 58. The
Duckworth’s starboard side
was seriously damaged when
it collided with an aluminum
22-foot Alumaweld at about
noon. The second boat was
operated by Robert Mongue,
67, and also carried Elizabeth
Mongue, 67, Sarah Mongue,
40, and Sarah’s young child.
Lowery was thrown from
his boat after the collision but
was rescued by the Mongues.
Robert Mongue was cited
for failure to maintain a look-
out and unsafe operation.
The Clastop County Sheriff’s
Office is still investigating the
incident.
The Sheriff’s Office said
accidents can happen quickly
and without warning, and the
best way to prepare is to wear
lifejackets and keep a vigi-
lant eye on possible hazardous
situations.
Red Cross shelters
evacuees from
coastal Oregon fire
Associated Press
GOLD BEACH — A wild-
fire burning for more than a
month has grown dramatically
in recent days, forcing evacua-
tions in southwest Oregon.
The Red Cross said Mon-
day it provided shelter to about
50 people who evacuated their
homes because of the light-
ning-caused blaze that’s scorch-
ing the Kalmiopsis Wilderness.
Curry County residents
living along U.S. Highway
101 north of Brookings were
warned to evacuate Sunday
afternoon after strong winds
pushed the fire to the south and
west. Fire officials told the Mail
Tribune newspaper they’ve
received reports of some struc-
tures being burned.
The fire that was less than an
acre on July 12 has now charred
more than 140 square miles,
and an estimated 3,000 people
have been warned to evacuate.
The evacuation notices do
not include the city of Brook-
ings or Gold Beach, and High-
way 101 from Brookings to
Gold Beach remained open.
More than 400 firefighters
are battling the blaze.
August is peak wildfire
season in the Pacific North-
west, and firefighters are busy
throughout Oregon.
In central Oregon, a wild-
fire that led to the evacuations
within the path of totality of
Monday’s eclipse increased
in size to more than 16 square
miles.
Officials say 644 firefight-
ers are battling the fire west of
Sisters that is 20 percent con-
tained. For safety reasons, all
ground and air efforts stopped
for about 45 minutes during the
darkest part of the eclipse.
Astoria will share pools with Seaside
Sunset Pool
closing for
repair work
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
The Astoria Aquatic
Center will get a boost in
traffic in October after the
City Council approved an
agreement Monday that
will allow people from
Seaside’s park and rec-
reation district to use the
facility.
The Sunset Empire Park
and Recreation District is
closing its Sunset Pool for
repair and renovation proj-
ects from October through
December. During this
time, members will be able
to use Astoria’s facilities
instead. The district will
pay Astoria for the services
provided.
Mayor Arline LaMear
said it is already difficult
to reserve a lane at the
Aquatic Center and asked
if the parks department is
worried about even more
congestion with the new
agreement.
Parks Director Angela
Cosby agreed that the fall
and winter months can be
particularly busy, espe-
cially in the evenings when
local swim teams are prac-
ticing. She said she encour-
ages residents to come
early to avoid the crowd.
Parks staff plan to talk with
Seaside’s swim teams to
better coordinate practice
times while the Sunset Pool
is closed.
In other business:
• The City Coun-
cil amended an agree-
ment with the Verna S.
Oller Aquatic Trust, which
allows residents in the
southern portion of Wash-
ington state’s Pacific
County to use the Astoria
Aquatic Center. The trust
covers the drop-in costs.
However,
managers
of the trust reported that a
handful of Pacific County
pool users go to the Aquatic
Center so often that their
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
People from Seaside will be able to use the Astoria Aquatic Center while the Sunset Pool
is closed for repair work.
daily “drop-in” charges for
a month exceed the cost for
a regular monthly pass, an
unsustainable situation for the
trust.
The amendment would
make it so that Pacific County
individuals who visit the pool
more than eight times a month
would have their extra visits
rolled into a monthly pass —
$44 for youth or seniors, $60
for adults, slightly more than
what Astoria residents pay.
Cosby said the trust pays
the Aquatic Center $58,000
to $60,000 each year. “So it
is in our best interest to keep
a good working relationship
with them.”
• City councilors approved
a contract for $30,000 of
repairs to Astoria’s Bear
Creek Dam. A recent study
revealed that the dam does not
need to be further modified to
protect against seismic fail-
ure, but some work is needed
to improve the structure and
associated systems.
Dam Maintenance Man-
agement will repair a barrel
gate and 63-year-old valves.
The same contractor repaired
and rebuilt other critical valves
at the dam last year.
Eclipse’s high tides
break net, dump salmon
Associated Press
BELLINGHAM,
Wash.
— The public is being asked
to help mop up a salmon spill
from an imploded net holding
305,000 fish at a Cooke Aqua-
culture fish farm near Cypress
Island.
The Seattle Times reported
Lummi fishers out for Chi-
nook on Sunday near Samish,
south of Bellingham Bay, were
surprised to pull up the Atlan-
tic salmon — escapees that
turned up in their nets again on
Monday.
The Washington Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife is
urging the public to catch as
many of the fish as possible,
with no limit on size or num-
ber. The fish are about 10
pounds each. No one knows
yet how many escaped. But
Ron Warren, fish program
assistant director for the Wash-
ington Department of Fish and
Wildlife, said the net had some
3 million pounds of fish in it
when it imploded Saturday.
Warren said the spill
was caused by tides pushed
unusually high by Monday’s
approaching total solar eclipse.
The department has been
monitoring the situation and
crafting a spill-response plan
with Cooke.
Lummi
fishers
were
incensed at the Atlantic salmon
intruding in home waters of
native Washington Pacific
salmon. “It’s a devastation,”
said Ellie Kinley, whose fam-
ily has fished Puget Sound for
generations. “We don’t want
those fish preying on our baby
salmon. And we don’t want
them getting up in the rivers.”
WE START
BY LENDING
AN EAR.
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
The U.S. Navy is preparing a Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement (EIS/OEIS)
to assess the potential environmental effects associated with
ongoing and future at-sea military readiness activities conducted
within the Northwest Training and Testing (NWTT) EIS/OEIS
Study Area beyond 2020.
We take time to understand your business needs, so we can help solve them.
Nt twt businesses are alike. St cttkie cutter ltans wtn’t cut it. At Ctlumbia Bank, we
wtrk cltsely with ytu frtm the beginning tf the ltan prtcess tt make sure we’re setting
ytu up with the right ltan tt reach ytur unique business gtals. Which means we
dt stmething tther banks dtn’t always dt—listen. Visit ColumbiaBank.com.
Public Involvement Opportunity
The Navy is requesting your comments on the scope of the
analysis to be considered during the development of the Draft
Supplemental EIS/OEIS. Comments will be accepted online at
www.NWTTEIS.com, or by mail to:
Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest
Attention: NWTT Supplemental EIS/OEIS Project Manager
3730 North Charles Porter Ave., Building 385
Oak Harbor, WA 98278-3500
All comments must be postmarked or received online by Sept. 21, 2017
for consideration in the development of the Draft Supplemental EIS/OEIS.
Member FDIC
Equal Htusing Lender