TRUMP TO ‘WIND DOWN’ PROGRAM PROTECTING YOUNG IMMIGRANTS PAGE 9A
145TH YEAR, NO. 47
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017
Clatsop schools look
to combat absenteeism
ONE DOLLAR
Dual
river
patrols
Sheriff, Coast Guard
fish for violators
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Clatsop County Sheriff’s Deputy Wes
Humphries guided a 25-foot 2016 River Wild
along the Columbia River east of Tongue
Point on Saturday morning. Like many oth-
ers on the river for the Buoy 10 fishing sea-
son, he was on the lookout. “So this is where
they’ve been hiding,” he said.
Humphries, another sheriff’s deputy and
two Coast Guard marine enforcement spe-
cialists were not looking for fish — they
were looking for fishermen.
Crews such as this one have patrolled
the Columbia River in search of safety
violations since 2013. Especially during
peak boating times such as Buoy 10, the
agencies conduct dual patrols on a sheriff’s
office boat. Though created in response to
See PATROLS, Page 4A
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Students visit their lockers at Astoria High School this morning before heading off to the first class of the school year.
Missing school undermines chances of graduation
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
A
s students return to school this
week, educators are searching for
ways to combat absenteeism —
a nagging issue that hamstrings learning
and consistently places Oregon near the
bottom nationally.
On average, more than one-fifth of
students in Clatsop County were chron-
ically absent in the 2015-16 school year,
according to the most recent data from
the state Department of Education.
Students are counted as chronically
absent if they miss at least 10 percent of
school days, out of 180 days in a given
year. More than 100,000 students in
Oregon fit the definition in the 2015-16
school year, including more than 1,000 in
Clatsop County.
In the 2015-16 school year, 17.6 per-
cent of students in the Astoria School
District were chronically absent,
along with 18.5 percent in Warrenton-
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
See SCHOOL, Page 4A
Warrenton-Hammond School District Superintendent Mark Jeffery greets stu-
dents on their first day of the year at Warrenton Grade School today.
Fires
scorch
Oregon
Smoke and ash seen
on the North Coast
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
BY THE NUMBERS
10
17.6 18.5 26.7 22.3 24.5
the percentage of
school days during
which a student
must be absent
to be counted as
chronically absent
the percentage of
students in the Asto-
ria School District
who were chronically
absent in the 2015-
16 school year
the percentage of
students in Warren-
ton-Hammond who
were chronically
absent in the 2015-
16 school year
the percentage of
students in Seaside
who were chron-
ically absent in the
2015-16 school year
the percentage of
students in Knappa
who were chron-
ically absent in the
2015-16 school year
the percentage of
students in Jewell
who were chron-
ically absent in the
2015-16 school year
SALEM — Much of Oregon was
wrapped in a haze of smoke Monday as doz-
ens of wildfires burned in the state, with one
blaze forcing part of an interstate highway to
be closed.
In the Willamette National Forest alone,
16 fires covering 71 square miles were burn-
ing, officials said. Campfires were banned
and a third of the forest was off limits, the
forest service said.
Smoke and ash from the wildfires reached
the North Coast, which so far has been spared
from a serious fire.
In southwest Oregon, evacuations were
ordered in a rural area near Cave Junction
because of a fire. The size of the blaze was
unknown because heavy smoke has kept
infrared mapping flights grounded, fire man-
agers said.
“Smoke levels are creating unpleasant
and unhealthy conditions across much of
southwest Oregon,” the Joint Information
Center said in a statement.
See FIRES, Page 4A
In their shoes
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
An artillery unit on the Union side participates in a Civil
War battle re-enactment at Fort Stevens on Saturday.
Hundreds of Civil War re-enactors took to the battlefield over the weekend at Fort Ste-
vens State Park. Fort Stevens was constructed in 1865 to protect the Columbia River from
Confederate forces. See more photos from the re-enactment online at DailyAstorian.com