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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017
Fires: A stretch of Interstate 84 near Cascade Locks closed
Continued from Page 1A
But smoke also filters sun-
light, limiting additional heat-
ing of potential fuels on the
ground and stifling small fires,
the center said.
Air quality alerts were
issued for several parts of the
state. Doctors recommended
that anyone with existing pul-
monary conditions such as
asthma stay indoors.
On the northern end of
the state, a fire in the Colum-
bia River Gorge that sepa-
rates Oregon from Washington
state caused ashes to drift onto
the town of Cascade Locks.
A stretch of Interstate 84 that
runs by the town was closed
because of the fire, the Ore-
gon Department of Transpor-
tation said. The highway will
reopen when authorities deter-
mine that the road is safe.
Evacuation orders remained
Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard
Kate Kevern guards from
dangerous smoke with a
mask rated for construc-
tion work as she walks
home through downtown
Eugene Monday.
Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office
The Eagle Creek Fire in the Columbia Gorge.
in place in and around Cas-
cade Locks for 283 struc-
tures, including 15 businesses.
After quickly spreading since
it started on Saturday, appar-
ently from a youngster playing
with fireworks, the fire held the
same position overnight and is
an estimated 3,200 acres.
Native Americans who fish
for salmon in the broad Colum-
bia River consider Labor Day
their busiest day to sell the
smoked fish, but a market
where they sell it by the Bridge
of the Gods was quiet, Oregon
Public Broadcasting reported.
Some hikers on Pacific
Crest Trail, which runs through
the area, were seen in Cas-
cade Locks and told OPB that
fires had prevented them from
hiking about half the trail in
Oregon.
The fire in southwest Ore-
gon, which has burned more
than 219 square miles, was
also threatening a tree that
marks the site of a bombing of
the continental United States
by the Japanese during World
War II, fire management offi-
cials said.
The redwood was planted
as a symbol of reconciliation
over a half-century ago by the
family of Nobuo Fujita, a Jap-
anese Navy pilot who dropped
incendiary bombs on the forest
near Brookings, the Bulletin
newspaper of Bend reported.
Firefighters wrapped the red-
wood in a fire-retardant sheet to
protect it, and the flames were
believed to be about a mile
away, said Terry Krasko, a
spokesman for the firefighters.
Fujita’s two bombs had little
effect. He returned to Brook-
ings after the war to apologize.
Saturday was the 75th anni-
versary of the firebombing.
Fujita died in 1997.
Patrols: ‘The ultimate
goal with boating
enforcement is
voluntary compliance’
Continued from Page 1A
funding cuts, the partnership
has proven useful by allow-
ing each agency to help each
other from a central loca-
tion as they enforce the boat-
ing safety laws within their
jurisdictions.
The program exists
through a contract with the
Oregon State Marine Board,
which partially funded the
$130,000 River Wild boat
docked at the Warrenton
Marina. The sheriff’s office
also has a 25-foot 2008
North River boat.
The Sheriff-Coast Guard
partnership enforces boat-
ing safety laws, not fish and
game rules. The sheriff’s
office has a mutual enforce-
ment agreement with coun-
ties in Washington state to
enforce each other’s laws
from bank to bank on the
river.
Buoy 10
The Buoy 10 season,
which opened Aug. 1 and
closed for Chinook salmon
retention Monday, is a pop-
ular late-summer salmon
fishery that stretches 16
miles from the mouth of the
Columbia River to a line
between Tongue Point and
Rocky Point.
Humphries and Deputy
Justin Dimmick said they
have responded to fewer
accidents such a capsizes,
mayday calls, search and
rescue missions and boat
crashes. With hundreds of
boats taking to the river
during Buoy 10, only two
crashes have occurred, with
no major injuries this year.
“It actually was quite a
bit better this year,” Hum-
phries said.
The deputies point to
a change in law enforce-
ment tactics as a major fac-
tor in the recent safety suc-
cesses. The Oregon State
Marine Board instructed
law enforcement this year to
prioritize ongoing violations
instead of conducting ran-
dom safety inspections. As a
result, patrols have been bet-
ter able to spot such viola-
tions and can more quickly
respond to dispatch calls.
“It feels like we’ve been
a lot more effective in what
we’re doing,” Humphries
said.
On most days, the
patrols typically keep an
eye out for speeding and
navigation violations. For
instance, they may stop the
boat behind the wall by the
17 Street Dock and check
for any boaters who cre-
ate a wake in the dock area,
which would result in a cita-
tion. They also routinely
respond to calls of large
cargo ships unable to pass
due to the congestion of
fishing boats in the naviga-
tion channel.
Cargo ships
A 32,000-ton, roughly
616-foot-long loaded bulk
cargo ship — the Aruna
Hulya — had just made its
way near Tongue Point on
Saturday morning. It had
left Portland on its way
to South Korea, but crew
members reported that it
could not pass any further
due to heavy congestion.
Honking the ship’s horn
several times did not deter
the focused salmon fisher-
men, so the sheriff’s dep-
uties and two Coast Guard
members responded.
As the River Wild pulled
up to the scene, fishers,
some of whom waved at the
patrol boat, stared in confu-
sion. Humphries, who was
driving the boat, grabbed a
loudspeaker and instructed
them to exit the channel.
Once fishers moved out
of the way, the patrol boat
escorted the cargo ship a
few miles west before it
temporarily anchored north
of Astoria.
“It makes our job a
lot harder when people
aren’t paying attention to
what’s going on around
them,” Coast Guard Marine
Enforcement Specialist 1st
Class Craig Miller said.
As
the
partnership
evolves and boaters become
more aware of safety rules,
the two agencies hope their
patrols will become less
active.
“The ultimate goal with
boating enforcement is vol-
untary compliance,” Miller
said.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Maritime Enforcement Specialists Craig Miller, left,
and Ashlly Zepeda, right, with the Coast Guard, keep a
close eye on the waters of the Columbia River during a
recent patrol with the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Hundreds of students attending Astoria High School gather in the cafeteria this morning before heading off to the first
classes of the school year.
School: ‘We have enough supports in place’
Continued from Page 1A
Hammond, 26.7 percent
in Seaside, 22.3 percent in
Knappa and 24.5 percent in
Jewell.
Across the board, chronic
absenteeism started higher in
preschool and kindergarten,
lowered toward middle school
as students became more inde-
pendent of parents, and grew
again in high school.
Research shows that
missing school can lead to
decreased academic perfor-
mance, future attendance
issues, increased disciplinary
problems and a dramatically
lower chance of graduating
high school.
The University of Chi-
cago Consortium on School
Research found that 87 percent
of freshmen in high school
who missed four or fewer days
of school per semester grad-
uated. That rate dipped to
63 percent for students who
missed between five and nine
days, and 41 percent for those
who missed 10 to 14 days.
Students roam the halls of Astoria High School this morn-
ing looking for the first classroom of the day.
Adding tools
Strive for five
When Melissa Linder, the
Astoria School District’s cur-
riculum director, looked at the
state’s statistics for last year’s
attendance, results at Astoria
looked rosy, with only 8 per-
cent of students chronically
absent.
But the state calculates
attendance rates based on the
average of students in a district
compared to the average num-
ber attending, she said, instead
of following each student
independently. When looking
at each student’s attendance
independently, about 27 per-
cent were chronically absent,
she said.
Despite several initiatives,
attendance hasn’t signifi-
cantly improved over the last
several years, Superintendent
Craig Hoppes said. This year,
the district debuted Strive for
Five, a goal for students to
miss no more than a week of
school the entire year.
“All we’re trying to do is
just bring an awareness of
attendance,” Hoppes said.
The school district is reach-
ing out to parents, community
organizations and local busi-
to improve attendance has
been to connect with kids and
engage them through a variety
of extracurricular activities,
Roberts said.
“We need to improve our
community’s mental health,”
Astoria Principal Lynn Jack-
son said. “Our students, many
of them have issues with
depression or anxiety that
make it difficult to attend.”
Roberts and Jackson both
said they have shied away from
using truancy officers, who can
fine parents who allow chil-
dren to be chronically absent,
because the practice hasn’t
been effective and doesn’t
address the underlying rea-
sons students don’t make it to
school.
Students line up to see their schedules at Astoria High
School before the first day of classes.
nesses to increase understand-
ing around the importance of
attendance.
As part of the campaign,
the district will also survey stu-
dents, staff and parents about
their perceptions of school, the
district’s priorities and why
students miss time. The data
will be sent to an educational
consultant and used to create
attendance plans.
Engaging
high schoolers
Chronic
absenteeism
peaked at every high school
in the county during junior
and senior years. More than
28 percent of upperclassmen
at Astoria High School were
chronically absent, according
to the state. That rate topped
30 percent at Warrenton High
School and 40 percent at Sea-
side High School.
“It’s certainly a challenge,
and we know that kids’ suc-
cess is directly related to them
being here,” Seaside Principal
Jeff Roberts said.
“We have a pretty transient
population, a lot of people in
the service industry,” Rob-
erts said. “When you have the
turnover in the student body
that we have, it’s difficult for
students to have a connection
with school.”
Last year, Seaside hired a
part-time attendance super-
visor to create connections
with at-risk students who had
not yet reached the definition
of chronically absent. One
of the most effective means
In November’s election,
Oregon voters passed Mea-
sure 98, which approved
$400 per high schooler to bol-
ster collegiate academic and
career-technical
offerings,
along with dropout preven-
tion services. The measure
was only half-funded by the
state Legislature, but is help-
ing school districts add more
programs and support staff at
the high school level.
Each district is investing
in additional counseling as
students transition into ninth
grade, where academic suc-
cess can determine gradua-
tion. The Chicago Consortium
on School Research found that
93 percent of ninth-graders
who averaged at least a grade
of B go on to graduate. Fresh-
men with less than a C average
were more likely to drop out
than graduate.
Astoria High School is hir-
ing a new social worker with
Measure 98 funds to work
with families who might face
other obstacles in attending
school, Jackson said.
Seaside will likely expand
the presence of its attendance
specialist, Roberts said.
Around town and on the
radio, Astoria will continue to
push the importance of atten-
dance to the public.
“It’s a pretty easy fact that
if kids go to school, they’re
going to graduate,” Hoppes
said. “We have enough sup-
ports in place.”