3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2017
Airport paver sued over contract
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Daily Astorian
Corpac Construction was hired by the Port last year to
rehab runway 13-31, in the foreground.
A subcontractor has sued Corpac
Construction Co., a general contractor
hired last year by the Port of Astoria to
rehab a runway at the Astoria Regional
Airport, over claims it was stiffed
$70,000 .
Lawyers for structural and civil
engineering fi rm Harper Houf Peter-
son Righellis claimed to have provided
$129,067 worth of services to Corpac
but only been paid $58,403. The com-
pany claims Corpac still owes $70,663,
along with interest and attorney fees.
The work at the airport was paid
for by a Federal Aviation Administra-
tion grant received by the Port, which
was named as a plaintiff as owner of the
project and the conduit for funding from
the federal government.
Named as a defendant along with
Corpac was the Contractors Bonding &
Insurance Co., as the entity responsible
for ensuring payment through a surety
New distracted driving law
expands ban on cellphones
bond . Harper Houf Peterson Righellis
is entitled to payment from either entity
under the terms of the surety bond and
state law, the fi rm’s attorney argued.
Corpac already had $50,836 deducted
from its $3. 8 million contract with the
Port for not fi nishing the airport proj-
ect within 75 days as agreed. The bid by
Corpac was approximately $1 million
lower than previous bids the Port had
received, meaning the agency has $1.1
million left it plans to use on related air-
port improvement projects.
Ballot title approved
for health care
funding referendum
All mobile
devices covered
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Although a leg-
islative committee approved
a ballot title and explanatory
statement for a potential ref-
erendum on health care fund-
ing Wednesday, it’s likely not
the last battle in the continuing
war of words over the issue.
A trio of Republican law-
makers hope to get sections
of the state’s health care fund-
ing legislation — which uses
assorted revenues to help
pay for the state’s Medicaid
program, called the Oregon
Health Plan — on the ballot in
a special election in January.
They say they are chal-
lenging assessments on hos-
pitals, insurers and coordi-
nated care organizations, the
regional networks of provid-
ers serving patients on the
Oregon Health Plan.
The petitioners include
Republican s tate Reps. Julie
Parrish, of Tualatin/West Linn;
Cedric Hayden, of Roseburg;
and Sal Esquivel, of Medford.
If they are successful in
gathering nearly 59,000 sig-
natures by Oct. 5, voters will
have a chance to weigh in on
Jan. 23. Parrish declined to
say how many signatures the
petitioners had gathered as of
Wednesday, saying only that
there were “lots.”
But legal issues are perco-
lating over the ballot title lan-
guage and the text of the ref-
erendum petition itself. The
ballot title is a statement sum-
SALEM — A new dis-
tracted driving law that takes
effect in October expands an
existing ban on using cell-
phones while driving to all
electronic mobile devices and
stiffens fi nes and penalties .
The law is aimed at improv-
ing safety conditions on Ore-
gon roads. Drivers who talk
on the phone are more than
four times, and those who text
are more than 23 times, more
likely to have a crash, accord-
ing to a report by the Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion’s Distracted Driving Task
Force.
Violators face a fi ne of
$130 to $1,000 for their fi rst
offense, $220 to $2,500 for
their second offense, and a
Class B misdemeanor convic-
tion with a minimum fi ne of
$2,000 and up to six months in
jail for their third offense.
First-time offenders can
avoid the fi ne by taking a dis-
tracted driving avoidance
course, but the violation will
remain on their record.
So, what can you still do
with your mobile electronic
devices while driving once the
law takes effect?
When state lawmakers ear-
lier this year changed the law,
they came up with a limited
list of exceptions to the ban.
None of the exceptions apply
to drivers younger than 18.
• Hands-free devices:
Hands-free or built-in devices
activated by voice command
or activated while off the road
are exempt from the ban.
Drivers also may talk on
the phone while driving, if the
phone is set to speaker mode
and is not in their hand, said
Pamplin Media Group
New restrictions to using mobile devices while driving go into effect in Oregon Oct. 1.
Lt. Timothy Tannenbaum of
the Washington County Sher-
iff’s Offi ce.
“You can have a conversa-
tion while it’s on your dash-
board, or on the seat next to
you, as long as you’re not
having to type in numbers or
manipulate the phone,” he said.
Traci Pearl, a manager with
the Oregon Department of
Transportation’s Safety Divi-
sion, said a mounted phone is
a safer alternative to looking
down at the seat or console,
but both ways are legal.
Single touch or swipe:
Changes to the law allow driv-
ers a single touch or swipe of a
screen or button to activate or
deactivate a device or function.
This is the exception that
allows drivers to answer a
phone call, or start a naviga-
tion map. It also is meant to
allow Uber and Lyft drivers to
respond to calls for service.
“If you can push one button
to call the offi ce, you are OK,
but if you have to dial a phone
number, that is not OK,” Pearl
said.
• Parked: If one swipe was
inadequate to fi nd a desired
destination, a driver could,
under the law, pull over on the
side of the road or in a park-
ing space and legally use their
electronic mobile device to,
say, type in an address. But
don’t try to do it at a stop sign
or stop light. You could get a
ticket.
• Emergencies: Drivers
who are experiencing a med-
ical emergency and have no
passengers may use a mobile
electronic device to summon
help.
• Truck and bus drivers:
The law makes exceptions to
the regulations for truck and
bus drivers, who cannot be
cited provided they are abiding
by federal rules for commer-
cial driver’s licensees.
• Radio traffi c: CB users,
bus drivers, utility and truck
drivers may use a two-way
radio only for employment
purposes.
• Emergency responders:
Police, paramedics and fi re-
fi ghters may use electronic
mobile devices when respond-
ing to an emergency call.
• Ham radio operators:
Old-school ham radio opera-
tors could be a safety net for
communication in the case of a
natural disaster, such as a major
earthquake, when other com-
munication systems are down.
That earned them an exception
to the new restrictions.
The stricter law, born out
of House Bill 2597, was a
response to an incident in
Washington County.
Oregon
State
Police
arrested Beaverton resident
Esmirna Rabanales-Ramos on
drunken driving charges after
a trooper reportedly saw the
glow of a cellphone illuminate
her as she drove.
In 2015, the Oregon Court
of Appeals ruled the trooper
had no probable cause to stop
her, because using a cellphone
wasn’t against the law, only
using it to communicate.
House Bill 2597 “makes the
law compliant with the intent,”
Tannenbaum said. “The intent
was to get phones out of peo-
ple’s hands. It’s not hard to tell
who is manipulating a phone.
Surfi ng the i nternet or check-
ing Facebook while driving is
just as dangerous as talking or
texting.”
Geoff Pursinger of the Hill-
sboro Tribune contributed to
this story.
BRIM’S Farm & Garden
31 st Anniversary
Check-R-Board Celebration!
Saturday, September 23 rd
9:00 am - 5:30 pm
Weyerhaeuser wants waiver from fi sh passage rules
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
A timber company has
requested a waiver from fi sh
passage requirements for a
failed culvert on land near
East Humbug Creek in Clat-
sop County, proposing instead
to open a nearby area for fi sh
passage.
The Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife is seeking
public comment on the request.
Weyerhaeuser Western Tim-
berlands would replace the dam-
aged culvert on an unnamed
tributary of East Humbug Creek
with a new culvert. The com-
pany says in its application that
creating fi sh passage at this par-
ticular site would be “extremely
diffi cult to achieve, if at all,”
due both to the placement of the
current culvert and the nature
Clatsop Post 12
BBQ
Hamburgers
& Hot Dogs
Friday
Sept. 22 nd
with Mac Salad
4 pm until gone or 6pm
$
6. 00
6PM
“Karaoke Dave”
ASTORIA
AMERICAN LEGION
Clatsop Post 12
1132 Exchange Street
325-5771
of the stream. The tributary is
home to both coho salmon and
steelhead, among other species,
all present downstream.
The mitigation site the
company suggests for fi sh pas-
sage, another unnamed trib-
utary, is more attractive. The
stream is wider and a site visit
by the fi sh and wildlife depart-
ment confi rmed 1,752 feet of
fi sh habitat exists upstream of
a culvert that the state believes
likely acts as a barrier to fi sh
when water fl ows are high.
Michael Sinnott, a state fi sh
biologist, says it is possible cut-
throat trout, c oho salmon, win-
ter steelhead and even Pacifi c
lamprey would use the habitat
once it was available to them
consistently.
®
ou
k y r
n
a
u
Th r yo s!
fo ines
bus
W A NTED
200
In-store specials,
door prizes,
refreshments!
OPEN: MON-SAT • 9AM-5:30PM
www.brimsfarmngarden.com
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
A NNUAL
Salvage Chief Reunion
Fundraiser
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 RD
NOON
Lunch - Soup & Sandwich
Customer
Appreciation
P ICNIC
5
$ 00
Program
Movies, Sea Stories, Memorial Service
“Salvage Chief ” History Books, T-Shirts
and Hats Available!!!!!
Prize Raffle: Tickets $ 1 each or 6 for $ 5
Dinner & RaffleTickets can be purchased at Clatsop Post 12 between noon and 7 PM starting Wednesday
September 20 th or at the fundraiser. Drawing to be held at the reunion in the evening.
n
30
Register
to win a
$
gift
certifi cate
N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A
th
20
10
Fruit
Trees
% off
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
CLATSOP POST 12
Per Perso
All large
animal feed
and pet food
% off
34963 Hwy 101 Bus., Astoria 1mile south of old Youngs Bay Bridge 503-325-1562
4 Annual
$
marizing the initiative and its
impacts printed on the petition.
Legal challenges to the
ballot title go directly to the
Oregon Supreme Court.
Parrish said she plans to
fi le a legal challenge to the
ballot title and explanatory
statement that the commit-
tee approved in a 5- 1 vote
Wednesday afternoon.
The petitioners also con-
test an August legal opinion
in which legislative counsel
found that a “no” vote would
merely delay the implemen-
tation of, not do away with,
a 0.7 percent assessment on
certain hospitals.
“That’s a separate litiga-
tion question outside of the
ballot title,” Parrish said.
At issue at the commit-
tee’s meeting Wednesday,
though, were the offi cial
descriptions that voters will
see in January if the measure
qualifi es for the ballot.
Social services groups
and unions have said the bal-
lot title language that law-
makers approved doesn’t go
far enough in explaining the
impacts of striking down the
funding package, specifi cally
how many low-income Ore-
gonians would be effected.
Meanwhile, Secretary of
State Dennis Richardson, who
oversees the state’s elections,
in written testimony criticized
the language of the draft cap-
tion, calling it “unreasonably
long and confusing.” He add-
ing that the language describ-
ing the funding package
should include the word “tax.”
4-7
PM (or until gone)
Prime Rib or Chicken Cordon Bleu
and all the trimmings
Music by
Greg
Parke
All donations tax deductable “The Salvage Chief LSM 380 Foundation” a 501c3 organization
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 TH
SATURDAY, SEPT. 23 · 11 AM -2 PM
at Bayshore Animal Hospital
rizes !
P
e
l
f
Raf veaways
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and G
Cake
Chips
Hot
Hamb Dogs
Refres urgers
hment
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NOON UNTIL ????????
Picnic ∙ Barbecue ∙ Salvage Chief Tours
Drive east on Highway 30. Turn left at Clatsop Community College-Merts sign.
Drive past Merts and park in the parking lot on right –
the Salvage Chief is tied up to the old Corps of Engineers dock.
Public Welcome!
ASTORIA AMERICAN LEGION Post 12
1132 Exchange Street • 325-5771
B AY
A NGEL SHORE
Q UILT F UND
R AFFLE
Tickets are $ 1 each, or buy 10 get 2 free!
At hospital between now and September 23rd.
Need not be present to win.
325 SE MARLIN AVENUE | WARRENTON
503-861-1621
bayshoreanimalcare.com
All donations go towards
Bayshore Animal Hospital’s Angel Fund ,
a fund for animals for treatment due to homelessness and/or neglect.