FOWL PLAY AT BLACKBERRY BOG
145TH YEAR, NO. 100
FARM WEEKEND BREAK • PAGE 1C
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION //
State
delays
crab
opener
Treatment close to home
Astoria mother finds new opportunity at cancer center
Fishery traditionally
opens on Dec. 1
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
The commercial Dungeness crab season
is delayed along the entire Oregon Coast
until at least Dec. 16 after tests showed crabs
are too low in meat yield.
The fishery traditionally opens on Dec.
1, though in recent years it has been delayed
by everything from price negotiations to ele-
vated levels of marine toxins.
The season opener could be delayed even
further, or the Oregon Coast could be split
into two areas with different opening dates,
depending on the results of a second round
of crab quality testing slated to occur later
this month or in early December.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Kari Smith shows where her treatment sessions would begin at the Knight Cancer Collaborative in Astoria.
See CRAB SEASON, Page 7A
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
S
The Daily Astorian
The commercial Dungeness crab sea-
son is delayed along the entire Oregon
Coast until at least Dec. 16.
The Harbor
relocates
downtown
Thrift store will remain
in Norblad for now
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Harbor, the region’s advocacy group
for victims of sexual and domestic violence,
has moved its offices to the former Snow &
Snow law firm at the corner of Eighth and
Commercial streets.
Deja Vu, a thrift store supporting The
Harbor, is still in the Norblad Building at the
corner of 14th and Duane streets while the
group finds a new location.
mall-town assumptions about
Astoria were always a barrier for
Kari Smith as she sought cancer
treatment.
Based on the experiences of fam-
ily and friends decades earlier, she was
advised to seek treatment in large cit-
ies, which typically house some of the
world’s best medical equipment.
“People had told me all of these hor-
rible things about small-town doctors,”
Smith said. “Somebody one time told me
that if I stayed here in Astoria to get treat-
ment I would die.”
The recent opening of Columbia
Memorial Hospital and Oregon Health &
Science University’s Knight Cancer Col-
laborative has nixed that theory.
In 2013, when she was 36 years old,
Smith felt a radiating pain in her chest
and neck area. Her mother, grandmother,
aunt and great-grandmother had all suf-
fered from cancer, so she was concerned.
Several doctors told her not to be
overly concerned, but the pain persisted.
Eventually a surgeon in Portland found a
lump in her chest following a mammo-
gram and said a minor procedure would
remove the cancer completely. She was
skeptical.
“It didn’t sound right,” she said. “It
sounded too easy.”
Finally, another doctor was able to
determine that the cancer had spread into
One of the main areas at the cancer center in Astoria provides patients receiv-
ing treatment with a scenic view of the Columbia River.
her lymph nodes. A double mastectomy
and four rounds of chemotherapy later,
Smith believed she had conquered the
disease.
“They said, ‘Yeah, start living your
life and be happy,’” she said.
Home life in shambles
But the pain returned last year, this
time in a different area of her chest. She
and her husband, Mike, a Clatsop County
sheriff’s sergeant, drove up to the Seat-
tle Cancer Care Alliance at the Univer-
sity of Washington Medical Center, con-
sidered one of the top cancer hospitals in
the country.
Smith received high-quality care
there, but the lengthy commute and time
away from home wore on the family.
Expenses racked up, her husband missed
time at work and their children waited for
their parents to come home.
See CANCER CENTER, Page 7A
‘MY HOME LIFE WAS IN SHAMBLES BECAUSE I WAS NEVER
HOME. IT WAS REALLY HARD ON MY KIDS. THEY WOULD
JUST CRY AND ASK ME, “WHY ARE YOU LEAVING AGAIN?”’
Kari Smith | Astoria resident who now receives cancer treatment at the Knight Cancer Collaborative
See THE HARBOR, Page 6A
Students need grit, goals, college president says
A third of
students are
falling short
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
A typical community col-
lege is lucky to have half of
incoming students still attend-
ing after one year, said Clatsop
Community College President
Christopher Breitmeyer. About
65 percent of students at the
local college earn a degree or
credential in six years, compa-
rable to the rate at a four-year
university.
“That still leaves, what, 30
percent of the folks are not
making it,” Breitmeyer said.
“That’s just not acceptable to
me.”
During a Columbia Forum
speaker series Thursday, Bre-
itmeyer argued that colleges
need to focus more on building
grit and providing the goals
needed for students to perse-
vere and finish.
Breitmeyer came to Clat-
sop from St. Charles Commu-
nity College northwest of St.
Louis, Missouri, where he was
vice president of academic and
student affairs, and before that
the dean of math, science and
health. His primary teaching
background is in biology.
The community college
in Astoria serves a wide vari-
ety of students, from teenag-
ers to seniors, from Talented
and Gifted program students
to those still learning to read
or comprehend English. Many
of the students are not academ-
ically ready for college or have
backgrounds that provide them
grit.
“The group that we’re deal-
ing with is so diverse, and not
everyone is going to do well
on a test,” he said.
The college assesses
the academic skills of new
See FORUM, Page 7A
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Clatsop Community College President Christopher Breit-
meyer argued for grit as a better determinant of success
during a Columbia Forum speech.