WINTER SPORTS SCHEDULES FOR LOCAL HIGH SCHOOLS PAGE 9A
145TH YEAR, NO. 106
ONE DOLLAR
DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2017
Port looks
to add eyes
on central
waterfront
Cameras powerful
enough to make
facial recognition
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The Port of Astoria will soon have eyes
powerful enough to read the license plates
of cars coming and going on the central
waterfront, along with drivers’ faces.
Director of Operations Matt McGrath
applied for a security grant for enhanced
video surveillance from the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency’s home-
land security grant program in May. The
Port received $285,000 and will add a 25
percent local match of $71,250.
The grant is meant to help the Port be
resilient to terrorist acts and maintain oper-
ations, but will also help with some more
immediate issues, McGrath said.
“We’ve had a lot of issues with theft
on piers 1, 2 and 3,” he said. “And a lot of
times what happens is we can see there’s
a car stealing stuff, but we just cannot see
what the license plate is. We sometimes
can’t even tell what the make and model is,
because our cameras are outdated.”
The grant provides money for more than
30 new security cameras, along with serv-
ers to store footage, the equipment to wire-
lessly transfer footage to the Port’s central
office, and new LED lighting at Pier 1 and
the East Mooring Basin.
The new cameras will allow the Port to
zoom in on license plates of vehicles com-
ing and going on Port property — in some
cases close enough for facial recognition,
McGrath said. The Port will soon go out to
bid for installation of the new technology
and begin installation in January, he said.
Commissioner Robert Stevens, a for-
mer Coast Guard ship captain and mari-
time safety and training consultant, said the
Port needs to ensure it is regularly monitor-
ing all the video coming in from the new
cameras.
Several revelers dressed up in costume for the lighting ceremony
Saturday at the Liberty Theatre in Astoria.
See PORT, Page 4A
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
People gather at the Liberty Theatre in Astoria Saturday for the annual lighting ceremony.
Downtown merchants
focus on holiday experience
‘It’s about the
magic of Christmas’
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
D
owntown Astoria kicked off the holiday shop-
ping season over the weekend with several dif-
ferent small business promotions and a lighting
of Christmas decorations on Commercial Street.
The festivities started after Thanksgiving with
Plaid Friday, a promotion encouraging a more relaxed,
checkered shopping experience downtown instead of
early Black Friday lines. It crescendoed with carolers
and pictures with Santa Claus at the Liberty Theatre on
Small Business Saturday.
Sarah Lu Heath, director of the Astoria Downtown
Historic District Association, said such events are about
making downtown holiday shopping a more enjoyable
experience, instead of a competitive ordeal.
“It’s not entirely consumer-driven,” Heath said Sat-
urday. “We probably had 150 people here tonight … and
not a dollar was spent. It’s about the magic of Christmas.”
Dulcye Taylor, owner of Old Town Framing Co. and
president of the downtown association, saw big crowds
Friday with entire families in plaid, making her think
the “shop local” campaigns started over the last several
years are taking hold.
A recent downtown analysis recommended expand-
ing events to draw more shoppers in the slower seasons
around winter.
See DOWNTOWN, Page 4A
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Santa pays a visit to the light-
ing ceremony Saturday at the
Liberty Theatre in Astoria.
This is the first holiday season
in a century without Astoria’s
J.C. Penney Co. store, which
closed in July.
The Daily Astorian
With more cruise ship passengers com-
ing to Pier 1, the Port of Astoria is look-
ing to beef up security and lock down
access to the central waterfront.
Warrenton Thanksgiving meal serves the community
Volunteers served
dinner to 325 people
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Volunteers spent an afternoon last
week setting up for what has become
an annual tradition in Warrenton:
The Thankful Hearts Thanksgiving
Dinner.
The meal is provided to anyone who
wants to come and eat. Organizers esti-
mated they served around 325 people
this year.
Originally started by three families,
the Thankful Hearts Thanksgiving Din-
ner celebrated its seventh anniversary
this year. Donations fully fund and sup-
ply the event.
“There are some of the more down-
and-out folks who show up regularly,”
said Lisa Lamping, one of the organiz-
ers. “But we also have people who have
means, people who don’t want to spend
Thanksgiving with their families, peo-
ple who bring their whole family. … It
just feels so good to come together and
do something. There are no politics.
There’s no stress. Everyone’s feeling
happy, benevolent and kind.”
The event was modeled on a simi-
lar event the families heard about from
friends in Ilwaco, Washington.
Over the years, as the event has
grown, so have more community ser-
vices like it in Warrenton, Lamping
said.
“I see, locally, there’s a lot more
going on like this than there used to
be,” she said.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Judy Curnow prepares turkeys for a community Thanksgiving meal at the
Warrenton Community Center.
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