SEASIDE BOYS SOAR IN HOME BASKETBALL OPENER SPORTS • PAGE 10A
DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 116
ONE DOLLAR
County looks to nonprofits to
curb low-income housing woes
Refurbished Alderbrook home could serve as model
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
With a mountain of trash
blighting the property, an
Alderbrook home foreclosed
last year after decades of disre-
pair. But its potential value was
obvious. It offers a scenic view
of the Columbia River and
it was in a scene in the series
finale of the popular show
“Dexter.”
Instead of hiring some-
one to remove the trash and
preparing it for auction, Clat-
sop County chose a route that
other counties have tried but
is unique locally. The county
handed the 51st Street prop-
erty over to Community Action
Team and Clatsop Community
Action, two nonprofit organi-
zations. The debris has been
cleared, and the organizations
plan to list the home for sale
and use the proceeds to build
low-income housing units in
the future.
“I thought it was a very
inventive idea,” CCA Execu-
tive Director Elaine Bruce said.
The move also may signal
a new tactic for the county as
it struggles with low-income
housing shortages.
See HOUSING, Page 7A
Casey Mitchell
This home in the Alderbrook neighborhood of Astoria was
recently acquired by two local nonprofits that plan to sell
the refurbished location and use the proceeds to build
low-income housing.
Ship Inn
staffer ships
out with a
new food cart
‘UNPRECEDENTED’
Fish and chowder
are on the menu
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Pyrosomes dot the landscape near Cannon Beach.
Thousands of
pyrosomes washing
up on local beaches
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
T
he pyrosome invasion continues.
Thousands of the strange, pick-
le-shaped gelatinous creatures
continue to wash up on Clatsop County
beaches months after ocean biologists
first recorded masses of them drifting
offshore during a research cruise in the
spring.
Very little is known about pyrosomes
or why they have shown up in force now.
Research into what they eat and what it
means to have them in the ecosystem is
ongoing.
Pyrosomes have been seen in Oregon
and Washington state waters before but
never in such large numbers. This spring,
there were enough floating in the water
column to clog up fishing gear on com-
mercial shrimp boats.
The colonial animals — a single tube
Enola Baeten, who spent 15 years on and
off working at the The Ship Inn on Astoria’s
waterfront, had always wanted to own her
own restaurant, or something similar.
The closure of the British-themed fish and
chips haunt earlier this year gave Baeten the
impetus she needed to start planning her cre-
ation: Enola’s Ship Out, opening this week
near the Lewis and Clark Golf & RV Resort.
The new food cart, custom-built in Port-
land, features a full kitchen on the inside
and a panorama of Astoria and the Colum-
bia River created by local artist Bryce Harris.
Like The Lunch Wagon at the Astoria
Regional Airport, Baeten opted to open her
food cart in a more rural business corridor
with few nearby restaurants. She also expects
a boost from a 35-unit housing development
being built next to Lewis and Clark Ele-
mentary School, along with high schoolers
on lunch break. Her location also provides
indoor seating inside a vacant greenhouse
next door.
The Ship Inn, opened in 1974, closed in
April after owner Jill Stokeld sold the prop-
erty to developer Mark Hollander, who also
purchased the former Stephanie’s Cabin
See FOOD CART, Page 7A
Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian
Dozens of pyrosomes have recently
washed up on beaches in the region.
contains hundreds, possibly thousands of
individuals — have been recorded as far
north as Alaska, where they have never
been seen before.
Fishermen first saw them in their fish-
ing gear in February. At the end of Octo-
ber, researchers with the National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Administration’s
Alaska Fisheries Science Center were
still encountering them in acoustic, sur-
face and bottom trawl surveys all the way
from Kodiak to waters off southeastern
Alaska.
Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian
Mysterious creatures known as pyro-
somes have been washing up on lo-
cal beaches recently and have been
showing up in fishing nets.
According to NOAA, pyrosome num-
bers in the Northern California Current —
which encompasses Northern California,
Oregon and Washington state — went up
in 2015 and spiked again in 2016.
“As far as scientists know, however,
their abundance this year is unprece-
dented,” NOAA spokesman Michael Mil-
stein wrote in June.
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Enola Baeten, left, is starting Enola’s
Ship Out, with assistance from her hus-
band, Neal.
Traveling is in the cards
for Astoria bridge players
Team hits
the road for
tournaments
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
I
n their many trips together,
Lewis Richardson and Mon-
ica Taylor have taken shel-
ter from a tornado, explored
the Grand Canyon, viewed
wildlife in national parks and
peered over artifacts of history.
But the main point was to
sit around and play cards.
Richardson, 75, and Taylor,
73, formed a two-person team
more than 10 years ago after
rediscovering bridge, a card
game that pits pairs of people
against each other. This year,
the retired Astoria residents
accomplished their goal of
traveling to every state in the
country to play in tournaments.
Richardson’s and Tay-
lor’s experiences with bridge
run parallel. They learned the
game in college in the 1960s
and stopped playing for about
40 years. Following retirement
and the deaths of their spouses,
they found other locals who
played and eventually agreed
to form their own team.
Richardson moved to Asto-
ria in 1968 and worked at the
Oregon State University Sea-
food Lab for 20 years before
Monica Taylor
See TEAM, Page 7A
Lewis Richardson and Monica Taylor, of Astoria, are avid
bridge players.