DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 117
ONE DOLLAR
Q&A
U.S. Sen.
Ron Wyden
U.S. Sen.
Jeff Merkley
Wyden,
Merkley
call on
Trump
to resign
Hampton Lumber CEO
prefers talks, not tariffs, on
Canadian lumber imports
Steven Zika has
been CEO of
Hampton Lumber
since 2006.
Oregon Democrats
join critical senators
Associated Press
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Sen. Jeff
Merkley have urged President Donald Trump
to resign over sexual misconduct allegations.
The Oregon Democrats are among five
senators calling on the president to step
down as other politicians accused of sexual
misconduct have done.
Several women who have complained
about Trump spoke out again Monday and
urged Congress to investigate the president’s
behavior.
“These women are right,” Wyden posted
on Twitter. “If @realDonaldTrump won’t
resign, Congress must investigate allega-
tions by many, many women that he sexu-
ally assaulted and harassed them. No one is
above the law.”
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
A worker operates machinery processing wood products at the Hampton Lumber mill in Warrenton.
Company has mills in Oregon, Washington state and British Columbia
See SENATORS, Page 4A
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Going up,
up, up to
fight fires
New $1.2 million
Seaside fire truck
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — In about 18 months, Sea-
side Fire and Rescue will be the proud owner
of a new tractor-drawn aerial quint.
The nearly $1.2 million firefighting appara-
tus provides five functions: pump, water tank,
fire hose, aerial device and ground ladders.
The ladder will reach 100 feet — 25 feet
more than the fire department’s 75-foot lad-
der truck — to meet the needs of Seaside’s
tallest buildings, Fire Chief Joey Daniels said
at Monday night’s City Council meeting.
ight years ago, Hampton
Lumber purchased a mill
along the Skipanon River
employing nearly 100 peo-
ple from fellow wood prod-
ucts company Weyerhaeuser. Hampton
invested an estimated $18 million reno-
vating the mill and now directly employs
about 150 people there turning out up to
200 million board feet of Douglas fir and
hemlock lumber.
Steve Zika, the CEO of Hampton
Lumber since 2006, recently met with
The Daily Astorian and detailed the com-
pany’s local presence.
The third-generation family-owned
company has been in business 75 years,
since founder Bud Hampton bought his
first mill in Willamina. The company
now operates four mills in Oregon, three
in Washington state and two in British
Columbia. It also owns a 34,000-acre tree
farm in eastern Clatsop County, around
12,000 acres in western Washington
County and around 12,000 acres in Wash-
ington’s Pacific County.
The U.S. International Trade Commis-
sion recently upheld tariffs of more than
20 percent on lumber imports from Can-
ada, ruling the neighbor to the north sub-
sidizes and dumps timber on the Amer-
ican market. Overseeing mills on both
sides of the border, Zika provided his
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
An employee at the Hampton Lumber mill in Warrenton keeps a sharp eye on
equipment moving products through the facility.
take on the issue of Canadian subsidies
and tariffs.
Q: How did Hampton Lumber end
up in Warrenton?
A: During the Great Recession, Wey-
erhaeuser was looking to sell that facility,
and since we were already in the Oregon,
North Coast area, we felt good about the
potential for that mill. It had been some-
what run-down, because they knew they
were going to sell it, so they hadn’t been
investing in it. So we not only bought the
mill, but at the time invested roughly $18
million to update the mill.
Q: What’s the biggest factor affect-
ing Hampton’s business?
See ZIKA, Page 4A
See FIRE TRUCK, Page 4A
Cannon Beach fire board member resigns
Beck-Sweeney leaves
for ‘personal reasons’
after 18 years of service
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
Brenna Visser/The Daily Astorian
Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District board mem-
ber Linda Beck-Sweeney resigned Monday night.
CANNON BEACH – Cannon Beach Rural
Fire Protection District board member Linda
Beck-Sweeney resigned Monday night, citing
“personal reasons.”
Beck-Sweeney, who has served on the board
since 1999, was one of three board members
who prevailed in a recall vote last year orga-
nized by residents who criticized the board’s
handling of former Fire Chief Mike Balzer’s
firing.
Beck-Sweeney did not indicate whether or
not the experience played a role in her decision,
but said after 34 years of volunteer work in Can-
non Beach she needed to focus more on her per-
sonal life.
“I’ve been doing this since March of 1999.
I love it, but I need to make some changes in
my personal life, and I feel like it’s time to step
away from the board for awhile,” she said. “It
has nothing to do with the board.”
Mark Morgans of Greenwood Resources
was recommended by Beck-Sweeney and
appointed by the board to fill her position until
the seat is up for election in May 2019. Morgans
served as a volunteer firefighter at the district for
more than 17 years before stepping down as a
captain in 2016.
“It was the right time to retire then, but when
you make this kind of commitment it becomes
See FIRE BOARD, Page 4A