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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2018)
HAPPY NEW YEAR! GAS TAX BUMP, FEE HIKES AMONG NEW LAWS PAGE 3A DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, JANUARY 1, 2018 145TH YEAR, NO. 130 ONE DOLLAR DRAGALUTION Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Spurgeon D. Keeth, left, Clatsop County’s last living survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, died Thursday. County loses last Pearl Harbor attack survivor Keeth was a witness to Japanese bombing By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Spurgeon D. Keeth, who was Clatsop County’s last living survivor of the Japa- nese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Thursday. He was 92. After spending most his life in Wapato, Washington, in the Yakima Valley, Keeth moved to Hammond in 2015 to be cared for by his daugh- ter, Donna Barnett, and her husband, Bill. Keeth led a more private life and hadn’t belonged to any veterans groups in Washington state, Barnett said. “When he came here, things changed,” she said. “He couldn’t socialize a lot, but when people found out there was a Pearl Harbor sur- vivor, they went nuts.” Keeth became a local celebrity on the North Coast and the county’s last living survivor of the attack after the death of Seaside’s Bill Thomas a year ago. Thomas, a sailor on the Navy’s USS Medusa during the attack, helped lead the effort to ded- icate Seaside’s First Ave- nue Bridge the Pearl Har- bor Memorial Bridge in 2000. Keeth received free membership in American Legion Post 99 in Seaside and Clatsop Post 12 in Asto- ria and became a fixture at local parades and an annual wreath-laying ceremony on the memorial bridge. Mike Phillips of Clatsop Post 12 said Keeth was one of about 50 World War II-era members of the post. Jay Blount, a spokesman with the National Park Service World War II Valor in the By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Local brewers and dis- tillers have mixed feelings about the savings their busi- nesses will receive from the Republican tax plan. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act includes a two-year reduction of federal excise By COLIN MURPHEY The Daily Astorian T he mood during the annual Dragalution at the Columbian Theater in Astoria Sunday night was one of hope and optimism for the new year. People lined up around the block to get into the event, which featured a wide variety of performances playing to a sold-out crowd. Orga- nizer Marco Davis told the lively audience he was looking forward to what the new year would bring, a sentiment that was met with applause. Dragalution is the brainchild of Davis, who also hosts the show. See KEETH, Page 7A Tax plan benefits local brewers A two-year reduction in federal taxes Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Performers at the annual Dragalution in Astoria perform a number by the rock band Queen during a New Year’s Eve celebration. taxes on beer, wine and spirits. The cuts came from provisions of the popular Craft Beverage Moderniza- tion and Tax Reform Act, originally introduced by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. Brewers will see federal excise taxes on their first 60,000 barrels produced cut from $7 to $3.50. Taxes on distilled spirits were lowered from $13.50 to $2.70 per gal- lon for the first 100,000 gal- lons produced. Dancers take the stage at the Columbian Theater in Astoria on New Year’s Eve for Dragalution. Dragalution organizer Marco Davis, far right with mi- crophone, introduces the cast of performers during the New Year’s Eve celebration at the Columbian Theater in Astoria. Participants in the Dragalution show at the Columbi- an Theater in Astoria performed to a sold-out crowd. Many of the performers and much of the crew working behind the scenes at the Dragalution event were dressed up in elaborate costumes. See TAX PLAN, Page 7A Radio staffer finds community, paradise Fryberger started as a volunteer By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian oast Community Radio’s music library — hundreds of CDs in hard plastic cases — fills shelves, turning one room into a sort of maze and stretch- ing down the hall to a second room. Janet Fryberger, the sta- tion’s new membership special- ist and volunteer coordinator, started as a volunteer, digitizing CDs. It is a job she continues to C Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian Janet Fryberger is Coast Community Radio’s new mem- bership specialist and volunteer coordinator. perform, a job that could take — well, she tries not to think about how long it will take. It’s a daunting task, and many community radio stations are in a similar situation with their libraries, she said. But the work, the day-to- day interactions with members and programmers, the tedious digitizing process, is just what Fryberger was looking for when she moved to Astoria two years ago. “It’s like getting a job at Cheers,” she said. She believes the station “defines the city in a lot of ways” and she is thrilled to have such an active role in the community. Born in Eugene, Fryberger moved to Astoria from Seattle. Though she has lived in numer- ous cities over the course of her life, she said, “I always felt a pull to Oregon.” Seattle began to feel foreign — no longer the place she’d loved in the 1980s — and she started to contem- plate an escape. She’d driven through Astoria a number of times on her way to vacation in See FRYBERGER, Page 7A