145TH YEAR, NO. 151
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2018
ONE DOLLAR
Knappa
closes
school to
stem flu
outbreak
Forty-three percent
are sick at Hilda Lahti
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Cheryl Paul sets out coats to be donated at the Astoria Warming Center.
Midway through the season,
warming center makes progress
Neighbors report
fewer issues with
the homeless
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
T
he Astoria Warming Center is half-
way through its season and neigh-
bors say they have seen less of an
impact from the homeless than they did
last winter.
By the time the season ends in March,
and the warming center has used up the
90 days of operation allowed by the city
and state fire code, another option might
be in the works for the homeless.
Helping Hands Re-entry Outreach
Center, with facilities in Clatsop, Tilla-
mook and Yamhill counties, is planning
an expansion into Astoria.
Helping Hands Director Alan Evans
and his staff are in the process of trying
to acquire a building near downtown that
could provide 60 to 70 beds. The facil-
ity would provide a mix of emergency
shelter and transitional housing for peo-
ple participating in the nonprofit’s lon-
ger-term re-entry program. Evans is con-
fident his offer on the building will be
accepted, but is not ready to reveal the
location.
The warming center, which provides
shelter on winter nights when low tem-
peratures and expected rainfall hit cer-
tain thresholds, is operated out of the
basement of the First United Methodist
Church on the corner of 11th Street and
Franklin Avenue. It is a low-barrier emer-
gency shelter and serves a mix of people:
both those who are looking to get back on
their feet, and those who are not.
See WARMING CENTER, Page 4A
The Astoria Warming Center sits empty prior to opening for the night.
KNAPPA — Hilda Lahti Elementary
School in Knappa will keep kindergart-
ners through sixth-graders at home today
and Wednesday to help stem a flu outbreak
that has affected an estimated 43 percent of
students, along with several teachers and
staff.
The outbreak began last week.
Superintendent Paulette Johnson said
some classes at the elementary school
on Monday were down to four healthy
students. The school district met with county
and state health officials Monday to discuss
next steps.
“The health department’s take on it is
if you can’t function as a school, close it,”
Johnson said.
Hilda
Lahti
is
a
kindergar-
ten-through-eighth grade school, but kin-
dergarten through sixth grade are in a con-
tained area. The flu has not significantly hit
the middle school population yet, and sev-
enth- and eight-graders who attend classes
at Hilda Lahti and Knappa High School will
stay in school, Johnson said.
“Hopefully by Thursday morning, we’ll
have more kids at school,” she said.
Clatsop County Public Health Director
Michael McNickle said no other school dis-
tricts in the county reported abnormally high
rates of flu infection.
Kendra Gohl, the director of nursing and
an infections prevention specialist at Colum-
bia Memorial Hospital, said the incidence of
influenza this winter has been higher than in
the last couple of years and largely affecting
younger populations.
“The metro areas were already seeing
it,” Gohl said. “It was only a matter of time
before we would get it.”
Three people have been treated at the
hospital for influenza since last fall, Gohl
said. She commended Knappa for making
the decision to close classes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention has said that the spread of flu this
season is worse than in any year since the
2009 swine flu pandemic. Two children died
from the flu earlier this month in Oregon
amid reports that the infection has spread
across the state.
TAKE PRECAUTIONS
Health officials have tips for parents who
think their children might have the flu:
• Keep them home for 24 hours until
after fever has resolved without the aid
of fever-reducing medicines
• Avoid close contact with sick people
• Wash hands often with soap and hot
water for at least 20 seconds
• Cover coughs and sneezes with tis-
sues or the inside of the elbow
Cheryl Paul and Ami Kreider go over paperwork before opening the Astoria
Warming Center.
• Avoid touching the eyes, nose and
mouth to prevent the spread of germs
• Get the flu vaccine
Coast Guard digs toward source of oil spill
Excavation of oil tank
near Cannery Pier Hotel
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
The Coast Guard began chipping away Mon-
day at a dilapidated pier that likely holds the
source of an oil sheen on the Columbia River.
After the first of what will likely be a mul-
tiday effort, officials offered more detail about
what may have caused the spill.
The sheen was first reported Jan. 18 near the
Cannery Pier Hotel. It has been concentrated
near the hotel but was visible about 5 miles
along the river at its peak.
Other affected areas — including the Ham-
mond Mooring Basin — have been cleaned up,
while a containment boom has been placed near
the hotel. Oil has also been spotted on boats in
the area.
A Coast Guard diver discovered the tank a
couple of days after the sheen was reported. The
pier is located on the same property as the hotel,
though hotel management maintains it did not
have prior knowledge of the tank until the sheen
appeared.
Coast Guard crews on Monday cut a hole in
the tank — located on the south side of the pier
and encapsulated by concrete — to survey it.
The tank likely has a capacity of 10,000 gallons
— a larger size than previously believed — and
contains about 2,000 gallons of heavy, sludge-
like oil, said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Andrew
Madjeska. A storm earlier in the month may
have shifted the pier and the tank, which already
had holes on its side.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
See OIL SPILL, Page 7A
Workers use heavy equipment to access a pier in Astoria
that is thought to be the source of an oil leak.