DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018
145TH YEAR, NO. 157
ONE DOLLAR
Cost of
oil spill
balloons
Fuel tank leaked near
Cannery Pier Hotel
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The oil spill from a fuel storage tank
near the Cannery Pier Hotel has cost about
$700,000 so far to clean up, the Coast Guard
reported.
Capt. Bill Timmons, the commander
of Sector Columbia River, and others
from the Coast Guard briefed the Port of
Astoria Commission and regional officials
Tuesday about the cleanup efforts and how
they are being financed.
After reports of an oil sheen in the Colum-
bia River late last month, the Coast Guard
investigated and found that part of a dilap-
idated pier west of the hotel had fallen on a
fuel tank containing thick oil used to fire the
boilers in a cannery.
Cannery Pier management has said the
hotel did not know about the tank. The
hotel is built on the former site of the Union
Fishermen’s Cooperative Packing Co.
The tank had been in the ground there
since at least 1921, said Capt. Dave Ber-
liner, deputy commander of Sector Colum-
bia River.
Especially high tides helped spread a
sheen 5 miles long, with oily debris found
as far downriver as Hammond and among
the boats at the Port’s West Mooring Basin
just west of the tank. Containment booms
were placed around the hotel. Contractors
removed the tank and emptied it of about
2,200 gallons of Bunker C oil. Cleaning
solution Simple Green was used to remove
oil from boats.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Former Astoria Mayor Willis Van Dusen
shares an embrace with state Senator Betsy
Johnson at an event in October to celebrate
the opening of the new cancer center.
Campaigning
against cancer
Cancer center donations came
from across the community
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
A
fter Steve Roman was diagnosed with can-
cer, former Astoria Mayor Willis Van Dusen
— a friend of his — would often drive the
lawyer to Longview, Washington, for treatment.
The care would only take 30 seconds, but the
round trip would last 2 1/2 hours.
“I sometimes wouldn’t even sit down,” Van
Dusen said. “When the patients have to drive out
in heavy traffic, it adds to the stress that’s already
there.”
Van Dusen led the Columbia Memorial Hospital
Foundation’s campaign to raise money for the Knight
Cancer Collaborative with Oregon Health & Science
University that opened in October. Launched in May
2015, the campaign raised $3 million.
See CANCER CENTER, Page 7A
TOP
DONORS
More than 700 donors
contributed to the
CMH-OHSU Knight
Cancer Collaborative.
Here are the 15 top
donors, all of which
were more than
$50,000:
• Teevin Bros. Land &
Timber Inc.
• Warrenton Fiber Co./
Nygaard Logging
• M.J. Murdoch Chari-
table Trust
• Martha Whitener
Estate
• Margaret Rubidoux
• Van Dusen family
• Dr. William and Deb-
orah Armington
• Anonymous
• Constance
Waisanen
• Eloise and Carl
Pohlad Family Fund
• Oregon Health &
Science University
• Henningsgaard
family
• Leinassar family
• Mary Armington
• Autio family
See OIL SPILL, Page 7A
Reward
offered in
arson probe
Up to $5,000 available
for information
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Astoria police are offering up to $5,000
for information that leads to an arrest in an
arson investigation in Uppertown.
A series of small fires broke out in a
neighborhood around 38th Street and Harri-
son Avenue in January, rattling residents.
The blazes were reported over a span of
less than two weeks and left burn marks on
three houses — one of which was burned
twice — and destroyed a pickup truck.
Another fire in the same area scorched
a garage that contained a motorcycle, four
recycling bins and a lawnmower, though
officials believe it was accidental. Police
have also found another scorch mark on a
fence in the area but believe it was not part
of the January spate.
The ribbon is cut in October at a grand opening event held in front of the new cancer collaborative.
See ARSON, Page 7A
Seaside subdivision gets go-ahead
Project involves
58 homes for
workforce
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Patience
proved a virtue for Seaside
developers Bruce and Max
Ritchie.
For more than a decade,
they’ve submitted plans for the
15-acre plot of land on the cor-
ner of South Wahanna Road
and Avenue S known as Blue
Heron Pointe.
At Tuesday night’s Plan-
ning Commission meet-
ing, their 58-lot, single-fam-
ily proposal won conditional
approval. A draft of a final
plan will be delivered later
this month, Planning Director
Kevin Cupples said.
The homes will provide
workforce housing, Max
Ritchie said, with prices in
the “low $300,000 and high
$200,000” range. Homes will
average under 2,000 square
feet.
The saga of Blue Heron
Pointe began in the early
2000s, going so far as to win
preliminary approval in 2006.
But plans stalled until late
2016, when the Ritchies pre-
sented a 45-unit multifamily
proposal. That plan hit a snag
over a requirement for a side-
walk along Wahanna Road.
The project remained dor-
mant until the Ritchies pre-
sented a new design show-
ing pedestrian and bike lanes
within the subdivision. The
prior plan would have accom-
modated a duplex on every lot
See SEASIDE, Page 7A
Cannon Beach votes to
raise water rates 16 percent
Revenue to
finance repairs
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH —
Residents will see their water
rates go up 16 percent in
March.
The City Council voted
unanimously Tuesday to
approve raising water and
wastewater rates to help
fund repairs to an aging sys-
tem. The average residential
water bill will go from about
$47.81 to $55.68 – about an
$8 increase a month.
The increase will raise
about $434,000 in reve-
nue for capital projects next
year.
The decision comes nearly
a year after former Public
Works Director Dan Gras-
sick proposed a 40 percent
rate increase to fund half of
all of the projects listed in the
water and wastewater master
plans — documents that rec-
ommend capital projects the
city should address for the
next 20 years. Between res-
idents taking issue with the
See RATES, Page 7A