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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 2018)
DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2018 145TH YEAR, NO. 160 ONE DOLLAR Marbled murrelets now protected as endangered A 4-2 vote by a state commission By KATIE FRANKOWICZ and MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI The Daily Astorian U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Marbled murrelets were uplisted from threat- ened to endangered in Oregon. Marbled murrelets nest in state-owned forestland in Clatsop County, but it isn’t clear yet how an uplisting from threatened McCartin to run for county commission to endangered in Oregon could affect log- ging operations. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Com- mission voted 4-2 on Friday to upgrade the small coastal bird’s protected status. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wild- life will have until June to complete sur- vival guidelines. The guidelines are expected to further restrict logging, though Dan Goody, dis- trict forester with the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Astoria District, said forest- ers on state lands already follow strategies that are more conservative than required under the state’s Forest Practices Act. “What we’re doing may meet what they come up with,” he said. Contractors routinely survey the Asto- ria District’s forestland for murrelets and spotted owls. Goody pointed out some See MURRELETS, Page 7A PARKS FOR SALE? A regular presence at public meetings By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian George McCartin, a retired attorney who is a regular presence at public meetings, has announced he will run for a Clatsop County Board of Commis- sioners seat. McCartin, 81, ran for Astoria City Council in the 2014 election and lost to Zetty Nemlowill. McCartin will seek the District 1 seat held by Scott Lee, the board’s chair- man, who is not running for re-election. Andrew Davis, a medical analyst, has also announced his intention to run for the seat. The position covers Warrenton, Ham- mond and the west end of Astoria. McCartin was an attor- ney in private practice and spent several years with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in San Francisco before mov- ing to Astoria more than 12 years ago. He was also a KMUN classical music programmer. McCartin said he is running to help unify the county board. He described the board as a dichotomy of commissioners taking hard- line stances. Fiscal transpar- ency, homelessness, crim- inal justice issues, mental health treatment and envi- ronmental concerns top his list of priorities should he be elected. “I just feel we could get more done with the county and the cities working together,” McCartin said. “Hopefully I could convince the other commissioners to George McCartin join me in working through these issues.” On multiple occasions, he’s asked for items to be pulled off consent calen- dars at Astoria City Council meetings and placed as busi- ness agenda items to prompt more discussion. “I was bringing up issues sometimes that they don’t want to deal with,” McCa- rtin said. “I think I could be on the opposite end and function quite well.” Other than the recent infighting on the county board, McCartin has been satisfied with Lee’s perfor- mance as chairman. “If he was running again, I wouldn’t think of running under any circumstances,” McCartin said. “I’ve been very impressed with his capacity as chairman all told.” Two other positions will be up for election in the May 15 primary. Peter Roscoe, a former Astoria city councilor and Fulio’s Pastaria owner, has filed for the District 3 seat along with Pamela Wev, an Asto- ria land use consultant. Lisa Clement, co-owner of Cle- mente’s Seafood, has not announced whether she will seek re-election. Susana Gladwin, a Jewell farmer, has filed for the Dis- trict 5 seat held by Commis- sioner Lianne Thompson, who has said she intends to run for another term. Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian The future of Birch Field in Alderbrook is up for debate. Astoria looks to ease the burden on parks department, provide housing By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian T he Astoria City Council, looking to free up an overburdened Parks and Recreation Department, will dis- cuss the potential sale of park land. Some city councilors see selling underused park land as one way to put the department on a path to long-term sus- tainability and potentially open up land to development. Beyond parks, the sale of city-owned land could make prop- erty available for affordable housing, City Manager Brett Estes said. Any such effort on housing would be led by the community development department. The four parks councilors plan to talk about at a work session Wednesday morn- ing are ones the city has contemplated sell- ing before. They include the site of Asto- ria’s first post office, now marked by an obelisk, and a historic reconstruction of a customs house — both the first such estab- lishments of their kind west of the Rocky Mountains. The other two sites are Birch Field, a marshy ballpark in Alderbrook, and the historic Tidal Rock site downtown across the street from the Blue Scorcher Bakery and Fort George Brewery. See PARKS, Page 7A PARKS UNDER REVIEW The Astoria City Coun- cil on Wednesday will discuss the potential sale of four city parks. • Birch Field: A wet, marshy ballpark just under an acre in size in Alderbrook that is considered in poor condition with very low use beyond dog walking. • U.S. Custom House: A reconstruction of the first customs house built west of the Rocky Mountains that is lo- cated across the street from Safeway off Lief Erikson Drive. • Post Office Park: A postage-stamp sized park on 15th Street between Exchange Street and Franklin Avenue. An obelisk commemorates where the first U.S. post office west of the Rocky Mountains was once located. Birch Field is one of four parks Astoria may sell. • Tidal Rock: A sunk- en, historic park with difficult public access on Duane Street and 15th Street. Former dental assistant goes behind the wheel The Thornburgs bought business a year ago By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian S EASIDE — Call a taxi in South County and likely Aalpha Shuttle and Taxi will answer. Meet Jennifer Thornburg, part-time driver, co-owner and a voice for the thriving taxi ser- vice. The Thornburgs bought Arrow Shuttle about a year ago. “My husband is the owner, I’m the helper,” Thornburg said between pickups. “We live at the junction and my in-laws Bill and Patricia Love help run the business too.” Ray Thornburg, “a jack-of- many trades,” according to his wife, was working for a geo- logic consultant but lost his job during a downturn. He found work with Dwayne Smith of Dwayne’s Shuttle, intending to work for a summer. He ended up buying the business in 2014. The Thornburgs subse- quently acquired Arrow Taxi and Seaside Cab, merging the companies into Aalpha. Thornburg never thought she’d be in the taxi business. “No. Never,” she laughed. “I’m a dental assistant and I was working in Astoria for many years.” Aalpha has nine part- and full-time drivers, available 24/7. “We’ve had to weed out a few over the years, but my hus- band is pretty good at detect- ing if something is not working out,” she said. R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian See TAXI, Page 7A Jennifer Thornburg and her husband, Ray, run a taxi service.