BREAK
DEADLY SIEGE PT. II: LETHAL FLU WAS UNSTOPPABLE WEEKEND
PAGE 1C
145TH YEAR, NO. 169
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2018
Brown
will sign
gun bill
RAT
WARS
Strips guns from
stalkers, abusers
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
IN ASTORIA, RODENTS GO WITH THE TERRITORY
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
I
t is absolutely a fact that when a rat charges down a city tunnel at you it is the size of a buffalo. Why else
would you flail around with your flashlight like a beam of light will protect you? You didn’t even know
your voice could go so high. Thousands of tiny rodent footprints dot the ground in the tunnels below
downtown Astoria. Maybe that’s just one very industrious rat, Ken Nelson, the city’s public works superinten-
dent, suggested. It’s possible, right? There could just be one rat down there pacing frantically back and forth.
Sorry. Rats are absolutely in the city’s
sewer system, where they find both shel-
ter and a steady supply of food. “They’re
the little garbage men of the sewer,” Nel-
son said. He himself has been charged by
a rat roughly the size of a St. Bernard.
Salem, Portland and Eugene are see-
ing an uptick in urban rat numbers this
year. In Astoria, they never left. Some
downtown businesses and property own-
ers report several rat sightings this win-
ter. They theorize extra high waters asso-
ciated with king tides pushed rats out of
their usual hiding places.
Though few people want a rat in
their basement or business, rats and river
towns go hand in hand — and 70 years
ago, rats were seen as a big enough prob-
lem that Astoria leaders implemented a
citywide extermination program.
Rat wars
In 1948, Clatsop County was one
of 22 other localities across the nation
selected for a demonstration on how
to deal with outsized rat populations,
according to newspaper reports from the
time.
That February, the Astoria City Coun-
cil received a letter from a county health
inspector and a county sanitation offi-
cer who said Astoria needed a rat control
campaign.
The city is a “seaport, accessible to
rats bringing disease from abroad,” they
warned, and “the presence of under-
ground passages and sewers opening on
the waterfront encourage the develop-
ment of a big rat population.”
County officials recommended a two-
fold war: Attack obvious food sources,
then attack the rats themselves.
They suggested Astoria also imple-
ment compulsory garbage disposal,
improve care of city dump sites, cam-
paign against dumping garbage outside
of the city dump and approach private
property owners and businesses about rat
proofing their buildings and homes.
At one point, more than 10,000 rats
were killed at city dump sites in Astoria
and Warrenton, victims of the “deadliest
rat poison ever developed.”
Astoria and other cities across Clat-
sop County officially declared war on the
rats in mid-April.
Baited with poison
Two “rat-killing experts,” employees
with the federal wildlife service, trav-
eled to Astoria to provide demonstra-
tions. Their tools were repurposed apple
crates baited with poison. People would
later blame a sudden rash of dog deaths
on this very same poison, but one expert
pointed out that the apple crate death
boxes were specifically constructed to
keep pets away from the bait.
Astoria Mayor Orval Eaton assem-
bled a committee to look at how to con-
trol the rat population. In their investiga-
tions, the committee members noticed a
lot of overflowing garbage around town,
backyard refuse heaps and vacant lots
piled high with junk. They argued for a
permanent program to deal with rats. The
See RAT WARS, Page 7A
‘ANYWHERE YOU’VE GOT WATER AND
HARBORAGE THEN THERE’S GOING TO BE RODENTS.’
SALEM — Gov. Kate Brown intends to
sign a bill that strips gun rights from con-
victed stalkers and abusers, the first state
gun-control legislation to pass nationally
after the mass shooting at a Florida high
school killed 17 people.
The governor urged lawmakers to
enhance protections against gun violence
in the wake of the shooting at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High
School in Parkland, Flor-
ida, the latest in a string of
attacks on schools that has
sparked student demonstra-
tions across the country.
“Now’s the time to
enact real change, and I’m
Gov. Kate
encouraged to see students
Brown
in Oregon and across the
nation engaged and joining
the call for gun safety legislation,” Brown
said in a statement. “It’s long past time we
hold the White House, Congress and legisla-
tors accountable.”
House Bill 4145 would close the so-called
“boyfriend loophole” in state law that omit-
ted stalkers and abusers in some intimate
relationships from losing gun rights.
State Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene,
who presented the bill on the Senate floor
Thursday, said his sister was murdered by
a boyfriend with a gun and urged his col-
leagues to support the new protections. The
legislation also would require Oregon State
See GUN BILL, Page 7A
Port to buy
mitigation
credits for
airport work
Development will
impact wetlands
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Meredith Riley | a county environmental health inspector
The Port of Astoria will spend $266,220
on 1.5 acres of wetland mitigation credits
from Warrenton Fiber at the headwaters of
the John Day River to offset the environmen-
tal impacts of a taxiway relocation at Astoria
Regional Airport.
The Port will cover the purchase with
cash reserves. The Federal Aviation Admin-
istration will reimburse the Port 90 percent
of the cost through a grant.
See PORT, Page 7A
Woman killed in Astoria accident remembered as caring
Burnett
delivered
newspaper,
was active in
community
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
The newspaper delivery
driver who was killed Thurs-
day morning after being pinned
underneath her car was remem-
bered as a loving mother and
partner who was active in the
community.
Debra Kay Burnett, 50, of
Astoria, was a delivery driver
for The Oregonian and was on
her route before the accident
near 12th Street and Kensing-
ton Avenue. She had worked for
the newspaper for several years
and had recently been manag-
ing — alongside her son — the
newspaper’s delivery operations
in Astoria, said Samuel Burnett,
her other son.
“We are saddened to hear
the news that an independent
dealer of The Oregonian was
killed this morning in a tragic
accident related to the win-
ter weather conditions,” John
Maher, president of the Ore-
gonian Media Group, said in a
statement posted by The Orego-
nian Thursday.
Debra Burnett
Burnett also worked as a
mailroom supervisor at The
Daily Astorian for several years.
“The tragic loss of Debra
was shocking to all of us at The
Daily Astorian,” said John D.
Bruijn, the newspaper’s produc-
tion director. “Debra started as
an inserter in the mailroom in
1996 and moved up to supervi-
sor in 2002 until 2008 when she
left for other opportunities.
“Even after she left the news-
paper she stayed in close contact
with many former co-workers.
She will be greatly missed.”
The youngest sibling in the
family, Burnett had lived in the
region since birth and Astoria for
nearly 30 years. Burnett, among
other things, was active in Asto-
ria Pride with her partner, volun-
teered at the Miss Oregon pag-
eant and loved being outdoors.
Her family and friends
described her as someone who
“laughed easily, made friends
seemingly effortlessly, loved
movies, music, books and the-
ater, cats and dogs, car rac-
ing, sports, good food, strong
drinks and spending time with
the many people she loved, her
family and friends.”
“She was just out there and
part of the community,” Sam-
uel Burnett said. “She wasn’t
afraid to speak her mind on
matters with people. She was a
very caring, very loving mother
who would do anything for her
family.”
Bonnie Ragan, who now
lives in Arizona, remembers
her youngest sibling for being
caring.
“My sister is worth a mil-
lion dollars. She lived life to the
fullest,” Ragan said. “She cared
about everybody else before
herself. She will be greatly
missed.”