DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2018
145TH YEAR, NO. 212
ONE DOLLAR
Strolling for strength
Cancer survivors look to new county walking program for exercise
Cougar sightings have unsettled neigh-
borhoods in Oregon this year.
Cougar?
Neighbors
report
strange
noises
Details were sparse
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
People make their way around the track at Patriot Hall on the Clatsop Community College campus as part of the ‘Step
it Up!’ walking program.
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
A
typical Astoria wind gust caused
the hatchback on Teri Keippe-
la’s car to jolt upward as she was
holding it.
She had recently undergone treatment
for a form of cancer that doctors believed
would kill her within a year or two, and
the strain from the sudden movement
caused Keippela — 61 at the time — to
hurt her back.
“Who would’ve thought about such a
little thing? But after cancer sometimes,
small problems can be more sensitive,”
Keippela said.
To remedy the pain and prevent
future accidents, she forced herself to
walk. Seven years later, and in good
shape despite the original prognosis,
she is helping others with cancer do the
same.
See WALKING, Page 7A
Walkers with the program — designed to support cancer survivors — admire
the view from the track at Patriot Hall.
A rustling in the bushes, harsh growls,
sounds of a struggle and a chorus of dogs
losing their minds left some Astorians con-
vinced a cougar passed through their neigh-
borhood Monday night.
Astoria police received a report of a pos-
sible cougar sighting on the 500 block of
Duane Street the next day, but absent anyone
laying eyes on an actual big cat or snapping
a photo, the police are not sure if the animal
people heard was a cougar or something else.
The report they received was sparse
on details, Deputy Chief Eric Halverson
said. The people who reported the incident
acknowledged they did not see the animal.
They told police they heard something in the
bushes that they believed was a large pred-
ator and also thought they heard another
animal being attacked. On Facebook, sev-
eral residents of the neighborhood described
hearing similar noises, and other people
chimed in about possible sightings elsewhere
in Astoria. So far, police have only received
the one call.
“We live in an area where we have for-
ested areas up against the city,” Halverson
noted.
There are regular wildlife encounters
police respond to, from more routine calls
about injured deer to much rarer sightings of
cougars. The last confirmed cougar sighting
in Astoria occurred in 2012, and before that
in 2009, according to police records.
Astoria police conferred with the Oregon
State Police’s fish and game unit as well as
the Oregon Department of Fish and Wild-
life, but said the agencies have not had any
reports of recent cougar activity in Astoria.
“Obviously we’d want to know if some-
body believes one of these animals is creat-
ing an imminent threat,” Halverson said.
The state’s Fish and Wildlife Depart-
ment devotes several webpages to educat-
ing people about how to live with wildlife.
When it comes to living with cougars, the
state recommends keeping pets indoors at
dawn and dusk and also feeding those pets
indoors. People should not feed wildlife,
since this may attract cougars as well. They
should be aware of places where deer or elk
concentrate.
Organizers of the ‘Step it Up!’ program encourage family and friends of cancer survivors to participate.
See COUGAR, Page 7A
Alderbrook residents petition to keep Birch Field
City wants to
sell the park
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Alderbrook wants its park
back.
Dozens of residents of the
east side neighborhood plan to
petition the Astoria City Coun-
cil at a May 7 meeting to keep
Birch Field as a city park. The
city has provided time for them
to make a presentation about
their hopes for the marshy
baseball field at the corner of
49th Street and Birch Street.
In February, the City
Council asked staff to begin
taking steps to delist the
park, an action that would
ultimately include a hear-
ing and opportunities for
public input. The councilors
hoped delisting Birch Field
might pave the way for hous-
ing at the site and relieve the
Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment of the responsibility
of caring for a park that is
underused. Alderbrook res-
idents, who gathered for a
community meeting over the
weekend, disagree. They said
the park is an important green
space in the neighborhood
and should be improved as a
park, not as a place to build
houses.
Led by Lisa Morley, the
residents plan to form the
Friends of Birch Field and
Park and convince the city to
keep the site as a park. They
want to take over mainte-
nance and, eventually, turn it
from a barren site into a mul-
tiuse park. While there is some
disagreement about what such
a park might include in the
future, the group was united in
their desire to keep Birch Field
a park.
Friends groups exist for
other parks around the city,
See PARK, Page 7A
Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian
Astoria City Councilor Bruce Jones and Alderbrook resident
Lisa Morley talk to neighbors about options for Birch Field, a
park in Alderbrook the City Council plans to put up for sale.