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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 21, 2018)
COAST WEEKEND CANNON BEACH PLEIN AIR & MORE ARTS FESTIVAL DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2018 145TH YEAR, NO. 253 ONE DOLLAR PAC formed to stump for Astoria school bond Voters asked to back $70 million plan By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Wildlife photographer Rob Curtis searches Haystack Rock for puffins and other birds. Donations fund puffin research at Haystack Rock Study will be first on the coast See PAC, Page 5A State warns Astoria on bridge load By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian C ANNON BEACH — Tufted puf- fins have been on the decline at Haystack Rock for decades, and no one really understands why. This summer, a $15,000 donation from the Friends of Haystack Rock will enable the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to study what factors are keeping puffin populations low. The research will be the first of its kind on the Oregon Coast. “We really need to collect more data and it has taken a long time for us to do that,” said Shawn Stephensen, a wildlife biologist with the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex. “This gives us the opportunity to do that.” More than half of the research money can be attributed to the “Pro- tect our Puffins” sweat- shirt campaign started last summer by John Underwood, a Friends of Haystack Rock board member and longtime Cannon Beach homeowner. It started with Underwood question- ing why, every sum- mer when he came back to visit Can- non Beach, there Astoria school boosters have formed a political action committee to stump for a $70 million bond package in November to improve schools. While school dis- trict employees can pro- vide objective informa- tion, they cannot advocate for a bond measure. Yes for Astoria Kids is led by David Oser, an Astoria School Board member who David recently retired from non- Oser profit lender Craft3, and Skip Hauke, a former busi- ness owner who recently retired from the Asto- ria-Warrenton Area Cham- ber of Commerce. A bond voters passed in 2000 to build Lewis and Skip Clark Elementary School Hauke and improve three other campuses is set to expire in 2020. In anticipation of another bond, the school district has spent the past year study- ing options. Violations spotted near the waterfront By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian From left, Magdalena, Owen and Zaria Goward scan Haystack Rock with bin- oculars looking for birds. were fewer and fewer puffins flocking around the rock. He partnered with the awareness program to design and donate a few dozen sweatshirts to sell around the community, with the hope profits would eventually go toward education and research. A year later, the idea raised more than $9,000. “I was hoping it would do well, but I didn’t know what to expect,” Underwood said. “I’m happy people care.” While Haystack Rock is still home to Oregon’s largest tufted puffin colony, along the Oregon Coast the species has steadily declined from about 5,000 birds nesting 20 years ago to just a few hun- dred today. Researchers have theorized factors such as rising ocean temperatures and lack of accessible prey could be causing the die-off, but haven’t had resources to test it. The donations will purchase five transmitters, which will be attached to puffins and track where exactly the Six waterfront bridges in Astoria slated to be replaced over the next two years could close to vehicle traffic immediately if load limits continue to be ignored. Inspectors hired by the Oregon Depart- ment of Transportation saw multiple vehi- cles that exceeded the 3-ton load limit drive over the bridges during a recent annual inspection. Under the load limit — 6,000 pounds — anything much bigger than an SUV would likely be too heavy, according to the Astoria Public Works Department. The bridges sit at the bases of Sixth Street to 11th Street. If the city can’t enforce the load limit, the state will recommend the bridges be closed See RESEARCH, Page 5A See BRIDGES, Page 5A ‘I was concerned for my own family’ Hero pastor has local ties Chinook Observer TUMWATER, Wash. — David George, an Oakville pastor who was a longtime leader of the New Life Assem- bly of God Church in Ilwaco, spoke in public for the first time Wednesday about his role in stopping a deadly attack out- side a Walmart in Tumwater. George, who has a con- cealed-carry firearms permit and was trained as a volun- teer firefighter to respond to active-shooter situations, shot and killed Tim O. Day, 44, of McCleary, who was shoot- ing at people Sunday while attempting to hijack cars. “I am grieved that the shooter’s reckless actions endangered numerous indi- viduals and demanded he be stopped before doing more harm,” George said in an emo- tional statement broadcast on television news stations. After stopping the shooter, George, an emergency medi- cal technician, provided first aid to a gunshot victim in the parking lot. George was deeply involved in the Long Beach Peninsula community from about 2003 through 2013, In addition to his role at New Life Assembly of God, he served as president of the Rotary Club. George teared up as he described how a family trip to Walmart to make an exchange ended up with him having to fatally shoot the armed attacker. He said he immediately recognized the gunshots and responded in accordance with his training. “I was concerned for my own family and I sought to find them and exit the building,” he said. “My daughter, recogniz- ing the gunshots, also gathered her daughter quickly to exit the building. I did not see my See PASTOR, Page 5A KING5 David George, a longtime Ilwaco pastor, spoke in public for the first time Wednesday about intervening to stop an armed attack Sunday at the Tumwater Walmart.
