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2A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 2018 After bombshell complaint, Big River Construction moves Capitol officials push back to Miles Crossing location Lawmakers, staff counter Avakian claims By DIRK VANDERHART and LAUREN DAKE Oregon Public Broadcasting One day after a complaint by Oregon Labor Commis- sioner Brad Avakian accused state legislative leaders of underplaying reports of sex- ual harassment, some Capitol officials are firing back. The state’s top legislative counsel and an attorney who investigated the complaints of harassment have categor- ically denied parts of Ava- kian’s complaint — includ- ing allegations they tamped down reports of harassment and failed to alert victims of their rights. “We would be on the phone for hours if I was to go through every sentence (that was wrong),” said Dex- ter Johnson, the Legislature’s top attorney, who features based on sex.” Specifically named in the complaint were senior offi- cials in Avakian’s own Dem- ocratic Party: Kotek and Sen- ate President Peter Courtney. Many allegations have to do with how leaders responded to repeated, long- term complaints about Kruse. But Avakian also folded in other instances of reported misbehavior, painting a pic- ture of a Legislature unable to appropriately respond to sexual harassment. Johnson, the legislative attorney, adamantly denied Avakian’s claims that he’d repeatedly told harassment victims not to discuss their complaints with others. Most dramatic was a statement Avakian claims the Office of Legislative Counsel made to an intern: that her career “would be over” if her alle- gations against Kruse went public. “I never told anyone their career would be over. I have never said anything like that,” Johnson said. “It would be unthinkable.” prominently in the document. Meanwhile, state Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, confirmed Thursday she’d been cautioned not to speak about reports that she’d been inappropriately touched by former Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg. House Speaker Tina Kotek, in an impromptu conference call with report- ers, reaffirmed a pledge to improve the environment at the Capitol and work with Avakian, while also calling his motives into question. “I think you have to ask the commissioner what the goal is of his complaint,” Kotek said. “I think we’re still trying to understand that.” The responses showed a state Capitol in turmoil after an unexpected bomb- shell dropped by Avakian. In a civil rights complaint filed Wednesday with his own agency, the Bureau of Labor and Industries, the commis- sioner accused legislative leaders of permitting “a gen- erally hostile environment By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA TONIGHT SATURDAY SUNDAY 69 55 56 ALMANAC 71 57 Mostly sunny and pleasant A blend of sun and clouds Salem 55/86 Newport 53/65 Eugene 49/86 Sunset tonight ........................... 8:43 p.m. Sunrise Saturday ........................ 6:01 a.m. Coos Bay Moonrise today .................................. none 56/68 Moonset today ......................... 12:51 p.m. New First Aug 11 Full Aug 18 A bill that would make it easier to kill sea lions that gob- ble endangered salmon in the Columbia River has cleared a key committee in the U.S. Senate. The measure allows the federal government to issue permits to Washington state, Idaho and Oregon, and sev- La Grande 49/81 Baker 45/83 Ontario 61/87 Burns 41/81 Klamath Falls 41/80 Lakeview 40/80 Ashland 56/87 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018 Tonight's Sky: Cygnus, the swan, soars high over- head on summer nights. Source: Jim Todd, OMSI TOMORROW'S TIDES Astoria / Port Docks Time 1:09 a.m. 12:53 p.m. Low 1.4 ft. 1.5 ft. REGIONAL CITIES City Baker City Bend Brookings Eugene Ilwaco Klamath Falls Medford Newberg Newport North Bend Hi 83 79 69 79 66 81 87 75 65 67 Today Lo 45 45 52 49 57 41 57 54 53 55 W s s pc pc c pc s pc pc pc Hi 83 80 63 86 67 80 88 82 65 67 Sat. Lo 49 47 51 50 56 43 58 55 53 56 W s s pc pc pc pc s pc pc pc City Olympia Pendleton Portland Roseburg Salem Seaside Spokane Springfi eld Vancouver Yakima Hi 73 82 76 83 78 67 79 79 73 84 Today Lo 53 54 58 57 55 57 55 53 56 50 W c s pc pc pc c pc pc pc pc Hi 80 84 83 87 86 69 80 85 81 85 Sat. Lo 52 57 60 56 56 55 56 54 56 53 W pc s pc pc pc pc s pc pc s TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER NATIONAL CITIES Today Hi Lo 85 71 91 74 84 69 82 63 95 71 86 66 100 75 69 53 86 78 87 67 94 71 108 87 88 69 92 72 89 77 92 70 89 77 84 72 93 70 87 72 95 73 95 66 70 54 75 59 82 73 Associated Press Roseburg 57/87 Brookings 53/62 Aug 26 John Day 51/82 Bend 45/80 Medford 57/88 UNDER THE SKY High 6.0 ft. 7.9 ft. Prineville 43/83 Lebanon 54/84 W t c s pc s s t c sh pc s s s s t pc pc pc s t s s pc pc t Sat. Hi Lo 87 73 83 69 94 75 91 62 89 72 89 71 99 76 69 52 87 78 91 71 93 72 110 85 88 66 92 74 88 77 94 74 88 78 82 74 91 73 88 73 94 72 90 66 72 53 79 59 89 74 to scale back, but is now back up to around 50 employees. Big River sold its previous location to Northwest Ready Mix, which located next door, and is leasing its office before making the move. The unincorporated Miles Crossing and Jeffers Garden communities south of Astoria have seen a number of busi- nesses relocate recently. Bergerson Tile & Cabi- nets, located in downtown Astoria, recently applied for a conditional use permit to build a new 4,000-square-foot warehouse at the intersection of Highway 101 Business and Lewis and Clark Road. The site had previously been pro- posed for a butterfly sanctu- ary. Enola’s Ship Out, a sea- food cart, recently opened just south of the site, next to Lewis and Clark Golf & RV Park. Mostly sunny and pleasant Pendleton 54/84 The Dalles 60/88 Portland 58/83 Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Heavy equipment sits at the construction site of the new headquarters of Big River Construction in Miles Crossing. Bill allowing more sea lions to be killed clears key hurdle Tillamook 55/70 SUN AND MOON City Atlanta Boston Chicago Denver Des Moines Detroit El Paso Fairbanks Honolulu Indianapolis Kansas City Las Vegas Los Angeles Memphis Miami Nashville New Orleans New York Oklahoma City Philadelphia St. Louis Salt Lake City San Francisco Seattle Washington, DC 71 56 Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs. ASTORIA 56/69 Precipitation Thursday .......................................... 0.08" Month to date ................................... 0.08" Normal month to date ....................... 0.05" Year to date .................................... 35.82" Normal year to date ........................ 36.99" Time 7:10 a.m. 7:19 p.m. TUESDAY REGIONAL WEATHER Astoria through Thursday. Temperatures High/low ....................................... 68°/58° Normal high/low ........................... 68°/54° Record high ............................ 93° in 2017 Record low ............................. 45° in 1969 Aug 4 70 56 Low clouds breaking for some sun Partly cloudy this evening; cloudy late Last MONDAY Big River Construction is establishing a new headquar- ters along U.S. Highway 101 Business in Miles Crossing. The company has been located on about 1 acre along Olney Avenue since shortly after forming in the early 2000s but had outgrown the space, said Michael Sarin, a co-owner of the company with Clyde Stanley, Anthony Ewing and Bill Gunderson. Big River works on com- mercial, civil, wetland mitiga- tion and other projects, along with operating quarries. The company is building an 8,000-square-foot steel building to house its office and equipment on a 3-acre lot next to the Astoria School Dis- trict’s transportation depart- ment. It expects to move in by the end of the year, Sarin said. Big River had owned the property for several years and used it as a laydown yard for projects, but hadn’t initially planned on moving there, Sarin said. The company grew from around five employees at its founding to 100 before the Great Recession caused it Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. W pc t s t pc s pc r c s pc s pc pc sh pc pc sh pc sh s s pc pc pc Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice. TIMBERLANDS CLOSED DUE TO HIGH FIRE DANGER Lewis & Clark Timberlands are CLOSED as of August 1, 2018 to all public entry and will remain in effect until further notice. For up-to-date information please call our RECREATIONAL HOTLINE 503-755-6655 eral Pacific Northwest tribes, allowing up to 100 sea lions to be killed a year. Supporters include the gov- ernors of those three states, fishing groups and tribes. They say the bill is needed to protect declining runs of salmon and steelhead. Critics say it won’t solve the problem of declining salmon. Appeals court rules sale of Elliott State Forest parcel illegal Associated Press PORTLAND — The Ore- gon Court of Appeals has ruled that the sale of a tract of the Elliott State Forest to a private timber company was illegal. The ruling Wednesday overturns the sale of 788 acres to the Seneca Jones Timber Co. and is a victory for envi- ronmental groups who had sued to stop it. The Elliot State Forest was intended to be managed to generate money for public education. But logging on the land was curtailed by environmen- tal lawsuits. The state backed away last year from a plan to sell the for- est to timber interests. Instead, the Legislature allocated $100 million in bond revenue last year to help keep the forest public. The East Hakki Ridge tract was considered a test case for selling to private timber. DEATH July 28, 2018 CASSA, Anthony Vincent, 77, of Hammond, died in Astoria. Ocean View Funeral & Cremation Service of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. PUBLIC MEETINGS MONDAY Port of Astoria, 4 p.m. workshop, Port offices, 10 Pier 1, Suite 209. Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. LOTTERIES Thursday’s Lucky Lines: 02- 05-12-14-FREE-19-23-25-29 Estimated jackpot: $12,000 OREGON Thursday’s Pick 4: 1 p.m.: 3-9-2-4 4 p.m.: 3-0-4-5 7 p.m.: 7-8-4-7 10 p.m.: 4-6-1-2 WASHINGTON Thursday’s Daily Game: 4-1-8 Thursday’s Keno: 05-06-08- 31-32-35-44-46-49-50-53-54- 55-58-60-66-68-71-76-77 Thursday’s Match 4: 01-04- 19-23 OBITUARY POLICY The Daily Astorian publishes paid obituaries. The obituary can include a small photo and, for veterans, a flag symbol at no charge. The deadline for all obituaries is 9 a.m. the business day prior. Obituaries may be edited for spelling, proper punctuation and style. Death notices and upcoming services will be published at no charge. Notices must be submitted by 9 a.m. the day of publication. Obituaries and notices may be submitted online at www.dailyastorian.com/forms/obits, by email at ewilson@dailyastorian.com, placed via the funeral home or in person at The Daily Astorian office, 949 Exchange St. in Astoria. For more information, call 503-325-3211, ext. 257. The Daily Astorian Established July 1, 1873 (USPS 035-000) Published daily, except Saturday and Sunday, by EO Media Group, 949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Telephone 503- 325-3211, 800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Daily Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103-0210 www.dailyastorian.com MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TIMBERLANDS CLOSED The measure is co-spon- sored by Sens. Maria Cant- well, a Washington state Demo- crat, and James Risch, an Idaho Republican. It awaits a vote by the full Senate. It’s similar to legislation the House passed last month. That was sponsored by Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Washing- ton state Republican, and Kurt Schrader, an Oregon Democrat. The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republication of all the local news printed in this newspaper. SUBSCRIBER TO THE NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF CIRCULATIONS, INC. 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