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
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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.
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