146TH YEAR, NO. 35
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2018
FIRED UP
Pamplin Media Group
A ‘seamless loop’ of tollways under review.
Tolls likely
coming to
Portland
Hope is to reduce congestion
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Photos by Josh Como
Firefighters from Clatsop County keep a watchful eye on the Substation Fire near The Dalles in July.
Clatsop County firefighters
respond to blazes across the state
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
annon Beach volunteer firefighter
Jordan Spencer remembers watch-
ing the Eagle Creek Fire on TV last
year, feeling frustrated as he saw the blaze
ravage the Columbia River Gorge.
All he wanted to do was help.
So when Spencer got the call to respond
to the South Valley Fire earlier this month,
he was excited.
“It was my chance to do something,”
he said.
Spencer was one of dozens of Clat-
sop County firefighters deployed to fires
around the state this summer. So far, four
task forces have been sent to help combat
the Substation, South Valley and Mema-
loose 2 fires.
Before 2017, it was uncommon for
a local firefighter to get called out to a
fire outside the county. Last year was a
record-setting year, with more than 50
firefighters sent to fight multiple fires in
Oregon and California.
Now, with three conflagration calls
already under their belts before mid-Au-
gust, this year is on pace to be just as
busy.
C
The Oregon Transportation Commission voted
unanimously Thursday to seek federal approval for
tolling Interstates 5 and 205 through the Portland
area and to study creating a seamless loop of toll-
ways around the city.
Commissioners authorized the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation to analyze the feasibility
of tolling I-5, I-205, Interstate 405, Interstate 84,
U.S. Route 26, State Highway 217 and sections of
U.S. Route 30.
The tolled segments of each interstate would
form a loop around the city to prevent diversion
onto neighborhood streets and to maximize the
reduction of congestion, said Commissioner Sean
O’Hollaren.
“In my view you create a donut, a beltway, a
loop that doesn’t have gaps in it,” O’Hollaren said.
“I think you need to look at how do you make a
complete loop around the Portland metropolitan
area that prices that congestion and that we are
looking very seriously to what alternatives peo-
ple have to get around that same property. Are we
incentivizing carpooling to the max, are we cre-
ating ways people can get around? I think that
should be something we look at.”
A $5.3 billion transportation package passed
last year required the commission to study and
consider tolling in the Portland metro area, but the
law established no mandate to implement it.
See TOLLS, Page 7A
‘A day for Deano’
Man killed by police
remembered in Seaside
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
From left, Josh Como, James Hutchinson and Lindsey Wolfe take a break
while fighting the Memaloose 2 Fire in August.
‘It’s surreal’
The South Valley Fire in Dufur was
Max Savage’s first fire outside of the
county. When his name was called out at a
drill practice and he had a half hour to get
ready, Savage wasn’t sure what to expect.
But when he showed up to the scene
about 1 a.m., he didn’t have to wonder
long. The task force was immediately sent
out to patrol, where Savage encountered a
See FIREFIGHTERS, Page 7A
“I remember on one fire someone came up to me and asked
to use my phone to call home. Their phone wasn’t working
and they needed to let someone know the farm was gone.
In those moments you take a step into their shoes,
and it can be hard.”
James Hutchinson, of the Gearhart Volunteer Fire Department
SEASIDE — The staff at Gorilla Gas was sick
of the silence.
In late July, their co-worker, Cashus Dean Case
— known as “Deano” — was shot and killed by
police outside his home at Seasider RV Park after
allegedly refusing an order to drop two black powder
pistols. After the shock of the shooting wore off, gas
station manager Jesse Jones was beginning to think
the community had forgotten about his friend.
“It just got quiet all of a sudden. The only
reminder in town is our rest-in-peace sign,” he said.
“We wanted to make a day for Deano.”
To keep his memory alive, about 20 people held
an informal celebration of life for Case on Thursday
afternoon at Broadway Park. Some who attended,
like Stephanie Babb, of Eugene, didn’t know Case
personally but came to support the family as some-
one who also lost a relative to a police shooting.
“It’s hard when someone you love gets shot by
police, because the first thing people ask is, ‘What did
he do wrong?’” Babb said. “I just wanted the family
to know there are other families feeling what they’re
feeling, and they have a right to feel outraged and sad.”
See CASE, Page 7A
Home Baking Co. owners offer up historic business
Founded
by Finnish
immigrants
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The third-generation family
owners of Astoria’s 108-year-
old Home Baking Co. are hop-
ing someone will take on the
business as they look to retire.
The bakery was started in
1910 by Finnish immigrants
Elmer Wallo, Charlie Jarvanin
and Arthur A. Tilander, whose
brother went down with the
Titanic on his way over to be a
partner. It has been run by the
Tilanders since the 1940s.
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Kathryn and Jim Tilander, the owners of Home Baking Co.,
are hoping to pass on the business as they look to retire.
Jim Tilander has worked
at the bakery off and on since
he was 13 and full time since
1977. He met his wife, Kath-
ryn, there when, on a visit from
Southern California in 1983
to see family, she was con-
vinced to help out. The couple
soon took over from his father,
Arther H. Tilander.
The two each spend about
50 hours a week at the bak-
ery, Kathryn Tilander said.
She does the accounting and
runs the front of the store. Jim
Tilander has spent many early
mornings over the past 40
years baking in the back with
a small crew. After recently
turning 65, he started thinking
about retirement.
“I’ve been here nonstop
since 1977,” he said. “I’m
hopeful to pass it off to some-
one who wants to keep doing
this.”
Their son, Kevin Tilander,
and daughter, Katie Diak, have
both worked at the bakery, but
each went other directions.
Jim and Kathryn are look-
ing forward to spending more
time with their children and
traveling.
Among its doughnuts, pas-
tries and breads, Home Bakery
fills a niche for local Scandina-
vians with specialties like car-
damom bread, Swedish limpa
orange rye bread, Florentine
cookies, Norwegian fattig-
mann fried cookies and cinna-
mon snack bread.
There are a steady stream
of older customers who come
in to the shop for doughnuts
and coffee and countless oth-
ers who come from all around
for the Finnish pastries, Kath-
ryn Tilander said.
See BAKERY, Page 7A