WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018
146TH YEAR, NO. 40
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND BARK
IN HONOR OF NATIONAL DOG DAY, TAKE A LOOK AT SO MANY GOOD
DOGGIES FROM THE NORTH COAST WHO FILL OUR LIVES WITH FUR, FUN,
LOVE … AND MUDDY PAWS IN THIS WEEK’S EXPANDED WEEKEND BREAK SECTION
Developers revise plans
for new waterfront hotel
New design will
undergo city review
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Carleton Hart Architecture
The new design for a waterfront hotel removes the former
Ship Inn restaurant.
Experts
turn toward
medicine in
opioid fight
The Astoria City Council expected to
hear arguments Thursday that city boards
were wrong to shoot down a proposed
waterfront hotel, but instead received an
entirely new set of plans.
After some confusion and controversy,
city councilors voted to send the rede-
sign of Hollander Hospitality’s four-story,
Marriott-brand hotel back to the Design
Review Committee for consideration. A
majority of the council also reversed the
decision by the Historic Landmarks Com-
mission to deny the project.
Hollander Hospitality wants to build
the hotel along the waterfront on lots
that house two shuttered restaurants, The
Ship Inn and Stephanie’s Cabin. When
the Design Review Committee and His-
toric Landmarks Commission denied the
project in July, citing issues with the
hotel’s size, appearance and historical
See HOTEL, Page 6A
Homeless outreach in
Uniontown takes shape
Treatment combines
therapy with Suboxone
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — Looking to relieve the
pain of withdrawal from heroin or prescrip-
tion opioids, a new treatment option in Clat-
sop County blends behavioral counseling
with medication to block the cravings that
drive addiction.
The philosophy behind medication-as-
sisted treatment is to reduce opioid abuse
and lower the risk of relapse or overdose.
Like needle exchanges or methadone clinics,
the idea is to treat drug addiction as a dis-
ease, rather than a moral failing.
“We have to get past in our heads that
this is a medical treatment, just like we treat
diabetes,” said Jeanette Schacher, the med-
ical group director at Columbia Memorial
Hospital in Astoria. “And you don’t expect
a diabetic to be treated for six months and
be cured.”
Doctors from Columbia Memorial visit a
Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare clinic in War-
renton twice a week and prescribe Subox-
one, a drug approved by the U.S. Food and
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
See SUBOXONE, Page 7A
Volunteers help clean up the kitchen of a new homeless project in Uniontown.
New facility
opens in October
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
V
erda Heilman realized she was
kicking herself out of her own
home when she voted with other
members of the Northwest Oregon
Housing Authority Board this year to
sell a former boarding house in Union-
town to a nonprofit that plans homeless
outreach.
Heilman was the last of the building’s
residents to find a place to live after the
sale was finalized. But, she said in July
even as she struggled to find a new home,
“It’s going to a good project. … As much
as I didn’t want to move, it’s for the best
of the community.”
Helping Hands is expected to open
Volunteers move items out of the
basement kitchen so it can be
cleaned and prepared for tenants.
the new facility on Oct. 1. The nonprofit
operates re-entry programs across four
counties in Oregon for people trying to
get back on their feet after being home-
less or struggling with addiction, and was
looking to expand its reach in Clatsop
County.
The nonprofit already maintains an
office and housing in Seaside, but an
Astoria location puts people closer to
social services, county offices, Circuit
Court and the transit center.
“We’re actually a little bit ahead of
schedule,” said Alan Evans, the executive
director of Helping Hands.
Still, the Uniontown project and the
nonprofit have faced a few setbacks and
surprises along the way.
Helping Hands had hoped to be able to
provide detox beds in partnership with the
county, but that plan is on hold because of
funding and other issues.
“What we don’t want to do is move
forward without all the right funding and
partners in place,” Evans said.
See UNIONTOWN, Page 6A