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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Wev for county commissioner
T
he race for county commissioner
between Peter Roscoe and
Pamela Wev offers District 3
voters a clear choice in the type of expe-
rience they offer.
Roscoe, the founder of Fulio’s
Pastaria, grew up here. He served on
the Astoria City Council and Planning
Commission, among other public posi-
tions, and is deeply involved with a
host of community organizations. He
still serves on the Columbia-Pacific
Economic Development District board.
He knows most of the people he
meets in town — and their families,
he said. He has held several forums in
recent weeks to talk with the public, and
describes communication as one of his
better skills.
“You cannot replace it,” Roscoe said
of that local knowledge. “It’s a huge
plus. I know the people of the county.”
Wev, the daughter of a Coast Guard
captain, has lived around the globe. She
has resided in Oregon for 30 years and
moved here four years ago.
She is a land use planner and eco-
nomic development consultant whose
career has taken her from the White
House to the Portland mayor’s office to
many different local governments, she
said. She is a member of the Astoria
chapter of the American Association
of University Women and the First
Presbyterian Church, and raised two
children as a single mother.
Wev touts her government experience
and says she’d like to bring a different
atmosphere to the county commission.
“I would like to address the issues
facing the county commission kind of
the same way I’ve done most of my
public service and my parenting,” she
said at a candidate forum. “I like to
listen.”
Aside from a few minor barbs
on social media, the campaign has
appeared to be civil.
At a debate with Wev last week,
Roscoe expressed hope about the coun-
ty’s direction no matter the results of the
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Peter Roscoe and Pamela Wev answer questions during a candidate forum in Astoria.
November election.
“I don’t think there’s a lose in this
election,” he said. “Either candidate
wins, the county’s going to win.”
Whoever wins will fill the seat being
vacated by Commissioner Lisa Clement.
District 3 covers parts of Astoria, Miles
Crossing, Jeffers Garden, Lewis and
Clark, Youngs River, Olney, Green
Mountain and parts of Walluski.
Both candidates support local bond
issues for a new county jail and schools
in Astoria and Warrenton. They agree
that the county should take the lead in
disaster planning. They have differing
perspectives on forestry, housing and
development, but agree that those are
important issues to tackle.
A changing dynamic
This particular election is a referen-
dum on the way the county is run.
This newspaper and many voters are
fed up with the drama of the past year
and a half. We want to see a more open,
transparent county government run by
a manager who collaborates in a posi-
tive way with others — including the
five commissioners to whom he or she
reports.
County Manager Cameron Moore,
who has failed miserably in that regard,
is retiring effective Jan. 3. We won’t
miss his autocratic, dismissive and divi-
sive management style.
Two members of the board major-
ity who enabled Moore’s behavior —
Clement and Board Chairman Scott Lee
— chose not to run for re-election.
Roscoe’s statements on the issue
mirror those of Lee and the board
majority — he believes commissioners
should not be involved in the day-to-
day operations of the county and should
have limited interaction with county
staff.
Water
under
the bridge
The Astoria waterfront along the Columbia River is worth
millions of dollars in canneries, docks and business buildings.
But the occupants may be squatters with no right to be there.
Most of the buildings are on filled-in land.
“We can find no convincing evidence that the state has parted
with its ownership of the underlying riverbed upon which these
fills have been made,” says Dale Mallicoat, state lands director.
Mallicoat says the state does not intend to be punitive or to
harass those who occupy the land. He says he just wants to set-
tle the title, so that all concerned can lay definite plans.
“I have never observed a land problem that is quite as com-
plex as this one at Astoria,” Mallicoat says.
Compiled by Bob Duke
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2008
WARRENTON — One year ago today, the Tillamook
boys soccer team shocked the Astoria Fishermen with a 0-0
tie. In three games since then, the Fishermen have outscored
the Cheesemakers 9-1, including a 2-0 shutout Tuesday night
at the Lower Columbia Youth Soccer Association field.
Astoria’s Sean Speer scored on a header in the first half,
and Zach Norton had a nice goal in the second half for the
Fishermen, who were tuning up for a first-place showdown
Thursday against Seaside.
But a 1-1 tie between Seaside and Scappoose Tuesday
night gives Astoria the Cowapa League title, and makes
Thursday’s contest meaningless-as far as the standings are
concerned.
The Astoria bicentennial is approaching quickly.
And as Astoria reflects on its history, it is reminded
that the city and the little fishing town of Tofino,
British Columbia, might be historically linked.
Tofino could be the final resting place of the Ton-
quin, a 98-foot, three-masted brig which John Jacob
Astor sent late in 1810 from New York to estab-
lish the Fort Astoria trading post on the Columbia
River, trade with the natives and deliver four tons of
gunpowder to Sitka, Alaska.
David Griffiths, the executive director of the
Tonquin Foundation, and Mare’ Dewar, a restau-
rant owner from Tofino, came to Astoria Monday to
offer their help in coordinating joint efforts to cele-
brate the Astoria bicentennial.
“The Tonquin is the Holy Grail of British Colum-
bia shipwrecks,” Griffiths said. “There’ve been so
many expeditions over the years looking for it. “I
refer to her as the ‘Mayflower of the West.’”
Wev’s statements have resembled the
minority — she believes commissioners
should play a more active role, work-
ing together with the manager. If she
wins, she will form a new majority on
the issue with Commissioners Kathleen
Sullivan and Lianne Thompson.
To be fair, that probably oversimpli-
fies things. Roscoe would like to see
more harmony on the commission too,
and believes the county manager should
keep commissioners better informed,
he said.
But in our eyes, Wev is the much
more likely of the two candidates to
demand transparency and collegial-
ity from the county manager. She calls
it her No. 1 issue. She has described a
forward-thinking plan for a strategic
planning process to make it happen.
That earns her our endorsement.
Vote Wev for Clatsop County
Commissioner, District 3.
75 years ago — 1943
1968 — First of a shipment of 113 European-built com-
pact cars was lowered over the side of the Danish mo-
tor vessel Samoa at Port of Astoria docks.
50 years ago — 1968
Mrs. William Reed of Clatskanie was the recipient of an
unexpected gift Monday morning as she drove into the toll gate
at the Columbia River bridge.
Her car was the one-millionth to cross the structure since it
was opened to traffic July 29, 1966.
Mrs. Reed received a plaque to mark the event and a pass to
return to Oregon.
“We just come down to show my uncle the bridge,” Mrs.
Reed said. “I didn’t expect this.”
The Port of Astoria chalked up another first
Wednesday morning when the motor vessel Samoa
of the East Asiatic company fleet began discharging a
cargo of small European cars at Pier 3. In addition to
60 tons of general cargo, the Samoa had in her hold
113 British- and Swedish-built automobiles destined
for Portland dealers.
So far as port authorities could determine, this is
the first shipment of cars ever unloaded here direct
from a foreign country. The shipment was routed here
to save time and money, according to company agents.
Motorists in the far west felt the impact of the
growing Pacific offensive today in an office of price
administration order sharply reducing their gasoline
allowances.
Effective at midnight last night, A, B and C ration
coupons were reduced in value from four to three gal-
lons in 10 states, including Oregon and Washington.
“As the United Nations begin to take the offensive
of new world battlefronts it is necessary to deliver
ever-increasing quantities of fuel for planes, tanks,
trucks and other war vehicles,” OPA said.
Many of the smaller craft in the Astoria deepsea fishing fleet
were nursing wounds today after a two-day struggle against
gales at sea over the weekend which took the lives of at least
one fisherman, left uncertain the fate of three more, and threat-
ened many others.
Two boats washed ashore, one at Nelscott and one off Camp
Clatsop.
The pilot house and other equipment from a small boat were
discovered Monday by the Coast Guard off Camp Clatsop, and
the fate of anyone aboard remained a mystery.
The Coast Guard motor boat Triumph, with Chief
Boatswain’s Mate Alvin Combs in command, hauled
the troll boat Tyee from a watery grave in a 20-hour
battle against mountainous seas last weekend, in one
of the most thrilling rescues of local Coast Guard
history.
Plans for the biggest Navy day in local history were being
whipped into final shape by the Navy day committee here this
week, pointing toward the afternoon and evening of October
27, anniversary of the American navy’s birth.