146TH YEAR, NO. 144
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2019
ONE DOLLAR
Local transit
funding hit
by shutdown
Cutbacks could disrupt
bus routes, service hours
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Bob Duke/Chinook Observer
If we luck out and the evening is clear, Pacific Northwest residents are in for one of nature’s great shows on Sunday.
A TOTAL ECLIPSE
OF THE MOON
Look to the
skies on Sunday
By BOB DUKE
Chinook Observer
T
he Great American Eclipse is
coming!
Again.
On Sunday, our Earth, moon
and the sun once again align, but
this time it is the moon that gets the
shadow, and we get a total lunar
eclipse. And unlike the 2017 solar
eclipse, an optimal viewing loca-
tion is already guaranteed. For
this eclipse, not a single person in
the Pacific Northwest will have to
travel farther than their backyard
to view it.
Not only will West Coast
watchers be treated to a complete
eclipse, from beginning to end,
between sunset and midnight, but
the entire western hemisphere,
from Tierra del Fuego at the south-
ern tip of our continents to Point
Barrow, Alaska, and from Oys-
terville to Boston, and all points
between, will enjoy the eclipse in
its entirety. And a special, spectac-
ular one it will be.
The winter sun resides below
the celestial equator and barely
rises above the southern hori-
zon for us viewers in the northern
climes. But the full moon, always
positioned opposite the sun, occu-
pies a place in the heavens reserved
for the sun in summer; brilliantly
high in the sky.
The full moon is an imposing
sight in January as it bathes the
land in reflected sunlight, brilliant
enough to cast shadows. But from
8:41 p.m. to 9:44 p.m. on Sunday,
its brilliance will fade to a dull
reddish hue, that some folks like to
call the “blood moon.”
See Moon, Page A7
The Sunset Empire Transportation
District is missing more than half of its
operational funding because of the gov-
ernment shutdown and could soon have
to look at cutbacks.
Jeff Hazen, the transportation dis-
trict’s director, said the agency receives
about 56 percent of operational money
through reimbursements from Federal
Transit Administration grants, amount-
ing to about $143,000 per quarter. But the
federal staff who process the reimburse-
ments have been furloughed.
Sunset Empire has already missed one
installment.
“We’ve got plenty of cash,” he said.
“That’s not an issue. But our cash is tied
up in the ending fund balance.”
By Oregon law, cash for the ending
fund balance — about $524,000 — can’t
be used except in the event of a natural
disaster.
The agency has a contingency budget
in place but has used much of it to recover
from a data loss, and to help cover the
cost of operating the Lower Columbia
Connector route to Rainer. The connector
route, which costs about $2,600 a week to
operate, was supposed to be shared with
Columbia County. But because of bud-
geting errors, Columbia County ran out
of money after the first year of this bien-
nium to help cover its portion, leaving
Sunset Empire to cover the entire cost of
the route, Hazen said.
See Transit, Page A7
States wrestle
with salmon
strategies
Debate over gillnets
influences talks
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Natalie St. John/Chinook Observer
The rare ‘super blood moon’ transitioned from eerie orange to brilliant white as it rose over the
steeple of the historic McGowan Church in September 2015. The phenomenon was caused by
the simultaneous occurrence of a ‘super moon’, which made the moon look larger than usual,
and a lunar eclipse, which temporarily turned the moon a striking orange color. An incrementally
smaller-appearing lunar eclipse will occur Sunday.
AN ASTRONAUT ON THE MOON WOULD SEE EARTH SURROUNDED BY A THIN, RED
RING OF SUNLIGHT, SHINING THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE. HE WOULD BE OB-
SERVING EVERY SUNRISE AND SUNSET ON EARTH HAPPENING SIMULTANEOUSLY.
SALEM — Oregon and Washington
state are still figuring out what to do with
gillnets on the Columbia River.
A committee that includes fish and
wildlife commissioners from both states
met for the first time Thursday with staff
in Salem to go over areas where the states
maintain different policies for the river.
They made no decisions. Rather, the
meeting provided commissioners with a
chance to delve into their opinions about
what needs to be considered when it
comes to the river’s salmon fisheries.
There is pressure on the commissions
to maintain similar rules for the fisher-
ies this year. In recent years, the states,
which manage the fisheries jointly, have
diverged, sometimes markedly, on what
they want to allow on the river.
Since 2013, Oregon and Washing-
ton have operated under the Columbia
River Reform Plan — also known as
the Kitzhaber Plan after its champion,
See Salmon, Page A7
Tourism project outlines goals
Grant money will help
with sustainability
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
Establishing a beach and trail ambas-
sador program, improving signs and
starting a new message campaign
about protecting natural resources are
some of the ideas tourism leaders are
proposing to make the tourism indus-
try more sustainable.
For the past year and half, business
owners, government, tourism and
nonprofit leaders from Clatsop and
Tillamook counties have been partic-
ipating in a North Coast Tourism Stu-
dio, a program coordinated by Travel
Oregon.
At the program’s final event
Wednesday, participants designed
teams to carry out projects related
to solving congestion issues, over-
crowding at popular destinations and
visitor education over several years.
In addition to a $25,000 grant from
Travel Oregon, business leaders from
Clatsop and Tillamook counties are
pooling together about $45,000 to
help fund these initiatives as a region.
“The biggest benefit from this is
that we ended working in silos,” said
Nan Devlin, of Visit Tillamook Coast.
“It’s not about just supporting one
town, one county … it’s about sup-
porting the North Coast.”
Encouraging stewardship
Many of the projects are centered
around protecting trails, parks and
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
See Tourism, Page A7
Haystack Rock is a draw for visitors to the Oregon Coast.