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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2019
Wreck spotlights Coast Guard during shutdown
By LORI TOBIAS
The Oregonian
Pension checks for Coast
Guard retirees in doubt,
congressman says
NEWPORT — As Coast
Guard crews worked to
escort the Mary B II across
the Yaquina Bay Bar in seas
breaking at 16 feet-plus last
week, there came a moment
when Commanding Chief
Thomas Molloy knew
they’d reached the point of
no return. The 42-foot fi sh-
ing boat was too far north.
“The next thing I see
is the jetty in his sodium
lights,” Molloy recalled.
“It was in imminent dan-
ger and there was nothing
we could do about it. The
jetty dead ahead in his light
— that is the image that
plays over and over in our
minds.”
The three-man crew of
the Mary B II died.
It was an agonizing end
to what Coast Guard crews
routinely do as part of their
jobs and focused national
attention on their search-
and-rescue work as the par-
tial government shutdown
stretches into its 28th day,
the longest in U.S. history.
Coast Guard members
continue to work through
the shutdown, the only
branch of the military not
getting paid because it falls
under the direction of the
U.S. Department of Home-
land Security. Other mil-
itary branches are under
the U.S. Department of
Defense and have funding
approved.
This month already,
Yaquina Bay Coast Guard
crews stationed in Newport
have assisted fi ve disabled
boats, escorted in numer-
ous vessels when seas have
turned dangerously rough
and risked their own lives
trying to save the crew of
the Mary B II.
Active duty members of
the Coast Guard, number-
ing about 42,000 nation-
wide, were supposed to get
paid Tuesday. The major-
ity of about 8,500 civilian
employees are on furlough.
“To the best of my
Staff and wire reports
Oregon State Police
Authorities in Newport examine the wreckage of the Mary B. II, a commercial crabbing boat
that capsized.
knowledge, this marks the
fi rst time in our nation’s
history that servicemem-
bers in a U.S. Armed Force
have not been paid during a
lapse in government appro-
priations,” Adm. Karl L.
Schultz, the Coast Guard
commandant, said in a mes-
sage to members.
“I recognize the anxiety
and uncertainty this situa-
tion places on you and your
family, and we are working
closely with service organi-
zations on your behalf,” he
wrote.
There has been no inter-
ruption in Coast Guard ser-
vice, nor will there be, said
Lt. Russ Tippets, a spokes-
man for the Coast Guard’s
District 13 in Seattle.
“Safety and life at sea is
always going to be our No.
1 priority and we’re always
going to answer that call,”
he said.
Stress
But the stress of the shut-
down — caused by a political
dispute over funding for Pres-
ident Donald Trump’s pro-
posed wall along the southern
border of the U.S. — is taking
its toll, Tippets said.
Hammond fi sherman
accused of bribing sex
abuse victim gets probation
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
A Hammond fi sherman
pleaded no contest Thurs-
day to a misdemeanor
charge of interfering with
a witness in a sex abuse
case.
As part of a plea agree-
ment , the district attor-
ney’s offi ce dismissed two
felony counts of bribing a
witness and two counts of
tampering with a witness.
Paul Angelo Leitch,
An Oregon congress-
man said pension pay-
ments for 50,000 retir-
ees from the Coast Guard
could be at risk in two
weeks if the government
shutdown continues.
The retirees may not
get their Feb. 1 pension
checks unless Congress
and the president agree
to fund the government
by the end of the month,
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio,
an Oregon Democrat,
told NBC News.
Active-duty
Coast
Guard personnel missed
their fi rst paychecks
because of the shutdown
on Tuesday.
“In the last couple
hundred years, and Coast
Guard is the oldest ser-
vice, we’ve never stiffed
our uniformed military,”
DeFazio, chairman of
the House Transportation
and Infrastructure Com-
mittee, said.
known as “Sturgeon
Paul,” was accused of
facilitating a meeting
between Hammond fi sh-
erman Dennis Sturgell
and the victim’s father .
Sturgell was sentenced
this month to 13 years in
prison in the sex abuse
case.
Leitch , 48, was sen-
tenced to pay $600 in fi nes
and given 12 months pro-
bation with the condition
he has no contact with
Sturgell or the victim.
Get news online at DAILYASTORIAN.COM
“I can’t really speak on
behalf of everyone at the
Coast Guard, but it can
be demoralizing,” Tippets
said. “They want to be out
there saving lives and we
are out there serving the cit-
izens of the United States,
but there is going to be that
worry in the back of your
mind, is my family fi nan-
cially stable? What are we
going to need to do in the
coming months?”
The Coast Guard is
working with its mem-
bers to help them manage
their fi nances and see what
expenses can be cut, Tip-
pets said.
“We are also encour-
aging members to work
with landlords and banking
institutions to see if they
can defer payments,” he
said. “We asked all mem-
bers to make contingency
plans and prepare for this to
go on for a couple months
if need to be.”
The Coast Guard can
also provide mutual assis-
tance loans, which are
interest-free, but must be
repaid.
Coast Guard members
aren’t permitted to accept
gifts valued at more than
$20 from the public and no
more than $50 in one year.
But help is coming from
other sources, like the non-
profi t Chief Petty Offi cers
Association in North Bend.
“We’re not affi liated
with the Coast Guard,
therefore that authorizes
us to accept donations
and there are no limits to
the donation,” said Kevin
Sweetman, chief petty offi -
cer and president of the
association.
“Typically
through-
out the year, if a member
is in need, we’re able to
give money to that mem-
ber directly,” Sweetman
said. “It can be food; it can
be money. For this sce-
nario, it’s been kind of
overwhelming the support
we’re seeing from the local
communities.”
Junior Coast Guard
members
make
about
$1,500 to $2,000 a month
after taxes, a bit more if they
have dependents. That’s for
a 40-hour week, plus a duty
day requiring them to stay
on base 24 hours.
Others are also step-
ping up to help: the New-
port-based Rogue Ales is
offering discounts at some
of its restaurants to Coast
Guard families and com-
munity groups are setting
up a food pantry this week-
end in Astoria for Coast
Guard members.
Elsewhere around the
country, a state lawmaker
in Massachusetts intro-
duced a bill calling for the
state to pay the salaries of
active duty Coast Guard
members during the shut-
down and seek reimburse-
ment from the federal
government when the shut-
down ends.
A New Jersey univer-
sity is deferring tuition for
Coast Guard students until
their tuition assistance is
available again. The Coast
Guard suspended the assis-
tance during the shutdown.
In the meantime, 1,135
active duty Coast Guard
members and 138 Coast
Guard reservists on the
Oregon Coast remain on
the job.
Risk
In Newport, on the night
of the Jan. 8 wreck of the
Mary B II, Coast Guard
crews looked for survi-
vors as massive waves
broke around them. The
response included a 52-foot
motor life boat with fi ve
aboard including Molloy; a
47-foot motor life boat with
four crew members; and a
helicopter with four crew
members from North Bend.
Eight others worked on res-
cue, including crew mem-
bers on the beach or doing
radio communication.
“You hear it before you
see it,” Molloy said. “You
hear this roaring and suck-
ing sound coming right at
you. You can feel the wave
pull the water out from
under you. Without light,
trying to concentrate, it can
be demanding.
“While crossing the bar,
another big set came in —
18 to 20 feet. You can see
the white when it starts to
break. I looked to the right
and I see this wave, this
wall of water standing up
and it starts to break to my
right and look to my left and
it starts to break to the left.
It met and closed out right
in the middle of the channel
on top of us. The crew was
defi nitely scared.”
Federal Hanford cleanup watchdog
sidelined by government shutdown
By ANNA KING
Northwest News Network
There are several agencies
and a group of stakeholders
who watch over cleanup at
the Hanford Nuclear Reser-
vation. But the partial gov-
ernment shutdown is block-
ing some of that important
oversight.
In the past 10 years, the
U.S. Environmental Pro-
tection Agency offi ce in
Richland,
Washington,
has shrunk from nearly 10
experts working on Hanford
issues to just three – includ-
ing the top manager.
The agency’s job is to
watch over several key
cleanup projects at the site.
For example, cleanup near
the Columbia River, a mas-
sive dump at Hanford and
the so-called Z-9 Crib.
That’s where the govern-
ment poured a lot of liq-
uid radioactive waste in an
underground structure near
the central part of the site.
In partnership with Wash-
ington’s Department of Ecol-
ogy, it’s EPA’s job to watch
over Hanford cleanup. But
with the partial shutdown,
that offi ce is closed.
Besides overseeing Han-
ford, the experts at the EPA
Hanford offi ce also help
oversee work at several
Superfund sites in the agen-
cy’s Region 10, including
Washington, Oregon, Idaho
and Alaska.
Another watchdog group
that’s being slowed down
because of the shutdown is
the Hanford Advisory Board.
The board is important
because it includes stake-
holders like Northwest
tribes, industry and retired
Hanford experts who watch
over the cleanup and advise
the federal government with
a formal process.
The board is required
to publish an adequate
notice in the federal regis-
ter, and get travel approved
in advance of its meetings –
and that can’t happen with
the shutdown.
The full board meets
only fi ve times a year. And
it’s last meeting in Decem-
ber was canceled because
of former President George
H.W. Bush’s death, meaning
the board has not met since
September.
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Training: Tuesdays from January 29th - February 26th
No prior experience is necessary—just enthusiasm for
learning about what the maritime history of our region.
Interested? Call the Volunteer Coordinator at 503-325-2323
or email
volunteer@crmm.org.
Space is limited to seven prospective docents per class.
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