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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019
Meters: ‘We can only measure how much power you’re using’
Continued from Page A1
County. Pacifi c Power gave
employees two years’ notice
of the change and has helped
them fi nd other internal
positions or other employ-
ment, Dunlap said.
Some people have raised
concerns about privacy from
data collection and health
worries over the mesh net-
work, which sends informa-
tion via radio waves between
a collection of devices. Est-
lund said the concerns are
largely the result of fear-
mongering online.
“There’s nothing that
tethers into appliances or
anything else,” he said of the
smart meters. “We can only
measure how much power
you’re using in your home.
If privacy is your concern, I
would probably point you to
Comcast or AT&T.”
As for the health wor-
ries , the new meters meet
all modern safety standards
and have been put though
several rounds of testing,
he said. The smart meters
are certifi ed by safety con-
sultant Underwriter Labo-
ratories and the American
National Standards Institute.
Each meter is tested before
shipment.
Pacifi c Power has been
reaching out to custom-
ers about the installations.
Workers with Aclara Tech-
nologies, the manufacturer
of the new meters, will visit
homes and businesses with
badges identifying them
as installers for the util-
ity. There is no charge for
installation.
Customers can opt out
of having the smart meters
installed, but face a $36
monthly fee for meter reads.
Pacifi c Power has sub-
mitted an alternative opt-
out plan to the state Pub-
lic Utility Commission, in
which customers would pay
$9 a month for less-frequent
meter reads. The program
would be available to 200
customers starting March 1.
They would have the oppor-
tunity once a year to con-
tinue in the pilot or install a
smart meter at no cost.
In October, Josephine
County
commission-
ers adopted an ordinance
prohibiting utilities from
charging opt-out fees for
customers who do not want
smart meters. The Public
Utility Commission sued the
county, arguing that local
governments do not have the
authority to set utility rates.
C ommissioners in Coos
County rejected a similar
ordinance on opt-out fees
this month.
Pacifi c Power
Installers with manufacturer
Aclara Technologies will
visit homes around Clatsop
County starting in February
to install Pacific Power’s
new smart power usage
meters.
Tip leads to drug bust in Seaside
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Seaside
police seized more than a
pound of methamphetamine,
4 3/4 ounces of heroin and
$3,150 in cash in a coordi-
nated, multi agency traffi c
stop Sunday afternoon.
At about 3 p.m., police
received a tip that a vehi-
cle carrying a large amount
of drugs was making its
way into Seaside. Offi -
cers stopped the vehicle and
searched the occupants and
the vehicle after getting a
positive alert from a drug
detection dog .
The driver , 50-year-old
Ronald J. Yaakola, of Asto-
ria, was arrested for four fel-
ony counts of delivery of a
VANCOUVER, Wash.
— Public health offi cials
scrambling to contain a mea-
sles outbreak in the North-
west warned people to vac-
cinate their children Monday
and worried that it could take
months to contain the highly
contagious viral illness due
to a lower-than-normal vac-
cination rate at the epicenter
of the crisis.
The outbreak in Vancou-
ver, Washington, has sick-
ened 35 people in Wash-
ington and Oregon since
Jan. 1, with 11 more cases
suspected. Most of the
patients are children under
10, and one child has been
hospitalized.
Health offi cials say the
outbreak is a textbook exam-
ple of why it’s critical to
vaccinate against measles,
which was eradicated in the
U.S. after the vaccine was
introduced in 1963. In recent
years, however, the viral ill-
ness has popped up again
Gunner, the K9 offi cer of Cannon Beach, helped offi cers seize
heroin and methamphetamine Sunday.
controlled substance and six
felony counts of possession
of a controlled substance.
Danielle E. Jacobs, 24, a
from New York to California
and sickened hundreds.
Clark County, Washing-
ton, has a vaccination rate
of 78 percent, well below
the level necessary to pro-
tect those with compromised
immune systems or who
can’t get vaccinated because
of medical issues or because
they are too young.
Misinformation is cir-
culating on social media,
said Dr. Alan Melnick,
Clark County public health
director.
“What keeps me up at
night is eventually having
a child die from this com-
pletely preventable situa-
tion,” he said. “It’s still out
there, even though it’s been
debunked, that the measles
vaccine results in autism.
That’s nonsense.”
Before mass vaccina-
tion, 400 to 500 people in
the United States died of the
measles every year, 50,000
people were hospitalized
and 4,000 people developed
brain swelling that can cause
deafness, Melnick said. One
“We are prepared to get
that pantry back up and run-
ning,” Benson said. “We are
preparing for the worst, but
hoping for the best.”
Numerous
businesses
offered free events and dis-
counts to the Coast Guard
and other federal employ-
ees. Main St. Market in
Warrenton allowed them to
shop on credit, paying their
outstanding balances back
without interest after pay-
checks arrived.
“It was just the right
thing to do,” said Tommy
Smith, the co-owner of the
grocery store. “You’ve got
people caught in the middle
who didn’t have any control
over their own destiny.”
A small number of
mostly Coast Guard took
advantage of the offer, and
Sincerely,
Frank Becker, Vice Chairman
passenger in the vehicle, was
charged with possession of
methamphetamine. Jacobs
was cited and released.
to three cases out of every
1,000 are fatal, he said.
People may have been
exposed to the disease at
about four dozen locations,
including Portland Interna-
tional Airport and a Portland
Trail Blazers game, offi cials
said.
They announced Mon-
day that others could have
been infected at the popu-
lar Oregon Museum of Sci-
ence & Industry in Portland
and a Walmart Supercenter
in the bedroom community
of Vancouver.
Thirty-one of the con-
fi rmed patients had not been
vaccinated against mea-
sles. The vaccination sta-
tus of four others who were
infected is unknown.
The vaccine has been part
of routine childhood shots
for decades, and measles was
declared eliminated in the
U.S. in 2000. But measles is
still a big problem in other
parts of the world, and travel-
ers infected abroad can bring
the virus back and spread it,
causing periodic outbreaks.
Coast Guard: ‘It was just the right thing to do’
Continued from Page A1
A special thanks to all our great volunteers; to the Starbuck’s Coffee
shop in Warrenton; the Pig N Pancake; the VFW 10580 and the
VFW Auxiliary Detachment 1228; Lektro Inc.; McCall Tire Center;
Columbia Bar Pilots; Columbia Bank; Ocean Beauty Seafoods;
Warrenton Deep Sea; Warrenton Kia; Ocean Crest Chevrolet Buick
GMC Cadillac; Super Market; Medix Ambulance Service; Pacific
Seafood; Hampton Lumber Mill; CMH Urgent Care; and Walmart.
Volunteers who served the meals and washed the dishes included
VFW members, the Warrenton Senior Citizens group and the
Center’s Advisory Board Members. “The Warrior Way” is alive and
well as 8 members of the Warrenton High School football
team helped serve our breakfast.
Offi cials urge vaccinations amid
Northwest measles outbreak
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
The Warrenton Community Center Advisory Board recently held
a “Breakfast with Santa” at the Community Center on Saturday,
December 15th, 2018. The breakfast was a great success and we want to
thank the community, 318 persons attended, for their awesome support.
others in the community
ended up paying off their
outstanding balances, Smith
said.
“If three weeks from
now they shut back down,
the offer stands,” Smith
said. “We’ll still do what we
have to do to take care of
our own.”
WANTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
featuring hanz araki
Whirlwind traditional Irish music
Saturday, February 9th, 7pm • Tickets $15
Box Office 503-325-5922 x55
www.libertyastoria.org
Thank you!
I want to thank this amazing community for all of the love and support you have given to
our Coast Guard community. Your generosity with the NON-perishable items, coming
to the dinner, and all of the monetary donations brought in to the Moose Lodge 408 in
Astoria have been overwhelming. When I decided to do this on 1/11/2019 and planned it
for 1/15/2019, I was not thinking about what a small amount of time I had to pull this off.
I owe several people all of my gratitude for I could not have pulled it off without any of
them. Thank you all for proving once again how amazing my friends and our community
really are. Thank you: Amy Fisher, Beau Hogge, Travis Oja, Fester Rosenberg, Steve
Stuckey, Naomi Roberts, Kathy Riva, Laura Hutson and Eva Middelton.
Thank you All!
Sincerely,
Tracy Johnson
Social Quarters Manager
Moose Lodge 408, Astoria, Oregon
M oose
THE FAMILY FRATERNITY
Loyal Order of Moose • Women of the Moose • Moose Legion