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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 2019)
2018 READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS POWERED BY COAST WEEKEND SEE THE FULL LIST OF WINNERS INSIDE DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2019 146TH YEAR, NO. 163 On Valentine’s Day, love is in bloom ONE DOLLAR Miss Oregon winners want more answers Fallout from a settlement with longtime directors By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian SEASIDE — Twenty-three former Miss Oregons want more answers after a settlement between the state Department of Justice and former pageant directors Steve and Dana Phillips. The couple agreed to step down from any roles with the pageant and pay $150,000 through the Oregon Commu- nity Foundation to the Tiffany Phillips Memorial Scholarship Fund, named for their late daughter . The former Miss Oregons want to make sure all pageant scholarships have been delivered. “It has also come to our attention that various titleholders and scholarship win- ners have had diffi culty receiving their awards in a timely fashion,” JuliAnn Berg Blam, Lynette Boggs-Perez, Jana Peterson DeCarli and Elizabeth Simmons McShane wrote in a letter approved by 19 other former titleholders. See Settlement, Page A7 College sees fl at state funding Tuition increases are still possible By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Rosie Samp puts together a fl oral arrangement at Erickson Floral Co. in Astoria for Valentine’s Day. Elizabeth Demello arranges fl owers at Erickson Floral Co. Elizabeth Demello, left, and Rosie Samp fi ll orders at Erickson Floral Co. Clatsop Community College is plan- ning for contingencies, including poten- tial tuition increases, if state funding doesn’t come in signifi cantly higher than what Gov. Kate Brown has proposed. While keeping K-12 funding fairly steady , Gov. Brown’s proposed two-year budget recommended $543 million for community colleges, a $27 million cut from this cycle . Christopher Breitmeyer, the college president , has said that funding level could result in a local budget shortfall of around $100,000 and possible tuition increases of less than 5 percent to help cover the gap. Brown has also recommended an investment budget of $646.7 million. The plan would keep current service lev- els, limit tuition increases, fully fund the Oregon Promise program covering tui- tion for transferring high schoolers, add $70 million for career-technical initia- tives and expand the Oregon Oppor- tunity Grant by $121 million. But the See Funding, Page A7 Whiskey bar planned on 13th Street Building was home to Columbia Travel By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian The Duane Street corridor, home to two breweries, a cidery, a distillery and a bottle shop, will soon add a whiskey bar. Business partners Seth Howard and Michael Angiletta recently signed a lease in the Columbia Travel building, where they plan to open Blaylock’s Whiskey Bar in the spring. Blaylock’s, a reference to his grand- mother’s maiden name, is the brainchild of Howard, who has worked in retail manage- ment the past 20 years. A magician , his ini- tial thought had been to open a magic shop. “I love being a magician,” he said. “It would be great. I wanted to do something different that fi ts in Astoria. And then I mentioned to some friends, ‘Man, I really wish there was a great whiskey bar in town,’” he said. “And they go, ‘We should do that.’” Howard, who moved to the North Coast fi ve years ago from Portland, batted the idea around over the past year and even- tually partnered with his friend, Angiletta, a transplant several years ago from San Francisco who has experience in tech- nology and starting businesses. The two began planning Blaylock’s in earnest last spring with the advice of local business owners and bartenders, while looking for a location. See Bar, Page A7 Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian Seth Howard, left, and Michael Angiletta are starting Blaylock’s Whiskey Bar in the Wieveseik Building, the former home to Columbia Travel on 13th Street in Astoria.