TIME TO RELAX • PROPERTY LINES
146TH YEAR, NO. 169
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2019
ONE DOLLAR
New study documents
‘child care deserts’
Warrenton
picks new
superintendent
Rogozinski led
the grade school
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Children at Lil’ Sprouts child care in Astoria take a snack break.
Lack of options familiar in Clatsop County
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
A study that found every county in
Oregon is short on child care came as
no surprise to Kim Barrick.
The Peace Learning Center on 12th
Street in Astoria, where Barrick works
as director, has waitlists for every
class . In the toddler-age classes, the
wait can stretch 10 children deep.
The learning center, run as a mis-
sion of the neighboring Peace Lutheran
Church, serves around 40 children at
any given time. It is just reopening a
class for 1 -year olds after having to
close it for a while due to lack of staff.
“I have no doubt that class will be
full by the end of the month, and we
will have a waitlist,” Barrick said.
The learning center is not alone.
The study from Oregon State Uni-
versity found that all 36 counties are
“child care deserts” for infants and
toddlers 2 and under. Clatsop County,
along with Columbia and Tillamook
counties, is considered a child care
desert across a range of ages, from
infants to 5-year -olds.
The report defi nes a child care des-
ert as a community with more than
three children for every slot available
at child care centers or home-based
providers licensed by the state. The
situation is instantly familiar in Clat-
sop County, where many organiza-
tions operate with long waitlists and
parents struggle to fi nd care, espe-
cially for infants and toddlers.
WARRENTON — The Warrenton-Ham-
mond School Board has chosen Tom Rogo-
zinski, the principal of Warrenton Grade
School since 2013, as the school district’s
next superintendent.
The school board voted Thursday to hire
Rogozinski and begin negotiating his con-
tract. He will replace the retiring Mark Jef-
fery, 63, who has led the school district
since 2011.
Rogozinski, 51, will take over a
quickly growing district with a drasti-
cally improved aca-
demic reputation.
Voters in Novem- INSIDE
ber approved $38.5 Warrenton
million in bonds schools secure
to buy a new mas- new master
ter campus, build a campus / A3
new middle school,
ease
overcrowd-
ing and eventually
move all students out of the tsunami inun-
dation zone.
Rogozinski recently earned his creden-
tials to become a superintendent. He was one
of eight candidates, including one other from
the school district . His promotion leaves a
principal vacancy at the grade school, where
Robbie Porter and Sean O’Malley serve as
vice principals at the elementary and mid-
dle school levels . Rod Heyen is principal at
Warrenton High School.
See School, Page A7
Warrenton says
Shilo Inn owes
thousands in
unpaid taxes
Deadline to pay is today
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Children at the Peace Learning Center spend time coloring.
“We’re always full here,” said
Becka Blacksten, the owner and oper-
ator of Soar With Us, which serves
about 48 children every day at its
facility in Warrenton. “I know there’s
just a huge need here for child care.”
She is in the process of open-
ing a child care center and preschool
in Gearhart that will be able to serve
53 children — in part because of the
long waitlists she and her staff see in
Warrenton.
Online resources for parents list 23
See Study, Page A7
Children at Lil’ Sprouts in Astoria play
with their toys.
WARRENTON — The city is trying
to collect more than $125,000 of unpaid
lodging taxes owed by the Shilo Inn .
The hotel has until the end of the busi-
ness day today to pay the full amount or
the city will fi le a lawsuit.
The hotel has not paid lodging taxes
since last summer.
“Further, if payment is not received,
we have been directed by the city to refer
the matter to the Clatsop County District
Attorney’s O ffi ce for potential criminal
proceedings,” said a letter signed by City
Attorney Spencer Parsons.
“It’s the city’s sincere hope not to have
to take the measures outlined above,”
Parsons continued. But, he added, so far,
the hotel has been unresponsive.
The city had sent a letter in January
asking for payment.
A letter from Warrenton to the com-
pany this month states that the Shilo
See Taxes, Page A7
Seafood market expands downtown
New venture called Hurricane Ron’s
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The owners of Northwest
Wild Products are turning
the former Charlie’s Chow-
der House and Tiki Bar
on 14th Street and Marine
Drive into a new seafood
restaurant, bar and market
called Hurricane Ron’s.
Ron Neva, who runs
Northwest Wild Products
with Amanda Cordero in
the Chinook Building at the
West Mooring Basin, said
the downtown restaurant
will have more of a marine
decor and less of the tropi-
cal feel cultivated by chow-
der house and tiki bar owner
Charles Holboke.
Neva will primarily run
Hurricane Ron’s, while
Cordero will be in charge of
Northwest Wild Products.
Although relatively hid-
den from street traffi c, the
hole-in-the-wall fi sh house
and market overlooking the
marina has built a strong
customer following since
2010 , along with wholesale
seafood orders to other local
businesses.
Hurricane Ron’s will be
more of a full-service sea-
food restaurant and bar,
with display cases of fresh
and frozen seafood . Neva
is building an enclosure
around the covered corner
on 14th Street and Marine
Drive, which will host a
crab-boiling area and fi llet-
ing room, with counter seat-
ing around the outside.
“I think it will rock in the
summer,” Neva said. “This
is the best corner in Astoria.”
Holboke, who also runs
Godfather’s Books on Com-
mercial Street and Char-
lie’s Chop House on Marine
Drive, has had the chow-
der house and tiki bar for
the past decade. He recently
See Seafood, Page A7
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Ron Neva is planning to open Hurricane Ron’s, a full-service
seafood restaurant, market and bar, next month in the former
Charlie’s Chowder House and Tiki Bar spaces at the corner of
14th Street and Marine Drive.