DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
146TH YEAR, NO. 71
ONE DOLLAR
Astoria
open to
homeless
drop-in
center idea
Loggers
raise funds
for new
memorial,
museum
City councilors believe
more can be done
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
A statue commemorates the legacy of local loggers at the memorial and museum at Camp 18.
Volunteers hope to collect $3 million to $4 million
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
E
LSIE — A decade ago, a
volunteer group of for-
esters opened a memo-
rial in a small cabin-style
building along U.S. Highway
26 just east of Camp 18 Restau-
rant for those who died while
logging .
In a testament to one of the
deadliest and most storied local
professions, the Camp 18 Log-
gers Memorial quickly fi lled up
with shrines and artifacts from
the woods.
Volunteers are now raising
between $3 million and $4 mil-
lion for a new, 7,000-square-foot
museum to continue honoring
the past while providing a nod to
the future.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
See Loggers, Page A5
Mark Standley talks about the eff ort to raise money for a new facility to
house a memorial and museum at Camp 18.
Chadbourne + Doss Architects
Volunteers behind the Camp 18 Loggers Memorial are planning a new
7,000-square-foot hall next to the existing memorial and museum in Elsie.
Several city councilors believe Asto-
ria could do more to support projects that
help the homeless.
During an annual goal-setting session
Monday, Councilor Joan Herman and
Councilor Roger Rocka urged the c oun-
cil to include a day time drop-in center for
the homeless on a draft list of priorities
for the year.
Herman said it would be “signifi cant”
for the city to make a statement in support .
After some discussion, the City Coun-
cil settled on an overarching goal that
could include projects like a drop-in
center.
The council asked city staff to write
a goal to continue to help provide ser-
vices to the homeless , “including support-
ing the recommendations of (the may-
or’s homelessness solutions task force)
and other community efforts to alleviate
homelessness.”
The statement , and other goals dis-
cussed Monday, will come back for fi nal
approval at a future meeting.
The Lower Columbia Diversity Coa-
lition hosted a discussion of the drop-in
center idea on Sunday, a presentation
Rocka and Herman attended .
Interfaith ministers Nelle Moffett and
Rick Bowers have formed a loose group
that includes members of a homeless-
ness task force created by former Mayor
Arline LaMear and others. They hope to
create a facility that would give people a
place to rest, socialize and access ameni-
ties like showers, but would also connect
them with social services, classes and
other resources.
Astoria has two makeshift drop-in
centers now, Moffett told the audience
Sunday.
“One is the library and one is the hos-
pital,” she said, “but other than that, with-
out paying money, there’s not a place for
the homeless to be.”
Helping Hands, a nonprofi t that offers
substance abuse treatment and re-en-
try programs , opened a new facility in
Uniontown last year. There are also clin-
ics, food pantries and employment and
mental health services located centrally
in Astoria.
“But we’re still lacking resources in
this community,” said Alan Evans, execu-
tive director of Helping Hands, who pre-
sented the drop-in center concept with
Moffett and Bowers. “We’re still not in
touch with the people who need us the
most.”
The group behind the drop-in center
proposal has yet to formalize.
Moffett and Bowers hope to create
a nonprofi t, but still need to fi gure out
details like board members and funding.
They have done some research into which
commercial zones would allow a facility
like a drop-in center, but have not identi-
fi ed property or a building .
For now, they are interested in com-
munity feedback, Moffett said.
See Homeless, Page A5
Changes proposed to Astoria Column lighting policy
The landmark
would no longer
be lit for causes
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
A new lighting system at
the Astoria Column means it
now only takes a few key-
strokes on a computer to
switch the colors projected
onto the sides of the land-
mark. B ut a new policy may
change when and why the
Column is lit .
At a City Council work
session Monday, Mayor
Bruce Jones discussed a pol-
icy proposed by the Friends
of the Astoria Column to
only light the Column with
different colors for federal
holidays and occasionally
just for fun. The rest of the
year, the Column would be
lit with white lights.
Under the new policy,
it would no longer be lit to
draw awareness to causes.
Right now, the City
Council’s policy is to allow
the Column to be lit for a
month twice a year to rep-
resent different causes. For
example, the Column has
been pink for breast cancer
awareness, teal for sexual
assault awareness and rain-
bow for Pride Week.
The new policy will come
back to the City Council for
a discussion and vote during
a regular meeting, but city
councilors said they were
in favor of taking them-
selves out of deciding which
causes get special lighting .
The new LED lighting
system is less onerous and
more fl exible, allowing for a
range of lighting effects not
possible when staff had to
physically cover lights with
colored screens in order to
change projected colors.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
See Column, Page A5
The Astoria Column refl ects the holiday spirit.