DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2019
146TH YEAR, NO. 177
ONE DOLLAR
CHARTER FLEET
FACES EXTINCTION
Port could
get state
help, but
with strings
Agency looks to
update strategic plan
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
Local marine repair shops have felt the impact of fewer charter boats on the water. ‘It was a slow winter,’ said John Kalander,
right, the owner of West Coast Propeller Service.
Strange weather,
shorter fishing
seasons to blame
The Port of Astoria may get more help
from the state to fix its crumbling infra-
structure, but only with close state over-
sight, according to the agency’s strategic
planner.
The state has loaned the Port nearly
$19.7 million through Business Oregon’s
Infrastructure Finance Authority since
2001. The Port began updating its 2010
strategic business plan nearly two years
ago after hearing the state was unlikely to
loan any more money without an update.
Mary McArthur, the executive director
of the Columbia-Pacific Economic Devel-
opment District, expects to have a draft in
May.
The Port has been criticized for not
focusing enough on maintenance or stick-
ing to strategic plans. There is lack of con-
fidence and trust in the Port, McArthur
told Port commissioners during a Tuesday
meeting.
“I’m going to recommend some rela-
tively significant strings in terms of over-
sight of the Port for the next two to four
years,” she said. “What I’m thinking there
is that this will give you that muscle, that
leverage to say, ‘We are just going to focus
on what comes out of that strategic plan.
We’re going to commit to it. If things
come up that want to steer us off course
… we know that Business Oregon’s going
to yank our chain and pull us back.”
See Port, Page A7
By LUKE WHITTAKER
Chinook Observer
W
ARRENTON — In the
20th-century heyday
of recreational salmon
fishing on the Colum-
bia River, marinas were jammed with
bustling charter fishing vessels. Today,
you’re lucky to count more than 20.
The extinction of the charter fish-
ing fleet has played out over the
past 30 years, punctuated by strange
weather and increasingly shorter fish-
ing seasons.
“We’re a dying breed,” said Gene
Kane, owner of Tackle Time Bait and
Charters. “It’s a dying thing.”
Since opening in 1983, the Warren-
ton-based bait and charter business has
had a front-row seat to the industry’s
ebb and flow.
“Over the past 36 years, we’ve seen
the good, the bad and the ugly,” Kane
said. “After the first El Niño in 1994,
we had to borrow money just to stay
here. Most everyone else went down.”
Limited seasons on sturgeon and
salmon — two of the most popular
fisheries on the river — have left a
painful scar.
“Our sturgeon used to be a year-
around fishery,” Kane said.
“It went to several years with no
fishing, then catch and release only,”
he said. “It’s only been the last cou-
ple years that we’ve been able to get
10 days spread out. Something is bet-
ter than nothing, but it puts pressure on
fishermen.
See Fleet, Page A7
Linda and Gene Kane have operated Tackle Time Bait and Charters in Warrenton
since 1983.
Seaside
planners back
construction of
Grocery Outlet
A ‘turn pocket’
will help with traffic
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Sea Breeze Charters owner Pat Schenk has watched the Ilwaco charter fleet dwindle
from 150 boats to less than 20 today.
SEASIDE — With a new plan to
widen and restripe the roadway, the
Seaside Planning Commission gave its
unanimous OK Tuesday night for a new
18,000-square-foot Grocery Outlet.
A 175-foot-long “turn pocket” along
U.S. Highway 101 southbound into Ave-
nue N will satisfy the state Department
of Transportation and the Planning Com-
mission’s requirement for a left-turn lane,
representatives of Main & Main Capital
Group said on behalf of Grocery Outlet.
The turn pocket will be developed
before the new store opens.
“What we’ve done over the last month
is worked with ODOT to come up with
something that will work,” Main &
Main’s Dan Dover said.
See Seaside, Page A7
Legislature to pay $1 million for harassment at Capitol
Settlement of
labor complaint
By AUBREY WIEBER and
CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — The state Legisla-
ture will pay $1 million to nine vic-
tims of harassment at the Capitol,
settling a complaint by state labor
officials that has put a cloud over
the session.
In a deal announced Tuesday
afternoon, legislative leaders also
agreed to push harder and by cer-
tain deadlines to reform work
behavior at the Capitol.
The settlement followed pri-
vate talks between top legislators
and representatives from the state
Bureau of Labor and Industries.
The bureau said in January that
it found substantial evidence that
not only were employees and legis-
lators themselves harassed, but that
state Senate President Peter Court-
ney and House Speaker Tina Kotek,
as well as administrators responsi-
ble for responding to harassment
allegations, were ineffective in han-
dling their complaints.
“We sincerely apologize to the
women who suffered harm during
their time in the Capitol,” Kotek and
Courtney said in a joint statement.
Eight women, who were not
identified in the settlement, will
share in noneconomic damages of
amounts ranging up to $415,000.
State Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis,
Pamplin Media Group
Former state Sen. Jeff Kruse,
R-Roseburg, resigned amid sexual
harassment allegations.
will get $26,000 for legal fees and
other expenses but didn’t seek dam-
ages, according to the labor bureau.
The settlement was announced
hours after Courtney, a Salem Dem-
ocrat, said he was taking medical
leave for 10 days, which his staff
said wasn’t connected to the harass-
ment settlement.
The scope of harassment was
put into full public view in early
January when then-Labor Com-
missioner Brad Avakian released
the results of his monthslong
investigation.
But the settlement also required
the labor bureau, now led by former
legislator Val Hoyle, to acknowl-
edge its own investigation was
flawed. In a statement Tuesday, the
bureau said its process “was polit-
icized in a manner that inhibited
both sides from participating thor-
oughly in the investigation.”
See Settlement, Page A7