Warrenton baseball falls short in state title game
SPORTS • A8
146TH YEAR, NO. 232
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2019
$1.50
Mitchell faces
backlash over
PERS vote
Mixed reception at town hall
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
Photos Edward Stratton/The Astorian
One sixth-grader at Astoria Middle School donned the pink elephant head of Ganesha, a Hindu god of beginnings, for a recent
wax museum.
Ancient civilizations flood
halls of Astoria Middle School
A living wax museum
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
he halls of Astoria Middle School
transformed for 90 minutes on Fri-
day into a living wax museum full
of figures from Mesopotamia, Egypt,
China, India, Greece and Rome.
Around 170 sixth-graders assumed
the guise of historical figures for a
social studies project. They fashioned
costumes, dressed up and stood stoi-
cally until a passerby pressed a cus-
tom button to hear a recitation of their
character’s life and impact on history.
Each class took on a different civ-
ilization. Kids chose their characters
through a lottery and bartered with
others for their preferred choice.
Jackson Brown, a student in Sam
Abbate’s class, chose to be a ter-
ra-cotta warrior. He assumed a defen-
sive stance, his spear jutting out. But
press his button, and Brown shifted to
a more conversational stance, recount-
ing the history of the funerary figures
from Chinese history.
“I just thought it was an interesting
topic,” Brown said. “I learned about
the first emperor of China, Qin Shi-
huang, who ordered the construction
of the terra-cotta army.”
Students spend the better part of a
month preparing for the wax museum.
Carrie Kaul, a teacher who oversees
the project, said it provides an all-in-
clusive lesson building research and
public speaking skills, while exposing
students to ancient civilizations.
T
See School, Page A6
Sixth-grader Jackson Brown played a terra-cotta warrior during a recent wax
museum at Astoria Middle School.
Sixth-grader Jaelynne Mandujano-Rojas played Ceres, the Roman goddess of
agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships.
WARRENTON — State Rep. Tiffiny
Mitchell faced a mixed reception at her
town hall on Sunday, three days after a
controversial vote to reform the state’s
pension system.
The state faces an estimated $26 bil-
lion in unfunded liability in the Public
Employees Retirement System, which
serves 176,000 public workers. Mitchell
voted Thursday with 30 other Democrats
in the state House on a set of changes
expected to save an estimated $1.2 billion
to $1.8 billion per two-
year budget cycle.
The changes extend
the minimum payment
schedule on the debt by
eight years, accounting
for about three-quarters
of the savings. The more
Tiffiny
controversial
portion
Mitchell
redirects a percentage of
what employees contrib-
ute to a supplemental retirement account
to help cover pension benefits until the
system, about 73% funded, reaches 90%
funding.
The legislation leaves pension ben-
efits intact, but trims a 30-year employ-
ee’s overall retirement benefits by an esti-
mated 1% to 2% of pay.
Mitchell, a former employee of the
state Department of Human Services, quit
her job to run for office. Public employee
unions heavily backed her campaign,
leaving some voters to wonder whether
she’d be willing to take action on reform-
ing the pension system.
“I hope people know it was really,
really hard for me,” the Astoria Democrat
told the crowd gathered in the Warrenton
High School cafeteria Sunday. “This is
my retirement too.”
Mitchell and others at the town hall
agreed that the massive unfunded pension
liability is not the fault of public work-
ers. But the unfunded liability, combined
with rising retirement contribution costs
that could cause staff cuts in local gov-
ernments and a possible recession, meant
the Legislature had to do something, she
said.
She cast pension reform as a require-
ment to getting the support among the
business community needed to pass the
Student Success Act, a gross receipts
tax forecasted to add $1 billion a year
to school budgets. She also warned of a
possible ballot measure to turn the entire
public pension system into a 401(k)
retirement plan to save money.
“If you had to look at those options,
I would argue that just about every sin-
gle person in this room would make that
same decision,” Mitchell said, eliciting
some opposition from the crowd. “That
is why I made the decision I made, and I
understand there will be people who dis-
agree, but there really was no other way.”
Janelle Wagner, a fourth-grade teacher
at Lewis and Clark Elementary School,
was one of several who saw Mitchell’s
vote as a betrayal.
“We fought to get you in, and we’re
feeling basically — and forgive my lan-
guage — screwed,” she said.
See Mitchell, Page A6
Shipwright must make ship right
A unique class
in carpentry
By PATRICK WEBB
Chinook Observer
ILWACO, Wash. — Stephen
Blasko’s carpentry class at Ilwaco
High School offers terrific value.
• For everyone, the importance
of safety around tools;
• For many, learning lifelong
crafting skills;
• For some, the possibility of a
lucrative career in a skilled trade.
One other attraction for students
was at the forefront Thursday: Fun.
For one of the last projects
each year, Blasko has his students
design and build a wooden boat.
And not one shirks the details
— because they are expected to
sail their creation on Black Lake.
It was a matter of a few min-
utes before the boats were hauled
from pickup beds by hand on to the
dock. Their weight and cumber-
some shapes meant it took consid-
erable exertion to get them in the
water. Some young sailors climbed
in with confidence, others more
gingerly.
All the ships were colorfully
painted, christened with names like
Swifty or SS Gary Come Home.
Most had an oblong shape, many
with sloping side panels. One
clever designer angling for bonus
points had added wooden paddle
wheels that could be hand cranked.
Soon a mini fleet was paddling
around, with students showing off
their creations, while trying not to
bump their neighbors.
Arianna Bell took charge pad-
dling her sturdy vessel as it left the
dock, then offered to change places
with Anderson Stoddard, who was
clinging onto the sides. She stood
up, he stood up, the boat started to
See Class, Page A6
Patrick Webb/Chinook Observer
Not all voyages were successful. Under the safety-minded gaze of Ilwaco
High School instructor Stephen Blasko, left, Shasta Stolle and Aaron Farrarr
haul their boat out of the water while others play in Black Lake behind them.