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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 2019
IN BRIEF
Local groups advocate
for driver’s license bill
An event aimed at immigrant communities will dis-
cuss how proposed legislation to give all Oregonians the
opportunity to apply for a driver’s license may impact
them.
The Lower Columbia Hispanic Council and Indivisi-
ble North Coast Oregon will host the event from 5:30 to
7 p.m. on June 17 at the council’s offi ce, 1373 Duane St.,
Astoria.
Jorge Gutierrez, executive director for the Lower
Columbia Hispanic Council, will discuss the bill. The
group plans to send postcards to legislators advocating for
“Driver’s Licenses for All.”
— The Astorian
Recology rates to see
increase in Gearhart
Recology rate analyst Dave Larmouth outlined a pro-
posal for a 2.7% rate hike in Gearhart effective July 1.
The rate is tied to the annual change in the consumer
price index, he told city councilors Wednesday night.
With the construction of a permanent hazardous waste
collection program, the city will see an increase from
$3.50 per ton on inbound trash to $5 per ton at the transfer
station, in order to help cover the costs of the building and
operating the facility.
The monthly rate for 32-gallon curbside cart service
would rise from $20.52 to $21.07.
Ninety-gallon cart pickup, currently $34.25, would rise
to $35.17.
Sideyard pickup of a 90-gallon cart would increase
from $52.48 to $53.90.
— The Astorian
Ban on coyote-killing
contests passes state Senate
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Astorian
Astoria High School graduates pose for photos in front of the Flavel House Museum before the annual grad walk.
Astoria High School graduates
take traditional walk downtown
By COLIN MURPHEY
The Astorian
A ban on coyote-killing contests has passed the state
Senate 17-12 over the objections of critics who say the bill
runs roughshod over rural livestock producers.
Proponents of Senate Bill 723 claim that such “derbies”
are an affront to responsible hunting and are often counter-
productive in reducing predation of cattle and sheep.
“Population control, if desired, should be careful and
selective, which killing contests are not,” said state Sen.
Mike Dembrow, D-Portland.
— Capital Press
Astoria High School
graduates took the annual
walk through downtown
Thursday morning before
proceeding to the Liberty
Theatre for a graduation
rehearsal.
The walk started with
a photo op for parents and
other supporters at the Fla-
vel House Museum before
heading down Commercial
Street to the cheers of pedes-
trians and honks from pass-
ing vehicles.
DEATHS
June 6, 2019
HOLT, Helen M., 90, of Salem, formerly of Sea-
side, died in Salem. Hughes-Ransom Mortuary is in
charge of the arrangements.
PHILLIPS, David L., 83, of Cannon Beach, died in
Cannon Beach. Hughes-Ransom Mortuary is in charge
of the arrangements.
A member of the Astoria
High School Class of 2019
takes the annual grad walk
through downtown.
CORRECTION
Wrong event times — The times for the Astoria
Pride Parade and Block Party on Saturday were incor-
rect on Page 8 of Coast Weekend on Thursday. The
parade starts at 11 a.m. and the Block Party starts at
noon and goes until 6 p.m.
ON THE RECORD
DUII
•
Seaside
Police
arrested Lesli Houseman,
37, of Seaside, on Wednes-
day for driving under the
infl uence of intoxicants.
Police received a driving
complaint about House-
man. An offi cer found
her vehicle on Edgewood
Street between avenues
T and U. She recorded a
blood alcohol content of
0.29%.
Assault
• The Clatsop County
Sheriff’s Offi ce arrested
Sivai Bennett, 59, of Sea-
side, on Thursday on
charges of violating a
restraining order, sec-
ond-degree assault, hit
and run, reckless endan-
germent and reckless driv-
ing. Bennett allegedly fol-
lowed her ex-husband
east on U.S. Highway 30
before backing up and
crashing into his vehicle
near Wauna Mill, sending
him to Columbia Memo-
rial Hospital in Astoria.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Sunset Empire Transporta-
tion District Board, 9:30 a.m.,
special meeting, Astoria Tran-
sit Center, 900 Marine Drive.
Youngs River Lewis & Clark
Water District Board, 6 p.m.,
34583 U.S. Highway 101
Business.
Cannon Beach Rural Fire
Department Board, 6 p.m.,
Fire-Rescue Main Station, 188
Sunset Ave.
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m.,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
TUESDAY
Clatsop County Planning
Commission, 10 a.m., Judge
Guy Boyington Building, 857
Commercial St., Astoria.
Seaside Library Board,
4:30 p.m., Seaside Public
Library, 1131 Broadway.
Warrenton City Commis-
sion, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S.
Main Ave.
Lewis & Clark Fire Depart-
ment Board, 7 p.m., main fi re
station, 34571 U.S. Highway
101 Business.
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Lawmakers may end license suspensions over fi nes
get on a payment plan, the
license is automatically sus-
pended 60 days later.
That same year, about
20,000
licenses
were
rescinded.
House Bill 2614 would
prevent courts from sus-
pending licenses of drivers
who haven’t paid their non-
criminal traffi c fi nes on time.
But with about three
weeks left in the session, it
has yet to receive a fl oor vote
and hasn’t budged from the
committee it’s been held in
since March.
House Democratic Leader
Jennifer Williamson, of Port-
land, a chief sponsor of the
bill, said a license suspen-
sion is “an unnecessary bar-
rier” for people in poverty.
“The idea that you would
lose your license because
you’re too poor to pay your
fees and your fi nes doesn’t
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — State law-
makers are considering put-
ting a stop to license suspen-
sions for drivers who don’t
pay fi nes for certain traffi c
tickets.
Every year, thousands
of Oregon drivers get tick-
ets for non criminal traffi c
offenses.
Advocates say suspend-
ing licenses for unpaid fi nes
unfairly punishes poor peo-
ple who can’t afford the
full weight of the fi nes and
accrue more debt.
In 2017, the state Depart-
ment of Motor Vehicles
issued about 90,000 warn-
ings to people who didn’t
pay their fi nes in a 35-day
window. If the fi nes aren’t
paid or the driver doesn’t
Coast Guard medevacs ailing
crewman off cargo ship
The Astorian
WARRENTON — The
Coast Guard medevaced
an ailing crewman from a
cargo ship off the Colum-
bia River on Wednesday.
The Nordic Stavan-
ger reported a 26-year-old
Ukrainian crewman suf-
fering from back spasms
Fresh
related to a laceration two
days earlier.
An MH-60 Jayhawk
helicopter crew from Air
Station Astoria in Warren-
ton fl ew 72 miles southwest
of the Columbia entrance,
hoisted the injured crew-
man and took him to emer-
gency responders at the
Astoria Regional Airport.
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do anything for the system,”
Williamson said . “It doesn’t
make us any safer, it doesn’t
increase the ability for peo-
ple to pay if they can’t afford
their fees or fi nes.”
In recent years, more
attention has been paid to
the impact that punitive
fi nes have on people without
means.
Lawyers for the American
Civil Liberties Union and
the American Legislative
Exchange Council, unlikely
allies, recently teamed up on
an op-ed in The New York
Times to criticize the prac-
tice of suspending licenses
for unpaid fi nes.
Advocates say that sus-
pending licenses as a tool to
collect a debt in many cases
just leads to more debt.
A single non criminal
offense often costs more for
someone who can’t afford it
than someone who has the
money to pay, say, $200 on
the spot.
Even the payment plans
approved by a court can be
burdensome for a person
making minimum wage,
according to testimony
on the bill. For suspended
licenses, the DMV charges
drivers $75 to get their
license back.
“Being poor is really
expensive,” said Alicia Tem-
ple, legislative advocate for
the Oregon Law Center, in
testimony in February. “If
you get a $200 ticket and
you can’t pay it, suddenly
you owe a lot more.”
Meanwhile, hardship per-
mits, which allow drivers
whose licenses have been
suspended to get to and from
work, can be expensive and
diffi cult to get, advocates
say.
Daylight saving bill passes
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — A proposal to
put Oregon on year-round d ay-
light s aving t ime passed the
state House on Thursday, and
now the only hurdles to the
change are outside the state.
Senate Bill 320, which
passed 37-20, now goes to
Gov. Kate Brown. But the
shift away from twice-yearly
changing of the clocks will
only really happen if Califor-
nia passes similar legislation
and Congress gets involved.
Washington state has
already done so, and Gov. Jay
Inslee has signed the change
into law.
The California Assem-
bly last month passed a bill to
place the country’s most popu-
lous state on daylight time , but
the state Senate has yet to take
it up.
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