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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 6, 2019)
147TH YEAR, NO. 3 WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, JULY 6, 2019 $1.50 CELEBRATIONS MARK FOURTH OF JULY • SEE PHOTOS ON A2 AND A6 Photo by Katie Frankowicz The Astorian Residents in Jeff ers Garden see hope in county auction Buyer emerges for Cannery Pier Vesta Hospitality of Vancouver will take over By EDWARD STRATTON The Astorian Vancouver, Washington-based Vesta Hos- pitality is preparing to buy the Cannery Pier Hotel . The company recently applied for a water- way lease from the Department of State Lands for the tidelands surrounding the bou- tique hotel on the Columbia River. Richard Takach, the president and CEO of Vesta, said he sees the Cannery Pier as a well-run hotel and a long-term investment in Astoria . “We’re not coming in to turn it upside down,” he said. “We’re coming in to improve it.” See Buyer, Page A8 Vancouver, Washington-based Vesta Hospitality is preparing to buy the Cannery Pier Hotel in Astoria. Edward Stratton/The Astorian Nicole Bales/The Astorian A ‘no trespassing’ sign sits in front of a Jeff ers Garden property on G Road. A problem property is up for sale By NICOLE BALES The Astorian esidents in Jeffers Gar- den hope the auction of a property on G Road that one described as a “community of destruction” will improve the neighborhood. Clatsop County foreclosed on the property because of unpaid R taxes and hired a fi rm to clean up garbage and other debris. But there is still deferred main- tenance to the home, including cracks in the foundation, sloping fl oors and dry rot. James Neikes, who owns property next door to the “purple house” on G Road, said it became known as a drug house where sheriff’s depu- ties were routinely called about complaints. “It was beyond a nightmare,” he said. “There were 10 or 12 people living there and they never had water or sewer for over two years and they were dumping their sewage and everything else into my properties. They actually had garden hoses tapped into the natural gas main and they were feeding their trailers with gar- den hoses fi lled with liquid nat- ural gas.” He called the people who used to live there a “community of destruction.” See Auction, Page A8 ‘Wonderfully contagious’ minister retires Ketcham refl ects on a life of advocacy By PATRICK WEBB For The Astorian At 77, Kit Ketcham has declared “mission accomplished.” For the third time. She retired at the end of June as minister at the Pacifi c Unitarian Universal- ist Fellowship in Astoria. Ketcham was a longtime school teacher and coun- selor in Colorado, then had a second career as a minister. She pastored in Portland and on Washington’s Whidbey and Vashon islands before she retired to Gearhart in 2012. A life of relaxed lei- sure didn’t last long, for she was soon at the helm of the then-struggling Pacifi c Uni- tarian . She has managed the church, supervising its move to the Performing Arts Cen- ter, where its regular use has reinvigorated the PAC while supporters consider its long- term viability. Charlene Larsen, presi- dent of Partners for the PAC, was delighted when the Uni- tarians moved in. “This agreement is a wonderful partnership for the PAC and Patrick Webb/For The Astorian Kit Ketcham has retired as minister at the Pacifi c Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Astoria. I gained a friend who has done a lot for her congre- gation and her new commu- nity,” she said. Other highlights of Ket- cham’s tenure have been the Pete Seeger birthday con- certs, which she organized the past two years with fel- low folk performer Joseph Stevenson; a third could be in the works next year. Larsen, too, savored that musical collaboration. “It is most interesting to have shared visions and see them come about for the commu- nity,” she said. Colorful landscape revealed downtown A new mural at 13th Street Alley By EDWARD STRATTON The Astorian Crowds gath- ered Wednesday eve- ning to stroll through the “Ehkahnam,” the new mural painted along the 13th Street Alley by art- ist Andie Sterling for the Astoria Downtown His- toric District Association. Sterling named the mural after the Chinookan word for story. “I wanted to create a design that had an abstract landscape, that tried to tie in all the different types of landscapes that come together to make Astoria See Mural, Page A8 ‘Pea bum’ Elizabeth — later Betsy, then Kit — Ketcham was born in Chehalis, Washing- ton , when her father was See Ketcham, Page A7 Andie Sterling recently fi nished her mural ‘Ehkahnam,’ the Chinookan word for story, in the 13th Street Alley in downtown Astoria.
