A6
THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, July 25, 2019
Sheriff: One of his bigger
accomplishments was
winning voter support to
build a new county jail
Continued from Page A1
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Austin Rieck runs through an inspection, checking the trailer connection to the semitruck, while instructor James Crowe
watches and tests his knowledge.
Drivers: Class costs $5,000 with grants available
Continued from Page A1
students going through a new
commercial truck driving
program started this spring
in partnership between Clat-
sop and Tillamook Bay com-
munity colleges.
Rieck lost his job after
Pacific Power automated
power meters. He attended
lineman training at Camp
Rilea, but needed a commer-
cial driver’s license.
“It’s one more thing on
your application that sets you
apart from most,” Rieck said.
Rieck
faced
travel-
ing to Portland for train-
ing, but learned of the pro-
gram through Tillamook Bay,
started in response to industry
demand for more drivers.
Crowe, a retired long-haul
trucker with 34 years and 4
million miles under his belt,
sends students through a full-
time, four-week course pre-
paring for the commercial
driver’s license exam at the
Department of Motor Vehi-
cles office in Tillamook.
He spends the first week in
the classroom teaching about
safety, rules and the truck-
ing industry. Students then
spend three weeks learning
to inspect and drive the Peter-
bilt in a gravel lot provided by
Warrenton Fiber.
The Peterbilt comes with
a 13-speed transmission that
Crowe teaches students to
TRUCKING SCHOOL
For more information on the program, contact Randy Lane,
commercial truck driver coordinator for Tillamook Bay Com-
munity College, at 503-842-8222, ext. 1440, or randylane@
tillamookbaycc.edu
properly shift using dou-
ble-clutching. He teaches
them to back up the 48-foot
truck and trailer straight and
at angles. They go on ever-ex-
panding runs along county
roads, through urban areas
and down highways.
Crowe sits calmly next to
students, giving pointers and
observing, ready to pull a
valve that immediately stops
the truck. Beyond the tech-
nical aspects of driving, he
reminds the students they are
professional drivers who must
always take the high road.
“We need to project an
image of trucking that doesn’t
make people feel unsafe or
angry,” he said.
Crowe’s initial batch of
four students this spring all
got their commercial licenses
on the first try. Tim Kindred,
a commercial fisherman for
the past 25 years, bought a
dump truck and began his
own transportation company
delivering rock and other
landscaping products.
“I kind of always wanted
to be a truck driver,” he said.
“Commercial fishing has
been going downhill.
“I wanted to stay local, just
because I have two little kids.
That’s why I got the dump
truck. It’s a great return on
your money.”
Arlene Soto, director of a
Small Business Development
Center in Tillamook, said the
transportation industry urged
the college to start training
commercial drivers. The Til-
lamook program, started last
year, has so far led to more
than 15 new commercially
licensed drivers.
Everyone who passes the
commercial exam has had job
offers within a few days, Soto
said.
Tillamook’s program has
been buoyed by donations
from the transportation indus-
try, including the first of its
three trucks and a refrigerated
trailer. The program recently
secured grant funding for a
truck-driving simulator.
“CCC
didn’t
have
the capacity within their exist-
ing staffing, or the equip-
ment,” Soto said of Clatsop
Community College. “They
asked to partner with us.”
The class costs $5,000,
with some grants available.
Kindred and Rieck see the
fee as a pittance compared
to the jobs available to com-
mercial truck drivers. Nearly
100 truck drivers employed
in Clatsop County averaged a
salary last year of more than
$48,000, according to state
data — more than $53,000
statewide.
The growth in trucking
jobs statewide leveled off in
2016 after a six-year, post-re-
cession spurt, according to
state data. Census data shows
more truckers than ever. But
industry leaders still see a
growing shortage, mostly in
long-distance carriers. The
American Trucking Associ-
ations estimates the shortage
of drivers could balloon to
nearly 180,000 by 2024.
“Right now, there’s proba-
bly a shortage of 50,000 truck
drivers in America,” Crowe
said. “There are tons of jobs
out there.”
Monica Steele, the
interim county manager,
said, “It’s unfortunate that
he won’t be here to fin-
ish out his term and I have
truly enjoyed working with
him and I look forward to
working with whoever gets
appointed.”
Bergin became a sher-
iff’s deputy in 1992 after
about seven years at the
Seaside Police Department.
In 2004, he was elected
sheriff and was reelected
three times.
One of his biggest
accomplishments was win-
ning voter support to build
a new county jail.
He was a leading voice
for a $20 million bond
measure that passed last
November to relocate the
jail from Astoria to the for-
mer North Coast Youth Cor-
rectional Facility in Warren-
ton. Voters had rejected two
previous bond measures for
the jail.
“When I started here
there was eight of us and the
jail was small and tiny and
we tried hard to get that new
jail put in a couple of times
and finally the third time the
public saw the need, which
is going to be very bene-
ficial,” Bergin said. “I’m
really happy to see that for
this community.”
Bergin has also spent
much of his career focused
on drug enforcement. He
ran the interagency narcot-
ics team for several years
and, while he was super-
visor, the Western States
Information
Network
awarded the narcotics team
as team of the year in 2001.
Bergin will also be
remembered for his outspo-
ken support for immigra-
tion enforcement, which has
brought him praise, but also
criticism.
“I was chosen to lead this
agency by the people and
luckily I’ve been elected
four times to this office,
and it’s a responsibility that
just consumes you, it abso-
lutely consumes you,” he
said. “There’s such a silent
majority up here that is not
happy with the current way
our country is going and
part of it is the issue on
deportation. When people
come here illegally, they
need to abide by the laws
and that is not coming here
illegally, and so they need to
follow the rules.”
In 2014, he opposed a
ballot measure that would
have given driver’s cards to
undocumented immigrants.
Voters rejected the mea-
sure, but the Legislature this
year passed a bill that would
allow undocumented immi-
grants to obtain driver’s
licenses.
Last year, Bergin and 15
other sheriffs signed a letter
in support of Measure 105,
which would have repealed
Oregon’s sanctuary law.
Voters, however, upheld the
sanctuary law.
Last week, the sheriff
said the county needed to
support U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement
after federal immigration
agents detained a man at the
courthouse.
“Everybody thinks I
want to lock up all these
Hispanics and throw every-
body away and kick every-
body out of the country
— that’s the furthest thing
from the truth,” Bergin said.
“That’s just ludicrous.
“And I think if you treat
people with respect then
you’re going to get it back. I
hope that is part of my suc-
cess and part of my legacy.
But it’s just always being
fair to everybody and treat-
ing everybody like you’d
like to be treated.”
OPEN HOUSE
F RIDAY , J ULY 26 AND
S ATURDAY , J ULY 27
2:00 - 5:00 PM
Planners: Commission divided on building height
Continued from Page A1
relief from restrictions in
Bridge Vista. The two inter-
ests, which, combined, own
the bulk of the land likely
to be redeveloped in Bridge
Vista, had asked for flexi-
bility to keep development
options open.
The Port and Astoria
Warehousing will need to
come up with master plans
for the plan districts, which
must be approved by the city.
Commissioner
Cindy
Price, who had pushed for
a 28-foot-height limit, was
the sole vote against the rec-
ommendations. She made
a motion to accept the floor
area ratio proposal but still
cap heights at 28 feet. That
motion was voted down 4-3.
“May I just say that I think
it’s reasonable and not at all a
bad amendment,” Price said
following the vote to allow
taller buildings. “I voted ‘no’
just to honor the many hun-
dreds of people who had
come to us and asked for
28 feet and who expected it
from us.”
The floor area ratio pro-
posal took care of two
conundrums for commis-
sioners, addressing ques-
tions of height and also scale
and mass. They had worried
that limiting buildings to 28
feet tall could still result in
long, sprawling buildings
that would block views of the
Columbia River.
With a floor area ratio
requirement, multiple build-
ings on single, larger lots
must be built a minimum of
60 feet apart and taller build-
ings will have a smaller foot-
print on a lot.
Astoria may place new limits on building heights along the
riverfront.
Tuesday’s vote also means
the matter is now off to the
City Council. For the most
part, planning commission-
ers were united in their feel-
ing that it was time to make
a decision and let the coun-
cil take a turn wrestling with
changes to Bridge Vista.
The few people in the
audience, even though most
of them continued to advo-
cate for a 28-foot-height
limit, indicated they felt the
same after numerous meet-
ings on the issue.
The Planning Commis-
sion first began discussing
changes to Bridge Vista’s
codes earlier this year fol-
lowing the approval by the
City Council of a controver-
sial four-story Marriott-brand
hotel — the Fairfield Inn and
Suites — off Second Street.
Hollander Hospitality has
yet to take any further steps
to begin building the hotel,
but the multiple hearings and
appeals around the project
revealed gaps and confusion
in the codes.
What city staff initially
intended as a quick fix mor-
phed into a desire by city
leaders to address community
concerns about hotel devel-
opment and large buildings
in general on the riverfront.
Hundreds of people
signed petitions advocat-
ing for lower height limits in
Bridge Vista. Planning com-
missioners sent city planning
consultant Rosemary John-
son and other city staff back
to the drawing board numer-
ous times to tweak propos-
als and explore questions and
suggestions.
On several occasions,
public hearings and com-
mission deliberations were
continued as commissioners
struggled to reach an agree-
ment on what should be
allowed.
The commission was
divided on the question of
building height, with some
commissioners adamantly
opposed to 28 feet, others
equally opposed to going any
higher and several in the mid-
dle with concerns about both
options.
Country Club Estates
90577 Par Road, Warrenton
Call Hardworking Professional...
D eb b owe
Broker
Cell: 503-440-7474
Office: 503-325-5111
Windermere Community Realty
175 14th Street, Suite 120, Astoria, OR
www.windermere.com