147TH YEAR, NO. 21
WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 2019
$1.50
‘It’s a
hard
thing to
witness’
Photos by Chris Havel/Oregon Parks and Recreation Department
A ditch was dug around the whale to create a small pool of standing water.
Humpback washed ashore in Waldport
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
T
A volunteer pours a bucket of water over a 20-foot juvenile humpback whale in Waldport.
he decision to euthanize a young
humpback whale that washed
ashore alive in Waldport this
week was one agencies rarely have to
make, but scientists say it was the right
call.
The beached, 20-foot juvenile was
reported early Wednesday morning
north of the Alsea River and euthanized
by injection on Thursday after rescue
attempts failed.
Volunteers with t he Oregon Marine
Mammal Stranding Network coordinated
round-the-clock efforts to care for the
whale. But after multiple high tides and
several unsuccessful attempts to swim
MORE ONLINE
Watch a video of the volunteers
caring for the beached whale at
DailyAstorian.com
past the surf, the whale remained stranded.
A decision had to be made.
“They’re hard choices,” said Bruce
Mate, director of the Marine Mammal
Institute at Oregon State University. “I
feel this one was appropriate.”
The National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric Administration ultimately made
the call to euthanize the whale, but in
See Whale, Page A6
ABLE gives
the disabled a
chance to save
TP Freight
fi nds new
location
Accounts can help
families build assets
Pushed out of Astoria
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
By LUCY KLEINER
The Astorian
TP Freight Lines, the primary freight
carrier for the North Coast for more than 30
years, was notifi ed it would have to move
out of its Astoria terminal at Commercial
Street and Marine Drive for a proposed
Grocery Outlet.
But the company’s management sees
a new depot at Miles Crossing as more
effi cient.
James Neikes, who owns numerous
properties around Clatsop County, applied
with the c ounty to build a 5,000-square-
foot freight depot on a plot along U.S.
Highway 101 Business near North Coast
Truck Parts & Equipment.
W ork on the plot, previously approved
for a ministorage, began over the past cou-
ple of months. TP Freight hopes to fi nish
the new location by the end of September.
Bryan Shore, TP Freight’s vice pres-
ident, said the company is grateful to
be moving away from the crowded
intersection.
“It’s going to be a lot less traffi c and
congestion than in the mouth of town,”
McMaster’s sacrifi ce is
helping his daughter fi nish
college.
Rudduck, who is study-
ing dental hygiene at
Augusta University in Geor-
gia, was recently named
one of eight recipients for
a $4,000 Workers’ Memo-
rial Scholarship by the state
Occupational Safety and
Health Division.
The awards program, cre-
ated by the state Legisla-
ture in 1991, helps family
When Julie Chick’s fi rst son, Blake,
was born with Down syndrome 14 years
ago, the Nehalem family faced a fi nancial
conundrum.
They had to balance investing in
Blake’s future while keeping his assets
below $2,000 if they wanted their son to
remain eligible for Supplemental Secu-
rity Income and health insurance through
Medicaid.
“We undid his savings account years
ago and got rid of everything because
we didn’t want to jeopardize any S ocial
S ecurity that he would get later on in
life,” Chick said.
“Those of us with children or adults
with disabilities didn’t have the power to
save money because we could risk losing
all his possible benefi ts.”
That changed for the Chick family this
week when she signed her son up for an
ABLE account.
“This is huge,” she said.
The Oregon ABLE Savings Plan is a
state-based program that allows people
with disabilities to work toward fi nancial
security without putting them at risk of
losing government benefi ts .
ABLE accounts — established by Con-
gress through the Achieving a Better Life
See Scholarship, Page A6
See ABLE, Page A6
See TP Freight, Page A6
Edward Stratton/The Astorian
A modest memorial for Robert ‘Bernie’ McMaster, the only Warrenton police offi cer to die in the
line of duty, sits on a bookshelf at Warrenton City Hall.
Father helps daughter
from beyond the grave
Warrenton student
taps scholarship
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
Alannah Rudduck received
the 2019 Workers’ Memorial
Scholarship off ered by the
state to family members of
Oregon workers who have
been killed or permanently
disabled on the job.
Alannah Rudduck was
still in her mother’s womb
when her father, Rob-
ert “Bernie” McMaster, a
reserve trainee for the War-
renton Police Department,
died while responding to an
alarm at Warrenton Grade
School.
Twenty-three years later,