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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 2019
Foreclosed properties sell at auction
IN BRIEF
Gillnetters get time on
Columbia River in August
Commercial gillnet fi shermen will get more time
on the Columbia River main stem this month than they
did last August.
Returns of coho have been high through the sum-
mer, but the fall Chinook salmon run is anticipated
to come in at less than half of the 10-year average at
nearly 350,000 fi sh. This is still higher than in 2018,
when returns of fall Chinook totaled less than 300,000
fi sh.
Commercial gillnetters hit the water on Wednes-
day and will have fi ve openings through Aug. 29. Last
August, commercial gillnetters landed 8,320 fall Chi-
nook and 380 coho over four fi shing periods at the end
of August.
Free fi shing days this weekend
People can fi sh, crab or clam for free anywhere in
Oregon this weekend.
The state will not require people to have fi shing
licenses or tags Saturday and Sunday. All other fi shery
regulations still apply, however, including closures,
bag limits and size restrictions.
Crabbing is open along the entire Oregon Coast and
reports of ocean fi shing for rockfi sh, tuna and coho
salmon have been strong.
Communal dog dish in Astoria
fi lled with antifreeze
Astoria police received a report on Wednesday
afternoon that someone had left a dog dish fi lled with
antifreeze at the 14th Street stop of the Astoria River-
front Trolley.
“We have always kept fresh water outside of our
studio for our doggy friends that walk the Riverwalk,”
Kim Gibbs, the co-owner of RiversZen Yoga, said in
an email. “Some sick-minded individual stole our dog
dish from our business, fi lled it with antifreeze and
placed it along the Riverwalk.”
“Please make sure you check to see what your dog
is drinking before it drinks.”
Police are not aware of any animals harmed as a
result of the incident.
If anyone has information about who is responsible,
they are asked to contact Sgt. Andrew Randall at the
Astoria Police Department at 503-325-4411.
Local insurer helps with
Oregon Health Plan enrollment
Linda Dugan Insurance in Astoria is among the
fi rms chosen to help people enroll in the Oregon
Health Plan.
The local insurance company is one of 33 insurance
agencies granted money to help publicize the upcom-
ing health insurance open enrollment period and to
help people enroll. Open enrollment for 2020 cover-
age runs from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15.
“If you don’t deal with premiums, fi nancial assis-
tance, deductibles, and copays every day, you might
not want to sift through all that information alone,
under a deadline,” Chiqui Flowers, administrator of
the Oregon Health Insurance Marketplace, said in a
news release. “An agent or partner in your commu-
nity can help you understand the options and enroll in
coverage.”
Grantees were judged on ties to community net-
works, the ability to reach underserved populations
and the capacity to serve consumers whether they are
eligible for HealthCare.gov plans or other programs,
such as the Oregon Health Plan or Medicare.
— The Astorian
Small earthquake off the Oregon Coast
A 5.4 magnitude earthquake struck Friday about
260 miles off the Oregon Coast.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the temblor hap-
pened before 7:30 a.m. west of Newport. There was
no tsunami danger, according to the National Weather
Service.
The quake was about 6 miles deep.
— Associated Press
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Astoria City Council,
7 p.m., City Hall, 1095
Duane St.
TUESDAY
Astoria Historic Land-
marks Commission,
5:15 p.m., City Hall, 1095
Duane St.
Sunset Empire Park and
Recreation District Board
of Directors, 5:15 p.m.,
Bob Chisholm Community
Established July 1, 1873
(USPS 035-000)
Published Tuesday, Thursday
and Saturday by EO Media Group,
949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR
97103 Telephone 503-325-3211,
800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
The Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR
97103-0210
DailyAstorian.com
Center, 1225 Avenue A,
Seaside.
Seaside School District
Board of Directors, 7 p.m.,
1801 S. Franklin, Seaside.
Shoreline Sanitary Dis-
trict Board, 7 p.m., Gear-
hart Hertig Station, 33496
West Lake Lane, Warrenton.
Seaside Planning Com-
mission, 7 p.m., work
session, City Hall, 989
Broadway.
Circulation phone number:
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2019 by The Astorian.
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Hope for an
eyesore on G Road
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
Five tax-foreclosed prop-
erties were put up for auction
in July and Clatsop C ounty
sold two of them, includ-
ing a dilapidated house on G
Road in Jeffers Garden.
County c ommissioners
enthusiastically
accepted
the bids on Wednesday night
and were hopeful for the
future of G Road.
The property was sold to
John Harper, a regional cig-
arette and marijuana store
fi nancier, for the minimum
bid of $45,000.
Harper has purchased
property from county auc-
tions in the past and “has
done a wonderful, beauti-
ful job restoring those prop-
erties,” said Sirpa Duoos, a
county property manage-
ment specialist.
Harper plans on restoring
the house on G Road into
reasonably priced housing
for his employees, like he’s
done with the last two prop-
erties he bought at auctions.
With about 25 employees
in Clatsop County, Harper
said it is important to him
that they have housing that
is affordable.
Clatsop County fore-
closed on the G Road prop-
erty, known to neighbors as
Nicole Bales/The Astorian
Clatsop County has sold a foreclosed property on G Road in Jeff ers Garden.
the “purple house,” because
of unpaid taxes. The county
hired a fi rm to clean up gar-
bage and other debris, but
there is still deferred main-
tenance to the home, includ-
ing cracks in the foundation,
sloping fl oors and dry rot.
James Neikes, who owns
property next door , said it
became known as a drug
house where sheriff’s dep-
uties were routinely called
about complaints. He called
the former occupants a
“community of destruction.”
“I think that we certainly
know that in any area, urban
or rural, a house that is such
a blight ... it’s hard on the
whole neighborhood,” Com-
missioner Pamela Wev said.
“Especially given what was
going on in that house. That
house was kind of a perfect
storm of violations. I don’t
think there was anything that
didn’t happen on that site.”
Neighbors were thrilled
the property was being auc-
tioned and were hopeful it
would be turned into some-
thing good.
“I’m hoping we can
Port of Kalama opposes Astoria’s harbor fee
Letter follows
Longview protest
By KATIE FAIRBANKS
The Daily News
Port of Kalama com-
missioners
Wednesday
approved a letter oppos-
ing a new fee charging
cargo vessels traveling
to or through the Port of
Astoria.
The Port of Astoria
implemented the fee in
March. It charges any trade
vessel 250 feet or longer a
$300 fee, whether it docks
there or continues upriver.
Revenue from the fee will
fund the operation and
maintenance of a pier that
Edward Stratton/The Astorian
The Port of Astoria hopes a new harbor fee will help maintain
infrastructure on Pier 1.
provides an emergency
berth to distressed vessels.
The P ort is not required to
offer the service.
The Port of Longview
already sent a similar letter
to the Port of Astoria, and
the Port of Vancouver is
By AUBREY WIEBER
Oregon Capital Bureau
A fi rst-ever survey of
Oregon public agencies
sheds light on how well gov-
ernment of all sizes complies
with public records law.
The results are a mixed
bag, said Ginger McCall, the
state’s public records advo-
cate. The survey was sent to
132 bodies, a mix of state
agencies, counties, cities,
school districts, boards and
special services districts.
Ninety-seven responded and
35 did not.
“I was very pleased
with the rate of response,”
McCall said. “I was pleased
to see that broadly agencies
are taking this seriously.”
Public records law works
to ensure the public has
access to documents and
information produced by
public agencies, employees
and offi cials. It can be any-
thing from emails between
the governor and her staff
to police reports to docu-
mentation showing sexual
abuse by a public school
teacher. Journalists rely on
public documents for their
reporting, but the public
has the same right to that
information.
The point of the survey is
to see how well public agen-
cies are following the law.
The survey asked gov-
ernment bodies how many
records
requests
they
received in 2018, how many
they completed within the
15-day deadline, how many
were completed within 60
days of the original request,
how many fee waivers they
granted and how much
money they collected in fees
for fulfi lling the requests.
The results were all over
the board. Some, like the
Oregon Medical Board,
completed all 1,414 requests
within the 15 days. Oregon
State Police completed 800
of its 4,764 requests within
the 15-day statutory dead-
line. Oregon State Police
and the Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality each
received more than 4,000
RE-OPENING
WINTER OF 2019!
requests — far more than
any other agency.
Wendy Landers leads
the Oregon State Police’s
records division, which is a
team of fi ve, though she said
most work is done by two
people.
“Our requests are so
large,” she said. “We have
to, of course, review them
for exemptions and all of
that.”
Oregon State Police has
several divisions, and gets
all kinds of records from the
public in addition to media.
Sometimes it’s a copy of
a citation, sometimes it’s
information from about the
sex offender registry.
The requests are large,
and often “weird,” said
Capt. Tim Fox. Oregon State
Police has to run things by
partners like district attor-
neys to make sure the infor-
mation won’t impact an
ongoing case, and some
requests, like for video, can
take a long time.
“I think we do pretty well
on public records given the
inordinate amount we get,”
Fox said.
Other state agencies, like
the Department of Justice,
reported they don’t track this
information.
McCall said many agen-
cies who struggle to fi ll
requests on time say it’s a
staffi ng issue, but she said
that speaks to the priorities
of the agency. She suggested
uniform software to help
agencies .
“It seem like one poten-
tial area for improvement
would be to procure and pro-
vide to state agencies at least
some kind of tool to track
and fulfi ll public records
requests,” McCall said.
Fox said public records
aren’t a low priority — he
said despite it not being
in his job description, he
spends about 20% of his
time working on records
requests. It’s just a busi-
ness decision. If you add to
records staff, are you going
to pull from sex offender
registry staff, or troopers on
the highway?
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considering the same, said
Mark Wilson, Port of Kala-
ma’s executive director.
“I’m always hesitant to
talk to another port about
their choice, but it has an
impact on us,” Wilson
said. “It’s not the right way
to do things, and I’m not
sure it’s legal.”
The Columbia River
Steamship
Operators’
Association said in July it
is prepared to sue the P ort
because it believes the fee
conflicts with the com-
merce clause of the U.S.
Constitution.
The Port announced
this month that it would
hold off on collecting the
fee while awaiting a likely
legal challenge.
Public records survey shows mixed bag for Oregon
Subscription rates
Eff ective May 1, 2019
Out of County Rates available at 800-781-3214
strengthen our nuisance
ordinance in the county,”
Wev said. “In Oregon, we
have pretty strong tenants’
rights rules, etcetera, and of
course, exercise due process
in everything we do. And so,
it just takes so much time to
be able to act on properties
like that.
“And I’d like to see
maybe our ordinance have
a little bit more teeth in it
so that we don’t have to
put neighborhoods through
what those folks have been
through.”
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Animal Hospital
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