Coast weekend: Irish Dance competition comes to Seaside
147TH YEAR, NO. 26
DailyAstorian.com // THuRsdAY, AugusT 29, 2019
$1.50
WHALE
VISION
Photos by Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
ABOVE: A humpback whale was spotted in the Columbia River near the
Astoria Bridge on Tuesday afternoon. Humpbacks migrate north in late
summer and fall and often swim up the river to feed. LEFT: A humpback
passes beneath the Astoria Bridge, heading for the ocean.
State probes Fishhawk Lake draining Lawsuit
Reports of a fish die-off
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
The Oregon State Police and
other agencies are investigating
after the 100-acre, man-made
Fishhawk Lake in northeastern
Clatsop County was drained to
fix an underground pipe, possi-
bly killing thousands of fish.
The lake was created along
Fishhawk Creek north of
Birkenfeld in the 1960s as part
of a private community overseen
by the Fishhawk Lake Reserve
and Community. Several creeks
dropped
in Seaside
drowning
feed into the lake, which then
drains down to Fishhawk Creek
and into the Nehalem River.
Capt. Timothy Fox, a spokes-
man for the state police, said the
agency was notified Aug. 22 that
the lake had been draining for a
week. Police began an investi-
gation into potential water qual-
ity violations “that may have
contributed to a fish kill in the
stream adjacent to the lake.”
Representatives from the
Department of State Lands, the
Department of Environmental
Quality and the Department of
Clatsop County
See Lake, Page A7
The Fishhawk Lake Reserve and Community recently drained the 100-acre
private lake to repair a drain pipe, drawing state scrutiny over a fish die-off.
Mother brought
claim against city
Maritime
museum’s
pond faces
delays
A place for model boats
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
A pond for sailing model boats hit
construction delays this summer, but the
Columbia River Maritime Museum now
plans to open the attraction near the end
of October.
The delayed open-
ing will give the
MORE
museum time to get to
INSIDE
know the pond during
uniontown
the winter ahead of
Reborn
spring and summer
heads
programs next year,
to City
said Bruce Jones, dep-
Council
uty director of the
museum and Astoria’s
Page A6
mayor.
The museum had
originally hoped the grand opening of the
pond and park on the site of the former
See Pond, Page A6
Petty Officer steve strohmaier
Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Tom O’Brien checks the light characteristics for the buoy.
Coast Guard repairs key buoy
Guide at the mouth of the river
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
Like drivers need stoplights or street
signs, mariners rely on navigation aids like
buoys and lighthouses to get to their desti-
nations safely.
The red-and-white striped buoy that sits
near the mouth of the Columbia River is the
first sign that signals the entrance.
At 18,500 pounds, 35-feet tall and 9-feet
wide, the buoy guides ships to safe waters as
they cross one of the most dangerous river
bars in the world.
The radio transmitter beacon on the buoy,
which produces a signal on radar so ships
can find it, was repaired this month after
being out since early April.
See Buoy, Page A6
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
SEASIDE — The mother of a 14-year-
old Oklahoma boy who drowned while
swimming in the ocean in Seaside in
2016 plans to drop a lawsuit claiming her
son and his cousin were not warned about
dangerous conditions.
L. Nicole Moore had sought $691,200.
The move comes days before a scheduled
phone conference between the city and
the family.
“I intend to dismiss my suit against
the city,” Moore said in an email. “The
suit was my way of fulfilling an obliga-
tion I felt to Conner. The last act I could
do for him, defend his character and try
to ensure this did not happen to anyone
else.”
The teenagers were visiting the North
Coast for a family reunion in July 2016.
Conner Moore and his cousin were in
the ocean at the foot of Broadway when
lifeguards saw the teenagers struggling.
After a rescue attempt, Conner Moore
was pronounced dead at Providence Sea-
side Hospital. His cousin survived.
The lawsuit, filed in July 2018, alleged
the teens were swimming in waters next
to an area that is “particularly dangerous
and this extremely hazardous condition
was not obvious to an ordinary person.”
The city asked the Circuit Court to
dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that Con-
ner Moore should have exercised care in
avoiding harm from an “activity that cre-
ates a hazardous condition.”
The case, which had entered the dis-
covery phase, had been tentatively sched-
uled for trial in 2020.
See Lawsuit, Page A6