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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 24, 2019)
A2 THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 ON THE RECORD Attempted robbery • Trace Lee Morris, 47, was arrested Fri- day on Eight and Astor streets for disorderly conduct in the second degree and attempted robbery in the third degree after attempt- ing to steal a six-pack of beer from Buoy Beer. Police said when confronted by staff he attempted to push past them using force. He was confrontational and threatening to offi cers when they arrived and allegedly told offi cers he would fi ght them if they attempted to arrest him. DUII • Elliott Mitch- ell Jarrell, 59, of Sea- side, was arrested Sun- day on Highland Lane and U.S. Highway 101 in Gearhart for driving under the infl uence of intoxicants and reckless driving. • Anthony Stoin- ich, 59, of Astoria, was arrested Friday for DUII, driving with an invalid license and fail- ure to carry and pres- ent a valid license after allegedly rear-ending a vehicle on U.S. High- way 101 near Marlin Avenue in Warrenton. His blood alcohol con- tent was 0.14%. Harassment • Joshua James Thomas, 34, of Arch Cape, was arrested Sat- urday on Carnahan Road in Arch Cape for harass- ment and menacing. Strangulation • Timothy Owen Viles, 32, of Seaside, was arrested Saturday off U.S. Highway 26 in Seaside for strangula- tion, criminal mischief in the third degree, inter- fering with making a police report and assault in the fourth degree. Reckless driving • Benjamin J. Har- die, 35, of Astoria, was arrested early Sun- day morning for reck- less driving, hit and run and criminal mischief. Police said he crashed into two parked vehi- cles on the 1500 block of Exchange Street and left the scene. • Toni Lynn Couch, 57, of Seaside, and John Adams Knapp, 22, were cited and released Fri- day for reckless driving following a road rage incident that ended in a crash on U.S. Highway 101 and Sunset Beach Lane. The two drivers allegedly began chas- ing, passing and bump- ing each other’s cars on the southbound lanes of U.S. Highway 101 near Ensign Lane. One vehicle left the road- way and crashed into a utility pole near Sun- set Beach Lane, while the other driver left the scene and continued south. Seaside police offi cers stopped the fl eeing driver. The high- way was shut down for an extended time while a Pacifi c Power crew responded to clear the downed power lines. Disorderly conduct • Lindsey Miller, 27, of Astoria, was arrested Sunday on the 3500 block of Frank- lin Avenue for disor- derly conduct in the sec- ond degree and resisting arrest. DEATH Sept. 20, 2019 SEGER, Linus, 92, of McMinnville, formerly of Astoria, died in McMinnville. Hughes-Ransom Mor- tuary is in charge of the arrangements. BIRTHS Sept. 13, 2019 BRAMEL, Eliza- beth, and MacDON- ALD, Mica, of War- renton, a boy, Hunter Forrest-Dean MacDon- ald, born at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria. Grandparents are Jill Bramel and Tracy E. MacDonald and Eliz- abeth MacDonald, all of Seaside. July 28, 2019 WOODS, Natasha, and HANSEN, Alec, of Westport, a girl, Allie Grace Hansen, born at Columbia Memorial Hospital. Grandparents are Kathryne Woods and Donald Woods. MEMORIAL Saturday, Sept. 28 BOLES, Leanne Wheeler — Celebration of life at 11 a.m., North Coast Family Fellowship, 2245 N. Wahanna Road in Seaside. PUBLIC MEETINGS TUESDAY Astoria Library Board, 5:30 p.m., Astoria Library Flag Room, 450 10th St. Warrenton City Commis- sion, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main Ave. Seaside Airport Advisory Committee, 6 p.m., Seaside Municipal Airport, 2797 U.S. Highway 101. Astoria Planning Commis- sion, 6:30 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. WEDNESDAY Astoria Parks Board, 6:45 a.m., City Hall, 1095 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 Duane St. Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, 6 p.m., Judge Guy Boyington Building, 857 Commercial St., Astoria. THURSDAY Sunset Empire Transporta- tion District Board, 9 a.m., Astoria Transit Center Con- ference Room, 900 Marine Drive. Clatsop County Recre- ational Lands Planning and Advisory Committee, 1 p.m., fourth fl oor, 800 Exchange St., Astoria. Circulation phone number: 503-325-3211 Periodicals postage paid at Astoria, OR ADVERTISING OWNERSHIP All advertising copy and illustrations prepared by The Astorian become the property of The Astorian and may not be reproduced for any use without explicit prior approval. COPYRIGHT © Entire contents © Copyright, 2019 by The Astorian. MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF CIRCULATIONS, INC. Printed on recycled paper Subscription rates Eff ective May 1, 2019 MAIL (IN COUNTY) EZpay (per month) ...............................................................................................................$11.25 13 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$37.00 26 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$71.00 52 weeks in advance ........................................................................................................ $135.00 Out of County Rates available at 800-781-3214 DIGITAL EZpay (per month) .................................................................................................................$8.00 Taking shape R.J. Marx/The Astorian A new school campus is taking shape in Seaside’s Southeast Hills. Septic disposal costs up 50% on peninsula Warrenton plant no longer an option By ASHLEY NERBOVIG Chinook Observer LONG BEACH, Wash. — The cost to get a home’s septic tank pumped on the Long Beach Peninsula has gone up to about $600 from $400 after an Oregon treat- ment plant said it would no longer treat water and solids from Pacifi c and Wahkiakum counties. Few treatment plants are willing to accept septic sys- tem waste from places other than the communities in which they operate. Pacifi c and Wahkiakum counties are without a septic waste treat- ment plant of their own. This means the stuff pumped out from septic tanks, called sep- tage, must be hauled to plants farther away, which drives up costs. This month, Warrenton’s Advanced Wastewater Treat- ment Plant told Ben Woodby, co-owner of Evergreen Sep- tic, the plant could no lon- ger accept his residential sep- tage. Woodby and his partner, Claude Noyes, own the pri- mary septic servicing com- pany for Pacifi c and Wahkia- kum counties. The treatment plant’s decision was predictable, as it stopped accepting septage pumped out of commercial businesses’ septic tanks in February. Now Pacifi c and Wahkiakum home and busi- ness owners alike will feel the cost increase. The aver- age cost per gallon of septage pumped went up by about 20 cents compared to when War- renton was accepting septage from the counties, Woodby said. Septic tanks are used by businesses and homes that aren’t connected to city sewer systems. There are about 10,000 septic tanks in Pacifi c County, said Shawn Hum- phreys, the deputy director of environmental health for Pacifi c County’s community development department. For the past fi ve years, the Warrenton plant accepted Evergreen’s hauls and Woodby was grateful for the help. But he doesn’t blame them for not being able to keep up MEET NEW FRIENDS! BRING OLD FRIENDS! Ashley Nerbovig/Chinook Observer Corral Drive-In owner Ray Coulston waits for Ben Woodby, co-owner of Evergreen Septic, to fi nish pumping out the restaurant’s septic tanks. with the demand for septage treatment. When the plant stopped accepting commercial sep- tage, Woodby called about a dozen different treatment plants near Pacifi c and Wah- kiakum counties to try to fi nd somewhere that would accept outside haulers. “I got three that said ‘pos- sibly’ and then really we’ve only been hauling to two of those,” Woodby said. A Chehalis private treat- ment plant called Bio Recy- cling Corp. agreed to accept one haul a day from Woodby. But the drive to the treat- ment plant can take up to six hours round trip. The haul- ing time is the primary driver of increased costs.The truck can hold just 5,000 gallons of septage, which means almost daily trips to Chehalis during this time of year, Woodby said. And the long drive to Che- halis is already a stretch for Evergreen Septic. Woodby can’t have his driver haul far- ther than 100 miles before the business bumps up against a different set of trucking regulations. In addition to Chehalis, Woodby can take one haul a week to the Three Rivers Regional Wastewater Treat- ment Plant in Longview. But without Chehalis, Ever- green Septic would have had to close until another plant opened up to outside haulers, Woodby said. “The biggest problem we have is if we don’t do some- thing to get something where we can be self-suffi cient in Pacifi c County, then we’re kind of at the mercy of all these other places,” Woodby said. FUN & GAMES ! LEARN ABOUT JESUS WITH PASTOR AJ JOIN US FOR AWANA! EVERY WEDNESDAY 6P-8P 3 years old - 6 TH GRADE 2245 N. WAHANNA RD • SEASIDE NCFFCHURCH.ORG COLLECT TICKETS TO WIN FUN PRIZES! Keep trucking For the moment, Woodby doesn’t see a solution for what to do about septage. In 2010, Woodby and Noyes applied for a land application permit with the Washington Department of Ecology. The land applica- tion site would have been in Wahkiakum County. The planned site helped spur Wahkiakum County to ban the spreading of biosolids, which is treated septage, on its private and public lands in 2011. The Department of Ecology sued the county, calling the ban unconstitu- tional. In 2014, the state’s Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Ecology and the state Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from the county in 2014. But after that, Woodby and Noyes would have had to reapply for a permit from Ecology, which is an expen- sive process, Woodby said. They had already made investments in a truck to spread the biosolids and in building a road to the site where the solids would have gone. All of which was an investment that had no return, Woodby said. And because of how much rain s outhwest Washington gets, land appli- cation would be limited to the summer months, and would only partially solve the problem, Woodby said. “There isn’t a light at the end of the tunnel yet,” Woodby said. “We’re kind of driving in the dark waiting for something to happen.” Peter Lyon, Ecology’s solid waste regional man- ager, helped to fi ght the Wah- kiakum County land appli- cation ban in 2011. But he understands why Woodby and Noyes soured on the plan in the face of such intense public criticism. Lyon hoped that the new wastewater treatment plant being built for the cities of Ilwaco and Long Beach would be able to treat septage from the area. Long Beach Commu- nity Development Direc- tor Ariel Smith said the city ran the plan by the engineers planning the treatment plant, who said aside from it being expensive, the plant wouldn’t have the capacity to accept septage in addition to the sewage from the two cities. Right now, the plant accepts the waste coming from the portable toilet side of Evergreen Septic and that is about all it can handle, said John Goulter, wastewa- ter plant operator for Long Beach. The bacteria that live in septic tanks and portable toilets don’t get along with the bacteria living in sewage systems, Goulter said. Private option Brenda Bamford owns Bio Recycling Corp. in Che- halis, the private wastewa- ter treatment plant. She was able to help Woodby out by accepting his septage hauls, but isn’t accepting any other new clients right now. Bio Recycling’s treat- ment process involves tak- ing human waste from septic tanks and small community wastewater treatment plants and recycling it into a “cake” that can be used by local farmers as a high-quality fer- tilizer. The plant takes the remaining waste and spreads it on reclaimed land that was once used for coal mining. The business started by Bamford’s father involved spreading biosolids on reclaimed lands that previ- ously were used for coal min- ing. The work done by Bio Recycling Corp. has restored the fertility and organic mat- ter in these areas, Bamford said. The company is inter- ested in expansion, but it is a daunting task. Even when Bamford has to reapply for a land application permit, she gets pushback from the community. “They want to fl ush the toilet and they want to know that it’s gone. T hey don’t want to think about where it goes,” Bamford said. Most people can’t get over the “yuck factor,’’ she said. Land application stud- ies have shown it to be safe and benefi cial when biosol- ids are able to dry in the sun after being applied, Ecol- ogy’s Lyon said. But there are ongoing concerns and it is something that the depart- ment must keep investigating as new issues are presented, he said. 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