147TH YEAR, NO. 40
Illnesses
force
Knappa
to cancel
school
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019
COUNTY WELCOMES
NEW MANAGER
Bohn’s focus is
on relationships
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
Knappa High School and Hilda Lahti
Elementary School closed Monday
because of illnesses among students and
teachers and to give custodial staff time to
do a deep cleaning.
Superintendent Paulette Johnson
described the illnesses as the fl u or noro-
virus. She said on Monday that between
50 and 75 students and about 10 staffers
were out sick.
“We were unable to fi ll all of the teacher
openings and the health department sug-
gested we deep clean and encourage folks
to stay home,” she said in a text message
on Sunday. “Some of that occurred today
with more planned for tomorrow.
“It started on Friday sending a large
number of students home. We asked par-
ents on Facebook to post if their children
got ill over the weekend. The numbers
increased yesterday and more today. So
after informing the board of the situation
the decision was made to close for tomor-
row with classes resuming on Tuesday.”
Parents were advised that students
should be symptom-free of illness for 48
hours before they return to school.
The school district will run normal bus
routes but is dealing with a couple of driv-
ers out, which could affect transporta-
tion home from athletic practices, John-
son said.
$1.50
C
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Don Bohn is Clatsop County’s new manager.
‘WHAT I AM HOPEFUL FOR, THOUGH,
IS WE DON’T LOSE OUR CIVILITY AND
WE DON’T GET TO A POINT WHERE WE
DON’T SEE EACH OTHER, WE SEE OUR
DIFFERENCES, BUT NOT ALL OF OUR
SIMILARITIES. I’M STILL OPTIMISTIC.
I STILL FEEL VERY GOOD ABOUT
WHERE WE’RE GENERALLY HEADED.’
ounty Commissioner Lianne Thompson
brought jars of honey from her family
trip in the Midwest to share with fellow
commissioners and staff at a board meeting on
Wednesday night.
The gifts were a personal touch, but
given the salty relationships between the
Board of Commissioners and the past few
county managers, they were also a little
symbolic.
“They sent us sweetness,” Thompson said.
“They sent me back with a gallon of Michigan
honey to share with my colleagues to celebrate
the sweet moment that our new county man-
ager brings to us. May all your days here be as
sweet as this honey.
“Cheers to Don Bohn.”
Bohn, the former assistant county admin-
istrator in Washington County, is the county’s
10th manager over the past two decades. He
replaces Cameron Moore, who retired after less
than three years on the job after clashes with
some on the county commission.
Monica Steele, the county’s budget director,
served as interim county manager until Bohn
started in mid-September .
“She’s done a great job and I respect the job
that she’s done,” Bohn said, saying he looks
forward to working with Steele.
See Manager, Page A5
Don Bohn | county manager
Local artists create
gallery show from trash
Interesting display at
Astoria Visual Arts
By LUCY KLEINER
The Astorian
I
Photos by Edward Stratton/The Astorian
Diane Collier has staff ed the Warrenton Visitor Center and Museum at the Youngs Bay Plaza
since 2011. The center closed after her last shift Monday.
Warrenton’s museum closes
Town historian
completes last shift
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
WARRENTON — The Warrenton Visi-
tor Center and Museum at the Youngs Bay
Plaza closed Monday after the last shift of
volunteer Diane Collier, the city’s unoffi -
cial historian.
Collier, 79, helped form the Warren-
ton-Hammond Historical Society three
decades ago with her friend, Pat Williams.
She has gathered a vast array of photos,
books and other records documenting War-
renton and Hammond’s history.
“My history in Warrenton goes back
before white people,” Collier said. “My
great-great grandfather was the last chief
of the Clatsop Indians.”
The society operated a historical
museum in the Lighthouse Park near the
intersection of Harbor Drive and Main
Avenue in downtown . The museum moved
n the right-hand corner of the Astoria
Visual Arts gallery, out of an arrangement
of abandoned Styrofoam and a jumble of
microplastic, tiny green
plants grow. They’re
surrounded by trash —
thick metal rods weave
among them, a mas-
sive, rotting fi shing net
hangs from above, a plastic, fl esh-colored
hand protrudes from below.
But still, they grow.
This assortment of trash and life is artist
Jessica Schleif’s “Hope Garden.”
“We are part of nature, and to be able to
see nature forging through the cement, the
tarmac, the places that we make that are
devoid of nature, it gives me hopefulness,”
she said. “I wanted to create a small garden
within the gallery that spoke to that feeling
of hope that I saw.”
Schleif is one of the three artists behind
“Fugitive,” a gallery show . The creative
Jesse Jones with a fi sh that washed up on the
beach.
process brought Schleif, Dawn Stetzel and
Jesse Jones together, and resulted in an
art display made entirely of recycled trash
found in the natural world.
See Artists, Page A6
Diane Collier, an unoffi cial historian of the
Warrenton-Hammond region, traces her
roots back to the Clatsop Indians.
to the Youngs Bay Plaza in 2011 after the
Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Com-
merce stopped manning the visitor center.
Tracking the city’s history has been an
old person’s game. The historical society
disbanded quite some time ago, Collier
said, and her corps of volunteers operating
the visitor center dwindled to three.
The city owns the visitor center and
leases the land from Atlas Investments,
owners of the Youngs Bay Plaza. A clause
in the lease requires the building be run as
a visitor’s center or removed.
Lucy Kleiner/The Astorian
See Museum, Page A5
Artists, from left, Jessica Schleif, Dawn Stetzel and Jesse Jones in front of a grid of single-use
plastic trays used to sample water.