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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 2019)
A2 THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2019 IN BRIEF A FOOTBALL JAMBOREE Astoria reroutes traffi c for waterfront bridge replacement Astoria recently began the second phase of its water- front bridge replacement project, closing vehicle and pedestrian crossings at Sixth, Eighth and 10th streets. The city received a state Department of Transporta- tion grant to repair six waterfront bridges between Sixth and 11th streets. The fi rst phase of the project, address- ing odd-numbered streets, fi nished late this summer. Replacement of the even-numbered street ends has closed vehicle access along 10th Street between the Astoria Riverwalk and Marine Drive, and along Sixth and Eighth streets between the Riverwalk and Astor Street. The city recommends parking on Marine Drive. Riverwalk foot traffi c has been detoured to Astor Street between Fifth and 10th streets, and to Marine Drive between 10th and 11th streets, before returning to the waterfront. In a youth football jamboree Saturday at CMH Field, Astoria posted a dramatic 7-6 win over Tillamook, when Sam Mather (81) tossed a touchdown pass to Tucker Delay on the fi nal play of regulation, with Mather running in the conversion. Delay is being hoisted by Astoria coach Zac Patterson. Astoria Warming Center plans neighborhood meeting The Astoria Warming Center is holding a preseason neighborhood meeting. The meeting will be at the First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall at 4 p.m. on Sunday. People are welcome to share ideas, concerns and information for the upcoming shelter season. Morrison steps down from rec district board SEASIDE — Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District board member Lindsey Morrison has stepped down for personal reasons. She resigned Sept. 20. Morrison won Position 5 on the recreation district’s board in May with 42% of the vote. — The Astorian DEATHS Oct. 18, 2019 GODWIN, Frances Marie, 87, of Seaside, died in Seaside. Cald- well’s Funeral & Crema- tion Arrangement Center of Seaside is in charge of the arrangements. Oct. 17, 2019 MAY, Charles Web- ster, 85, of Astoria, died in Portland. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. MEMORIALS Saturday, Oct. 26 CORDER, Steven Jay “Steve” — Celebration of life potluck at 2 p.m., Masonic Lodge, 1572 Franklin Ave. WELCH, Patrick Scott — Remembrance cele- bration of life at 2 p.m., Coastline Christian Fel- lowship, 89386 Oregon Hi ghway 202 in Olney. Sunday, Oct. 27 TARR, Janice P. — Memorial during the 9:30 a.m. regular service, St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church, 36335 U.S. High- way 101 in Nehalem. All are welcome. ON THE RECORD Assault • Tyson David Bur- nard, 23, of Astoria, was arrested Saturday on state Highway 202 for assault in the fourth degree. Child neglect • Donald Oscar Lans- down Jr., 42, of Astoria, was arrested Friday on Columbia Drive in Sea- side for two counts of child neglect in the sec- ond degree. DUII • Anthony Mein- hardt, 31, of Elizabeth- town, Pennsylvania, was arrested Friday in Sea- side for driving under the infl uence of intoxicants, failure to drive within the lane and careless driving. His blood alcohol con- tent was 0.13%. Reckless driving • Colin Ellery Krueger, 47, of Puyal- lup, Washington, was arrested Friday for reck- less driving. Police said he was driving west- bound on U.S. High- way 30 in Astoria when he lost control of his car and drove off the west- bound shoulder down an embankment. PUBLIC MEETINGS TUESDAY Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District Board of Directors, 5:15 p.m., Bob Chisholm Community Cen- ter, 1225 Avenue A, Seaside. Astoria Planning Commis- sion, 6:30 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. WEDNESDAY Astoria Parks Board, 6:45 a.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. THURSDAY Sunset Empire Trans- portation District Board, 9 a.m., Astoria Transit Center Conference Room, 900 Marine Drive. Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce Council, 12 p.m., 818 Commercial Street, Suite 203. Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., work session, City Hall, 1095 Duane St. Established July 1, 1873 Circulation phone number: 503-325-3211 Periodicals postage paid at Astoria, OR (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 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 Gary Henley/The Astorian Oregon Coast hospitals work on earthquake resilience By TOM BANSE Northwest News Network The state of Oregon is pushing the community hos- pitals along the Oregon Coast to improve their earthquake resilience. This comes after a state report predicted none of them would be able to sustain operations after the feared Big One — a magnitude 9 offshore Cascadia earthquake and tsunami. Hospitals in Washington state were called out too, in a separate report by that state’s government. The challenge is inspiring some creative think- ing about how these hospitals might secure extended emer- gency power and water. A year and a half ago, the Oregon Health Authority gathered the head honchos of all 11 Oregon coastal hospi- tals in a conference room in Newport. The hospital CEOs heard a sobering warning fol- lowed by a call to action. A state resilience engineer told them their coastal towns will be isolated by landslides, col- lapsed bridges and turned into de facto islands after a great Cascadia earthquake. “We understand now that we should plan our resiliency efforts around a mark of about three weeks or more,” said Dr. Lesley Ogden, CEO of the Samaritan North Lin- coln Hospital in Lincoln City and Samaritan Pacifi c Com- munities Hospital in New- port who was present at the meeting. “We should expect to be totally on our own with- out deliveries of fuel or water or anything else.” In the wake of the 2016 Cascadia Rising quake pre- paredness exercise, Oregon and Washington emergency planners upped the amount of time the average North- west resident should be pre- pared to be self-suffi cient. The guidelines went from three days to two weeks. The longer, three-week stan- dard for the coastal hospi- tals comes from the assump- tion that coastal counties will sustain the worst earthquake damage, plus a tsunami, and be cut off the longest. Conveniently, Ogden is overseeing the construction of a new hospital in Lin- coln City. It represents a big advance in quake readiness over the 50-year-old building it replaces. The new hospital fea- tures remarkably robust steel beams, bracing and deep pil- ings for what is mostly a one- story structure. Facilities director Chris Lemar noted fl exible connectors in the pip- ing throughout a guided tour. “You can shake ‘em pretty good and it’s not going to break,” Lemar said, after rat- tling a fl exible pipe. “That way this can keep running once the shaking stops.” Ogden and Lemar expressed confi dence that the new hospital building would Tom Banse/Northwest News Network Dr. Lesley Ogden and Chris Lemar stand beside the backup generator at Lincoln City’s new hospital, which is mounted on a shock-absorbing rack to protect against an earthquake. remain standing after a mag- nitude 9 earthquake. “Now our obligation is to fi gure out how to care for patients in it and how to have things such as power, water and all of those things we need to provide care,” Ogden added. The time after a major earthquake might be the moment of greatest need. Getting the hospital self-suf- fi cient on water and electric- ity for three weeks will be an ongoing challenge once the new building opens in early February. The new Lincoln City hospital has an outside wall connector to receive water from a fi re truck in an out- age, which the old hospital doesn’t have. Disaster plan- ners also are casting an eye on Devil’s Lake as a water source, which is less than one block away. However, there is risk in relying on this coastal lake for freshwater because saltwater may wash in with a tsunami after a Cas- cadia quake. At the state health author- ity, emergency operations director Akiko Saito said the spotlight cast by the Oregon Coastal Hospital Resilience Project is bringing positive change from Astoria to Gold Beach. “We’re talking about a catastrophic event. I think in the end I don’t know that we’re ever going to be 100% ready, but I think we’re defi - nitely in a much better spot,” Saito said in an interview. There is not an exact cor- ollary in Washington state to the Oregon project. The smaller number of hospi- tals on Washington’s outer coast are making piecemeal upgrades individually. A spokeswoman for the state Department of Health said the agency reviews each hos- pital’s emergency response plan and is collecting data for a longer-term resilience effort. WANTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 In California, the Legisla- ture set deadlines of 2020 and 2030 for hospitals to build anew or upgrade their build- ings to ensure they are func- tional after a strong earth- quake. The higher standards passed into law after a mag- nitude 6.7 earthquake near Los Angeles in 1994, which damaged 11 hospitals and forced eight to evacuate. Meanwhile in Florence, Peace Harbor hospital has a plan to use shallow back-up water wells drilled on its property to ensure uninter- rupted water supply. In Reedsport, the Lower Umpqua Hospital hopes to get water resupply from a portable, military-grade water purifi cation plant the city recently acquired with a grant. The reverse osmosis desalination unit has a listed capacity to produce 5,000- 10,000 gallons of potable water per day. Ogden said Samaritan Health is talking with the city of Newport about build- ing a large water storage tank near the hospital in New- port, which could hold at least three weeks’ supply. A new water reservoir with an “earthquake hardened” con- nection to the hospital is also on the wish list for Reed- sport provided funding can be arranged, said City Man- ager Jonathan Wright. Saito said earthquake preparations also involve planning of how to move patients out of coastal hos- pitals to less affected facil- ities far inland, possibly by helicopter. The small hospital in Coquille near the southern Oregon Coast is seriously looking at building a “micro- grid.” This could provide backup power for as long as needed. It would entail a large solar array, battery stor- age, diesel generator and a switchable grid connection. “It’s always diffi cult to launch into a large capital expenditure strictly for disas- ter preparedness,” said Jeff Lang, CEO of Coquille Val- ley Hospital. “The beauty of a microgrid system is that during a disaster it helps up take care of our community and during normal opera- tion times it helps us reduce the overall cost to the hospi- tal for electricity — and it’s a green solution.” Southern Coos Hospital in Bandon is also interested in a solar microgrid, except in this case the idea is that the municipal utility would build and own the backup power project at the city shop, which is about 1,000 feet away from the hospital. The Bandon electric depart- ment is waiting to hear more about pricing from potential vendor Siemens, which is also working with Coquille Valley. “Basically from an ongo- ing cost perspective it makes fi nancial sense and from a resilience standpoint it makes fi nancial sense,” Lang said in an interview. “So I’m really excited about it.” However, Lang said there is still a lot of legwork to be done to work through the details and the fi nanc- ing package before seeking approval from his hospital district’s board. A 2017 report on earth- quake preparedness deliv- ered to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee identifi ed gaps and barriers in the hospital realm. The cost of seismic upgrades was a big one. Small, rural hospitals often can’t absorb this expense. That’s why in Oregon an advisor on how to apply for state and fed- eral grants sometimes tagged along with the hospital resil- ience project. The Oregon hospital resil- ience project was paid for with a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Saito said coast-wide activities are wrapping up in the com- ing months as grant funding transitions to regional pre- paredness planning groups. Seismologists say the Pacifi c Northwest has entered the broad time win- dow for the next rupture of the offshore Cascadia fault zone. The last big shake from the Cascadia Subduc- tion Zone fault happened in the year 1700. The boundary where the tectonic plates are colliding stretches from Van- couver Island to Northern California.
