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THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019
Celebrating culture
IN BRIEF
Master Sgt. John Hughel
Oregon National Guard Lt. Col. Wesley Risher and
members of the squadron salute during a mobilization
ceremony at Astoria High School.
Air control squadron to deploy to Asia
Family and friends gathered at Astoria High School
on Sunday for a mobilization ceremony for the Ore-
gon Air National Guard’s 116th Air Control Squadron.
More than 100 airmen are deploying to Southwest
Asia.
The squadron is based at Camp Rilea in Warrenton.
Seaside approves new fee
on vacation rentals
SEASIDE — The City Council has approved a new
$400 fee on vacation rentals.
The fee will be added to the three-tiered license
structure for the city’s 275 vacation rental properties.
The cost is $75 for one to fi ve occupants, $100 for six
to 10 occupants and $150 for 11 or more occupants.
Money from the fee will be used to fi nance a code
enforcement offi cer.
But the increase could lead to further discussion
about how funds are distributed. Currently, the fi rst
$100,000 collected will go toward a code enforcement
offi cer to monitor local rentals, City Manager Mark
Winstanley said. The next $65,000 is distributed to
the Seaside Chamber of Commerce and the Seaside
Downtown Development Association.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
Nov. 3, 2019
BERGSTROM, Donna
Dean, 90, of Astoria, died
in Seaside. Ocean View
Funeral & Cremation Ser-
vice of Astoria is in charge
of the arrangements.
SLOTTE,
Dar-
lene J., 72, of Seaside,
died in Astoria. Ocean
View Funeral & Cre-
mation Service of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
Nov. 2, 2019
STULTZ, Carl, 71, of
Astoria, died in Portland.
Hughes-Ransom Mor-
tuary is in charge of the
arrangements.
Oct. 31, 2019
OLIVER, Annie, 69,
of Astoria, died in Asto-
ria.
Hughes-Ransom
Mortuary is in charge of
the arrangements.
MEMORIALS
Saturday, Nov. 9
HAGNAS, Carl Axel
— Memorial and open
house from 2 to 4 p.m.,
Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, 350
Niagara Ave. Hagnas, 70,
of Ontario, formerly of
Warrenton, died Thursday
in Ontario.
HAWKINS, Bart Alan
— Celebration of life at
1 p.m., Seaside Assem-
bly of God Church, 540
S. Holla day Drive in
Seaside.
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Cristal García-Álvarez, 8, performs with Mi Cultura, a Latino folkloric dance group, at the Día de los muertos celebration Saturday
at the Barbey Maritime Center. Día de los muertos is a holiday originating in Mexico and Central America that celebrates the
spiritual journey of family and community members who have passed. The event was hosted by Lower Columbia Hispanic Council.
Woman leads
police on wild chase
on the peninsula
By JEFF CLEMENS
For the Chinook Observer
ILWACO, Wash. — A
California motorist who fl ed
from a traffi c stop in Ray-
mond on Sunday morning
was arrested in Ilwaco fol-
lowing a lengthy chase on
U.S. Highway 101.
Gina Marie Garcia, 49, of
Sacramento, faces a charge
of felony eluding, which car-
ries a maximum sentence of
fi ve years in prison and up to
a $10,000 fi ne.
Raymond
police
requested aid from surround-
ing agencies after the driver
of a yellow and white 2014
Fiat 500L sped out of Ray-
mond just before 9 a.m.
Police initiated the stop after
the vehicle was allegedly
clocked going 20 mph over
the speed limit in the south-
bound lane of the highway .
The vehicle continued
southbound , reaching speeds
of 90 mph toward South
Bend.
In South Bend, the vehi-
cle swerved around a South
Bend police vehicle and con-
tinued to fl ee southbound.
Pacifi c County Sheriff’s
Offi ce deputies and Wash-
ington State Patrol joined the
pursuit.
Units attempted a spike
strip near m ilepost 42 that
was unsuccessful, before
another attempt at m ilepost
30 that took out the driv-
er-side tires.
Units tried again near
m ilepost 17 and took out the
passenger-side tires.
A California woman who led police on a high-speed chase
crashed in Ilwaco.
The vehicle contin-
ued southbound on High-
way 101, reaching speeds
near 100 mph on bare rims,
before being pitted in Ilwaco
by a Ford Explorer driven by
a state t rooper . The Fiat col-
lided into a 2000 Ford F-350
pickup owned by an Astoria
man and crashed up onto a
curb and into an apartment
complex yard .
The pursuit intervention
technique consists of bump-
ing a vehicle from the side
near the rear wheel, causing
the vehicle to spin out.
Garcia was apprehended
at the scene. There were no
injuries during the chase or
the stop, Washington State
Patrol Sgt. Brad Moon said.
The highway just east
of Ilwaco’s main intersec-
tion was closed, with a
short detour in place, while
authorities concluded their
investigation.
ON THE RECORD
Strangulation
• Richard Ellis Ken-
drick, 44, of Seaside,
was arrested Sunday on
Avenue U in Seaside for
strangulation.
Menacing
• Joseph Ontario
Haynes, 30, of Warrenton,
was arrested Saturday at
Sunset Lake Campground
& RV Park for menacing
and harassment.
DUII
• Eric Thor Nyman, 56,
of Astoria, was arrested
Saturday on the 300 block
of W. Grand Avenue for
driving under the infl u-
ence of intoxicants. His
blood alcohol content was
0.22%.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Seaside Community
Center Commission,
10:30 a.m., Bob Chisholm
Community Center, 1225
Avenue A.
Port of Astoria Commis-
sion, 4 p.m., Port offi ces,
10 Pier 1 Suite 209.
Seaside Library Board,
4:30 p.m., Seaside Public
Library, 1131 Broadway.
Sunset Empire Park
and Recreation District,
5:15 p.m., Bob Chisholm
Community Center, 1225
Avenue A.
Miles Crossing Sanitary
Sewer District Board,
6 p.m., 34583 U.S. Highway
101 Business.
WEDNESDAY
Seaside Improvement
Commission, 6 p.m., City
Hall, 989 Broadway.
Gearhart City Council,
7 p.m., City Hall, 698 Pacifi c
Way.
THURSDAY
Northwest Oregon Hous-
ing Authority, 10 a.m.,
147 S. Main Ave., Warren-
ton.
Clatsop County Board
of Commissioners,
12:30 p.m., work session,
800 Exchange St., Astoria.
Seaside Parks Advisory
Committee, 6 p.m., City
Hall, 989 Broadway.
Established July 1, 1873
Circulation phone number:
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MAIL (IN COUNTY)
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Oregon poplar acreage headed for auction
By MATEUSZ
PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
More than 3,000 acres of
farmland along the Columbia
River in Oregon will be auc-
tioned off as a timber invest-
ment fi rm discontinues grow-
ing poplar trees.
Greenwood Resources,
an investment company that
owns and manages forest-
land, is selling off the fi nal 12
parcels of what was once part
of a much larger 31,000-acre
poplar operation in Oregon
and Washington state.
“This was the last asset
in this investment,” said
John Rosenthal, president of
Realty Marketing/Northwest,
a real estate company that’s
handling the auction.
The minimum bid for all
the Columbia County prop-
erties combined is nearly $8
million, but potential buyers
may also bid on individual
parcels ranging in price from
about $100,000 to $2.6 mil-
lion each. Sealed bids are due
by Nov. 13.
Roughly 2,000 acres still
have poplar trees growing on
them, more than 500 acres
GeoTerra, Inc.
Poplar tree farm in Columbia County.
are fallow farmland and the
remaining acreage is consid-
ered “non-commercial” land
that can be dedicated to wild-
life habitat and recreation.
Nearly 1,400 acres have
water rights for irrigation and
the parcels are located near
the Port Westward Industrial
Park, Rosenthal said.
“It’s an interesting collec-
tion,” he said. “It’s an unusual
asset.”
Representatives of Green-
wood Resources did not
respond to request for com-
ment, but timber industry
experts say the company’s
withdrawal from poplar pro-
duction was likely motivated
by the tough economics of
Accepting Donations for our
Rummage Sale
November 11-14 • 10 am-4 pm
New & used clothing, household items,
furniture, toys, and more.
No dirty or broken items please. No fridges or freezers.
Questions?
Call Barb at 503-791-6613
or Jerry at 503-791-1770
Out of County Rates available at 800-781-3214
Sponsored by Catholic Daughters of the Americas,
Court 151 AND Star of the Sea Knights of Columbus.
All proceeds go to scholarship fund for both groups.
DIGITAL
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14th & Grand, Astoria
growing pulpwood for a U.S.
paper industry facing stiff
international competition.
The low profi t margins
of producing poplar proba-
bly weren’t enough to justify
growing the trees on irrigated
land in a desirable climate,
said Gordon Culbertson,
director of international busi-
ness for the Forest2Market
timber industry consulting
fi rm.
“I think the owners of the
timber came to the conclu-
sion it was more valuable as
ag land,” he said.
Poplar plantations arose in
the aftermath of steep logging
declines on federal land in the
Northwest, when paper com-
panies worried about acquir-
ing suffi cient wood chips to
run their plants, Culbertson
said.
However, the anticipated
wood chip shortage never
materialized, he said.
Using the trees as biomass
for energy production also
encountered economic prob-
lems, since such feedstocks
must necessarily be inex-
pensive, said Richard Zabel,
executive director of the
Western Forestry and Con-
servation Association.
“The price they’re paying
for biomass is so low, it’s not
worth the time and expense to
harvest your trees,” he said.
Since transporting cheap
wood chips over long dis-
tances is fi nancially unfeasi-
ble, pulpwood producers are
dependent on the fortunes
and demand of nearby mills,
Zabel said.
“You need someone close
by who’s going to buy it,”
he said. “That’s always been
the weak link. You just can’t
afford to haul it very far.”
The economic problem
becomes worse during down-
turns in the market, and the
U.S. paper industry faces
strong headwinds, said Todd
Hansen, fuel procurement
manager for the Biomass One
energy company.
“For years, the pulp and
paper business has been
shrinking across the U.S., he
said. “Other places produce it
cheaper.”
Efforts to grow poplars to
a larger size so they could be
milled for hardwood furniture
were complicated by compe-
tition from alder trees, which
are highly valued in the furni-
ture industry, Zabel said.
Alder trees grow natu-
rally as volunteers amid the
Northwest’s Douglas fi rs and
they’ve been able to satisfy
the furniture market with-
out having to be managed as
plantations, he said.
“It’s an aggressive plant
that comes in after a clear-
cut,” Zabel said.
WANTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500