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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2019)
ART STUDIO TOURS IN LONG BEACH »INSIDE WEEKLY RTAINMENT ARTS & ENTE 2019 THURSDAY, NOV. 21, TION AN EXPLORA EY OF DEATH VALL PAGE 4 PAINTING THE PENINSULA AMERICA’S SWEETEST BAKERY PAGE 8 WANDERING THROUGH WESTPORT ART STUDIO TOURS IN LONG BEACH PAGE 22 PAGE 10 DAY ENTRIES EVERY SUN RAV4! O WIN A TOYOTA DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2019 147TH YEAR, NO. 62 $1.50 Counties win $1 billion timber suit Clatsop County opted out By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press ALBANY — Jurors on Wednesday found in favor of 14 western Oregon coun- ties in a $1 billion lawsuit claiming the state deprived them of revenue for decades by limiting logging in state forests. The jury recommended the counties receive the past and future damages they had sought — $674 million in lost reve- nue since 2001, and $392 million in future Highway could narrow in Gearhart MORE INSIDE Environmentalists sue to stop 9,000-acre timber project Page A2 damages through 2069. Clatsop County opted out of the legal challenge. The Board of Commission- ers voted 3-2 in 2017 not to participate because they wanted more balanced forest management policies. “We will not have comment until we have an opportunity to review the deci- sion,” County Manager Don Bohn said in an email. The Sunset Empire Parks and Recre- ation District also opted out. Two dozen other taxing districts in the county, including the Port of Astoria, were part of the lawsuit. The taxing districts stand to receive $176 million for past dam- ages and $109 million for future damages. Blair Henningsgaard, an attorney who represents the Port and the Seaside and Jewell school districts, predicted the state would appeal. “Round one is over,” he said. Henningsgaard questioned the county commission’s vote to opt out. “They made a decision that in my opinion defi es any kind of logic,” he said. “I was told that they considered it to be a political statement, which is like having a tantrum. Clatsop County’s voice is import- ant, but what they’re saying is we’re not going to tell you what we think ... As a law- yer, I don’t understand it.” See Timber, Page A3 Astoria Ferry project in ‘hold-steady pattern’ Fewer lanes to improve safety By R.J. MARX The Astorian GEARHART — U.S. Highway 101 could narrow in Gearhart to reduce crashes and injuries. The highway would go from four lanes to two lanes with a center turn lane. The confi guration could reduce travel speeds and improve conditions for motor- ists trying to turn on and off the busy h ighway . One advantage is that it would make room for the turn lane and bicycle and pedestrian options without the need to expand the right of way. The city, the state Department of Transportation and the Northwest Ore- gon Area Commission on Transportation heard plans for the potential changes at a meeting in Astoria last week . The com- mission is made up of local leaders and stakeholders to address transportation issues in Clatsop, Columbia and Tilla- mook counties and the western portion of Washington County . “There’s a slew of things we need to address in Gearhart,” Ken Shonkwiler, a senior region planner with the Depart- ment of Transportation, said after the meeting. “We met with Northwest ACT to do more regional outreach and explain the importance of it.” The state is conducting a facilities plan to look at pedestrian and bike access to address specifi c concerns this upcoming year, he said. In 2017, with the adoption of its Trans- portation System Plan , Gearhart identi- fi ed 11 projects to improve roadway seg- ments and intersections that could cost an estimated $23 million to $25 million to complete. Consultants prioritized investments with four tiers, from the $1.2 million likely to be available through existing funding sources to a more than $20 mil- lion wish list that exceeds the likely level of city and state funding through 2040. Photos by Edward Stratton/The Astorian The Tourist No. 2 is parked on the eastern side of the causeway to Pier 39 in Astoria. Captain expected to take on bigger role By EDWARD STRATTON The Astorian E Christian Lint, the owner of the Tourist No. 2, will oversee the next phase of fundraising to press the vessel back into service on the Columbia River, according to the Astoria Ferry Group. fforts to press the historic Tour- ist No. 2 back into service on the Columbia River are in a “hold- steady pattern” as the Astoria Ferry Group seeks new board members and a stronger fundraising arm to move the project forward. The ferry group, a nonprofi t formed to oversee the ferry’s restoration after owner Christian Lint sailed it to Astoria from Bremerton, Washing- ton, in 2016, issued a news release See Astoria Ferry, Page A6 See Highway, Page A3 Journalist says communities need storytellers Pulitzer Prize winner spoke at Columbia Forum By JONATHAN WILLIAMS The Astorian Jonathan Williams/The Astorian Journalist Tom Hallman Jr. spoke at Columbia Forum on Tuesday about why stories matter. Tom Hallman Jr. was walk- ing the streets of Seaside talking to people about fallen Sgt. Jason Goodding while other reporters were inside the convention cen- ter listening to the governor. His story made the front page of The Oregonian. “We can get factual informa- tion on these stinkin’ cellphones but we can’t get meaning. The only way you get meaning is through stories that unlock what is in you already … we do not give readers enough stories,” he said. “We give them news reports.” Hallman, a senior reporter at T he Oregonian, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning narrative jour- nalist and author of four books. He spoke about why stories mat- ter at the Columbia Forum on Tuesday night at Baked Alaska’s Nekst Event space in Astoria. Hallman has written stories about a goose named “Pat” in s outhwest Portland who keeps returning to the same spot it lost its partner , a Hells Angels funeral in California, a 6-foot- 2- inch high school art student who tried out for a basketball team and girls getting prom dresses at the Oregon Convention Center. “I write about the things that have nothing to do with news, but they work,” he said. Getting started Hallman, a Portland native, moved back after getting fi red from his job in New York. He started his career at the Hermiston Herald. While there, he applied for a job at The Daily Astorian, but was rejected. He said working at those news- papers helped him learn how to focus his interviews because peo- ple like to talk. Finally, he got a job as a cops reporter at The Oregonian, which he did for 10 years. He said at the time that beat See Forum, Page A3
