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