WEEKEND EDITION // SATuRdAY, dEcEmbER 21, 2019
147TH YEAR, NO. 75
$1.50
Crab season to
open at the end
of December
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Nolan Mathews, of the Astoria Fire Department, surveys a fallen tree behind City Lumber on Friday morning.
STORM CAUSES DAMAGE
ALONG THE NORTH COAST
Downed trees and power lines
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
storm sweeping through the North Coast top-
pled trees and power lines and left many resi-
dents without electricity.
The region is expected to see up to 10 inches of rain
during the storm, which began Thursday and could last
through Saturday.
Flood watches and heavy rain and wind advisories
are in effect for the Oregon and Washington state coasts
through Saturday. There have been reports of flooding
and fallen trees and power lines throughout the region.
Debris and downed trees were reported along U.S.
Highway 26, U.S. Highway 101, U.S. Highway 30 and
state Highway 202. There was flooding in and along
Highway 101 south of Seaside near Beerman Creek
Road, which slowed traffic.
Highway 30 closed Friday morning near John Day
River Road after power lines fell across the highway.
Over 14,000 Pacific Power customers lost power
Friday due to the storm. The power outages affected
South County and left Cannon Beach and most of Sea-
side without power.
Customers in Warrenton also experienced power
outages throughout the day on Friday.
Warrenton Grade School and Warrenton High
School students were sent home early due to power
outages. Astoria schools experienced delays. Clatsop
Community College also closed.
A
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Signs at 20th Street and Marine Drive lay in the road
at the entrance to the maritime museum parking lot.
A delayed opening
to Oregon’s commer-
cial Dungeness crab fish-
ery has become a familiar
story in recent years.
Marine toxins, low-
meat yield, squabbles over
price and bad weather
have all pushed seasons
past the traditional Dec. 1
opener.
And the current season
is no different.
Fish and wildlife offi-
cials announced Friday
that the state’s most valu-
able fishery would open
on Dec. 31 after being
delayed to allow crabs to
fill out with more meat.
Testing in November and
early December revealed
low meat yield in crabs
across the tri-state region
that includes Oregon,
Washington state and
California.
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Astorian
R.J. marx/The Astorian
See Crab season, Page A5
Many new
voters are
unaffiliated
A quirk of the
Motor Voter Act
A storm caused flooding along U.S. Highway 101
south of Seaside.
The commercial fish-
ery has weathered delays
for several seasons in a
row. Last year, the fish-
ery opener was delayed
through January due to
high levels of the marine
toxin domoic acid.
“I think it’s hard to say
it’s the new normal,” said
Tim Novotny, spokesman
for the Oregon Dungeness
Crab Commission. “But
I do think fishermen are
maybe becoming (accus-
tomed) to the delay … not
that it’s any less difficult to
deal with but the shock has
maybe worn a bit.”
The fishery remains
highly lucrative despite
the uncertainty.
Crabbers ended up
landing 18.7 million
pounds last season, above
the 10-year average, and,
at $66.7 million, secured
the highest ex-vessel value
ever.
Anyone getting or
renewing their driver’s
license or state ID in Ore-
gon since 2016 has been
automatically registered to
vote, thanks to the passage
of the state’s Motor Voter
Act.
The secretary of state
sends a card informing peo-
ple of their registration and
asking for a political party
affiliation.
Those
who
don’t
respond are among the
nearly 36% of unaffiliated
voters in Clatsop County,
a bloc larger than the num-
ber of registered Democrats
or Republicans that now
makes up a third of Ore-
gon’s electorate.
See Voters, Page A6
Unaffiliated voters
Eighteen of Oregon’s 36 counties have more unaffiliated
voters than any other type of registration.
Astoria
*As of Oct. 2019
Hermiston
Pendleton
Enterprise
Portland
LaGrande
Salem
Corvallis
John Day
ShawnAnn Hope
A tree was down near Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.
Eugene
Baker City
Ontario
Bend
Burns
Majority by county
Republican
A life on the streets ends in death
A familiar face downtown
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
The death of a 72-year-old home-
less woman on the streets of Astoria this
week rattled city officials and advocates,
leading them to question what more
could have been done to help her.
Gail Griffey died of natural causes
on Tuesday, according to police. She
had been reported unconscious and
unresponsive that night outside of
T&C Home Furnishings on Commer-
cial Street and was pronounced dead at
Columbia Memorial Hospital.
MEMORIAL
A visitation for Gail
Griffey is planned
at Hughes-Ransom
mortuary in Astoria
at 10 a.m. on dec.
28. A memorial
service is scheduled
for 11 a.m.
Gail Griffey
Griffey was a familiar face down-
town. When she lived in the Astor Build-
ing on 14th Street, she took long walks
through town most mornings and was a
regular at several coffee shops. She and
her longtime boyfriend, Charlie McK-
enzie, became homeless in 2018 after
being evicted from their apartment.
The morning of the day she died,
Griffey told Sam McDaniel, the owner
of the Astoria Downtown Market, where
Griffey was a regular customer, that a
cough was bothering her. It was the most
he had ever heard her complain about
her situation.
Annie Martin, the president of the
Astoria Warming Center’s board, also
saw her not long before her death.
Griffey’s moods could swing dramat-
ically — Astoria police report numerous
contacts with her for misdemeanors and
she faced charges after throwing a cup of
coffee at a convenience store employee
and striking the woman. But many knew
her as friendly and sweet-natured.
When Martin saw her, “she seemed
back to her old self”: cheerful, optimis-
tic, caring. Griffey, Martin said, would
give someone the coat off of her back if
See Death, Page A5
Medford
Democrat
Klamath Falls
Unaffiliated
Percentage of registered voters who are unaffiliated per county*:
County
Baker
Benton
Clackamas
Clatsop
Columbia
Coos
Crook
Curry
Deschutes
Douglas
Gilliam
Grant
Harney
Hood River
Jackson
Jefferson
Josephine
Klamath
Percent
31.3%
29.3
31.6
35.9
35.3
36.7
32.7
36.8
33
34.3
31.5
29
29.3
34.5
33.5
38.7
36.2
36.9
Source: Oregon Secretary of State
(cont.)
Lake
Lane
Lincoln
Linn
Malheur
Marion
Morrow
Multnomah
Polk
Sherman
Tillamook
Umatilla
Union
Wallowa
Wasco
Washington
Wheeler
Yamhill
31.1
32
36.8
35.4
43.1
36
40.8
32
33.2
27.8
34.6
41.8
31
27.6
37.5
35
25.5
34
Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group