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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2019)
A2 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2019 A sensory-friendly Christmas IN BRIEF Astoria man pleads guilty to sexual violence, sentenced to six months in jail An Astoria man was sentenced Wednesday to six months in jail and fi ve years of supervised probation for sexual violence. Caleb Jeffrey Hale, 20, pleaded guilty to sodomy in the third degree and strangulation. If Hale’s probation is revoked he will serve fi ve years in prison. According to the prosecution, Hale forced a girl to perform oral sex on him in 2017 when he was 18 years old and she was 14 years old. Hale’s charges and sentence were reduced because of his guilty plea. “If I believed for one second that you had no chance at change, I would not have gone along with this agree- ment,” Judge Dawn McIntosh said during sentencing. County receives $19.6 million from Clatsop State Forest Clatsop County received $19.6 million in revenue from forestry last fi scal year, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry report. Clatsop and Tillamook state forests are two of the largest forests managed by the state. Tillamook County and their local taxing districts received $24.7 million in revenue. Revenue also supports local service providers, includ- ing the Clatsop Care Health District, Clatsop Commu- nity College, Jewell School District, Rural Law Enforce- ment District and the Port of Astoria. Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian Charlotte Devos tells Santa Claus what is on her Christmas list at the eighth annual Autism Society of Oregon sensory-friendly Christmas Party on Monday night in Warrenton. Children and families gathered together to celebrate the Christmas season in a calmer, less-stimulating atmosphere. Attendees enjoyed pizza and crafts when not hanging out with Santa. Sen. Wyden comes to Astoria on Jan. 2 U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden will hold a town hall at 1 p.m. on Jan. 2 at Clatsop Community College’s Performing Arts Center in Astoria. Wyden, who promised to visit each of Oregon’s 36 counties once a year, has held 956 town halls since being elected to the Senate in 1996. “I’m eager to begin 2020 in true ‘Oregon Way’ fash- ion – with eight open-to-all town halls that provide everybody the opportunity to share their ideas, questions and priorities directly with me,” the Oregon Democrat said in a news release. “These town halls are hallmarks of democracy, and I look forward very much to hearing from Oregonians all over our state.” — The Astorian Pacifi c Northwest volcano forecast to erupt within next four years By JES BURNS Oregon Public Broadcasting DEATHS Dec. 18, 2019 BERRY, Patti Jean, 82, of Cannon Beach, died in Seaside. Hughes-Ransom Mortuary is in charge of the arrangements. NIVERSON, Betty Lou, 73, of Westport, for- merly of Hammond, died in Westport. Hughes-Ran- som Mortuary is in charge of the arrangements. Dec. 17, 2019 GRIFFEY, Gail, 72, of Astoria, died in Asto- ria. Hughes-Ransom Mor- tuary is in charge of the arrangements. BIRTH Dec. 3, 2019 VAN VELSOR, Ciara, and WOODCOCK, Bren- dan, of Astoria, a boy, Brandt Van Woodcock, born in Portland. Older brother is Reginald (Reggie) Wood- cock. Grandparents are Bill Van Velsor and Ava Van Velsor, of Neskowin, and Jerry Woodcock and Cathy Woodcock, of Portland. ON THE RECORD Sex abuse • Joshua Blaze Best, 32, was indicted Thurs- day on two counts of sod- omy in the fi rst degree and two counts of sexual abuse in the fi rst degree. Assault • Justin Robert Puck- ett, 40, of Warrenton, was arrested Thursday on N.E. Skipanon Drive in Warrenton for assault in the fourth degree, harass- ment and strangulation. Theft • Nova Amber Emo, 25, of Astoria, was indicted Friday on theft in the fi rst degree, forg- ery in the fi rst degree, identity theft and posses- sion of forged instrument in the fi rst degree. Disorderly conduct • Levi Trent Smith, 32, was arrested Wednesday in the Warrenton High- lands shopping center parking lot for disorderly conduct in the second degree, resisting arrest and criminal mischief in the third degree. Criminal trespass • Jacob Martin Kitz- man, 28, was arrested Wednesday in the Fred Meyer parking lot in War- renton for criminal tres- pass in the second degree. DUII • Kevin Sean Maak- estad, 40, was charged Wednesday with driv- ing under the infl uence of intoxicants after driving his vehicle into a ditch near Walluski Loop and Youngs River Road in Astoria. His blood alco- hol content was 0.27%. PUBLIC MEETING MONDAY Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Established July 1, 1873 (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 Circulation phone number: 503-325-3211 Periodicals postage paid at Astoria, OR 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. Scientists are forecast- ing that the Pacifi c North- west’s most active volcano will erupt sometime between 2020 and 2024. The volcano isn’t one you’ll see driving along the Cascade Range, instead you’d have to look 1.5 miles deep in the ocean to fi nd it. It’s called the Axial Sea- mount and it’s located about 300 miles due west of Asto- ria at the edge of the Juan de Fuca plate. If the volcano were on land, it would be one of the taller mountains in Oregon’s Coast Range. Oregon State Universi- ty’s Bill Chadwick made the eruption forecast at a scien- tifi c meeting this month. His forecast is based on measure- ments taken on the seafl oor around the seamount. “One of the ways that vol- canoes are monitored around the world is to look for changes in their shape, like if the ground is being uplifted or subsiding,” Chadwick said. “What you’re inter- ested in is (if) magma mov- ing in or moving out or is it just slumbering?” Axial Seamount has changed quite a bit over the last decades, with the surface gradually rising between eruptions, then suddenly The Astorian In observance of Christ- mas Day on Wednesday, all federal and state offi ces are closed. Clatsop County offi ces close at noon Tuesday, and are closed Wednesday. For city offi ces and ser- vices: Astoria closes at noon Tuesday, and is closed Wednesday; Cannon Beach is closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday; Warren- ton and Gearhart are closed Tuesday and Wednesday; and Seaside is closed on Wednesday only. The Port of Asto- ria administrative offi ces are closed Tuesday and Wednesday. All U.S. post offi ces are closed Wednesday, and there is no mail delivery. Astoria, Jewell, Knappa, Warrenton/Hammond and VOLUNTEER PICK OF THE WEEK Shannon young female Red Tabby MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Printed on recycled paper Subscription rates Eff ective May 1, 2019 Christmas is not as much about opening our gifts as opening our hearts. 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 University of Washington A bottom pressure/tilt instrument is used to measure change in the ocean fl oor around the Axial Seamount. activity gives indications of what’s happening inside the volcano. “Immediately after an eruption, there are very few earthquakes and then the number of earthquakes steadily increases as the vol- cano infl ates,” he said. “So after the eruption in 2015, the number of earthquakes that we recorded went down to just a handful and it’s now up to maybe 50 a day.” Wilcock says he believe that Bill Chadwick’s forecast is in the right ballpark. “My personal view is it’s probably more likely in 2022 to 2024. But I think there’s some uncertainty,” he said. Unlike the eruption of a land-based volcano, like Mount St. Helens, the erup- tion of the Axial Seamount won’t cause any problems for humans. “For the size of erup- tions we’ve seen in the last 20 years … if you were on top of it on a boat, you would never know it,” Oregon State’s Chadwick said. But the forecast eruption does provide a unique oppor- tunity scientifi cally. “There’s a lot of inter- est in trying to set up exper- iments, to basically observe more of (the volcanic pro- cesses) as it’s happening,” Wilcock said. Chadwick says the Axial Seamount is a relatively simple volcano in terms of where it occurs and how it behaves. And being able to study the volcano at such close range as it erupts could provide insight to the behav- ior and forecasting of volca- noes on land. “I think in that way we have an opportunity to under- stand a relatively simple sys- tem. And hopefully the les- sons we learn there would have applications to forecast- ing eruptions and other more complicated settings.” Offi ces around region to close for Christmas COPYRIGHT © Entire contents © Copyright, 2019 by The Astorian. MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF CIRCULATIONS, INC. dropping back down. “It’s erupted three times in the last 21 years. That’s more than Mount St. Hel- ens and any of the volcanoes in our neighborhood. So it’s gotten a lot of our attention and we’re trying to learn as much from it as we can,” he said. An expansive seafl oor monitoring network installed in 2014 has allowed Chad- wick to monitor Axial Sea- mount in real time. Over the past few years, he’s watched the volcano slowly grow. “We’re using that repeated pattern of infl ation and defl a- tion to try to anticipate when the next eruption might be,” he said. Chadwick says making such a straightforward and public forecast is its own kind of experiment. “We’re just kind of doing this forecasting … to see if it works. In my mind it’s more honest and more of a test to see if it’s really useful to do it before something happens, because it’s easy to kind of fool yourself in hindsight or spin it a certain way,” he said. Other scientists in the Pacifi c Northwest are also monitoring the seamount for signals of eruption. University of Washing- ton’s William Wilcock stud- ies earthquakes at Axial Seamount. The seismic Sponsored by Bayshore Animal Hospital CLATSOP COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER 1315 SE 19th St., Warrenton • 861- PETS www.dogsncats.org Noon to 4pm, Tues-Sat Seaside (including Can- non Beach and Gearhart) school district schools, and Clatsop Community Col- lege, are closed for winter break. The Astoria Library and Seaside Library are closed Wednesday; the Warrenton Library is closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Garbage collection through Recology West- ern Oregon is one day late for customers whose nor- mal service day is Wednes- day, Thursday or Friday; the Astoria Transfer Station closes at 2 p.m. Tuesday and is closed Wednesday. City of Warrenton gar- bage collection customers whose normal service day is Wednesday will have their garbage picked up on Thursday. The Sunset Pool in Seaside and the Astoria Aquatic Center are closed Wednesday. The Clatsop County Heritage Museum, Ore- gon Film Museum, Fla- vel House and Carriage House are closed Tues- day and Wednesday. The Uppertown Firefi ghters’ Museum is closed for the winter. Lil’ Sprouts is closed Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Fort Clatsop closes at 2 p.m. Tuesday, and is closed Wednesday. The Columbia River Mar- itime Museum is closed Wednesday. The Seaside Museum is closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Sunset Empire Trans- portation (“The Bus”) is not running on Wednesday. The Astorian offi ces are closed Wednesday . 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