FEBRUARY 2020
PROUDLY PUBLISHED
EVERY MONTH
2
VOLUME 15 • ISSUE
CHRONICLING JOY OF BUSINESS
IN COLUMBIA-PACIFIC REGION
»INSIDE
HER
CORONAVIRUS, WEAT
IAL
DISRUPT COMMERC SEASON
DUNG ENESS CRAB
STORY ON PAGE
Edge returns to
The F/V Cutting
crab at Ilwaco
port after offl oading
January.
Landing in early
LUKE WHITTAKER
MINIMUM WAGE
ANNUAL INCREASES
TS
CAUSE SIDE EFFEC
Page 11
6
‘IT’S A SLOW
CRAB YEAR’
147TH YEAR, NO. 97
Deal reached
on forestry
management
Brown announced
the agreement
By SAM STITES
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — A deal between Oregon’s
timber industry and environmentalists
to protect forest waters, modernize log-
ging regulations and create a new conser-
vation plan was announced Monday by
Gov. Kate Brown and representatives of
both interests.
The two sides have been at odds over
policy and practices for decades. T he
agreement aims to create a mediation
process for updating the Oregon Forest
Practices Act, passed in 1971.
The deal has three major points, the
fi rst being participation in a mediated
process to change the Forest Practices
Act by creating a conservation plan for
all private timberland to protect threat-
ened and endangered species and provide
certainty for the timber industry.
The second piece is agreement over
legislation that would require timber
companies to notify nearby residents
when aerial spraying of pesticides occurs
and place buffers along streams in south-
ern Oregon forests that supply drinking
water.
Finally, both sides agreed to drop for-
estry-related ballot initiatives and pend-
ing litigation. Environmental groups
were working to get stricter forest
rules into law by going to the voters this
fall.
The agreement was joined by Hamp-
ton Lumber, Weyerhaeuser, Stimson
See Deal, Page A5
Visitor
surge brings
tensions to
state parks
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020
$1.50
WARRENTON BALKS
AT PAYING STATE
FOR RIVER ROCKS
The last step in
acquiring the
Hammond Marina
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
AMMOND — When
Warrenton took over the
federally built and owned
Hammond Marina last year, it
also took over a rocky breakwater
around the basin. The Department
of State Lands, which controls the
state’s submerged and submersible
lands, wants $7,446 for a 30-year
easement to access the rocks.
But Warrenton, already strug-
gling to get the basin dredged,
is balking at paying for the ease-
ment, arguing the state shouldn’t
get paid for something it didn’t
build.
Jane Sweet, the city’s harbor-
master, said the description of the
breakwater is the fi nal step in the
city’s acquisition of the Hammond
Marina.
Blake Helm, a proprietary coor-
dinator with the state, sent Sweet
a letter saying the state needs to
grant an easement on the m arina
breakwater.
“The d epartment also requires
a one-time compensatory pay-
ment for your use of this property
during the term of the easement,”
H
Bergerson Construction
Bergerson Construction recently purchased a hydraulic dredge, attaching it to
an excavator that is then parked on a barge and fl oated into small marinas and
harbors. The company will start at least a year late on a dredging project at the
Hammond Marina.
Helm wrote.
Sweet recommended the City
Commission approve the pay-
ment. Instead, they approved writ-
ing a letter of protest to represen-
tatives in the state Legislature to
avoid paying the lease.
Letter of protest
Mayor Henry Balensifer, who
broached the idea of the letter,
took issue with paying the state for
the use of an existing structure the
federal government built.
“We’ll get through this, and I’m
all for doing the thing we need to
do if we have to,” he said of the
payment. “But it really is a stick in
my craw that every 30 years, we’re
going to have to give money to the
state for the purposes of having
rocks in their submerged lands.”
See Marina, Page A6
‘ ...IT REALLY IS A STICK IN MY CRAW THAT EVERY 30 YEARS,
WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO GIVE MONEY TO THE STATE FOR THE
PURPOSES OF HAVING ROCKS IN THEIR SUBMERGED LANDS.’
Mayor Henry Balensifer
The breakwater surrounding Hammond Marina protects the harbor
from waves and the mouth of the Columbia River. The state requires
an easement for Warrenton to access and maintain the breakwater.
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Exclusions are still
relatively rare
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
An Idaho man found guilty of bru-
tally attacking a transgender woman near
Newport last year has been banned from
all state parks in Lincoln County.
This type of exclusion is relatively
rare and the attack by Fred Constanza
that left Lauren Jackson, a newcomer to
Oregon, with a broken jaw and a frac-
tured skull was a particularly violent out-
lier. But offi cials say they have noticed
a slight uptick in more mundane issues
and increased tension between visitors
that often correspond with increasingly
crowded parks.
See Parks, Page A6
Couple keeps it simple, sweet
A new food cart
off Duane Street
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
mid all the niche gour-
met food carts at 11th
and Duane streets, Sally and
Eric Irvine are Keeping it
Sweet and Simple.
The
husband-and-wife
owners of the new eatery,
housed in Samuel Bruhn’s
short-lived Half Pint Donuts
cart between Pizutti’s Wood-
fi red Pizza and Coffee OR
Waffl e, are targeting the
more economical breakfast
and lunch fare.
The parking lot at the cor-
A
Edward Stratton/The Astorian
Eric and Sally Irvine run Keeping it Sweet and Simple, a food cart along Duane Street across
from Astoria City Hall.
ner has become the epicenter
of Astoria’s food cart scene.
Around the corner from the
Irvines, the pizzeria and the
waffl e cart are the Surf 2
Soul cart serving soul food,
Roll and Bowl doing sushi
and ramen and Good Bowl
serving tacos and bowls with
locally sourced produce.
Sally Irvine, who largely
runs the cart and has a second
job as a caregiver, makes no
bones about focusing on the
more economical options,
from breakfast burritos and
biscuits and gravy to sand-
wiches and hot dogs. She also
keeps a selection of cookies,
cinnamon rolls, muffi ns and
other pastries and coffee.
“We don’t have such an
expensive menu based on
what we sell,” she said. “So
for some of those people that
don’t have the extra $10 to
put down on something, they
can come over here and for
$5 get a sandwich, a bag of
chips and a pop.”
See Food cart, Page A5