A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JULY 11, 2020
Port lays off several maintenance, marina staff
IN BRIEF
Astoria man dies in motorcycle crash
An Astoria man died after a crash Wednesday on
Lewis and Clark Road.
Offi cials say Christopher Dunn, 49, was driving
a motorcycle when he left the roadway. There are no
known witnesses of the crash and police are unclear
about what time it occurred.
After the crash was reported, emergency crews found
Dunn dead upon arrival.
Manzanita man dies
after crash on Highway 101
A Manzanita man died after a crash Wednesday on
U.S. Highway 101 in Gearhart.
Offi cials say Matthew Elinsky, 53, was driving a
Honda motorcycle when he crashed into the back of a
Jeep Cherokee that stopped due to traffi c up ahead.
Emergency responders arrived on scene after 7 p.m.
The driver of the Jeep Cherokee was not injured.
County to distribute more
free masks to help against virus
Clatsop County will distribute more free face masks
to the public at multiple locations on Wednesday and
Thursday.
More than 22,000 KN95 masks were given away at
distribution events in June.
The Lower Columbia Hispanic Council will host two
Spanish-language distribution events from 4 to 6:30 p.m.
on Wednesday at CMH Field on Williamsport Road in
Astoria and at Seaside High School.
Drive-thru handout events will be held between 4 and
7 p.m. on Thursday at Elsie-Vinemaple Fire Station, Sea-
side Fire Station, Gearhart Fire Station, Warrenton Fire
Station, Lewis & Clark Fire Station, Astoria Aquatic
Center, Cannon Beach City Hall, Knappa Fire Station
and Westport Community Church.
County extends coronavirus
emergency declaration
The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners voted
Wednesday night to extend the county’s coronavirus
emergency declaration through at least Sept. 4.
The county’s extension coincides with Gov. Kate
Brown’s emergency orders.
The main purpose of the local emergency declaration
is to give the board fl exibility to declare other emergency
orders. It also makes the county eligible for reimburse-
ments for virus-related expenditures.
Cannon Beach Farmers Market
closed for season over virus
CANNON BEACH — The Cannon Beach Farmers
Market is closed for the season over the coronavirus.
The farmers market was expected to open on July 21,
but in light of new virus cases and the threat of additional
spread, the farmers market committee decided to cancel
the season.
“We look forward to safely restoring it to its tradi-
tional cheerful hustle and bustle — next year,” the city
said in a statement.
Merkley to hold virtual town hall
for Clatsop County
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley will hold a virtual and tele-
phone town hall for Clatsop County constituents Tuesday.
“Hearing from Oregonians across the state is critical
to doing my job,” the Oregon Democrat said in a news
release. “In these uncertain times, it’s more important
than ever to hear directly from folks, but it’s also import-
ant to respect the health and safety of every member of
our communities while there is still a very real risk of
spreading COVID-19 through in-person gatherings.”
Merkley has held an annual town hall in each of Ore-
gon’s 36 counties since joining the Senate in 2009. This
will be his 426th. He will answer questions and give
updates on his work in Washington.
The town hall will start at 5 p.m. Tuesday. It can be
accessed on a computer, smartphone or tablet by going to
tinyurl.com/merkleytownhall; or on the phone by calling
415-527-5035 and entering access code 199-922-7385.
— The Astorian
DEATH
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Port of Astoria has
laid off three maintenance
workers and one marina
staffer amid a massive loss in
revenue because of the coro-
navirus pandemic.
The Port passed a $15.7
million budget last month,
including a $75,000 reduction
in contracted security offi cers
because of fewer ships com-
ing in, but no staff layoffs.
Will Isom, the Port’s exec-
utive director , said he had
remained optimistic that
by being frugal, the agency
could avoid laying people
off. The Port has gone from
the equivalent of more than
36 full-time employees to
less than 30 over the p ast few
years. He had assigned main-
tenance staff special projects,
such as deconstructing the
former Seafare Restaurant at
the West Mooring Basin.
“When you’re running
tight on funds and you don’t
have a lot of revenue com-
ing in, you also don’t have the
money to do some of those
projects,” Isom said. “We tried
to keep them on for as long as
we could, and we did a lot
of work in terms of cleanup,
like with the restaurant tear-
down … but we just got to the
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
The Port of Astoria laid of several maintenance workers and
a marina staff er because of losses in revenue during the
coronavirus pandemic.
point where we couldn’t con-
tinue to operate at the payroll
level we had been, with the
amount of revenue loss we’re
experiencing.”
The Port has projected
more than $1 million in oper-
ational losses in the coming
year, including $450,000 on
the docks from a log export
business felled by a trade
war between the U.S. and
China and a cruise ship sea-
son mostly wiped out by the
coronavirus.
Staff projected another
$450,000 in losses from lease
revenue, in part from the
Astoria Riverwalk Inn being
emptied by travel and lodging
New bake shop and
market opens in Astoria
restrictions meant to curb the
spread of the virus. Another
$126,000 in losses was pro-
jected in fuel sales at the West
Mooring Basin because of
travel restrictions and a weak
recreational fi shing season.
Business Oregon, the
state’s economic develop-
ment agency and a major
lender to the Port, provided
some relief, freezing loan
payments and interest for a
year. The freeze is projected
to save the Port more than $1
million.
The Port will save about
$400,000 in salary and ben-
efi ts from cutting the four
employees, Isom said, and its
Rep. Bonamici announces
new climate action plan
By MORGAN GRINDY
The Astorian
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
Gathered Bakes hop and
Market has opened in Asto-
ria , offering a variety of gro-
ceries, locally based pro-
duce and a selection of baked
goods.
After a soft opening last
week , owners Sarah Woods
and Andy Eddy offi cially
opened the market at 12th
and Exchange streets on
Wednesday. They have hopes
of doing a grand opening cel-
ebration sometime in the fall.
The store’s shelves are
stocked with essential gro-
cery items, along with some
hand-picked favorites, like
their tea selection. Their pro-
duce items come from Spring
Up Farm, Kingfi sher Farms
and Lana’s Conscious Farm.
Downtown needed a new
grocery store after the Asto-
ria Co+ op moved to the Mill
Pond neighborhood , the own-
ers said.
They began building the
store in late January, hop-
ing for a mid-May opening,
but their timeline was pushed
back because of the coronavi-
rus pandemic .
Previously a baker in Bell-
ingham, Washington, Woods
offers a menu of cakes, des-
sert bars and pastries made
from organic and locally
sourced ingredients. Many of
the sweets are decorated with
edible fl owers from 46 North
Neither the coronavi-
rus pandemic nor a national
discussion of racism and
inequality can stop climate
change.
On Wednesday, U.S.
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici
held a virtual kick off to
introduce a proposed con-
gressional action plan to
address climate change. T he
goal is to reduce net green-
house gas emissions in the
United States by 37% below
2010 levels in 2030 and 88%
below 2010 levels by 2050.
“This is not an easy time
to discuss forward-looking
policy,” Bonamici acknowl-
edged. “We’re experiencing
an unprecedented moment
in our nation’s history.”
But, the Oregon Dem-
ocrat added, “even in this
moment in history when our
communities are struggling
and inequalities seem more
apparent than ever, the cli-
mate crisis continues. It’s not
taking a break.”
The new action plan out-
lines a number of policies,
some more ambitious than
others, to address issues like
public health, clean tech-
nologies and economic
resiliency and to invest in
communities that are dispro-
portionally affected by cli-
mate change.
The
congresswoman
Morgan Grindy/The Astorian
Owners Sarah Woods and
Andy Eddy of Gathered
Bakeshop in Astoria.
Farm .
Half of the baked goods
are gluten free, with some
vegan options available.
The fl our in Woods’ mac-
arons is made from organic
hazelnuts grown in Mult-
nomah C ounty, rather than
almond fl our, which is tradi-
tionally used for macarons.
For customers with dietary
requirements other than glu-
ten free or dairy free, they
offer personalized orders for
items such as cakes.
T he store is open Wednes-
day through Sunday. Seat-
ing inside is very limited
because of virus restrictions
and precautions.
maintenance staff has gone
from six to three. He couldn’t
guarantee there wouldn’t be
more layoffs and said the
Port is trying to forecast how
much revenue it might bring
in over the coming months.
“You can never say never
through this stuff, I guess,”
Isom said. “The hope would
be that we can remain steady
where we’re at, and then as
things start to improve, start
increasing that count again.”
The Port has looked at all
manner of potential revenue,
from bringing in new ten-
ants like a seafood shop and
storing things on its piers to
trying to lay up idled cruise
ships. After an outbreak of the
virus at Bornstein Seafoods,
local offi cials nixed a plan
by the Port to bring in two
mostly empty cruise ships
that needed storage. Isom had
said the opportunity could
have made the agency about
$15,000 a day.
“My goal through all this,
as we get through this pan-
demic, is just to hold our
ground as much as we can
and not take too many steps
backward, so that when we
get to the back end, we’re in a
position to really start to move
things forward,” he said.
“Really, that’s the best you
can hope for at this point.”
called the plan a “road map”
for Congress that included
more specifi c actions than
the proposed Green New
Deal, which also outlines
plans for tackling climate
change.
Bonamici is the only
member of the House Select
Committee on the Cli-
mate Crisis from the Pacifi c
Northwest. Climate change
is already impacting the
region, she said.
“Confronting the climate
crises requires action across
sectors and at all levels of
government,” the action
plan concludes, adding,
“The climate crises is inex-
tricably linked to the social,
economic and environmen-
tal challenges that affl ict the
nation and world today.”
The Pacifi c Northwest in
particular is already feeling
the effects of climate change,
noted George Waldbusser, a
marine ecologist with Ore-
gon State University, who
joined Bonamici on the call.
The fallout of shift-
ing climate is evident in
recent marine heatwaves
that reduce food sources for
some marine animals and
have contributed to harm-
ful algal blooms off the West
Coast, which in turn impact
commercial and recreational
fi shing and crabbing.
“The cost of inaction will
almost certainly be more
expensive than the cost of
action,” Waldbusser said.
July 9, 2020
In COLE,
Brief
Gary Allan, 77, of Astoria, died in Asto-
ria. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary of Astoria is in
Tractor Supply to open in Warrenton in late July
charge of the arrangements.
Death
The Astorian
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Astoria School District Board of Directors, 5:30 p.m.,
special meeting on superintendent’s contract, (electronic
meeting).
Cannon Beach Rural Fire Department Board, 6 p.m.,
Fire-Rescue Main Station, 188 Sunset Ave.
Youngs River Lewis & Clark Water District Board, 6 p.m.,
34583 U.S. Highway 101 Business.
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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WARRENTON — Tractor
Supply Co. will open a Warren-
ton store July 27.
The rural lifestyle retail
chain, founded in 1938 and
based in Tennessee, does not
sell tractors, but rather prod-
ucts to maintain farms, ranches,
homes and animals. The com-
pany is publicly traded on the
stock exchange and has more
than 1,700 locations throughout
the U.S.
In 2018, the company
announced plans to open a store
in Warrenton near the intersec-
tion of U.S. Highway 101 Busi-
ness and King Avenue on land
owned by Warrenton Fiber .
After getting approval from
the Warrenton Planning Com-
mission, developer Keith Corp.
built the site out and is leasing it
to Tractor Supply .
“At Tractor Supply, we
understand the value of provid-
ing essential needs like pet food,
animal feed and home supplies
to our customers in the Warren-
ton community,” Jeremy Gor-
don, manager of the Warren-
ton store, said in a news release.
“Our team members live the
same lifestyle as our custom-
ers, and we’re excited to sup-
ply them with the tools, infor-
mation and resources they need
to live life on their own terms.”
Tractor S upply touted its
safety measures during the
coronavirus pandemic, includ-
ing increased cleaning, fl oor
decals to promote social dis-
tancing, a larger supply of
essential products, hiring more
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employees to promote safety in
stores, adding greeters to pro-
mote social distancing, adding
a dedicated shopping hour at
8 a.m. on Wednesdays for cus-
tomers older than 60, no-con-
tact payment options and curb-
side pickup.
The company is supporting
local animal shelters, 4-H clubs
and Future Farmers of America
chapters.
During the pandemic, the
Warrenton store will open from
8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
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CLATSOP COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER • 861-PETS
1315 SE 19th St. • Warrenton | Tues-Sat 12-4pm
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