A6
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020
Broadband: Service issues also pose public safety concerns
Continued from Page A1
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
The heavily-taped CenturyLink junction box sits off of U.S.
Highway 26 surrounded by trash, weeds and a destroyed
traffi c cone.
Coast Guard: Goal is
to preserve ship traffi c
on the Columbia River
Continued from Page A1
“The Coast Guard, we
have partnerships with our
local, state, federal and
private stakeholders, and
developed this plan for a
coordinated response. A nd
we practice this through
exercising on a yearly
basis, if not more.”
Jim Merten, a port secu-
rity specialist for the Coast
Guard who is responsible
for the Marine Transpor-
tation System Recovery
Unit, used a Cascadia Sub-
duction Zone disaster as an
example.
If a ship needs to deliver
relief supplies after an
earthquake, he said, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers would dredge the
channel and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
would
sound the channel to make
sure it’s deep enough and
meets all the requirements.
“And then we’re going
to go ahead and put the aids
and navigation back so that
all the ships have the abil-
ity to drive there safely.
And then each port will be
working their own disaster
recovery plans simultane-
ously so that they can have
their port ready to receive
these vessels as well,” Mer-
ten said.
He said the plan will
activate under three cir-
cumstances — when infra-
structure like a bridge,
lock or dam is damaged;
when traffi c is interrupted
by issues such as a labor
dispute or civil unrest; or
when emergency response
to an incident on one part
of the river disrupts traffi c
on the rest of the river.
“So we’re going to have
to potentially use c aptain
of the p ort orders to move
ships or authorize ships to
go in different orders once
the disruption is cleared,”
Merten said.
Last September, a navi-
gation lock on the Colum-
bia River at Bonneville
Dam closed for 21 days
after part of the lock system
cracked. The Coast Guard
worked with vessels to cre-
ate a prioritized list of who
would be the fi rst to move
once the channel reopened.
“What was really amaz-
ing to see was with the
industry people, is that they
knew each other’s cargoes
and they were able to pri-
oritize within themselves
who needed to go fi rst, who
needed to go second,” Bai-
ley said. “So they were
actually very aware of what
needed to get upriver and
what needed to get down-
river. And so they were
able to coordinate that very
well.”
Merten said the recov-
ery unit reports directly
to the c aptain of the p ort,
and the companies and
agencies affected are also
included in the process.
“And then while we’re
trying to prioritize the
cargo streams and things
like that, we’re identifying
alternate ideas, alternate
methods, whether it’s rail,
whether it’s barge, whether
it’s moving commodities
out of different ports, dif-
ferent places, things like
that — we take a regional
kind of holistic approach
to the river system in that
event,” he said.
Baker serves on the board
of directors for West Oregon
Electric Co-op, an electric-
ity provider that serves rural
areas in fi ve counties. He said
the c o-op has the infrastruc-
ture in place with electric-
ity and phone lines running
to every home. He pointed
to work Columbia County is
doing to secure federal coro-
navirus relief money to run
fi ber along those lines.
He said he would like to
see Clatsop County do the
same and take a more active
role in fi nding solutions.
“And I’d like to see some-
body besides CenturyLink
operate that (d igital s ub-
scriber l ine) system, even if
it’s a (p ublic u tility d istrict)
type system,” he said. “Cen-
turyLink has failed with all
their tax breaks they’ve got-
ten, all of the incentives
they’ve gotten. All they’ve
done is milk the system and
wandered off with all the
value of it until it’s in the
state of disrepair it is now.”
Kerry Zimmer, a spokes-
woman for CenturyLink,
said the company under-
stands how important it is for
customers to have reliable
services.
“We are constantly assess-
ing our options so that we
can provide as much sup-
port to our communities as
possible,” Zimmer said in an
email. “To best support cus-
tomers in Astoria, we made
the decision to evaluate alter-
nate technologies for deliv-
ering services. Once a deter-
mination has been made,
customers will be notifi ed
directly. At this time all ser-
vices in the area are operating
normally.”
However, locals are skep-
tical that the investment will
be made.
T.J. Hecox owns the
Elderberry Inn with his wife,
Emily.
He is doubtful a com-
pany will invest in laying
more fi ber lines in the area
because of the lack of return
on investment.
“It’s really hindered the
community as a whole,” he
said. “From Jewell School
to Highway 26, the inter-
net is mediocre at best if
you do have CenturyLink.
And if you get off of Centu-
ryLink internet, they won’t
allow you to get back on it
because they’ve oversold
their broadband.”
He said he has to pay for
CenturyLink and satellite
internet just to maintain the
inn and restaurant’s point of
sale system.
“Basically, you just have
to have two to have one work
all the time,” he said.
Safety concerns
Internet service issues also
pose public safety concerns.
Hans Mulder, the assistant
chief of the Elsie-Vinemaple
Rural Fire Protection District,
said the fi re district’s landline
through CenturyLink became
useless and they switched to
using Verizon cellphones to
handle district business.
“But not everybody can
afford to do that,” he said.
“That also affects the 911
system, because if you pick
up your home phone and
you can’t get out to dispatch,
which is in Astoria, then if
you have an emergency you
can’t even call 911.”
The problem is Elsie is a
rural community at the end of
a fi ber line, and no one wants
to invest in branching fi ber
out, Mulder explained.
“There’s only about 400
some homes around this area
and they’re spread out,” he
said. “It’s not worth doing
from (CenturyLink’s) point
of view. They keep saying
someday, someday. B ut I’ll
probably be very old before
I see any good service out
here.”
County reports three new virus cases
The Astorian
Clatsop
C ounty
reported three new corona-
virus cases on Monday.
A woman in her 50s and
another woman in her 40s
living in the northern part
of the county tested posi-
tive for the virus.
A man in his 40s living
in the southern part of the
county also tested positive.
All three were recover-
ing at home, according to
the county.
The
county
has
recorded 67 cases since
March 23. Fifty-fi ve have
reportedly recovered and
the others are convalesc-
ing at home.
The Oregon Health
Authority reported 14,847
cases and 262 deaths state-
wide from the virus as of
Monday morning.
The health authority
tracked 3,154 test results
in Clatsop County, includ-
ing 64 of the positive
cases.
Erickson: Co-hosted ‘Caribbean Moon’ on KMUN
Continued from Page A1
Last summer, he was in
Australia, taking part in a
reunion concert with his for-
mer band.
Erickson was part of a
local reggae group, “Ma Bar-
ley,” which, unfortunately, is
no more.
“Some key members of
the band have moved away,”
Erickson said. “So Ma Bar-
ley is a legend now. We have
a serious gap in dance band
options in our county. So if
anyone wants to start a reg-
gae band, be my guest.”
For a long time, Erick-
son co-hosted “Caribbean
Moon,” on local public radio
station KMUN. The show
still runs from 7 to 9 p.m.
every Friday , but Erick-
son has not hosted since
March 13. More c oronavirus
restrictions.
“The radio station has
been trying really hard to
catch up with things,” he
said, “so the shows are being
broadcast remotely and on
tape. There are fi ve or six
volunteers who are keeping
the station alive and vibrant.”
Just like Erickson’s music.
“I don’t have a band
at the moment, but I will
be
baby sitting
(Carib-
bean Moon co-host) Jer-
emy Hirsh’s piano. We’ve
got some guitars and basses
and three or four saxophones
lying around. I play, but just
Debbie Twombly
Mark Erickson with Ziggy
Marley, son of Bob Marley, in
2012.
for my own pleasure and my
wife’s constant displeasure.”
Meanwhile, the summer
of 2020 had Erickson refl ect-
ing on 1968, when he was
16 and attending Mountlake
Terrace High School, north
of Seattle.
The spring, summer and
fall of 1968 included assas-
sinations, riots, protests and
a presidential election, all
while the war in Vietnam
was at its peak.
“As far as the ’60s are
concerned, we had a tre-
mendous amount of educa-
tion at Mountlake Terrace
about the Holocaust and also
about civil rights,” Erickson
recalled. “I was a speaker in
my class graduation, and the
topic of the whole event was
race relations. Race relations
has been a super important
part of my whole adult life.
I felt like being in a reggae
band and also playing reggae
music, it’s sort of my social
demonstration of positive
change for our society.”
After high school, he
said, “My draft number was
fi ve in 1971. I kept my stu-
dent deferment by keeping
my grades up at Linfi eld,
but I was also a conscien-
tious objector. I was the
third conscientious objec-
tor in my family. My grand-
father was a conscientious
objector in World War I, my
dad in World War II, and I
was a conscientious objector
during Vietnam, on the basis
that we believe in reconcil-
iation. That’s been a fam-
ily tradition, and I’m proud
to have been a member of
that line. Non violence and
reconciliation.”
In the 1980s, Erickson
said, “I drove a Green Tor-
toise bus, when I was taking
a break from teaching.”
The Green Tortoise line
was one of several low-cost
bus companies established in
the 1970s, based in San Fran-
cisco and Seattle, providing
long-distance service. It was
also referred to as a “hippie
bus” company during the
1970s, for their countercul-
ture atmosphere.
“It covered the whole
country, from San Francisco
to Boston,” Erickson said.
“We toured Alaska and the
Yukon to Baja. I’ve been to
all 50 states, as a tour guide
through about 45. I didn’t
put that on my résumé when
I got my fi rst teaching job
in the Astoria School Dis-
trict, because it was kind of
an alternative bus company
with a seedy reputation. But
I’m proud to say now that
I was a Green Tortoise bus
driver.”
In the coming months,
Erickson hopes to return to
his volunteer job as public
address announcer at Astoria
football games.
“I really miss the cama-
raderie of watching local
sports. I retired from teach-
ing four years ago, and I miss
the community of the school
district. I hope that when
football comes back, I get to
participate in my volunteer
area.”
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