A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2021
IN BRIEF
Crab season faces ongoing
delay off North Coast
With unsafe levels of domoic acid found in Dunge-
ness crab caught off the Washington state coast, Oregon
fi shery managers say North Coast waters could remain
closed to commercial crabbers until at least Feb. 15.
Traditionally, northern Oregon and southwest Wash-
ington open for the commercial Dungeness season
together.
The two states planned to coordinate a joint open-
ing of the fi shery this season, but have been delayed by
high levels of domoic acid in Washington crab. In Ore-
gon, only the area from Cape Flacon north to the Wash-
ington border is still closed to commercial crab fi sher-
men. The rest of the state is open and boats have started
to set and pull gear after settling on a starting price per
pound with wholesalers.
Fishery managers said they will continue to consult
with industry advisors and managers in Washington,
Oregon and California to see if a coordinated opening
with Washington is possible ahead of Feb. 15.
If that is not achievable, they will open the closed
area in Oregon with a line at the Columbia River on or
around Feb. 15, independent of Washington.
East Hills Reservoir project is complete
SEASIDE — A 5-million gallon reservoir and pump
station in Seaside’s East Hills is complete.
Budgeted at $5.56 million, the project totaled $5.84
million after change orders. The reservoir provides
water to the new middle and high school building as
well as Pacifi c Ridge Elementary. It also serves portions
of Seaside. Older pump stations in nearby Sunset Hills
and Whispering Pines have been decommissioned.
“This is a day we have been waiting for, not only for
the school district but for the whole city,” Mayor Jay
Barber said at a City Council meeting last week.
Offi cials saw the need for the new system when vot-
ers approved a bond in 2016 to move Seaside schools
out of the tsunami inundation zone. Work began in
August 2019.
Through an intergovernmental agreement with the
Seaside School District, the city installed the reser-
voir and pump station. The school district’s portion
included the water lines, vaults, hydrants, electrical and
data conduit above the school campus and associated
engineering design costs.
The 3.28-acre reservoir site, part of 130 acres
donated to the school district by Weyerhaeuser Co. in
2016 prior to the bond vote, was annexed by the city in
October. Ownership will be transferred to the city.
The site will also house a new emergency operations
center, Seaside Public Works Director Dale McDow-
ell said.
— The Astorian
Forest Service axes 21-inch
logging ban in Eastern Oregon
The Trump administration is removing a decades-
old ban on logging large trees in six national forests
across Eastern Oregon and southeast Washington state.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary
James Hubbard signed off on the decision Friday,
amending the rule that prohibits cutting down any trees
larger than 21 inches in diameter.
The 21-inch harvest rule is part of a broader suite of
management standards, known as the Eastside Screens,
adopted in 1995 to protect wildlife habitat and water
quality on roughly 10 million acres of federal land in
the Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman, Malheur, Ochoco,
Deschutes and Fremont-Winema national forests.
Rather than a blanket restriction on logging large
trees, the U.S. Forest Service will replace the 21-inch
rule with a more fl exible guideline that generally calls
for protecting old growth forests, but allows land man-
agers to make exceptions if they meet the agency’s
long-term restoration goals.
— Capital Press
MEMORIAL
Saturday, Jan. 23
Memorial
BOLDT, Donald Paul
— Memorial and worship
service at 1 p.m., North
Coast Family Fellowship,
2245 N. Wahanna Road
in Seaside; COVID-19
guidelines will be fol-
lowed. The service will
also be livestreamed at
bit.ly/DBoldt. Boldt, 88,
of Seaside, died Dec. 2,
2020, in Seaside. Bio-
Gift was in charge of the
arrangements; he will be
cremated.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District Board of
Directors, 5:15 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Seaside School District, 6 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St.
WEDNESDAY
Seaside Tree Board Committee, 4 p.m., (electronic meet-
ing).
THURSDAY
Astoria School District Board of Directors, 5:45 p.m.,
special meeting, (electronic meeting).
Seaside Transportation Advisory Commission, 6 p.m.,
(electronic meeting).
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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BRIDGE
IN THE SKY
The Astoria Bridge stands above a
blanket of fog on Friday morning.
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Peninsula author memorializes
grandson’s fi ght against disease
By PATRICK WEBB
For The Astorian
LONG BEACH, Wash.
— A peninsula boy’s strug-
gle for life has been high-
lighted in a new book by his
grandmother.
Cheri Jones is hoping that
“Angel Wings” will provide
inspiration to others with ail-
ing children or who lose a
child, especially those who
share her faith.
The story of Conner Reed
Jones caught the imagina-
tion of readers of the Chinook
Observer for the seven years
of his life. And even those
who didn’t know the fam-
ily grieved when he died in
2010.
“I could not do it for a long
time, because of the pain of
reliving those years,” Cheri
Jones said. “Then about two-
and-a-half years ago it came
back to me. I wanted to write
a book about Conner and our
journey.”
The project took time,
in part because she wanted
to research accurate details,
including contact informa-
tion for hospitals and other
organizations that helped the
family.
“Once I decided to do
it, the words just kind of
fl owed,” she said.
Incurable ailment
The boy’s parents are Brad
and Sarah Jones. His father ,
an Ilwaco High School grad-
uate, has served as a vol-
unteer with Pacifi c County
Fire District 1 and worked at
Oman and Sons. His mother
worked at Bank of the Pacifi c
in Long Beach.
Conner, their fi rst child,
was born in 2003 with prune
belly syndrome, which
causes bladder problems
and has serious health impli-
cations. He was a year old
when doctors diagnosed cys-
tic fi brosis, an incurable dis-
ease that affects the lungs and
other bodily functions.
An ultrasound revealed
undeveloped lungs and an
enlarged abdomen. He was
born by cesarean section
and spent his fi rst nine days
Cheri Jones’ ‘Angel Wings:
Love, Love, Love, Now and
Forever’ is an illustrated book
memorializing her grandson.
Cheri Jones, of Ilwaco, with her late grandson, Conner Jones.
Her grandson’s struggle with poor health is chronicled in a
new illustrated book written by Jones.
in Oregon Health & Science
University’s
Doernbecher
Children’s Hospital’s Neo-
natal Intensive Care Unit in
Portland.
Conner underwent multi-
ple surgeries and more than
20 hospitalizations, prompt-
ing his parents to move to
Longview to be closer to
the specialized medical care
that he needed, in addition
to his home-based nebulizers
and other treatments to fi ght
infections and the effects of
his two ailments.
The family’s Christian
faith provided strength for all,
including Conner, his grand-
mother said.
“He had a heart for God
and Jesus. He asked his
mom and dad about going to
heaven.”
His parents were candid.
“We knew that he was
a miracle child, but we
had no idea the journey we
were about to embark on,”
his father told the Chinook
Observer four months before
the boy’s death. The story
quoted his mother wanting to
avoid spending her life ask-
ing, “What if?”
“I just felt like it is not my
decision to play God,” she
said, recalling how some doc-
tors had advised her to termi-
nate her pregnancy. “What if
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I had listened to those doc-
tors? I would never have
known what it truly means to
persevere and to love some-
one authentically.”
The story highlighted how
Conner, just like other little
boys, enjoyed video games,
soccer, coloring, reading and
playing at the park, although
his life was dogged by medi-
cal restrictions.
His parents have two
healthy sons, Hunter and Bra-
dyn, and a daughter Brynn-
lee, now 8, who also has cys-
tic fi brosis. “Her care is not as
extensive,” Cheri Jones said.
“She is doing really well.”
Sarah Jones has since ded-
icated herself to studying to
become a nurse.
Grateful to colleagues
One bright element toward
the end of Conner’s life
was the involvement of the
Make-A-Wish Foundation,
which fi nanced a six-day trip
to Hawaii when its leaders
learned of the boy’s desire
to see humpback whales and
volcanoes.
Cheri Jones, a retired
administrator, was secre-
tary to the board of Pacifi c
County First District 1 c om-
missioners and a member
of the Ocean Beach School
District school board from
2001 to 2005. Colleagues
at the Ocean Park fi re sta-
tion contributed greatly to
helping other family mem-
bers accompany Conner on
his last trip, his grandmother
said.
She and her husband,
Rick, have two sons, one
daughter and eight grand-
children. They moved from
Ilwaco to Battle Ground four
years ago to better meet their
own health issues.
The paperback book cover
features a drawing of a boy
with his hands clasped in
prayer, bordered by red bal-
loons from the cystic fi bro-
sis Walk for a Cure, red Lego
building blocks and red heart
shapes. Cheri Jones recalled
the fi rst time she saw the
design, “I just started crying.”
The color is signifi cant.
“Remember each time
you see red, remember our
little Conner who has earned
his angel wings and is now
free from the chains of cys-
tic fi brosis,” Jones wrote in a
wide-ranging thank-you letter
in the Chinook Observer after
Conner’s funeral in 2010.
She said the full title,
“Angel Wings: Love, Love,
Love, Now and Forever,”
combines the name of their
CF walk team with a phrase
Conner’s mom used in a
blog about her experiences.
The book is published by
Christian Faith Publishing of
Meadville, Pennsylvania. She
said its staff were very help-
ful guiding her as a fi rst-time
author.
As she fi nalized the
details, including photos, the
biggest issue was what to
leave out — because Con-
ner’s life offered so many
positive memories.
“He was only here seven
years, but he was wise
beyond his years and taught
all of us to be better people,”
his grandmother said. “He
was an amazing child. Even
on his sickest days, he would
make us smile.”