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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 2021)
A2 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2021 IN BRIEF Seniors start to get vaccine but many will need to wait More than 1,100 coronavirus vaccines were admin- istered in Clatsop County over the past week, including 200 to the fi rst group of seniors 80 years old and older. The county’s vaccine task force, in a weekly update on Friday, said that although seniors age 75 and older are eli- gible for the vaccine statewide on Monday, there are not enough doses locally to begin vaccinating that age group. The county will continue providing vaccines to those 80 and older, and will announce when doses are available for those 75 and older. Local organizers will be reaching out to seniors who have fi lled out the county’s online vaccine planning sur- vey with instructions about how to register for a vaccina- tion event. People are asked to fi ll out the survey on the coun- ty’s website, which will help the task force notify people when they are eligible for a vaccine. As of Friday, 5,183 doses were administered, includ- ing 3,540 fi rst doses and 1,643 second doses. Katie Frankowicz/The Astorian Three dead in Highway 26 crash Snow and ice made road conditions diffi cult. Three people died Wednesday in a two-vehicle crash on U.S. Highway 26. Police say a Mercedes station wagon was heading westbound at around 10 a.m. about 2 miles east of the state Highway 53 junction when the driver lost control and slid sideways into the eastbound lanes, colliding with a Toyota Tacoma driven by a Seaside woman. Walter Smith, 21, of Pendleton, who was driving the Mercedes, died. His passengers, Erick Fadness, 20, of Decorah, Iowa, and a 16-year-old female from Portland also died. The Seaside woman who was driving the Toyota Tacoma was fl own to a Portland hospital. The highway was temporarily closed while law enforcement investigated and reconstructed the crash. Winter weather advisory issued Free fi shing offered in Oregon Fishing is free in Oregon over Presidents Day weekend. The state will not require fi shing tags — including combined angling tags, Columbia River basin endorse- ment or two-rod validation — on Saturday and Sunday. People can fi sh, clam and crab for free. All other fi shing regulations, such as closures, bag limits and size restrictions, still apply. — The Astorian Four in Oregon test positive for virus after vaccine Four Oregonians have tested positive for COVID-19 after being vaccinated against the disease, Oregon health offi cials disclosed Friday. The Oregon Health Authority said two of the cases were in Lane County and two were in Yamhill County. Two of the cases were found during routine surveil- lance testing. The other two appear to be connected. State offi cials did not specify which two. “This is a serious but not surprising development,” Patrick Allen, the director of the health authority, said. These reinfections, called “breakthrough infections,” are infections that occur more than 14 days after receiv- ing the second dose of vaccine. Given the effectiveness rate of the two vaccines —95% for both Pfi zer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s — it’s inevitable that some of the 177,000 vaccinated Ore- gonians would become reinfected. It isn’t yet known if these four known reinfection cases involved newer variants of the coronavirus. The Oregon Health Authority is attempting to get samples from these patients to be tested, a process that could take over a week. — Oregon Public Broadcasting DEATHS In Brief Deaths Feb. 9, 2021 COZART, Evelyn N., 84, of Knappa, died in Knappa. Ocean View Funeral & Cremation Ser- vice of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. Feb. 8, 2021 KIMINKI, Mark Arnold, 68, of Astoria, died in Astoria. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. NICHOLAS, Julia Clair, 64, of Westport, died in Westport. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. ON THE RECORD Assault On the Record • Samuel Joe Johnson, 30, was arrested Wednesday on W. Bond Street in Astoria for assault in the fourth degree and tampering with a witness. PUBLIC MEETINGS TUESDAY Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, 10 a.m., (elec- tronic meeting). Seaside Planning Commission, 6 p.m., work session, (electronic meeting). Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. PUBLIC MEETINGS 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: 800-781-3214 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. COPYRIGHT © Entire contents © Copyright, 2021 by The Astorian. MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF CIRCULATIONS, INC. Printed on recycled paper Subscription rates Eff ective January 12, 2021 MAIL EZpay (per month) ...............................................................................................................$10.75 13 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$37.00 26 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$71.00 52 weeks in advance ........................................................................................................ $135.00 DIGITAL EZpay (per month) .................................................................................................................$8.25 Schools closed, delayed by snowy and icy conditions The Astorian A winter weather advi- sory was issued for the North Coast through Satur- day afternoon. Snow, sleet and freez- ing rain around Astoria and Warrenton was expected through late Friday night. Up to one quarter of an inch of ice was expected near Astoria. Snow accumula- tions are not expected to exceed an inch. Cold or freezing rain, possibly mixed with snow, was forecast for south of Seaside. Travel is expected to be very challenging at times. Offi cials urged people to be prepared for snow- and- ice covered roads while travel- ing inland from the coast, especially along the lower Columbia River around Astoria and points east. Schools on the North Coast announced closures and delays because of snow and icy conditions Friday morning. The Warrenton-Ham- mond School District can- celed classes , instructing all students to instead do classes and coursework from home. The Knappa School Dis- trict also opted to close down classrooms in antic- ipation of wint ry weather. Students were still expected to participate in the school day via distance learning and the school district sent home Friday’s lunches with students on Thursday. Athletic practices were also canceled and will resume Tuesday . Schools in the Astoria School D istrict were on a two-hour delay, with all stu- dents to have remote learn- ing. In-person instruction had only just begun for ele- mentary students Thursday. In Astoria, snow began to fall and stick around 8 a.m. Seaside School District students have been operat- ing under a remote learn- ing model this winter. The weather Friday did not change anything for them. The school district plans to phase students back into classrooms next week beginning with the youngest grade levels. Students in the Jew- ell School District are still attending classes remotely. After a student tested pos- itive for the coronavirus, the school district tempo- rarily shifted all students to distance learning. All grade levels will return to class- rooms four days a week beginning Tuesday . Lil’ Sprouts Academy, a city-run day care in Asto- ria, announced it would be closed for the day because of the weather and staff capacity. The center is the largest in the city. Astoria, meanwhile, closed Eighth Street between Franklin Avenue and Grand Avenue on Friday morning because of potentially haz- ardous road conditions. Recology Western Ore- gon canceled routes for all customers on Friday and closed the Astoria Trans- fer Station. Recology said it would attempt to get Fri- day customers serviced on Monday. Offi ces close for Presidents Day The Astorian In observance of Presi- dents Day on Monday, all federal, state, county and city offi ces and services, including Astoria, Warren- ton, Gearhart, Seaside and Cannon Beach city halls, are closed. All U.S. post offi ces are closed, and there is no mail delivery. Astoria, Jewell, Knappa, Warrenton- Hammond and Seaside (including Cannon Beach and Gearhart) school district schools, and Clat- sop Community College, are closed. The Astoria Library, Sea- side Library and Warrenton Library are closed. The Port of Astoria offi ces and services are closed. Garbage collection through Recology West- ern Oregon and the city of Warrenton garbage collec- tion are not affected by the holiday. Recology Western Oregon’s transfer station is open. The Sunset Pool in Sea- side is closed. The Asto- ria Aquatic Center is still closed. The Clatsop County Her- itage Museum is closed. The Oregon Film Museum and the Flavel Carriage House are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; the Flavel House is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Uppertown Firefi ghters’ Museum is closed for the winter. Lil’ Sprouts Academy is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Fort Clatsop Visitor Center is closed; the fort and trails are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Colum- bia River Maritime Museum is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Seaside Museum is still closed. Sunset Empire Trans- portation (“The Bus”) is running. Enterprise zone: Companies to focus fi rst on local hires Continued from Page A1 the former Video Horizons on Astor Street to fi t new brew- ing equipment that will dou- ble capacity. Pilot House will remodel a nearby warehouse into a larger headquarters, including a multistory, 5,000- liter still fi ve times bigger than what the distillery uses now. Being part of the enter- prise zone would save Bouy Beer and Pilot House an esti- mated $734,800 in prop- erty taxes over fi ve years. The expansion is expected to create 15 to 20 new jobs in brewing, selling, packag- ing and warehousing beer and spirits, along with added administration. The companies have agreements with the state Employment Department to focus fi rst on local hires. Buoy Beer and Fort George are partnering with Clat- sop Community College on a brewing program that could link with higher-level programs at Oregon State University. Dave Kroening, the pres- ident and general manager of Buoy Beer, said the com- pany is still at the equiva- lent of 65 full-time employ- ees after layoffs because of the coronavirus pandemic. Most of the layoffs have been on the retail side, whereas the expansion and new posi- tions will focus on whole- sale throughout the Pacifi c Northwest. “In general, about 95% of everything we make on site goes outside the county for sales,” Kroening said. Scoular would save $641,000 on property taxes over fi ve years for a new plant turning fi sh scraps from Bornstein Seafoods and Da Please ADOPT A PET! LOLA Yang Seafood into fi shmeal. The plant at the Port of Asto- ria’s Airport Industrial Park in Warrenton is expected to cost $10 million, create around 10 jobs and be oper- ational this spring . “That is a plant manager, a quality manager, a fi nance manager, multiple skilled operators,” said Tom Wort- mann, director of corporate development and strategy at Scoular. “ … We’re trying to run a lean facility here, so a skilled operator is someone that knows how to run the equipment, and if it breaks, knows how to fi x the equip- ment. I think you’ll see a very skilled workforce we’re looking to employ here.” Scoular, an employ- ee-owned agricultural trader based in Nebraska, is one of the largest privately held companies in the U.S., with $4.5 billion in annual reve- CONCEALED CARRY PERMIT CLASS Mature American Staffordshire Blend A worthy student, eager to learn her canine companion manners & ready to prove faithful in any test. See more on Petfinder.com CLATSOP COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER • 861-PETS 1315 SE 19th St. • Warrenton | Tues-Sat 12-4pm www.dogsncats.org THIS SPACE SPONSORED BY BAY BREEZE BOARDING nue. The fi sh meal products made in Warrenton will go around the U.S. and to Asia, Wortmann said, and help bol- ster the company’s presence in pet food and aquaculture. Kevin Leahy, the exec- utive director of Clatsop Economic Development Resources and manager of the enterprise zone, said the enterprise zone provides a tool to help local companies expand. “We always talk about, ‘How can we be compet- itive?’” Leahy said. “And we know that most of our growth in Clatsop County comes from within. It’s busi- ness expansion and business retention. So it’s so excit- ing to have a local, home- grown business in Buoy Beer doing this major expansion, and having The Scoular Co. as a new member of our eco- nomic family.” MULTI-STATE 9 AM & 12 PM CLASSES AVAILABLE! 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