A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2021
Gearhart, state seek fi xes for Highway 101
IN BRIEF
State whale watching program
on hold because of virus
Gray whales are beginning their spring migration
up the Oregon Coast, but volunteers will not be on
hand at state parks to educate visitors and help people
spot the passing cetaceans.
Due to the pandemic, the state has opted not to sta-
tion volunteers at whale watching sites as part of its
annual Whale Watch Week program and the Whale
Watching Center in Depoe Bay is closed.
Instead, Lisa Sumption, the director of the Oregon
Parks and Recreation Department, encouraged visitors
to enjoy the spring tradition on their own while explor-
ing parks close to their homes.
Visitors are asked to continue to wear face cover-
ings and observe social distancing guidelines.
“If a park is crowded, consider visiting another
whale watching site or returning later,” Sumption said
in a statement.
On the North Coast, Ecola State Park and Oswald
West State Park are popular sites for whale watching.
On the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington state,
volunteers usually set up scopes at Cape Disappoint-
ment State Park’s Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center.
A map of sites and other information about gray
whales is available online at the state parks depart-
ment’s website.
— The Astorian
Timber group, counties challenge
delay of spotted owl decision
Federal protections for the northern spotted owl are
again heading to court.
The American Forest Resource Council, a timber
industry group, along with counties in Oregon, Wash-
ington state and California, are challenging the Biden
administration’s decision to delay removing millions
of acres of critical habitat for the threatened species.
The lawsuit was fi led March 5, and includes the
Association of O&C Counties, representing local gov-
ernments that benefi t from timber revenues generated
from Oregon and California Railroad Revested Lands
sprawled across w estern Oregon.
Several other counties, including Douglas County
in Oregon, Siskiyou County in California, and Lewis
and Skamania counties in Washington, also joined the
lawsuit individually.
It is the latest twist in the saga over protections for
the spotted owl, which was listed as a threatened spe-
cies in 1990.
Initially, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service set
aside 6.9 million acres of critical habitat in old growth
forests along the Pacifi c Coast where the birds nest.
That was reduced to 5.8 million acres in 2008, before
increasing to 9.5 million acres under a new manage-
ment plan for the species in 2012 — an area roughly
twice the size of New Jersey.
— Capital Press
In Brief
Section of highway
is dangerous
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
GEARHART — Crashes
are common. Crossing is dan-
gerous. And while the high-
way is used by the Oregon
Coast Bike Route and the
Oregon Coast Trail, there are
no safe walking paths or bike
lanes.
An Oregon Department of
Transportation plan confi rms
what drivers already know:
U.S. Highway 101 from
Pacifi c Way in Gearhart north
is dangerous.
The stretch “is notorious
for speeding,” state planners
write. “Local law enforce-
ment routinely clock drivers
exceeding the speed limit by
20 mph or more.”
A Highway 101 project
update delivered to the city
this month seeks public feed-
back on roadway improve-
ments, a multiyear process
to culminate with delivery of
a fi nal facility plan at the end
of 2022.
“The Highway 101 safety
plan that ODOT is fully
funding is underway,” Car-
ole Connell, the city planner,
said at Thursday’s joint meet-
ing of the Planning Commis-
sion and City Council. “We
had a stakeholders’ advisory
committee meeting of prop-
erty owners, of people who
live on the highway, peo-
ple who use the highway for
biking and all kinds of uses.
There’s been some very good
feedback.”
In March 2020, Ken-
neth Shonkwiler, ODOT’s
senior n orthwest r egion p lan-
ner, appeared before the City
Council to discuss plan pri-
orities and 75 potential proj-
ects. The work could include
narrowing the highway from
four lanes to three, sidewalks,
bike lanes, better, more vis-
ible crossings and fi xes for
fl ooding and stormwater
drainage issues.
Facility plans are more
detailed than transportation
system plans, and this partic-
ular project is solely focused
on Highway 101 in Gearhart,
Shonkwiler said Friday.
“The facility plan will use
goals and project ideas from
the city of Gearhart TSP 2017
to develop more detailed
projects that have ODOT and
community support,” he said.
“The end product will pro-
vide ODOT and the city with
adequate information to pur-
sue infrastructure projects.”
Mayor Paulina Cock-
rum said the plan serves as a
“jumping-off point.”
“That document outlines
increasing issues with speed-
ing, traffi c accidents, left-turn
lanes, and the ability for peo-
ple particularly on the east
side of the highway to cross
the highway anywhere except
Pacifi c Way — and even
Pacifi c Way is suboptimal in
terms of ADA (Americans
with Disabilities Act) stan-
dards,” she said. “Those are
some of the many reasons it
was such a pertinent part of
the transportation plan.”
The Department of Trans-
portation is entering the
“feedback on draft goals and
objectives,” before delivery
of a draft and fi nal facility
plan in winter 2022.
“This will make a diff er-
ence in the fi nal plan, how
much people are in agree-
ment with what they put out
as a proposal, such as reduc-
ing the speed on 101, or
reducing to three lanes with
a center turn lane,” Cockrum
said.
As for funding, Shonk-
wiler said, the current proj-
ect is a planning-level proj-
ect, which means there is not
construction funding at this
time. B ut by the end, the state
and the c ity will have a better
understanding of infrastruc-
ture needs and relative cost.
This plan then assists in pur-
suing state or federally funded
programs for construction.
“We really just began the
project and will have a better
idea once we start developing
solutions,” he said.
Knappa teacher tests positive for coronavirus
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
A teacher at the Knappa
School District has tested
positive for the coronavirus.
In a letter to the com-
munity outlining local case
metrics last week, Super-
intendent Bill Fritz also
acknowledged there was one
employee in quarantine.
“This individual feels fi ne
and we are monitoring for
any possible transmission to
others,” he wrote. “Thus far,
we have not seen any evi-
dence of transmission at the
school site.”
But the announcement
prompted some concern
over the weekend among
others who worried about
how the school district was
responding.
The teacher who tested
positive doesn’t know when
she contracted the virus, Fritz
clarifi ed to The Astorian on
Monday.
“So it’s possible she had
COVID while at school,” he
said. “We don’t know.”
School d istrict employ-
ees practice social distancing
and wear masks at all times,
protocols they have followed
since the start of school year,
Fritz noted. When the district
has a positive case and there
is concern about exposure
among others on campus, the
district works with the Clat-
sop County Public Health
Department and utilizes con-
tact tracing logs.
In this case, the teacher
did not fi t any of the param-
eters that would cause school
district or public health offi -
cials to be concerned about
exposure among students and
other staff members. To date,
nobody else has tested posi-
tive either, Fritz noted.
The school district has
had around four staff mem-
bers test positive for the virus
this school year.
But, Fritz said, “we’ve
seen no community spread
inside our school so far.”
Knappa began the school
year with some students on
campus and has been bring-
ing students back when state
guidelines allow. Kindergar-
ten-through-eighth graders
are in classrooms daily with
nine-through- 12th graders
following a hybrid model.
Some students continue to be
enrolled in the district’s vir-
tual academy full-time.
District leaders, as well
as the leaders of other
North Coast school dis-
tricts, have discussed that
reopening schools means
there will likely be positive
cases among students and
staff despite safety proto-
cols enforced on campus and
inside school buildings.
Craig Hoppes, the super-
intendent of the Astoria
School District, has cau-
tioned school board members
multiple times that admin-
istrators can only control so
much. When students and
staff leave buildings and go
about their daily lives, they
run the risk of exposure to
the virus.
Teachers across North
Coast school districts have
begun to receive coronavirus
vaccines. Many have already
received their second doses .
Districts have not tracked
which teachers opted to get
the vaccine.
DEATH
March 10, 2021
North Coast Grub: Services ‘too cumbersome to work with’
Death
HARLOW, Constance Wauneda, 88, of Seaside,
died in Seaside. Caldwell’s Funeral & Cremation
Arrangement Center of Seaside is in charge of the
arrangements.
ON THE RECORD
DUII
was arrested Saturday on
On
the
Record
• Thomas
James S. Main Avenue in War-
Moor, 52, of Warrenton,
was arrested Sunday in
Warrenton for driving
under the infl uence of
intoxicants.
• Rachel Dyer, 21, of
Warrenton, was arrested
Saturday on S.W. Cedar
Avenue in Warrenton for
DUII following a crash.
• Sara Cochran, 45,
renton for DUII.
• Cory Corbin, 30, of
Warrenton, was arrested
on March 10 on W. Duane
Street and Hume Avenue
in Astoria for DUII.
• Alisha Rafi ni, 39, of
Astoria, was arrested on
March 8 on W. Marine
Drive in Astoria for
DUII.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, 10 a.m., work
session, (electronic meeting).
Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Astoria Historic Landmarks Commission, 5:30 p.m., City
Hall, 1095 Duane St.
Continued from Page A1
Most delivery compa-
nies charge a commission
to participating restaurants
and customers for the con-
venience of delivery. North
Coast Grub charged restau-
rants nothing but posted
their menus on its web-
site, marking prices up at
least 20% to customers
and adding a delivery fee.
The business model drew
the ire of some restaurant
owners, who said Millo
reposted their menus with-
out permission.
Rita Schuyler, the owner
of Geno’s Pizza & Burgers,
off ers in-house delivery ser-
vice but said North Coast
Grub used her menu with-
out permission and mis-
represented her prices to
customers.
“They are using our name
and photos without our
consent,” Schuyler wrote
on Facebook earlier this
month. “Their prices are not
ours. They have marked up
your cost by 30% over ours.
So if you live in our deliv-
ery area, please continue to
use us and save money.”
Millo described the inci-
dent as a miscommunica-
tion and said she removed
Geno’s from North Coast
Grub’s website after hear-
ing from Schuyler.
Tony Kischner, the
owner of Bridgewater Bis-
tro, said he discontinued
both North Coast Grub and
Slurpalicious shortly after
joining.
“We quickly found both
services to be too cum-
bersome to work with and
not a good fi t for our busi-
ness type,” he wrote in an
email. “Our hard-working
staff was also not happy
that all tips left by custom-
ers for orders picked up by
the delivery services went
exclusively to the drivers.”
Genelle Mosley, a driver
for Slurpalicious, drove for
North Coast Grub but said
she quit soon after because
of issues with orders not
being ready, a company pro-
vided charge card not work-
ing and what she described
as the company pocketing
most of the earnings.
Mosley said the breaking
point came when she took a
$16 order from McDonald’s
that came to around $27
through North Coast Grub.
“I did the math,” she
said. “It was like $11 left
over. They (North Coast
Grub) paid me $4.07 on that
order, and they pocketed
almost $8. I was done.”
Millo called Mosley’s
account untrue, saying
North Coast Grub collects
the surcharge in prices to
market restaurants, but that
drivers keep the delivery
fee and tips. She described
the drama unfolding on
social media over her busi-
ness model as a “witch
hunt” when all she wanted
to do was help restaurants
on the coast add delivery
service.
“It’s not that we’re
re-creating the wheel, and
it is not illegal for people to
do what we’re doing,” Millo
said. “It’s a new concept to
Astoria. This is something
that happens all over the
U.S. It’s very common.
“It’s no diff erent than
someone going down and
buying bottles of water at
Costco and selling it in their
shop for six times or 30%
(more) or whatever they
want to mark up,” she said.
“That’s their prerogative.
And nobody says anything
about it.”
Millo said she recently
sold a similar operation,
The Rock Eats, that she
ran in Castle Rock, Wash-
ington, to a driver, because
of the stress caused by her
experience in Astoria.
“This is very, very upset-
ting to me, since the whole
reason for it was to help
out the community and the
restaurants,” she said.
WEDNESDAY
Seaside Tourism Advisory Committee, 3 p.m., City Hall,
989 Broadway.
Seaside Tree Board, 4 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway.
THURSDAY
Seaside Transportation Advisory Commission, 6 p.m.,
St. Patricks
Day
Happy
.
Seaside High School
ALA Scholarship
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
Fundraiser
Wednesday
March 17th
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