A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2021
FAT BIKE
IN BRIEF
Salmon seasons set for Columbia River
FESTIVAL
With improved run forecasts for certain salmon
species, but below average runs predicted for others,
summer and fall salmon fi sheries on the Columbia
River will be a mixed bag this year.
Retention of adult hatchery Chinook from the Asto-
ria Bridge to Bonneville Dam opens on the river on
June 16 and will continue through July 5 downstream
of the dam and upstream of the dam to the Oregon and
Washington state border through July 31.
Because of forecasts of below average runs for
sockeye salmon, retention of sockeye and hatchery
steelhead in both areas will be allowed but with a
reduced bag limit.
With predictions for a higher number of upriver
bright Chinook, the fall Chinook retention season
starts Aug. 1 and will last longer than in recent years.
Regulations vary by river section, however.
Hatchery coho retention will be open throughout
the fall season due to a much-improved run forecast.
But protective regulations will once again be in eff ect
for 2021 fi sheries because of the low forecast for upriver
summer steelhead. Anglers will be limited to one hatch-
ery steelhead for their daily bag limit and there will be
area specifi c closures, among other restrictions.
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Halibut fi shing opens off Oregon
Halibut sport fi shing opens off the Oregon Coast
this month.
Off the North Coast, fi shermen will be able to begin
fi shing on Thursday through May 27 — on Thursdays
and Sundays — for the all-depth season in the Colum-
bia River subareas that run from Cape Falcon to Lead-
better Point in Washington state.
The nearshore season inside the 40-fathom line in
this same area begins May 10 and runs until the 500-
pound quota is met or through Sept. 30.
South of Cape Falcon to Humbug Mountain, the near-
shore sport halibut fi shery has opened, while the spring
all-depth season has set openings, with the fi rst occur-
ring on May 13 through May 15. The summer all-depth
season off the state’s central coast opens in August.
From Humbug Mountain to the Oregon-California
border, sport fi shing for halibut is now open daily.
Como to serve as interim
Gearhart fi re chief
GEARHART — Josh Como has been named
interim fi re chief after the retirement of Gearhart Fire
Chief Bill Eddy.
“I have been involved with the fi re department since
I was 6 years old,” Como said. “That’s how old I was
when my dad joined. I was a cadet when I was 14.”
— The Astorian
DEATHS
May 1, 2021
In KIRBY,
Brief
Carley Eliza-
beth, 82, of Astoria, died
in Warrenton. Ocean View
Death
Funeral & Cremation Ser-
vice of Astoria is in charge
of the arrangements.
PELTO, Henry, 72,
of Astoria, died in Asto-
ria. Caldwell’s Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
April 29, 2021
HATCH,
William
Radburn, 87, of Can-
non Beach, died in Can-
non Beach. Caldwell’s
Funeral & Cremation
Arrangement Center of
Seaside is in charge of the
arrangements.
ON THE RECORD
Theft
DUII
On
the
Record:
May
• Kenneth
Weaver
Pru-
• Michael
Rhodes
ett, 38, was arrested Fri- Wallace, 33, of Port-
day on 2021
charges of theft in land, was arrested Thurs-
3,
the second degree, unlaw- day in Astoria for driv-
ful entry into a motor
vehicle and possession of
methamphetamine.
ing under the infl uence of
intoxicants.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, noon, work
session, (electronic meeting).
Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Clatsop Care Health District Board, 5 p.m., (electronic
meeting).
Astoria Planning Commission, 5:30 p.m., City Hall, 1095
Duane St.
Cannon Beach City Council, 6 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Clatsop Community College Budget Committee,
6:30 p.m., (electronic meeting).
WEDNESDAY
Seaside Urban Renewal and Improvement Commission,
5:30 p.m., budget meeting,(electronic meeting).
Seaside Improvement Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall,
(electronic meeting).
THURSDAY
Astoria Design Review Commission, 5:30 p.m., City Hall,
1095 Duane St.
Seaside Parks Advisory Committee, 6 p.m., 989 Broad-
way St.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Cyclists raced at the Cannon Beach Fat Bike Festival on Saturday night. The winner of the slow race was the last person to cross
the fi nish line without putting a foot on the ground.
Labor: ‘It’s really diffi cult to manage’
Continued from Page A1
because they’re off ering me
more, unless you match it.’
If you match it, then what’s
going to happen? You have
100 other employees, and
you have to match. So it’s
really diffi cult to manage.”
Khan blamed the govern-
ment for what he described
as a ham-fi sted application
of unemployment benefi ts in
places, like the coast, where
jobs are readily available.
David Posalski, a Seaside
city councilor who owns
several local eateries, said
the labor shortage has been
exacerbated by virus-re-
lated travel bans that have
stopped between 50 to 60
foreign exchange students
from Asia and Europe who
come each year to work in
hotels and restaurants . He
said he usually hires seven
to eight students, mostly
from Lithuania .
“Between my businesses,
I could use another 10 peo-
ple,” Posalski said. “If I get
my Lithuanians come sum-
mertime, I could probably
get away with three or four.”
Kim Dewar, an offi ce
manager for Total Employ-
ment and Management,
oversees several hundred
temporary workers for
mostly blue-collar positions
between Astoria and New-
port. She’s been fi elding
a fl ood of calls from busi-
nesses struggling to fi nd
workers through traditional
advertising and perks like
signing bonuses.
“Everybody’s wanting to
keep it at last year’s wages,
and that just isn’t going
to work,” she said. “Peo-
ple have had a year to be
home, get stimulus money,
and they don’t want to come
back and work for what
they worked for last year.
Because guess what? If they
stay home, they can still get
the money.”
Regional workforce ana-
lyst Shawna Sykes said
most of the shortages appear
to be in lower-paying hos-
pitality jobs , where front-
line workers often have to
enforce health and safety
guidelines to protect against
the virus.
“One of the things we’ve
been hearing from employ-
ers is the frustration with
enforcing
the
COVID
restrictions with guests
that don’t want to comply,”
Sykes said. “That confron-
tational aspect that is really
diffi cult for some people to
handle as wait staff or host-
esses ... even retail.”
People who want to come
back to work face pressures
from child care to the lack
of aff ordable housing. The
county, like all of Oregon, is
considered a child care des-
ert. Even small diff erences
between pay and unemploy-
ment benefi ts can have an
impact when r ents routinely
Edward Stratton/The Astorian
David Posalski, the owner of Tsunami Sandwich Co. in Seaside, said coronavirus travel
restrictions have prevented international students from coming to work at local hotels and
restaurants.
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Esteban Becerra smoothes a bed at the SaltLine Hotel in
Seaside. The hotel needs housekeepers and other staff .
surpass $1,000 a month for
one-bedroom apartments.
Dewar’s offi ce provides a
shower and laundry to help
workers who struggle to
fi nd adequate housing. She
called the local rental mar-
ket “exploitative.”
“I have four employees
who share one room, and
they pay $500 a month for
the bunk,” Dewar said.
Sykes said the county has
a unique set of housing chal-
lenges, with a higher pro-
portion of retirees, remote
workers moving to the coast
and around 22% of homes
being second or vacation
properties, compared to 4%
statewide.
“There’s just a lot less
homes available for resi-
dents, overall,” she said.
Warrenton Mayor Henry
Balensifer, who works at
JBT Lektro, said the county
also faces shortages for
higher-wage jobs in indus-
tries such as manufactur-
ing, where global supply
chains have been disrupted
by the pandemic and created
uncertainties for businesses.
He also recognized the
logic of staying home, earn-
ing unemployment and sav-
ing on child care costs.
“Child care can cost the
equivalent of a mortgage
anymore these days,” Balen-
sifer said. “So at that point,
if the unemployment ben-
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efi t is going to cover what
you need ... it’s cheaper to
stay home than pay for child
care.”
‘There was no child
care’
Some
service-sector
workers, like Josie Lilly,
have turned the pandemic
into an opportunity for pro-
fessional development. Lilly
was laid off along with most
of the staff at the Astoria
Coff eehouse & Bistro just
after her daughter’s sixth
birthday in March 2020.
Then schools closed.
“I was kind of trapped
at home with my daugh-
ter,” Lilly said. “There was
no child care. Trying to be
my daughter’s playmate
24/7 was a little draining
and exhausting. I was kind
of anxious to get back doing
something.”
Lilly had periodically
attended college, but she
usually went back to the rel-
Edward Stratton/The Astorian
Josie Lilly used a layoff during
the coronavirus pandemic to
go back to school to become
an electrician.
atively good pay — after
tips — from restaurants. But
after more than 20 years of
waitressing, she decided
during the pandemic to get
more serious about a long-
held dream of becoming an
electrician.
She now spends her
days attending class, car-
ing for her daughter and
picking up shifts at Colum-
bia Housewarmers on the
rare occasion she can fi nd a
babysitter.
“I’d defi nitely been con-
sidering it and kind of dip-
ping my toes in the water
before,” Lilly said, “but this
was the real shove over the
cliff . ”