148tH yEar, NO. 134
WEEKEND EDITION // Saturday, May 8, 2021
$1.50
CORONAVIRUS
College
crafts budget
with eye on
enrollment
President calls decline
‘very significant’
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
Photos by Hailey Hoffman/the astorian
TOP: Instead of a live audience,
Astoria High School theater
students performed ‘The
Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon’
to a camera, two microphones
and a laptop on Wednesday
evening at the Astor Street
Opry Company Playhouse. The
play aims to combine the 209
classic fairy tales, like Rapunzel
and Rumpelstiltskin, into one
performance. The recording of
the performance is available for
$5 online and can be watched
anytime on May 14 and May 15.
GRIMM
TALES
After a uniquely challenging year, Clatsop Com-
munity College leaders say they are in a strong
financial position, but low enrollment remains a
concern.
The college, which benefited from emergency
federal aid and early precautionary budget reduc-
tions by college leaders, cannot sustain the lower
levels of enrollment it has seen as a result of the
coronavirus pandemic, Chris Breitmeyer, the col-
lege president, told the budget committee this week.
Still, he feels positive about the future of the col-
lege. The budget presented to the committee did not
add anything, he said, “but it doesn’t cut anything
from our budget either.”
The college’s $44.4 million spending plan,
adopted by the budget committee but not yet
approved by the college board, will keep the tuition
cost per credit at $105. Included in the spending
plan is $21.5 million in case a proposed expansion
of the maritime science program, on hold because of
the pandemic, moves forward.
See College, Page A6
MORE INSIDE
County reports new virus cases • a6
RIGHT: Senior Eli Harold as
Rumpelstiltskin, left, talks with
senior Sadie Wilkinson through a
tin can phone.
Homeless
liaisons begin
outreach
BELOW: Freshman Aria Larsen
plays Rapunzel in her tower as
senior Daniel Lempke plays the
prince trying to win her heart.
Countywide push to help with housing
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
During her first month in a new role, Cheryl Paul,
a Clatsop County homeless liaison, has been getting
to know the homeless population in Seaside, offering
to help connect people to different housing options.
During an Astoria homeless task force meeting on
Thursday, Paul was credited for helping a woman in a
camper find permanent housing and store the camper.
Seaside Police Chief Dave Ham said the wom-
an’s camper was parked on 12th Avenue and Necan-
icum Drive, an area where several RVs are parked at
a given time.
Residents raised concerns about the number of
RVs in the area during a Seaside City Council meet-
ing in April.
“It was great timing that she had come over that
day,” Ham said. “I had actually made contact with
somebody there ... and they had mentioned that they
had been in contact with her. So it was neat to see that
the liaison community person was out there work-
ing that.”
See Outreach, Page A6
Grants help museum, Craft3
Money for
Lightship Columbia,
entrepreneurs
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
The M.J. Murdock Charita-
ble Trust has awarded grants to
a historic vessel restoration by
the Columbia River Maritime
Museum and new lending staff
for Craft3 to help underserved
entrepreneurs.
The
Astoria
museum
received $383,000, a third of
the cost needed to dry dock the
Lightship Columbia and open
further areas of the vessel to
the public. The lightship, com-
missioned in 1951 and sold to
the museum 40 years ago, is
a national historic landmark
that once guided ships into
the mouth of the Columbia
River.
The vessel is about five
years overdue for a dry dock.
In October, it heads to Diversi-
fied Marine in Portland, where
crews will rehabilitate the hull
to withstand the region’s brack-
ish water. The museum has been
fundraising for a $1.1 million
project to maintain the hull and
make areas of the ship, such as
the engine room and crew quar-
ters, safe for the public.
Bruce Jones, the deputy
director of the museum and the
Astoria mayor, said the muse-
um’s board has wondered peri-
odically whether to keep spend-
ing money maintaining the
lightship. But the vessel is an
integral part of the museum
experience, Jones said, and was
boarded by 60% of the 115,000
visitors in 2019.
See Craft3, Page A6
Edward Stratton/the astorian
The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust awarded the Columbia River Maritime Museum
$383,000 toward the rehabilitation of the Lightship Columbia, which heads to dry
dock in October.