A2
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2021
TSUNAMI SKIPPERS
IN BRIEF
Housing needs to impact
Gearhart fi rehouse land decision
GEARHART — A new fi rehouse and resiliency
station on 30 acres on Highlands Lane just north of
Gearhart will rely on a combination of planning and
taxpayer support.
Navigating a complex web of state and local land
use codes to bring the property into the city’s urban
growth boundary is the fi rst hurdle.
“The city is evaluating planning and architectural
proposals,” City Administrator Chad Sweet said.
“Staff will approach the council about those costs in
June. It’s possible that we will be ready for prelim-
inary conversations with the Planning Commission.”
If the costs for the resiliency station, which is catego-
rized as critical infrastructure, are reasonable and the loca-
tion is suitable, city staff will make a recommendation to
the City Council to proceed to a bond vote in the fall.
“Ultimately it’s the citizens of Gearhart that will
choose in November,” Sweet said.
The land exchange proposal for the fi rehouse
comes as the city considers recommendations from a
housing study calling for increased workforce housing
opportunities.
The building and land inventory analysis deliv-
ered to the City Council in March showed a need for
234 new housing units by 2038. The study indicates a
need for more rental supply for lower and moderately
priced rental units.
— The Astorian
Pacific County surpasses 1,000 virus cases
SOUTH BEND, Wash. — The Pacifi c County
Health and Human Services Department reported
a grim milestone last week, one that most probably
thought was unthinkable just a year ago as local com-
munities were largely being spared the coronavirus
outbreaks others were facing throughout the country.
On May 14, the department reported that the county
exceeded 1,000 reported cases of COVID-19 since the
pandemic began in 2020, although the actual total is likely
even higher.
Nearly 5% of the county’s population has tested
positive for the virus.
If you’d told Katie Lindstrom, the county’s health
director, a year ago that the county would hit 1,000
cases by May 2021, she would’ve said that was “crazy.”
“A year ago, we were still barely trickling cases in.
We really didn’t see our cases surge until late fall,”
Lindstrom said. “A lot of other communities had way
higher case rates than us, but then we really took off .
“I feel like we’ve been on a similar level as most
other places since then; higher than I’d like, but lower
than when we were at our surge.”
— Chinook Observer
ABOVE: Brody Brenden
jumped rope while
competing in a Double
Dutch relay with fellow
Tsunami Skippers Malory
Dundas, Alona Whisenhunt
and Ella Boles at the Oregon
Coast Classic in Seaside
on Saturday. LEFT: Over
70 people from Oregon,
Washington state and
Alaska attended the classic,
which tested jumpers’
speed and power through
a series of individual and
group events. BELOW: Kai
Widmer from the West
City Rope Ninjas in Seattle
competes in the Last Man
Sitting Rump Jump contest.
The person who could
bounce up and down while
whipping the rope beneath
them repeatedly for the
longest amount of time
won.
Arborist hired after outcry
about excessive tree cutting
Oregon is hiring a Pacifi c Northwest-based arborist
to review the state’s removal of trees in wildfi re burn
areas after recent concerns that the operation has been
hasty and excessive.
The Oregon Offi ce of Emergency Management
announced Monday that Galen Wright has been hired
as an independent contractor to review the hazard tree
eff ort, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
Wright is president of Washington Forest Consul-
tants Inc. He is tasked with providing a full assess-
ment of Oregon’s program and his recommendations
are due in June.
“As this adaptive and evolving emergency response
operation continues to make signifi cant progress, Ore-
gonians deserve to have confi dence in the good work
underway,” said Mac Lynde, the Oregon Department
of Transportation’s head of the three-agency Debris
Management Task Force. It has been coordinating the
tree-removal program in the aftermath of the 2020
wildfi res that burned over 1 million acres.
The state is in the midst of the giant eff ort to cut
down an estimated 140,000 burned trees that could be
dangerous to people on state roads or burned properties.
— Associated Press
DEATHS
May 16, 2021
In BERG,
Brief
William, 82,
of Gearhart, died in Port-
land.
Hughes-Ransom
Deaths
Mortuary is in charge of
the arrangements.
ROMAN,
Stephen
Lee, 74, of Astoria, died
in Astoria. Caldwell’s
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
MEMORIAL
Saturday, May 22
Memorial
AUTIO, Marvin, Robert — Celebration of life at
2 p.m., Big Creek Lodge, 92878 Waterhouse Road.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
THURSDAY
Clatsop Care Health District Board, 3 p.m., budget
review meeting, (electronic meeting).
Seaside Transportation Advisory Commission, 6 p.m.,
989 Broadway St.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Five more counties vote to consider joining Idaho
By SIERRA DAWN
McCLAIN
Capital Press
Five counties in Ore-
gon voted Tuesday for offi -
cials to begin taking steps to
become part of Idaho.
Thousands
of
vot-
ers across Sherman, Lake,
Grant, Baker and Malheur
counties in Oregon voted for
measures that will require
elected county offi cials to
meet to consider a possible
border move .
Sherman County’s bal-
lot measure went furthest
in its language and requires
county commissioners to
promote realigning the bor-
ders. The other four coun-
ties simply voted that county
commissioners are required
to meet a few times a year to
discuss the prospect of mov-
ing the state lines.
In the fi ve counties, an
average of 62% of voters
favored the measures.
The fi ve counties are
joined by two other coun-
ties, Union and Jeff erson,
which had already voted in
favor of the border negotia-
tions last November.
Greater Idaho offi cials
say voters in Harney and
Douglas counties will vote
on similar measures in
future elections.
The ballot measures are
the fi rst major step in the
Greater Idaho project, which
would allow some Ore-
gon counties to join Idaho,
a state that advocates say
more closely aligns with res-
idents’ political and cultural
preferences.
The project, if successful,
would extend Idaho’s juris-
diction over rural, conserva-
tive counties of eastern and
southern Oregon.
Advocates of the move
say Eastern Oregon has lit-
tle in common with western
Oregon and identifi es much
more with Idaho.
For example, Oregon has
two Democratic senators
in the U.S. Senate and has
voted blue in presidential
elections since 1988, while
Idaho has two Republican
U.S. senators and has voted
red in presidential elections
since 1968. Eastern Oregon,
like Idaho, runs red.
In a statement Wednes-
day, Mike McCart er, the
president of Citizens for
Greater Idaho, said the elec-
tion results show the move-
ment is gaining traction and
has potential.
“This election proves that
rural Oregon wants out of
Oregon,” he said . “If Ore-
gon really believes in lib-
eral values such as self-de-
termination, the Legislature
won’t hold our counties cap-
tive against our will. If we’re
allowed to vote for which
government offi cials we
want, we should be allowed
to vote for which govern-
ment we want as well.”
But McCart er’s optimism
is about to face a series of
tests. That’s because this
week’s ballot measure votes
are just the fi rst steps in a
complicated, multi step pro-
cess that would ultimately
require approval from the
Oregon and Idaho state leg-
islatures and Congress,
which at present is con-
trolled by Democrats.
Despite the long road
ahead, the Greater Idaho
project’s advocates say they
are happy to have support
from Idaho’s governor, the
leadership of both Idaho leg-
islative chambers and doz-
ens of legislators.