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CoastRiverBus
Volume 16 •
FREE
Published 2nd
Wednesday
of the month
Chronicling
ss in the Colum
the Joy of Busine
light:
Industry Spot
June 2021
Issue 6
bia-Pacifi c Region
s award ent s Resources honored business owners
Busines
omic Developm
Inside:
Page 6
Clatsop Econ
ge
Labor shorta
summer
industry prepares for
Short-staff ed hospitality
Page 4
y
Pacifi c Count
Tourism in visitor
spending to grow
Industry leaders expect
Page 8
Lumber and
Seaside, Hampton
in May.
Murphy’s in
presentation
Cow Toys, Papa
Resources awards
Hospital, Purple
c Development
Providence Seaside at the Clatsop Economi
Slurpalicious,
recognition
FROM TOP LEFT:
es that received
CLOCKWISE
the business
were a few of
Good to Go
Healing herbs
Astoria
New apothecary opens
Page 14
in
148TH YEAR, NO. 147
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 2021
$1.50
CORONAVIRUS
HOMELESSNESS
Businesses,
residents
probe for
solutions
Seaside residents
weigh in at forum
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
SEASIDE — Sandy Palmer, who
owns Five Star Henna , described her
experience with the homeless as “men
under my windows, in my doorways,
with grocery carts, smoking, eating, def-
ecating, urinating on my door and doing
anything and everything for someone else
to come and pick up their garbage.”
Unless the homeless are compelled to
move along, Palmer said, side streets in
the city are going to look like Portland.
“And people are going to be more leery
about coming into our town for tourism,”
she said. “My solution would be to con-
stantly move them along.”
Palmer’s comments came on Thurs-
day at the Seaside Civic and Convention
Center during the third conversation in a
series on homelessness . A remaining con-
versation takes place at the convention
center at 6 p.m. on July 1.
GRADS TAKE CENTER STAGE
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Astoria High School seniors attended graduation on Saturday afternoon at CMH Field. This year, students and
guests sat socially distanced on the fi eld, following coronavirus restrictions. • Xander Marincovich and Michael Berger take a selfi e before
graduation. • Valeria Gomez crosses the fi eld with her family before receiving her diploma. • David Killion hugs supporters after graduation.
Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
SEE MORE AT DAILYASTORIAN.COM
See Homeless, Page A6
Birth center
adds family
medicine
options
Expansion planned for July
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
Astoria Birth Center will add pediat-
ric care and general family medicine ser-
vices this summer.
The center, which opened during
the coronavirus pandemic last year and
started by providing pre natal, labor and
delivery and post natal care, announced it
will bring on Dr. Kelli Stephenson, who
previously worked in a hospital in East-
ern Oregon, and also merge with Astoria
Integrated Family Medicine with Carolyn
Nygaard, a naturopathic doctor.
It has been one of the center’s goals to
off er medical services throughout a per-
son’s lifespan, said Rebeckah Orton, the
manager and co-owner of the birth center.
Orton previously ran North Star Doula
Service.
See Birth center, Page A6
Astoria choir director takes last bow
Pierce to return to
alma mater in Bend
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
L
ike any self-respecting choir
director, Matthew Pierce
decided to tell his students some
diffi cult news by singing a song.
He asked the students to pay
attention to the lyrics: What did
they say? What advice did they
off er? Then he sang “Everything
Must Change” by the late singer
and songwriter Bernard Ighner.
“Everything must change / Noth-
ing stays the same / Everyone will
change / No one stays the same.”
“OK,” Pierce said after he fi n-
ished singing and the students had
discussed the song, “now here’s
some news.”
He was leaving the Astoria
School District, where he’d acted
as choir director for the high school
and middle school for 17 years. He
was moving to Bend, his home-
town, to take on the position of
choir director at Bend High School,
his alma mater.
Pierce had long known that if
there was an opportunity to teach at
his old school he couldn’t let it pass
by. It doesn’t make the decision to
leave Astoria any easier, though.
Because of the coronavirus, he
ended last school year and started
this school year online, encourag-
ing virtual talent shows and passing
along YouTube videos of interest-
ing musical performances to create
something like a normal classroom .
He took up jazz piano lessons,
See Pierce, Page A6
Katie Frankowicz/The Astorian
Matthew Pierce, the choir director for Astoria High School and Astoria
Middle School, took up jazz piano during the pandemic. He announced he
will be leaving to teach at Bend High School.