A6
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2021
Risk: One of 21 counties that will be at lower risk Rentals: ‘We are going to
Continued from Page A1
“But, for unvaccinated
individuals,
COVID-19
remains as large a threat as
it ever was. With more con-
tagious variants spreading,
far too many Oregonians are
still being hospitalized when
they could be protected with
a vaccine. If you have been
waiting to get vaccinated,
go get your shot today. It’s
never been easier to get an
appointment, and you may
just win $1 million through
the Take Your Shot, Oregon
campaign.”
Counties that have vacci-
nated at least 65% of adults
can move to lower risk — an
option to move more coun-
ties back to normal opera-
tions quicker.
About 61% of people 16
and older in Clatsop County
have received at least one
dose of a vaccine, accord-
ing to the Oregon Health
Authority.
“We are pleased that case
counts remain low and that
we will remain in lower risk,”
Mark Kujala, the chairman
of the county Board of Com-
missioners, said. “It is still
very important for those 12
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Johnathan Kvale receives the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at
the Astoria Armory in April.
years and above to get vacci-
nated so we can continue our
economic recovery.
“County health continues
to do an outstanding job and
thank you to the hundreds of
volunteers that have helped
staff phones and work clin-
ics. We couldn’t get to this
point without them.”
Clatsop County is one
of 21 counties that will be
at lower risk through June
17 . Four counties will be at
moderate risk and 11 will be
at high risk.
Counties with a popu-
lation of 30,000 or more
are evaluated for risk based
on virus cases per 100,000
over two weeks and the test
positivity rate for the same
period.
Counties at lower risk
have a case rate under 50
per 100,000 people, and may
have a test positivity of 5%
or less.
As of Saturday, Clatsop
County had 25 cases per
100,000 over a two-week
period. Test positivity was
1.9%.
Capacity for indoor din-
ing at restaurants and bars
in counties at lower risk can
increase to 50% with a mid-
night closing time. Up to 300
people can dine outdoors.
Tables must be limited to
eight people.
Gyms, indoor pools,
museums, theaters and other
entertainment venues can
operate at 50% of capacity.
Grocery stores, pharma-
cies, retail shops and shop-
ping malls can operate at
75% of capacity.
Churches can increase
capacity to 75% indoors and
300 people outdoors.
Indoor social gatherings
must be limited to 10 peo-
ple from four households in
counties at lower risk. Out-
door gatherings can have 12
people.
Indoor and outdoor visits
are allowed at long-term care
facilities.
The county has recorded
1,022 virus cases since the
pandemic began. According
to the county, 25 were hos-
pitalized and eight have died.
The county has set a target
of vaccinating 27,533 peo-
ple — or 70% of the popula-
tion — to try to achieve herd
immunity against the virus,
As of Friday, 17,270 people
have been fully vaccinated.
Mascot: ‘Not a decision that the high school will make’
Continued from Page A1
graduation, and that talking
about changes to the mas-
cot fi t well into her speech.
When she fi nally stood at
the podium, she only felt
excitement.
“As a state-qualifying var-
sity athlete, captain and team-
mate, I only wish I could
have fought and competed
under a mascot that repre-
sented everyone on the team,”
Rouda told the audience.
She added: “Our mascot
currently does not represent
all students and is not inclu-
sive. If fi remen and police-
men felt the need to evolve
to fi refi ghters and police offi -
cers, then why can we not
evolve from Fishermen?
“A new, gender-neutral
mascot that still honors Asto-
ria’s history, or shortening to
the ‘Fish,’ which we already
use frequently, would solve
this problem. We want to be
represented. We want to be
valued.”
Rouda told her fellow
seniors that she hoped “you
become the change you want
to see.”
As she fi nished, the same
‘AS A STATE-QUALIFYING
VARSITY ATHLETE, CAPTAIN
AND TEAMMATE, I ONLY WISH
I COULD HAVE FOUGHT AND
COMPETED UNDER A MASCOT
THAT REPRESENTED EVERYONE
ON THE TEAM.’
Constance Rouda | Astoria High School graduate
polite applause that followed
the other student speakers
ushered her from the podium.
Rouda will meet with
Jackson next week to talk
about next steps for the
mascot discussion. But it’s
complicated.
Since the mascot debate
last year, both the girls soft-
ball and basketball teams
have chosen to use the Lady
Fish moniker, putting it on
their gear, Jackson said.
Meanwhile, though aca-
demics and some govern-
ment agencies might use the
more neutral term of “fi sher”
to refer to anyone partici-
pating in commercial fi sh-
ing, within the industry itself,
men and women alike refer to
themselves as “fi shermen.”
Jackson believes the split
he saw in the leadership class
likely refl ects opinions in the
broader community, and there
are certainly strong opinions
on both sides.
There is also still the ques-
tion of how to properly air
the discussion in the school
community. While school
is expected to resume more
normal operations in the fall,
Jackson doesn’t expect to see
a full school assembly any-
time soon.
“So how do you address
this issue with the student
body?” he said.
There are also people in
the community interested
in weighing in. Ultimately,
the matter would need to be
brought to the school board
for debate and a fi nal deci-
sion, Superintendent Craig
Hoppes said.
“It’s not a decision that the
high school will make,” Hop-
pes said.
Rouda will attend the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin-Madi-
son in the fall, but she wants
to remain available to the
s chool d istrict if the mascot
discussions continue. Even if
nothing changes, she thinks it
has been a valuable process.
After graduation, Rouda,
who swam and played golf on
the school teams, heard from
younger teammates. They
hadn’t been aware of the mas-
cot debate until they heard
her speech. They wanted to
share their own ideas for a
new name.
These types of discussions
provide an opportunity for
people to hear each other’s
opinions, a chance to empa-
thize with and support each
other, she believes . “I think
having a conversation can be
really eye-opening and bene-
fi cial, ” she said.
Police: Astoria’s city budget comes to $49.5 Million
Continued from Page A1
unrest over the past year and
calls to defund police fol-
lowing police killings of
B lack men elsewhere in the
country.
In the survey, the police
department asks respon-
dents to rate how they feel
police offi cers treat peo-
ple in the community, what
the interactions have been
like, what they think are
the greatest problems in the
community, if the respon-
dent feels safe in bars or
on the Astoria Riverwalk,
among other questions.
There is space to provide
additional comments.
Police Chief Geoff Spal-
ding hopes the survey will
validate and confi rm things
the department already
knows. He hopes it will
also lead to tangible actions
the department can take to
improve or enhance its rela-
tionship with the commu-
nity. The survey answers
could determine where the
department focuses the new
community service offi cer,
for example.
“We expect that there will
be some negative comments
and some areas we can look
at and hopefully improve
upon,” Spalding said. But,
he added, “we’re doing it
for a reason — because we
want to be responsive to the
community.”
The creation of the com-
munity service offi cer posi-
tion was done in the same
spirit, he said. While the
person who takes the job
will be trained in the basics
COMMUNITY SURVEY
People are encouraged to take a community survey to help
guide the Astoria Police Department.
Access the survey at bit.ly/3g5LWDm
of criminal law and how to
take a report and talk on a
police radio, it is not a posi-
tion that requires police
academy training.
“I’m looking more for
the positive community
contacts and coordinating
special events we’d like to
do more of,” Spalding said.
Events like coff ee with cops
and the like.
As far as enforcement
goes, at most, the offi cer
might write parking tickets
or take police reports .
The city’s 2021-22
spending plan, though
cramped by the impacts
of the coronavirus pan-
demic, also added an asso-
ciate planner position for
the Community Develop-
ment Department and a dep-
uty fi re chief to take over
fi re marshal and emergency
management duties .
Both positions will ease
pressures on the depart-
ments as demands for ser-
vices remain high.
C ommunity
develop-
ment has been busier than
ever in recent years, but a
multi year search for a new
director and a small staff
meant some long-term proj-
ects like code development
went on the back burner.
At the start of the corona-
virus pandemic, the depart-
ment saw a slight reduc-
tion in work for the fi rst few
months, but then the vol-
ume went right back up,
said Megan Leatherman,
the community develop-
ment director.
She hopes to post the
associate planner position
this week and have some-
one selected for the job later
in the summer. She also will
need to fi nd a new city plan-
ner. Barbara Fryer, hired in
2019, took a position with
the city of Cornelius and
worked her last day last
week.
While Leatherman is
confi dent she will fi nd a ros-
ter of candidates for the two
planning jobs, the city con-
tinues to look for a building
offi cial, too . It has proved to
be a particularly challeng-
ing job to fi ll.
Many people in these
jobs are retiring and younger
people are not moving into
the industry to take their
place, Leatherman said. But
the city is also competing
with the private sector for
candidates.
“We saw this before
when we had the last hous-
ing boom,” she said. Peo-
ple were able to make more
money in the private sec-
tor and were not tempted by
government jobs.
“We’re kind of reaching
that same point,” Leather-
man said.
Astoria has never had a
dedicated emergency man-
ager and Fire Chief Dan
Crutchfi eld has tackled the
various fi re marshal duties
himself. The department
already has another dep-
uty chief whose primary
focus is on training and shift
supervision.
The addition of a sec-
ond deputy chief who can
work more with develop-
ers and homeowners to
address fi re safety concerns
at the beginning of projects
will be an important addi-
tion, Crutchfi eld said. He
hopes to also implement
a business inspection pro-
gram when the new deputy
chief is hired to get fi re per-
sonnel into buildings in the
city so they can familiarize
themselves with the layout
and look for potential fi re
hazards.
The city budget comes to
$49.5 million, up from this
year’s budget of $46.9 mil-
lion. With the federal Amer-
ican Rescue Plan Act, the
city anticipates receiving $2
million in additional fund-
ing over a two-year period
for infrastructure needs,
according to a budget mes-
sage prepared by City Man-
ager Brett Estes .
“As a city,” Estes wrote,
“we have developed budget-
ing to provide resources for
daily activities while pay-
ing close attention to (City
Council) goals and provid-
ing fl exibility for the current
pandemic status while plan-
ning for future impacts and
unforeseen events.”
see more and more people
coming to the coast’
Continued from Page A1
“What I saw was that
the character of a neigh-
borhood was changing and
I wanted to do something
about it,” she said. “We’ve
all been working — I want
to say, groping — toward
a solution since then. I’ve
seen some things that have
given me hope. I’ve seen
some things that have
given me cause for con-
cern. I think there is no
doubt that county govern-
ment in Astoria and the
commissioners all around
Clatsop County under-
stand that there’s an issue
with transient occupancy.
That gives me hope.
“What gives me enor-
mous concern is that the
character of the inter-
actions that I see in my
neighborhood are heart-
breaking to me,” she said.
“We live in a beautiful
place. We are privileged
to live part time, full time
as owners, as renters in a
beautiful place. But here’s
the thing about Oregon
law. Everybody can come
and visit that place. They
are public beaches. With
the increase in population,
we are going to see more
and more people coming
to the coast.
“We’re going to see
them coming to state
parks. We’re going to see
them coming all over the
place. So they’re going to
be coming to our neigh-
borhood. To the idea that
we can control other peo-
ple’s access to our little
piece of paradise and make
whatever our opinion is
into law just doesn’t work.
And I’ve seen that become
what I think is an increas-
ing dynamic. What also
gives me cause for concern
is I would say the cruelty,
the malice that has been
involved, the idea that if
someone is unkind enough
to another human being
they can work their will on
them. That’s not positive.”
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