A2
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2021
Astoria resumes water shut-off s
IN BRIEF
Downtown association
hires interim director
Practice suspended
during pandemic
The Astoria Downtown Historic District Association
has hired former Astoria City Councilor Jessamyn West
as interim executive director.
The association opted to hire West as an interim direc-
tor following a failed search for a permanent executive
director. West will start on July 1.
“I am incredibly honored to be stepping into the interim
position but also nervous,” West said in a statement. “I
really look up to (former director) Sarah Lu (Heath) and
remember saying how her shoes were going to be challeng-
ing to fi ll when congratulating her on her new position.”
Heath took a job with the Columbia-Pacifi c Eco-
nomic Development District this spring after 4 1/2 years
with the downtown association.
West, who is part owner of the Oddfellows Building
in Astoria and director of the Astoria Arts and Movement
Center, had been appointed to the City Council to fi ll
a vacancy in 2019. She opted not to run for election in
November when her term was set to end.
“As many other businesses know, this is a challeng-
ing time to secure employees, and we are fortunate to
have found such a solid leader in the community who
could step in and continue the work of the (downtown
association),” said Julie Kovatch, the board president.
Surfer dies after being found in
the water near Short Sand Beach
A surfer died Saturday after being found in the water
unconscious at Short Sand Beach.
Emergency crews were called at about 1:20 p.m. after
someone walking along the beach saw a man fl oating in
the water unconscious and not breathing.
When crews arrived, bystanders were performing
CPR. The man was taken to the parking lot by a util-
ity task vehicle. From there, the man was taken to Prov-
idence Seaside Hospital by ambulance, where offi cials
say he was pronounced dead.
Two people injured
in crash on Highway 101
Two people were taken to a hospital Sunday after-
noon following a crash on U.S. Highway 101 near Can-
non Beach.
Police say a vehicle was heading southbound when
the driver crashed into a vehicle that was stopped and
waiting to turn left.
The driver and passenger of the vehicle that was rear-
ended were taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Warrenton approves budget
WARRENTON — The City Commission on Tuesday
approved the budget for the fi scal year that starts in July.
The budget is $49.5 million, up from $42.2 million
this fi scal year.
The city said the increase is due to a conservative
budget approach taken last year during the coronavirus
pandemic.
Most of the impact from the pandemic came from a
loss in lodging tax revenue.
Warrenton had planned to increase water rates by 5% and
sewer by 4% in 2020 to help pay for the increased cost of ser-
vices, but canceled the increases because of the virus impacts.
The city decided to delay increases again.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
June 22, 2021
In HILL, Brief
Sanford, 84, of
Astoria, died in Astoria.
Hughes-Ransom
Mor-
Deaths
tuary is in charge of the
arrangements.
RICHMAN,
Gene
Neal, 73, of Warrenton,
died in Warrenton. Cald-
well’s Luce-Layton Mor-
tuary of Astoria is in charge
of the arrangements.
June 21, 2021
GOULART,
Tami,
51, of Hammond, died in
Hammond. Hughes-Ran-
som Mortuary is in charge
of the arrangements.
SMITH, Douglas, 57,
of Astoria, died in Asto-
ria. Hughes-Ransom Mor-
tuary is in charge of the
arrangements.
SMITH, Martha, 89,
of Astoria, died in Asto-
ria. Hughes-Ransom Mor-
tuary is in charge of the
arrangements.
June 19, 2021
GARCIA, Javier, 34,
of Portland, died in Sea-
side.
Hughes-Ransom
Mortuary is in charge of
the arrangements.
ON THE RECORD
Unauthorized use of
DUII
On
a the
vehicle Record
• Alex J. Heckes, 23, of
• Matthew D. Coman,
36, was arrested Saturday
on U.S. Highway 30 in
Astoria for unauthorized
use of a vehicle.
Chinook, Washington, was
arrested Sunday on U.S.
Highway 101 for driving
under the infl uence of intox-
icants and reckless driving.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
THURSDAY
Sunset Empire Transportation District Board, 9 a.m.,
budget hearing and board meeting, (electronic meeting).
Clatsop County Recreational Lands Planning Advisory
Committee, 1 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Cannon Beach Planning Commission, 6 p.m., (electronic meeting).
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
People with past due
water and sewer bills in
Astoria are going to have
to pay as city leaders end
certain emergency mea-
sures tied to the coronavirus
pandemic.
The City Council voted
Monday to end the city’s
suspension of late fees and
service disconnection as the
economy reopens and more
people return to jobs and
normal life.
Approximately
40
accounts in the city have
past-due
balances
that
exceed 30 days and have yet
to arrange a formal payment
plan with the city. Letters to
these accounts will go out by
the end of June informing
them of their options to pay
the outstanding balance.
Any accounts that hav-
en’t paid in full or estab-
lished payment plans with
the city by late August will
have their water turned off
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Astoria draws drinking water from the Bear Creek watershed.
at the end of that month and
face the city’s usual collec-
tions process, City Manager
Brett Estes said.
Other cities have resumed
normal water billing, Estes
noted.
Warrenton
resumed
water shut-off s on overdue
accounts in March . The city
had implemented a similar
DIGITAL
EZpay (per month) .................................................................................................................$8.25
the city’s fi nance department
works with people on pay-
ment options.
The other councilors
agreed.
“I think that our staff
works well with people, so
we’ll give them the oppor-
tunity to catch up and move
forward,” City Councilor
Tom Hilton said.
Warrenton city manager to retire
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
WARRENTON — City
Manager Linda Engbretson
announced her retirement
Tuesday night after more
than 25 years with the city.
Engbretson, the former
city recorder, was hired as
the interim city manager in
2016 following the resig-
nation of former City Man-
ager Kurt Fritsch.
Fritsch left amid a con-
troversy over the Eighth smooth transition.
Street Dam, and Engbret-
“I have spent the last
son was off ered
26 years as an
the position per-
employee of the
manently later that
c ity of Warren-
year.
ton, the last fi ve as
Her retirement is
the city manager,”
eff ective Sept. 30.
Engbretson
said
Engbretson said
during a C ity C om-
her retirement was
mission
meeting.
Linda
planned. She said
“It has been one of
Engbretson
she is willing to con-
the greatest honors
tinue on an interim
of my life to serve
basis until a new city man- the public in this commu-
ager is hired to ensure a nity. I was born in Asto-
ria, but Warrenton has been
my community. I am truly
grateful to the citizens, the
commission and the incred-
ible staff for their support
over the years.”
Mayor Henry Balensifer
recognized Engbretson for
taking the helm during a
hectic and transitional time
for the city.
“It’s a sad day for War-
renton,” Balensifer said.
“And we thank you for
what you’ve done.”
Sex ed: Curriculum never reviewed
Continued from Page A1
mittee’s decision does not
have an immediate impact
on the teaching of the “My
Future-My Choice” program .
The curriculum, used in
Knappa for the past decade,
is taught in the spring and
will not be taught again until
next spring. Fritz is planning
a formal review of the cur-
riculum in the fall. Under
the school district’s policies,
the sex education curriculum
is supposed to be reviewed
every two years . This has
never happened, Fritz told the
school board.
Parents can choose to
opt their children out of the
program.
Craig Weaver, the school
board chairman, and board
members Michelle Finn and
Cullen Bangs voted in favor
of overturning the commit-
tee’s decision. Board mem-
bers Will Isom and Ed John-
son said that while they did
not fully agree with aspects
of the state curriculum, they
were opposed to suspending
the program in part because
of the upcoming review.
Oregon
schools
are
required to teach a health and
sex education program that
meets certain state standards
or risk losing critical funding.
There are no substitute cur-
riculums available that meet
state standards, the Knappa
curriculum committee noted
in its decision last week. An
alternative would be to cre-
ate something in Knappa
from the ground up, but there
are concerns about the small
school district’s capacity to
take on that kind of a project,
Fritz told the school board.
‘No place in a classroom’
People who spoke against
the curriculum Monday said
that what was being taught
was inappropriate and out of
line with their values.
Christopher Morey, the
president of the Knappa Par-
ents Organization, called
for the suspension of the
entire curriculum, pend-
ing the review in the fall.
He wants members of the
Knappa Parents Organization
to be included on the review
board and said the school
district should create a new
curriculum that is “in line
with the community and its
standards.”
On their Facebook page,
the Knappa Parents Organi-
zation described the original
discussion by the curriculum
committee as a “Transgender
Curriculum Hearing.”
nurse with Columbia Memo-
rial Hospital and a longtime
resident of Knappa, pushed
back against the group’s
claims to represent a majority
of Knappa parents.
She also spoke about her
own experience treating stu-
dents who came from the
Knappa community to the
hospital’s emergency depart-
ment. Some were pregnant or
in abusive situations.
“And they were afraid
to tell their parents and in
talking to these young peo-
ple what we found out is they
really lacked education,”
Oien said.
‘IT’S HARD TO RESPECT YOUR
PURPOSE IF IT’S CLOUDED WITH
THE DISRESPECT OF OTHERS.’
Courtney Bangs | Clatsop County commissioner
Morey said sex education
is rarely a popular topic.
“What is being included
in modern sex ed, however,
would have been considered
indecent, even borderline
criminal, only a generation
ago,” he said.
Sex education is just one
topic the organization plans
to tackle including account-
ability among school district
administrators and pandem-
ic-related masking and social
distancing, Morey told The
Astorian later.
Casey Wray, a Knappa
resident and member of the
Knappa’s Parents Organiza-
tion, was more specifi c about
her concerns with the state
curriculum . She referenced
issues she had with two chap-
ters where basic sex acts are
defi ned.
“These subjects have no
place in a classroom,” she
told the school board. “This
is a very uncomfortable expe-
rience for these kids.”
Barbara Oien, a former
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suspension of late fees, pen-
alties and service disconnec-
tions to assist people during
the pandemic.
But there is a point where
the city has to return to nor-
mal procedures, Astoria City
Councilor Roger Rocka said.
He said he was confi dent
about returning to normal
operations because of how
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One young woman was fi ve
months pregnant and didn’t
know basic anatomical terms.
“I think the topic of sex
education overall is very dif-
fi cult for parents to do,” she
added. “It’s diffi cult for the
school district to do. It’s dif-
fi cult for husbands and wives
to talk to each other about it
and I think the more educa-
tion the kids have, the better.”
As she spoke, Oien was
interrupted by shouts from
the audience and was not
able to fi nish her statement.
The school board did not
intervene and her time ran
out. Other speakers had not
been interrupted .
Clatsop County Commis-
sioner Courtney Bangs, a
Knappa resident, attended the
meeting. She told The Asto-
rian she has known Oien for
years. In a post on her Face-
book page published Tuesday
morning, Bangs pushed back
at the people who had inter-
rupted Oien.
“When you bully or heckle
you lose your voice,” she
wrote. “It’s hard to respect
your purpose if it’s clouded
with the disrespect of oth-
ers. You can enact change
through process and deco-
rum. When decorum is lost,
ears will close to your voice.”
‘Not a road we want to
go down’
Isom, who, along with
serving on the school board
is the executive director of
the Port of Astoria, expressed
his concerns about the
Knappa Parents Organiza-
tion. In a statement he read
Monday, h e noted that he is
a very conservative person
with his own opinions and
concerns about the state sex
education curriculum.
However, he said, there
are many ways for people
to bring issues to the school
district’s attention: call-
ing administrators, attend-
ing school board meetings or
even contacting board mem-
bers directly.
With the exception of
one person who spoke to the
school board more than a
month ago, Isom said he had
not previously heard from
anyone in the group about
issues with curriculum. The
meeting Monday was his
fi rst time seeing many of
the people at a school board
meeting.
He also referred to threat-
ening comments made at the
curriculum committee’s fi rst
meeting and in comments
online. Isom recalled one
person had said, “This is just
the tail of the snake, we can
go all the way up to the head
of the snake and cut that off .”
Online, another per-
son warned that “you’re not
going to like the outcome if
this actually continues.”
The Knappa Parents
Organization did not publicly
denounce, condemn or oth-
erwise separate themselves
from these comments, Isom
said, adding, “This is scary
stuff and not a road we want
to go down.”
Still, he acknowledged
that he agreed with many of
the statements made by the
organization,
particularly
that it is possible to teach
children to be tolerant of
ideas without teaching them
those ideas, and that every-
one is deserving of respect.
But, he concluded, par-
ents in Knappa do not need
the Knappa Parents Orga-
nization in order for their
voices to be heard.