»INSIDE
148TH YEAR, NO. 155
WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 2021
$1.50
CORONAVIRUS
Airport renovation underway
The $2 million project could wrap up by fall
State to lift
most virus
restrictions
A milestone in the pandemic
By EMILY LINDBLOM
The Astorian
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
he Port of Astoria has several
projects planned at the Astoria
Regional Airport, including the
renovation of 5.5 acres of the air-
port’s ramp.
Matt McGrath, the Port’s deputy
director, said the ramp, where small
airplanes traverse and tie down, has
been there since World War II and
was in need of an update. He said
there were times when planes would
drive over it and the concrete would
move back and forth.
“The base began to fail, which
required the ramp project to be under-
taken,” McGrath said.
Columbia Pacifi c Construction, of
Woodland, Washington, is responsi-
ble for rebuilding the ramp.
Chris Martinez, the project man-
ager with Columbia Pacifi c, said the
ground at the airport is so wet and
the crews who built the original ramp
didn’t have the technology that’s
available today for fi rming up the
ground and stabilizing it.
“If you were standing there and a
plane landed on the other end of the
airport, you could feel that bump,
kind of a ripple,” Martinez said.
The construction crews are repur-
posing the existing concrete surface,
crushing it and putting it back into
areas where they can use it.
“Then once we run out of it we
will cement-treat the rest of the base
out here,” Martinez said.
He explained that if someone fi lls a
bucket with concrete and it solidifi es,
it will still fi t inside the bucket. But if
someone takes out the solid concrete,
smashes it up and tries to put it back
into the same bucket, it will no lon-
ger fi t because of all the jagged edges
and the air between the pieces. That’s
called the “air void,” and is what
requires the cement-treated base to
compensate for those gaps.
Most coronavirus restrictions in Ore-
gon will be lifted by Wednesday as the
state nears its vaccination goal, a mile-
stone in the pandemic.
Gov. Kate Brown announced Fri-
day that the statewide risk-level frame-
work and other safety protocols will end
by Wednesday or when 70% of Oregon
adults receive at least one dose of vac-
cine, whichever comes fi rst.
Her announcement came as Oregon
faces a heat wave and thousands of peo-
ple prepare to travel for the Fourth of July
holiday.
“As I have detailed before, that means
no more statewide mask mandates in
most settings, no required capacity lim-
its and no required physical distancing. It
means, eff ectively, Oregon is 100% open
for business,” the governor said during
a press conference. “This is a pivotal
moment for Oregon.
T
See Airport, Page A8
See Restrictions, Page A8
Warrenton
requires
training
against
harassment
Photos by Emily Lindblom/The Astorian
TOP TO BOTTOM: Matt McGrath, the Port of Astoria’s deputy director, explains that
the water infi ltration issue needs to be fi xed before the development of the Scoular
fi shmeal processing plant can begin. Excavators are reusing old concrete to renovate
the ramp at the Astoria Regional Airport. Crews work on renovating the ramp.
Move comes after exchange
over gender pronouns
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
WARRENTON — The city has
required training against harassment
and discrimination after a library board
member and planning commissioner
complained about a library employee’s
preferred gender pronouns.
In a column in The Columbia Press
in May, Kelly Knudsen, the director
of the Warrenton Community Library,
introduced the new library assistant
youth coordinator using the employ-
ee’s preferred pronouns, “they” and
“them.”
Mary Ann Brandon, who was serv-
ing on the library board , sent an email
to Christine Bridgens, a planning com-
missioner, describing the column as
“disturbing.”
See Pronouns, Page A8
Executive director to remain at Liberty Theatre
Theater reopens
after restrictions
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
‘I LOVED THE THEATER
AND I LOVED MY JOB, BUT IT
HAD BEEN OVERWHELMING.’
Jennifer Crockett | executive director of the Liberty Theatre
Jennifer Crockett will remain at
the helm of Astoria’s historic Liberty
Theatre.
In January, she announced she
would be stepping down from the
executive director position she has
held for the p ast four years. She
planned to continue with the theater
until the board hired a new director.
But, after the board failed to fi nd a
suitable replacement, she decided to
stay for good.
“I kind of never left,” she said.
In preparation for her departure,
Crockett had added staff and refi ned
processes at the theater, hoping to
ease the transition for the new leader .
As the Liberty’s board looked for
Crockett’s replacement, they inter-
viewed candidates from across the
country, but none of them had quite
the right combination of skills and
experience that running a theater
like the Liberty requires, said Josh
Stellmon, the board president.
The Liberty Theatre is unique,
Crockett said. It exists in a small
town and is run by a small staff . The
executive director needs to be ready
to wear many diff erent hats.
A number of the candidates the
hiring committee interviewed came
from larger organizations and were
more specialized.
When the committee decided not
to off er the job to either of the two
fi nalists it was considering, Stellmon
talked to Crockett about staying on.
After all the changes she had made
to make life easier for a new director,
Crockett realized she’d made the job
more feasible for herself. She asked
herself, “What if I stayed?” And it
felt good to think that.
“I loved the theater and I loved
my job, but it had been overwhelm-
ing,” she said.
Now, it wasn’t. With a new front-
of-house manager and other staff ,
Crockett wouldn’t need to attend
every theater event herself or take on
all the same kinds of tasks as before.
She could focus more on fundrais-
ing. A professional musician, she
would also have time to pursue her
own projects again.
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
See Liberty Theatre, Page A8
Jennifer Crockett is the executive
director of the Liberty Theatre.