A6
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JULY 17, 2021
Food tax: ‘It’s
our decision that
we have to make’
Continued from Page A1
have considered pass-
ing similar taxes to pay for
infrastructure.
‘There’s time’
At a meeting last week,
the City Council heard over-
whelmingly from people in
favor of the tax, who agreed
with some city leaders that it
was the best way to spread
out the costs of infrastruc-
ture needs and emergency
services fairly between vis-
itors and residents.
The tax was small, they
said, and most visitors, com-
ing from places with state-
wide sales taxes, would be
unlikely to notice.
But the food service
industry rallied ahead of
Wednesday’s special meet-
ing and there were only a
few present who spoke in
favor of the tax.
Those against it listed a
number of concerns. They
said their businesses already
exist on slim margins and
the coronavirus pandemic
took a heavy toll. Now,
they are struggling to regain
their footing and fi nd work-
ers. Some businesses were
forced to restrict their hours
or their capacity because
they can’t secure enough
employees. They worried
that the tax would aff ect
how people tipped staff .
With supply chain disrup-
tions and workforce issues
across a variety of indus-
tries, it has also been diffi -
cult to stock the products
needed to create the goods
they sell, added Deanna
Hammond, the co-owner of
Cannon Beach Bakery.
The pandemic is far from
over and who knows how
long these other eff ects will
last, she told the C ity C oun-
cil. She questioned why the
tax needed to be passed now.
“There’s time,” she said,
“but this isn’t the time.”
Others worried about
how the tax would impact
North Coast residents’ abil-
ity and interest in dining out
in Cannon Beach. The busi-
nesses rely on locals during
the off season, but a tax
could drive those customers
elsewhere .
Some business owners
asked the C ity C ouncil to
look into other ways to raise
the money. They suggested
paid parking or an increase
to the local lodging tax.
‘My vote is ‘no’’
City Manager Bruce St.
Denis said that city lead-
ers have looked at several
options since the prepared
food tax was fi rst discussed
two years ago. The tax
emerged as the best option
in terms of the amount
raised and the fl exibility
the city would have in how
it used the money, he and
City Councilor Mike Bene-
fi eld said.
Mayor Sam Steidel sup-
ported the tax but wanted
it to go to voters, as did
City Councilor Robin Ris-
ley. They said it was a huge
decision with the poten-
tial for major impacts on
businesses.
City Councilor Nancy
McCarthy, however, was
adamant that the decision
should be made by the C ity
C ouncil. She believed it was
the council’s job to ensure
there was adequate fund-
ing for city projects and the
health and safety needs of
residents, visitors and city
employees.
The prepared food tax
is an extremely important
decision, she said Wednes-
day. “And it’s our decision
that we have to make, ” she
said.
Ogilvie was initially
reluctant to put the matter
to voters, as well, and he
believed enacting the tax
was the right decision.
On Wednesday, he also
referenced a large organiza-
tion that he expected would
put its weight behind trying
to defeat any local food tax
proposal on the November
ballot. The Oregon Restau-
rant and Lodging Associ-
ation released a statement
following the C ity C oun-
cil’s last meeting saying the
proposed tax was “uncon-
scionable” at this time.
Given the association’s
likely involvement, “that,
to me, does not feel like a
vote of the community,”
Ogilvie said .
But when it came time
to vote , Ogilvie paused for
a long moment.
“I’m going to change
my vote,” he said fi nally.
He apologized to the peo-
ple who had supported him
in his earlier stance.
But, Ogilvie said, “I’m
going to insist that this does
go for a vote and that’s all
I have to say. My vote is
‘no.’”
Settlement: Majority of it will be
put toward restoration projects
Continued from Page A1
Fishhawk Lake also
agreed to construct a new
fi sh ladder and spillway
and repair an underdrain
by 2023. The community
pledged to develop a water
quality plan by 2025.
“The last two years have
been exceedingly challeng-
ing and we are looking for-
ward to having the dispute
with the s tate behind us so
we can continue the prog-
ress made toward improving
the ecosystem of this beauti-
ful little lake,” Jeanne Scil-
ley, Fishhawk Lake’s board
president , said in a statement
disclosing the settlement .
Earlier this year, t he Ore-
gon Department of Environ-
mental Quality announced
a $439,200 penalty against
the community , and while
several natural resource
agencies were planning to
fi le separate claims, specifi c
amounts were never dis-
closed. The agencies even-
tually came together and
acted as one in discussions
with Fishhawk Lake over
the settlement.
According to Lauren
Wirtis, a public aff airs spe-
cialist for the state Depart-
ment of Environmental
Quality, the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wild-
life’s concerns refl ected
the bulk of the $3.7 million
settlement.
The
reservoir
was
formed in the 1960s by an
earthen dam and is consid-
ered state waters. A drain-
pipe through the dam feeds
into Fishhawk Creek and the
Nehalem River. The com-
munity drained the reservoir
in August 2019 to fi x a bro-
ken drain in the dam.
State biologists estimated
that more than 30,000 fi sh
were killed, including more
than 20,500 endangered
coho salmon .
Fishhawk Lake disputed
the claim that the drawdown
of the reservoir led to a large
loss of fi sh .
“DEQ’s goal is certainly
to protect air, land and water
in Oregon,” Wirtis said.
“Our goal is to make sure
when people do projects like
this, it is not about us saying
‘yes’ or us saying ‘no,’ it is
about fi guring out how we
can do projects in ways that
protect the environment.
“So we always want to
make sure that groups and
agencies feel comfortable
reaching out to our staff .
We provide technical assis-
tance and if there is any way
we can help people be in
compliance.”
According to Fishhawk
Lake, the majority of the set-
tlement will be put toward
restoration projects .
“FLRC is committed to
building upon its record of
environmental stewardship
and will seek to work col-
laboratively with the state
moving forward,” Scilley
said.
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
A young buck grazes his way down a slope in Astoria.
Deer: ‘They are wild animals’
Continued from Page A1
ago. It is — yes — an almost
daily record of the comings
and goings of deer through
her backyard and the grassy
city-owned lot she shares
with her neighbors on top of
a hill .
Sharing antics
The Instagram account
started as a way to share the
deers’ antics with her hus-
band when long work hours
at a new job kept him away
from home. The couple had
been fascinated by the local
urban deer ever since they
toured the house they’d
eventually buy and encoun-
tered a doe on the back deck.
The account draws peo-
ple from all over. They ask
questions or share their own
deer anecdotes. For Mil-
bradt, the regular observa-
tion and documentation of
the backyard deer has been
a calming, engaging activ-
ity, driving her to ask ques-
tions and look at everything
a little more intently and
purposefully.
At this point, she can rec-
ognize a number of individ-
ual deer by their appearances
and, even more consistently,
by their varied personalities
and their behavior towards
each other.
Milbradt and her husband
have given their visitors
descriptive names: “Bucky,”
“The
Stag,”
“Betty,”
“Mama,” “Spock,” “Heavy
Breather.”
The lot behind their house
makes for a unique viewing
experience. The backyard
falls away into a meadow
that turns into a narrow strip
of forested land.
This wooded area extends
in both directions along the
backs of the neighborhood’s
houses, an old plat estab-
lished by the city maybe 100
years ago to act as a natural
kind of storm drainage and
landslide prevention mea-
sure as people built on the
slide-prone slopes. It is one
of many such city-owned
plats around Astoria and a
retreat for deer as they dip
in and out of neighborhoods.
Milbradt grew up around
animals and her father was
an occasional hunter. She
may not be interested in
eating venison anymore,
but she is very clear on one
point: The deer are not pets.
They are wild animals.
“It is key to respect
that they are wild animals,
despite how domestic they
appear,” Milbradt said.
The distinction is not
always so obvious to other
residents.
A city ordinance forbids
the feeding of most wildlife,
but police offi cers fi elded
multiple complaints in early
July about a woman in a
South Slope neighborhood
who was reportedly feeding
the deer near her house.
The woman denied it.
She told offi cers they could
take her to court or throw
her in jail. She didn’t care.
“Obviously, we’re not
taking people to jail for
this,” Deputy Police Chief
Eric Halverson said . “We’re
just trying to navigate the
neighborhood complaints.
… We’d prefer to deal with
these on the lowest possible
level and not drag people to
court.”
The woman was given a
warning, no citations yet.
On average, Astoria
police respond to fewer than
100 deer-related calls most
years. Since the start of
2020 and into 2021, police
have fi elded roughly 110
deer calls to date. Many of
the calls have to do with
deer hit by cars.
There are usually only
a handful of feeding com-
plaints a year. When it
comes to wildlife feed-
ing complaints in general,
police are more likely to
hear about an issue involv-
ing raccoons rather than
deer.
More common are calls
in the early spring and sum-
mer from people worried
about abandoned fawns.
Halverson knows from
watching deer on his own
property that fawns are
rarely abandoned. A mother
deer will leave her baby
tucked away in diff er-
ent places sometimes for
an entire day. She always
seems to know where to fi nd
it again.
“They are certainly not
abandoned and people
shouldn’t be trying to pick
them up or remove them,”
Halverson said. “They
should let them be and
nature will do what nature
does.”
The worst thing someone
can do for a deer is to try to
capture it, Milbradt agrees.
‘Privileged to observe
that life cycle’
People who interact
with Milbradt’s Instagram
account sometimes post
questions about injured
or sick deer or fawns that
appear to be abandoned.
They care so much; they
want to help.
There was a woman who
worried about a doe with a
broken front leg. Milbradt
passed along what hunters
had told her: The joke that
all a deer needs is one good
leg.
It seems to be true,
though. Milbradt has seen
deer weather rough injuries
and somehow thrive.
But fawns do get hit by
cars as they dash across
streets. They get injured.
They get sick. They are born
at the wrong time — when a
heat wave hits, maybe. They
die.
“It’s kind of a hard les-
son to learn, but we are also
so privileged to observe that
life cycle,” Milbradt said.
Milbradt was resigning
herself to the sad side of this
life cycle with Liesl. There
just didn’t seem to be a fawn
alive out there despite the
doe’s behavior.
Then, on Wednesday, a
lightly spotted fawn sud-
denly stepped into the
meadow from the exact spot
where Liesl had focused so
much attention. Neck bob-
bing and tail wagging, it
ventured across the lot and
joined its mother.
Milbradt noticed a wor-
rying white mark, possibly
some kind of wound, on one
of its eyes. It was similar
to an injury she’d seen on
a buck nicknamed “Willy.”
He was one of the fi rst deer
that got Milbra dt interested
in researching the animals
in more depth.
For Willy, the wound got
progressively worse until
the buck’s eye was bulg-
ing out of its socket. Willy
lost weight and energy and
fi nally disappeared for good
in June 2020. It worries Mil-
bradt to see a similar mark
on Liesl’s fawn.
Still, watching the deer
has taught her about resil-
ience. She can’t help but be
a little bit optimistic.
Fireworks: Sales are giving people ‘a double message’
Continued from Page A1
Enforcement boils down to
a shortage of offi cers “chas-
ing fi reworks,” Ham said.
“I’m chasing so many other
calls for service that are prior-
ity over fi reworks that I don’t
have enough people. To go
out and enforce a kid with a
sparkler when I’ve got some-
body blowing off rockets that
are booming bigger than our
sanctioned show — I’d have a
hard time writing that ticket.”
“If we saw them, we took
them,” Fire Chief Joey Dan-
iels said. “It’s not easy — we
can take them from one group
and by the time they move,
there’s another group there.”
Banning fi reworks on
the beach could push peo-
ple elsewhere, Daniels said.
“Where are they going to
go? I don’t want to encour-
age people to try to hide from
us in the woods or behind
people’s houses and lighting
them on the porch or in their
backyards.”
Earlier this month, resi-
dents in Gearhart also urged
their city to ban fi reworks, cit-
ing noise, threats to wildlife
and pets and fi re danger.
In Cannon Beach, which
banned all fi reworks last
FIREWORKS ARE NOT ALLOWED AT
ANY TIME IN NATIONAL PARKS AND
FORESTS, ON BUREAU OF LAND
MANAGEMENT LANDS, ON U.S. FISH
AND WILDLIFE SERVICE PROPERTIES,
ON ALL OREGON DEPARTMENT OF
FORESTRY PROTECTED LANDS, ON
STATE BEACHES OR IN STATE PARKS
AND CAMPGROUNDS.
September, fi nes can run to
$5,000. Seaside’s fi nes are
about $700, Ham said.
Seaside and Cannon Beach
are diff erent communities and
bring diff erent issues, the
police chief said. “It’s taken
a few years for them to really
get it going to where they’re
citing everybody that they
come across and spreading
that word that it’s not welcome
here. Everything’s outlawed.”
Banning fi reworks on the
beach also relies on the Ore-
gon Parks and Recreation
Department and the state fi re
marshal’s offi ce, Daniels said.
Fireworks are not allowed
at any time in national parks
and forests, on Bureau of
Land Management lands, on
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice properties, on all Ore-
gon Department of For-
estry protected lands, on state
beaches or in state parks and
campgrounds.
According to the state
Offi ce of Emergency Man-
agement, while the state fi re
marshal does not have the
authority to ban fi reworks, the
agency’s “Keep it legal. Keep
it safe” campaign supports the
use and safety of legal fi re-
works — ones that don’t fl y
or explode.
Legal fi reworks are sold
in Seaside once a year, before
the July Fourth holiday. Those
sales are giving people “a
double message,” City Coun-
cilor Tita Montero said.
Seeing fi reworks for sale,
visitors may assume they are
legal on the beach.
The idea of drones and
lasers may be very expensive
as an upfront cost, but over
time it is less expensive than
$40,000 a year on fi reworks,
Montero said. “Also it’s much
more ecological, it’s an oppor-
tunity for us to have multiple
occasions of light shows in
our sky, ” she said.
She asked city councilors
to form a committee to look
into a ban on fi reworks and
fi reworks sales.
A laser or drone display
could give Seaside an oppor-
tunity “to do the right thing
for the right reasons,” Mon-
tero said.
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