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inessJournal.co
CoastRiverBus
Volume 16 •
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Published Monthly
October 2021
Inside:
Chronicling
Issue 10
bia-Pacifi c Region
ss in the Colum
the Joy of Busine
of veterinary,
Coast, a sea
On the North appointment delays
dental and eye still felt over a year later
light:
Industry Spot
Page 8
pandemic
Impacts of the
Solar power
Businesses turn to sun
Page 4
tourism
Sizzling hot
season
Labor shortage remains
Page 6
ABBEY McDONALD
ion.
r, left, prepares
Suzanne Benscote
Vista Optical
documents at
at Fred Meyer
in Warrenton as
Veronica Waltz
waits for her prescript
Mole man the coast
Gohl tackles critters on
Page 14
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2021
149TH YEAR, NO. 48
$1.50
VACCINE MANDATE
Warrenton
fi refi ghters
vaccinated
by deadline
In Manzanita,
sightings of
a bear called
‘Hope’
City had feared
many would quit
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
WARRENTON — Despite fears that
Warrenton would lose many fi refi ghters
over Gov. Kate Brown’s coronavirus vac-
cine mandate, in the end the fi re depart-
ment may see a net gain.
I n a letter to the governor in Septem-
ber, Mayor Henry Balensifer warned that
he would be forced to declare an emer-
gency and request outside resources, such
as the Oregon National Guard, if fi re-
fi ghters quit over the state mandate .
Fire Chief Brian Alsbury had said that
the number of fi refi ghters could shrink
from 23 — three paid staff and 20 vol-
unteers — down to single digits if unvac-
cinated staff left the fi re department and
others quit in solidarity .
“We’ve been trying to provide as
much information and support and room
for people to make whatever decisions
they need to make,” Balensifer said.
Many vaccine-hesitant fi refi ghters
ultimately consulted with their doctors
and “a bunch got vaccinated,” he said.
See Firefi ghters, Page A3
Laura Merrill
A black bear has been spotted in Manzanita.
Several reports of a black bear in town
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
M
ANZANITA — In the
video, the black bear
pauses and stands like
a saint on a Catholic holy card:
one paw dipped into a bird bath,
the other raised up into a bird
feeder, as if invoking heaven and
earth.
It was the second time Thomas
Campbell had seen a bear in his
backyard in the last week. He
wasn’t the only person to get a
visit from the bear — dubbed
by some “The Manzanita Bear”
and nicknamed “Hope” by one
woman . Residents have reported
several sightings in the last two
weeks.
One person photographed a
bear perched on a tree branch on
Second Street in the middle of the
afternoon last week. A little while
later, a bear lumbered into Laura
‘IT WAS PRETTY
EXCITING. I’VE
NEVER BEEN
THAT CLOSE TO
A BEAR OR ANY
OTHER BIG WILD
ANIMAL.’
Laura Merrill | Homeowner who
had a bear wander onto her back patio
Merrill’s yard and settled down
on her back patio a few feet away
from a window.
“It was pretty exciting,” Mer-
rill said. “I’ve never been that
close to a bear or any other big
wild animal.”
The thought passed through
her mind that the bear might be
able to break through the glass
and into the vacation house if
it wanted to. But it didn’t seem
interested in Merrill and her
husband as they watched from
behind the window.
The bear came on trash day
after the cans had already been
emptied and Merrill and her hus-
band removed their backyard bird
feeders before returning to their
home in Portland to make the
yard less interesting to the bear.
Merrill still worries though. Not
for herself, but for the bear. She
hopes it doesn’t get into trouble.
One bear has likely been the
source of the various bear sight-
ings in Manzanita this month,
state wildlife offi cials say. It is
probably a younger bear hunt-
ing up a few more calories before
retreating to a den where it will
spend much of the winter months.
Oregon’s black bears do not enter
See Bear, Page A3
Aging
tide gates
threaten
farmland
Challenges over cost,
government regulation
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Many of the tide gates that protect
Oregon’s coastal farmland from being
inundated with saltwater have become
relics of a bygone era.
As these old tide gates deteriorate, the
farmers who rely on them worry that their
time may be running out as well.
“As soon as a tide gate goes out, you
can’t graze, you can’t raise hay. You’ve
lost your land, basically. It’s not produc-
tive anymore,” said Craig Herman, who
raises cattle and hay between Coquille
and Bandon .
See Tide gates, Page A2
Cape D leader focuses on teamwork
McCommons is
new commander
Social-emotional learning
gains traction in Astoria
By PATRICK WEBB
Chinook Observer
I
LWACO , Wash. — Jason
McCommons is back on familiar
territory.
The chief warrant offi cer with the
U.S. Coast Guard took command of
Station Cape Disappointment this
summer.
But for the 65 personnel around
him, he’s not exactly the “new guy.”
McCommons has spent 17
Schools look to
support students
years of his Coast Guard career on
the Washington state and Oregon
coasts. That includes two stints at
Cape Disappointment, once as a
surfman instructor at the National
Motor Lifeboat School and later as
its executive petty offi cer.
“I had a call in February 2021,”
he recalled. “‘The commanding
offi cer (job) at Cape Disappoint-
ment is coming open. Would you
like to have it?’”
See McCommons, Page A2
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
Patrick Webb/Chinook Observer
Chief Warrant Offi cer Jason
McCommons was welcomed as the
commander of U.S. Coast Guard
Station Cape Disappointment
earlier this year. It is his third
posting to the Ilwaco base.
As schools try to recover
from the fallout of the coronavi-
rus pandemic, the Astoria School
District is turning to a diff erent
approach — social-emotional
learning.
The process , as described
by Astoria’s new social-emo-
tional learning coach Jenni New-
ton , is “the learning that hap-
pens in addition to the content of
the classroom.”
Superintendent Craig Hoppes
said that after a tumultuous year
and a half for students, the school
district had to reevaluate .
“We needed to think a lit-
tle diff erently,” he said. “We’re
concerned about kids’ academ-
ics, but we’re also concerned
about supporting them in other
ways so they can access their
academics.”
Hoppes expects the addition
of social-emotional learning to
have positive impacts on teach-
ers, as well.
See Schools, Page A3