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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2021)
A2 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2021 Rain, fl oods prompt rescues in Northwest IN BRIEF By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press Warrenton hires consultant for wastewater master plan WARRENTON — City commissioners voted on Tuesday to hire Kennedy Jenks Consultants, out of Portland, to develop a master plan for wastewater treatment facilities. The city will pay the fi rm $246,880 for the task. In recent years, Warrenton leaders have warned that the city’s wastewater treatment plant could reach capacity by 2022. The plan will outline recommended improvements to the city’s collection system and treat- ment plant. State discloses more virus cases at local schools The Oregon Health Authority has disclosed three new coronavirus cases at schools in Clatsop County. Two of the cases were students at Lewis and Clark Elementary School. The other case was a student at Jewell School. The health authority, meanwhile, reported seven new virus cases for the county on Wednesday and six new virus cases on Tuesday. Since the pandemic began, the county had recorded 2,520 virus cases as of Wednesday. — The Astorian ‘Faulty’ science used by Trump appointees to cut spotted owl habitat Political appointees in the Trump administration relied on faulty science to justify stripping habitat pro- tections for the imperiled northern spotted owl, U.S. wildlife offi cials said Tuesday as they struck down a rule that would have opened millions of acres of West Coast forest to potential logging. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reversed a deci- sion made fi ve days before President Donald Trump left offi ce to drastically shrink so-called critical habitat for the spotted owl. The small, reclusive bird has been in decline for decades as old-growth forests were cut in Oregon, Washington state and California. Government biologists objected to the changes under Trump and warned they would put the spotted owl on a path to extinction, documents show. But Trump’s Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and former Fish and Wildlife Service Director Aurelia Skipwith dismissed those concerns — instead adopt- ing a plan to lift restrictions on more land than even the timber industry had sought. — Associated Press DEATHS Nov. 10, 2021 In CAPELLEN, Brief Judith Gale, 79, of Seaside, died in Seaside. Ocean View Deaths Funeral & Cremation Ser- vice of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. Nov. 9, 2021 ELLIOTT, Marsha Sue, 71, of Astoria, died in Portland. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. Nov. 8, 2021 BANDEEN, Jay, 62, of Warrenton, died in Seaside. Hughes-Ransom Mortuary is in charge of the arrangements. Nov. 7, 2021 SAWYER, Nancy, 70, of Astoria, died in Asto- ria. Hughes-Ransom Mortuary is in charge of the arrangements. CORRECTION Incorrect last name — Casper Leding was the Correction Astoria police chief in 1946. His last name was incor- rectly spelled Seding on B1 in Water Under the Bridge on Nov. 2. ON THE RECORD Misuse of 911 Bend, was arrested on On the Lynn Record • Michelle Aus- Monday at Walmart in ere, 43, of Astoria, was arrested on Wednesday on Cedar Street in Astoria for misuse of 911, resisting arrest, aggravated harass- ment, assaulting a public safety offi cer and crimi- nal mischief in the third degree. Theft • Christopher Les- lie Reasor, 38, of North Warrenton for theft in the second degree and crim- inal mischief in the third degree. DUII • Jason Ray Bruton, 33, of Astoria, was arrested on Tuesday at Alternate U.S. Highway 101 and S. Main Avenue in Warren- ton for driving under the infl uence of intoxicants. PUBLIC MEETINGS MONDAY Warrenton Marinas Advisory Committee, 2 p.m., special meeting, Warrenton Marina Offi ce, 501 N.E. Harbor Place. Jewell School District Board, 6 p.m., Jewell School Li- brary, 83874 Highway 103. Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. TUESDAY Astoria Historic Landmarks Commission, 5:30 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. Seaside School District Board, 6 p.m., (electronic meeting). PUBLIC MEETINGS Established July 1, 1873 (USPS 035-000) Published Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday by EO Media Group, 949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Telephone 503-325-3211, 800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103-0210 DailyAstorian.com Circulation phone number: 800-781-3214 Periodicals postage paid at Astoria, OR The U.S. Coast Guard used two helicopters to res- cue campers from rising waters at an RV park on the Oregon Coast on Friday, mudslides shut down roads and a woman was plucked from a swollen river as a second day of heavy rains and fl ooding pummeled the Pacifi c Northwest. Authorities issued fl ood watches along the coast and warned of the possibility of dangerous mudslides in areas that burned in last sum- mer’s devastating wildfi res. At the RV park in Neskowin, Coast Guard teams said they had rescued a dozen peo- ple and three dogs on Friday and that local responders had evacuated eight people. Photos showed RVs sit- ting in water about 6 inches deep and water covering the campground and park- ing areas. In some areas of the park, water had risen to 4 feet, the Statesman Jour- nal reported. In nearby Otis, another RV park was also fl ooded and a private fi re engine that sits permanently at the town limits to wel- come visitors had water half- way up its doors. Sgt. Jack Dunteman/Lincoln County Sheriff ’s Offi ce A fi re engine was surrounded by rising waters in Otis on Friday. Russ Hiner, who was camping at the park, posted on Facebook that he awoke to someone driving around the park and honking a warn- ing shortly after 6 a.m. “Looking out the fogged up windows and see some- one with a fl ashlight run- ning around. They come and bang on the door, “The park is FLOODING! Every- one out,’” he wrote on Face- book. “Looks like there’s 6 or 7 inches of standing water underneath us.” The Neskowin camp- ground is tucked between two forks of Neskowin Creek and is about 7 miles north of Otis, a tiny coastal community that was devas- Cannon Beach will pay legal fees for public works director in ethics case By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Astorian CANNON BEACH — Karen La Bonte, the city’s public works director, racked up an estimated $14,000 in legal expenses this year while dealing with an ethics probe by the state , City Manager Bruce St. Denis said. On Tuesday, he asked the C ity Council to cover half . It was a step back from a resolution St. Denis proposed last week that asked the city to pay for up to $15,000 of La Bonte’s legal fees. His sug- gestion faced almost imme- diate pushback from some in the community. St. Denis later removed the item from the council’s meeting agenda. Since then, the city’s insurance carrier has deter- mined it will cover up to $7,500. On Tuesday, city councilors voted 4-1 in favor of an updated proposal from St. Denis to pay up to an addi- tional $8,000 . In October, the Oregon Government Ethics Com- mission determined La Bonte violated state confl ict of inter- est laws when the city used a company she co-owns with her husband to produce pan- demic-related signs and other products. La Bonte had verbally dis- closed her ties with Cannon Beach Design Co., but failed to declare a potential confl ict of interest in writing before city transactions with the business, the state found. La Bonte was fi ned $1,000. St. Denis called the ethics violation a technicality. The purpose of the resolution he proposed Tuesday was not just to reimburse La Bonte. It was to off er support for her as well, he said. St. Denis contends La Bonte has been the victim of harassment by Manza- nita resident Rusty Morris, who fi led several complaints with the Ethics Commission against La Bonte. Morris has also fi led complaints with the Clatsop County Sher- iff ’s Offi ce and circulated an online petition to remove La Bonte from her position. La Bonte and St. Denis say the complaints are not based in fact and stem from a personal grievance. “As city manager, I believe the city has an obli- gation to support public employees in a situation like Continued from Page A1 have sometimes required sev- eral days to repair, said Nathan Crater, the city engineer. The current break occurred in an area that is not easily accessible. It is not clear what caused the waterline break. The pipe is more than 50 years old, but has proved to be very resilient in the past, Crater said. This style of pipe has a long design life, he said. The damage may have been caused by movement in the earth following days of heavy rain on the North Coast. “Really no pipe can deal with a landslide,” Crater said. Repairing the transmission line is the city’s top priority , City Manager Brett Estes said. Squall-like conditions knocked out power to more than 1,000 customers in Asto- ria late Thursday afternoon, according to Pacifi c Power. Heavy rains on Thursday evening through Friday morn- ing led to localized fl ooding throughout Clatsop C ounty as culverts and pipes got backed up with water and debris. A culvert failure under- mined a section of Hillcrest Loop Road in the Knappa area. The road at the 0.5 mile marker has been closed and is COPYRIGHT © Entire contents © Copyright, 2021 by The Astorian. 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Printed on recycled paper Subscription rates Eff ective January 12, 2021 MAIL EZpay (per month) ...............................................................................................................$10.75 13 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$37.00 26 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$71.00 52 weeks in advance ........................................................................................................ $135.00 DIGITAL EZpay (per month) .................................................................................................................$8.25 approve would be coming from taxpayers. “This sets a bad prece- dent to pay for employee eth- ical violations over and above what’s covered in insurance,” Risley argued. While a number of people wrote in support of La Bonte, others asked the city to recon- sider the resolution. La Bonte violated state ethics laws, noted Hannah Buschert and Erik Ostrander, managers of Sea Breeze Court. For the city to cover her legal fees further erodes public trust, they wrote in a letter to city councilors. “If La Bonte were to have been found not guilty of these violations then, without a doubt, her legal fees should be covered by the funds in sup- port of protecting employees from false accusations by a former associate,” they wrote. “However, to cover these fees after being found guilty shows that whistleblow- ing on the city is going to be ignored, as if the city is above the rules,” they added, “and if the whistleblowing is found to be truthful, and founded by a third party, that there are no repercussions for the guilty parties within the city.” expected to reopen next week, Brett Brenden, the county’s foreman for the Knappa area, said. In the Elsie area, fl ooded streams started to undermine the edge of the road on Ore- gon Highway 103, accord- ing to T.J. Hecox, the county’s foreman for the Jewell area. “Any time the landowners and the homeowners can clear their driveways of the leaves and the fall debris before the heavy rains defi nitely helps us out a lot,” Hecox said. A tree toppled on state Highway 103, but was soon cleared, Mark Buffi ngton, the District 1 m anager at the Ore- gon Department of Transpor- tation, said. Flooding occurred on U.S. Highway 101 on Beerman Creek Road south of Seaside. From ODOT’s standpoint, “Clatsop C ounty’s been pretty quiet,” Buffi ngton said. Schools in Knappa opened two hours late on Friday morning. The school district said the delay was due to fl ooding on local roads. The National Weather Ser- vice has issued a fl ood watch for the North Coast through late Friday. Erick Bengel contributed to this report. Please ADOPT A PET! MOLLY MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF CIRCULATIONS, INC. what Ms. La Bonte has expe- rienced,” St. Denis wrote in a lengthy memo to city coun- cilors. “One in which some- one used her position with the city to settle a grudge. “Failure to do so,” he added, “sends a message to current and future employ- ees that in a situation which results in them experienc- ing signifi cant, undeserved humiliation and personal expenses, they should not expect to be supported by the city and its citizens.” A n investigator with the Ethics Commission said it did not appear that La Bonte used her position to benefi t herself fi nancially. But Morris refutes St. Denis’s characterization. He says he fi led the complaints because of sincere concerns that La Bonte was abusing her position. He was not alone in oppos- ing St. Denis’ request to reim- burse La Bonte for her legal expenses. City Councilor Robin Risley voted against the resolution Tuesday night, the only “no” vote. Insurance is already cov- ering up to its maximum, Ris- ley said. The money the City Council was being asked to Water: ‘Really no pipe can deal with a landslide’ ADVERTISING OWNERSHIP All advertising copy and illustrations prepared by The Astorian become the property of The Astorian and may not be reproduced for any use without explicit prior approval. MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS tated by a wind-driven wild- fi re just over a year ago. “We are OK for now ... but the rain in still coming,” said Melynda Small, who lost her home to the fi re in September 2020 and is wor- ried about mudslides in the burn area. Forecasters said the storms are being caused by an atmospheric river, known as the Pineapple Express. Rain was expected to remain heavy in Oregon and Wash- ington state through Friday night. Precipitation may ease some Saturday but more rain is expected Saturday night through next week. In Oregon, the National Weather Service issued fl ood watches in several coastal counties and warned that heavy rains raised the risk of mudslides and debris fl ows in areas recently burned by wildfi res. More than 2 inches of rain fell in some areas in the western part of the state in a 24-hour period Thursday and heavy rains were expected to continue through Friday eve- ning, the National Weather Service in Portland said. Astoria, in the state’s far northwest corner, set a new record for rainfall Thursday with just over 2 inches of rain, the most since the pre- vious record for the date set 70 years ago. Standing water in the roadways made driving treacherous across the Port- land metro area and a woman was rescued from the swol- len Santiam River on Thurs- day after her encampment along the river banks was fl ooded. In Washington state, advi- sories were issued for at least a half-dozen rivers in the western part of the state. 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