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
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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
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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.
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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’
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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.
Landslides were reported
on the coast, in southwest
Oregon near the town of Elk-
ton and along the Colum-
bia River Highway east of
Portland.
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