A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2022
IN BRIEF
DRIVE-THRU
Chinook man killed
in crash on Astoria Bridge
A Chinook, Washington, man was killed in a car
crash Thursday night on the Astoria Bridge.
Stephen Schemel, 62, was heading southbound
on U.S. Highway 101 when his 2003 Mini Cooper
veered into the northbound lane and collided with a
2000 Ford F-250.
Police said Schemel was exceeding the speed limit
and not wearing a seatbelt. The bridge was closed for
an extended period while authorities investigated the
crash.
State discloses virus cases
at local schools
The Oregon Health Authority has disclosed two
new coronavirus cases at schools in Clatsop County.
Both cases were students, according to the health
authority’s weekly outbreak report. One case was
from Warrenton Grade School, while the other case
was from Seaside Middle School.
Community college receives
grant for maritime program
The maritime program at Clatsop Commu-
nity College was awarded a $37,500 grant from
the Roundhouse Foundation, a philanthropic group
based in Sisters that assists regional organizations
and the challenges associated with rural culture and
landscapes.
The funds will be used to purchase equipment,
such as a life raft training model and jumbo immer-
sion suits for safety training classes, as well as other
items to assist the maritime science degree program,
the college announced on Tuesday.
The foundation has challenged the college to raise
scholarship funds that match or exceed the grant
total.
Knappa receives additional
funding for bond project
The Knappa School District expects to receive an
additional $2 million to boost the bond that will fund
a number of projects and improvements at schools.
Along with a $4 million state grant, the total bud-
get will reach $20 million.
The average tax rate will be below the projected
$2.20 per $1,000 of assessed value, saving taxpayers
$240,000 over the term of the bond, Knappa Super-
intendent Bill Fritz said on Friday.
Despite a rough market in the wake of bad infl a-
tion news, the bond sale went favorably, Fritz added.
The bond, which was approved by voters in Novem-
ber, will mature in 25 years.
— The Astorian
Oregon mayors push state for
emergency homeless shelter money
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler is leading a lobby-
ing eff ort to pressure the state to immediately fund
temporary homeless shelters a week after announc-
ing a planned crackdown on homeless camps near
busy roadways.
Wheeler joined Mosier Mayor Arlene Burns and
Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis in introducing the idea to
other mayors at a Friday call for the League of Ore-
gon Cities.
— Oregon Public Broadcasting
DEATHS
Jan. 5, 2022
In ROCKWELL,
Brief
Larry
Lee, 77, of Warrenton, died
in Warrenton. Hughes-Ran-
Deaths
som Mortuary is in charge
of the arrangements.
Feb. 9, 2022
WISEMAN, Levoy,
74, of Seaside, died in
Seaside. Hughes-Ransom
Mortuary is in charge of
the arrangements.
MEMORIAL
Wednesday, Feb. 16
Memorial
DONAHUE-BERNARD,
Georgina
“ Geor-
gie” Faye — Celebration of life memorial service at
1:30 p.m., Willamette National Cemetery, 11800 S.E
Mount Scott Blvd. in Portland.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Jewell School District Board, 6 p.m., 83874 Oregon
Highway 103.
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway.
TUESDAY
Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., workshop session,
(electronic meeting).
Clatsop County Fair Board, 5:30 p.m., 92937 Walluski
Loop, Astoria.
Astoria Historic Landmarks Commission, 5:30 p.m., City
Hall, 1095 Duane St.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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A sign outside Plaza Jalisco makes a subtle reference to a car crash at the restaurant at Marine Drive and Eighth Street during
icy conditions this winter.
House bill would ban mink farming
Supporters want
to protect mink
from inhumane
treatment
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
U.S. House lawmakers
have passed a ban on mink
farming in the U.S. as part of
an omnibus bill intended to
strengthen American compe-
tition with China.
Fur Commission USA,
the trade association repre-
senting mink farmers, called
it “a sneak attack on rural
America.”
The
legislation
was
added as an amendment to
the America COMPETES
Act of 2022, which passed
the House in early Febru-
ary mostly along party lines.
The package is likely to face
Republican opposition in the
narrowly divided Senate.
Supporters cheered the
measure as necessary to pro-
tect mink from inhumane
treatment and halt COVID-19
spillover.
According to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture ,
mink farmers produced 1.41
million pelts in 2020. Wis-
consin is the largest pelt-pro-
ducing state, followed by
Utah, Idaho and Oregon.
The amendment adopted
in the House version of the
America COMPETES Act
would ban mink farming in
the U.S. by the end of 2022. It
was sponsored by U.S. Reps.
Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.;
Nancy Mace, R-S.C.; Peter
DeFazio, D-Ore.; Jim Coo-
per, D-Tenn., Andy Levin,
D-Mich.; and Joe Neguse,
D-Colo.
“Factory farming of mink
threatens public health, espe-
cially as we continue fi ght-
ing against the COVID-19
pandemic,” DeLauro said in
a statement. “The evidence
is clear: mink operations can
Fur Commission USA
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a provision
in the America COMPETES Act that would ban mink farming
nationwide.
SEVERAL COUNTRIES
IN EUROPE HAVE ALREADY
PASSED OR ARE CONSIDERING
BANS ON MINK FARMING.
incubate and spread new
COVID-19 variants and pose
a unique threat of extending
the pandemic.”
The USDA Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Ser-
vice reports 17 mink farms
have had confi rmed cases of
COVID-19, including one in
Oregon.
Mink-to-human spread of
the virus has been reported in
major pelt-producing coun-
tries such as the Nether-
lands, Denmark and Poland,
and data from the Centers
for Disease Control and Pre-
vention suggest it might have
occurred in the U.S.
Despite this, the CDC
says, “Currently, there is no
evidence that mink are play-
ing a signifi cant role in the
spread of COVID-19 to
people.”
Wayne Pacelle, the presi-
Signs: Could be installed by spring or early summer
Continued from Page A1
The signs will feature
maps showing the length of
the Riverwalk and points
of interest along the way,
including restrooms, trol-
ley stops, historic points of
interest, public areas and
amenities.
Mile-marker signs will
list the nearest Astoria Riv-
erfront T rolley stop and the
distance from both ends
of the trail. Interpretive
signs along the trail will be
replaced.
The trolley stop signs will
feature smaller maps show-
ing nearby amenities and
destinations, and display the
hours and dates of operation
for the t rolley. The signs will
also include a QR code that
will direct people to a web-
site, maintained by the Asto-
ria Downtown Historic Dis-
trict Association, listing
nearby businesses.
Jonah Dart-McLean, the
city’s parks and recreation
director, said the new Port-
land Loo-style outdoor bath-
room will be placed at the
Astoria Nordic Heritage
Park, which is expected to be
completed by summer.
Lighting will be added
to the trestles through the
downtown core to the Hol-
iday Inn Express & Suites.
The lights will be bulkhead
lights, similar to the ones by
Pier 11.
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
dent of the nonprofi t Animal
Wellness Action, said mink
farms are a danger to pub-
lic health because they pack
so many animals together in
confi nement, allowing them
to easily spread the virus and
possibly incubate new vari-
ants that can be shared with
humans.
“This is just an unnec-
essary risk,” said Pacelle,
whose group is pushing the
ban. He is the former head
of the Humane Society of the
United States.
Several countries in
Europe have already passed
or are considering bans on
mink farming.
Denmark, the world’s larg-
est producer of pelts, culled
17 million mink in response
to outbreaks at more than 200
farms, and extended a mor-
atorium on mink breeding
through 2023. The Nether-
lands — where the fi rst out-
break was detected — will
also prohibit mink farming
beginning in 2024.
USDA fi gures show the
production of mink pelts has
declined over the last six
years. After peaking at 3.76
million pelts in 2014, the total
fell 62.5% to 1.41 million
pelts in 2020.
The average price per pelt
has also fallen from $57.70 to
$33.70. The price was even
lower in 2019, at $21.30.
Pacelle said there is virtu-
ally no domestic market for
mink. About 80% of all pelts
are exported to China.
“We thought it was rele-
vant to the China competition
bill,” Pacelle said. “Essen-
tially, we have a very small,
unprofi table business oper-
ating in the U.S. that sells
almost all of the pelts pro-
duced to China, while China
is outsourcing all the environ-
mental risks to the U.S.”
Challis Hobbs, the Fur
Commission USA executive
director, said members are
“shocked by the open hostil-
ity” of the proposed ban, and
accused activists of exploiting
the pandemic to further their
goals of ending animal use.
“Proponents’ use of
unfounded scare tactics to
justify this extreme taking of
private property and liveli-
hoods must be stopped imme-
diately,” Hobbs said.
More than 85% of pelts
used in the world’s fur trade
comes from small, family-run
farms, the commission says.
Farms are licensed and regu-
lated by state departments of
agriculture, and the commis-
sion has developed standard
guidelines for everything
from feeding and cage size to
transportation and harvest.
A COVID-19 vaccine for
mink has also been released
by Zoetis, a pharmaceuti-
cal company that special-
izes in medicine for pets and
livestock.
Bollard lights will be
added from the Columbia
River Maritime Museum to
Mill Pond. A separate grant
from the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation will
add lighting further east to
39th Street.
“We’re hoping to have the
signs fabricated and installed
in the spring or early sum-
mer,” Dart-McLean said.
He hopes the bathroom
and lighting will be com-
pleted around that time, but
he said it could be later if
there are material or other
delays.
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