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THURSDAY
MARCH 10
2022
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DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2022
149TH YEAR, NO. 108
$1.50
Election
lineup set
for May
‘He was a
legend in his
own right’
Two contested races for
county commission
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
Two incumbents on the Clatsop
County Board of Commissioners will
face challengers in the May election.
Commissioner Pamela Wev, who rep-
resents District 3 in Astoria, is campaign-
ing for reelection against Nathan Pink-
staff , a deck mechanic from Astoria. In
District 5, which covers South County,
Commissioner Lianne Thompson is up
for reelection against Steve Dillard, an
innkeeper who lives in Seaside.
Commissioner Mark Kujala, the board
chairman, who represents District 1 in
Warrenton, is unopposed for reelection.
The fi ling deadline for the May 17 elec-
tion was Tuesday.
Trenary was considered the godfather
of organic farming on the North Coast
By ABBEY McDONALD
The Astorian
N
EHALEM — Inside his home
on a 16-acre organic farm , Jeff
Trenary made restaurant qual-
ity meals in a kitchen so messy that
loved ones called it off -putting.
“My dad was straight up the best
chef I’ve ever met,” said Lucy Wild,
Trenary’s daughter. She said guests
would enter the home, look around,
and immediately doubt the quality of
the meal they agreed to partake in.
“And then he’d bust out this, like,
million-star meal. These four -star
meals? Nope. Get out of here, this is a
million star meal,” she said.
Trenary created a full feast every
night, she said, and nearly always
with a new recipe. He used his restau-
rant connections on the North Coast
and Portland to get details on menu
items and would try them at home. He
excelled in ingredients that surprised
his guests, like frogs and oxtail and
bone marrow.
Trenary, who died of cancer in early
February, loved to feed people. He
spent his life working hard to make sure
they were eating the best food possible.
Sometimes called the godfather of
organic farming, Trenary started the
fi rst organic farm on the North Coast
after buying a property bordering the
North Fork Nehalem River in 1986.
Joshua Bessex/The Astorian
See Trenary, Page A6
Jeff Trenary was a longtime vendor at
the Astoria Sunday Market.
See Election, Page A3
MORE INSIDE
Witt to run for
Salem-area state
House seat • A3
City to declare
shopping carts
a nuisance
Beyond a tear in a greenhouse’s shell lies
an untended area at Kingfi sher Farms.
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Safeway, Astoria Co+op
would pick them up
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
The Astoria City
Council is expected
MORE
to approve an ordi-
INSIDE
nance in the com-
Police to
ing weeks to
adjust patrols
address stolen and
in response
abandoned shop-
to vandalism
ping carts.
downtown • A2
Police
have
received a grow-
ing number of calls
about abandoned shopping carts blocking
sidewalks and left on private property.
See Carts, Page A2
Piano trio refl ects on
the power of music
during wartime
Musicians have
personal ties to
Russia, Ukraine
By ABBEY McDONALD
The Astorian
Following Russia’s inva-
sion of Ukraine , the Her-
mitage Piano Trio, which
has personal ties to both
countries, is refl ecting on
the power of music during
wartime.
The Grammy-nominated
group will return to the Lib-
erty Theatre for the Third
Dimension Festival in June,
along with guest performers.
This year, the festival
has expanded to two weeks,
from June 11 to June 26,
Jewell hires acting
superintendent
Gardner retired
from Central Linn
allowing for more concerts.
Jennifer Crockett, the
Liberty’s executive direc-
tor, said that the centerpiece
performance of the festival,
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Sym-
phony No. 7, “Leningrad,”
was selected to make a state-
ment about war and the
power of music. She said it
Carol Newman
See Trio, Page A2
Hermitage Piano Trio violinist Misha Keylin, pianist Ilya Kazantsev
and cellist Sergey Antonov at the Liberty Theatre in 2019.
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
‘AS DIFFICULT AS IT SOUNDS, WE’RE NOT HERE
ONLY TO ENTERTAIN PEOPLE. WE’RE ALSO HERE
TO PROVOKE THOUGHTS. AND UNFORTUNATELY,
THE HISTORY, EVEN CURRENT — AND I CALL IT
CURRENT HISTORY, BECAUSE RIGHT NOW THE
HISTORY IS BEING MADE — FORCES US TO LOOK
BACK TO LOOK FORWARD. SO THIS IS A VERY
SPECIAL PROGRAM FOR ME, ESPECIALLY NOW.’
Sergey Antonov | the Hermitage Piano T rio’s cellist
JEWELL — The Jew-
ell School District has
hired an acting replace-
ment for Superintendent
Steve Phillips, who was
placed on administrative
leave last month pending an
investigation.
Following an executive
session on Monday night,
the school board voted
unanimously to make Brian
Gardner, a former super-
intendent at Central Linn
School District in Linn
County, the acting superin-
tendent for the rural school
district. The appointment
was eff ective immediately.
“We’re very excited,”
Mike Stahly, the school
board’s chairman, told The
Astorian. “He is starting in
the morning — he is actu-
ally starting right now.
I hope everybody has a
chance to stop in and meet
him.”
Gardner served as super-
intendent in Linn County
for a decade before retiring
from the position last year.
He also has past experience
as a principal and teacher.
He will fi ll in through
the end of June , or until an
earlier date is given by the
school board with 30 days
advance notice, according
to his contract.
The appointment of
Gardner comes as Jewell
has faced leadership uncer-
tainty and turnover in recent
years.
“My interest in Jewell
is because I think that my
basic background and skills
can come in and hopefully
calm the waters a little bit,
and do some things to help
the district set up for long
term and permanent suc-
cess,” Gardner said to the
school board and attendees
of the meeting on Monday.
“My basic feeling is you do
See Jewell, Page A3