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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2022
Bubbles
IN BRIEF
Merkley to host virtual
town hall for county
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley is scheduled to hold a town
hall for Clatsop County over Zoom at 2:30 p.m. on
Saturday.
The event is part of an annual series of town halls the
Oregon Democrat holds in each of the state’s 36 counties.
“Hearing from Oregonians across the state is criti-
cal to doing my job. In these uncertain times, it’s more
important than ever to hear directly from folks,” Merk-
ley said in a statement. “The ideas and priorities I hear
about in town halls inform the solutions that I fi ght to
get into federal law, like the projects for Oregon passing
into law this weekend to fi ght wildfi re smoke, invest in
infrastructure and jobs, and address housing shortages.”
The details for how to participate in the town hall are
available on the senator’s website.
Garth Porteur creates bubbles next to the
Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria.
Porteur, a commercial fi sherman, said he recently
took his bubble kit to work for some fun with his
friends on the boat.
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Restrictions in place for
snowy plover nesting season
Snowy plover nesting season began Tuesday, along
with recreation restrictions from the Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department to protect the birds on desig-
nated sections of beaches.
Nesting areas will be identifi ed with signage and
ropes. On the North Coast, there are several zones,
including on the Clatsop, Nehalem and Bayocean spits
and in South Sand Lake.
Walking and horseback riding are permitted on plo-
ver beaches, but all other recreation is prohibited. This
includes walking dogs with and without leashes, driv-
ing vehicles, biking, camping, burning and fl ying kites
and drones.
Nesting season ends on Sept. 15.
Western snowy plovers are considered a threatened
species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There
were around 604 breeding adults in 2021, an increase
from 55 in 1993 when the plovers were fi rst listed as
threatened.
Khan buys former Pizza Hut
building in Seaside
SEASIDE — Masudur Khan and Khan Proper-
ties Group added real estate to their portfolio south of
Broadway.
On Feb. 26, Khan purchased the former Pizza Hut
building for $880,000 from Pacifi c Coast Investment,
based in Gunnison, Colorado.
Built in 1993 as a fast-food restaurant, the building on
S. Roosevelt has 3,178 feet and is zoned commercial on
a half-acre lot. Pizza Hut closed in 2019 and the building
has been vacant since.
Khan said he has no specifi c plan for the building at
this time.
In February, Khan withdrew as a member of Seaside
Lodging Hospitality LLC, Doel Hospitality LLC and
City Center Hospitality LLC, which operate the Inn at
Seaside, River Inn and the SaltLine Hotel.
Khan will focus on new business ventures in real
estate development and hospitality as the founder and
CEO of Khan Properties Group.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
March 14, 2022
In PALO,
Brief
Rodney Elmer,
91, of Astoria, died in
Astoria.
Caldwell’s
Deaths
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
March 13, 2022
EASTER,
Michael
Warren, 65, of West-
port, died in Westport.
Caldwell’s
Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
March 11, 2022
KENSINGER, Robert
John, 68, of Astoria, died
in Astoria. Caldwell’s
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
March 10, 2022
HISSNER, Jon, 78, of
Astoria, died in Astoria.
Hughes-Ransom Mor-
tuary is in charge of the
arrangements.
MEMORIAL
Tuesday, March 22
Memorial
NEACE, Jami Lynn Kulbel — Memorial at 11 a.m.,
Green Acres Memorial Park, 5700 Northwest Drive in
Ferndale, Washington. A memorial in Seaside will be
announced at a later date.
ON THE RECORD
Weapons charges
On
Record
• Joel the
Justin Nethercott,
58, of Arch Cape, was
arraigned on Monday on charges of unlawful use of a
weapon, being a felon in possession of a fi rearm, point-
ing a fi rearm at another person and menacing. The
crimes are alleged to have occurred in November 2020.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
THURSDAY
Seaside Transportation Advisory Commission, 6 p.m.,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Legislative ambush axes youth camp
A medium-security
facility in Naselle
By JEFF CLEMENS
Chinook Observer
OLYMPIA, Wash. —
The Naselle Youth Camp
is likely to end more than
a half-century of rehabil-
itation services after state
legislators revived closure
language during fi nal nego-
tiations over the supple-
mental operating budget.
The youth camp is an
unfenced, medium-secu-
rity facility that provides
education and treatment for
males who have landed in
trouble with the law. It has
faced repeated threats of
closure since 2003 as juve-
nile justice philosophies
have shifted toward keep-
ing young off enders closer
to their families.
As of early March,
33 young people were
housed at the camp. More
than 90 full and part-time
employees work at the
camp.
The Washington State
Department of Children,
Youth, and Families was
required to immediately
stop placing young people
at Naselle, with the goal of
closing the camp by the end
of June 2023 .
Once closed, the prop-
erty would be turned over
to the Washington State
Department of Natural
Resources
for possible
conversion into an outdoor
school.
Legislators set aside
$250,000 to study and
make recommendations on
the development of an out-
door school. A report to the
L egislature is due by the
end of the year.
The end of Naselle
Youth Camp would have
major ramifi cations for the
Naselle-Grays River Val-
ley School District, which
is able to count detainees
who attend school at the
camp in the district’s total
student census for purposes
of state support.
In addition, the loss of
dozens of state jobs would
be a serious economic blow
to Pacifi c County, par-
ticularly its southeastern
quadrant. The youth camp
has formed the core of
Naselle’s economy since it
Ron Baldwin
The Naselle Youth Camp could close.
‘THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN
SAVE THE NASELLE YOUTH CAMP
IS THE GOVERNOR.’
Washington State Rep. Jim Walsh
was created to make use of
a surplussed military Cold
War air-defense site.
The youth camp’s 2022
operating budget, including
wages, is $9.9 million . Its
employees earn a median
income of $54,000, well
above the county’s overall
average of about $40,000.
Beyond economic con-
siderations, youth camp
employees and retirees
form the backbone of soci-
ety in the Naselle area —
sending children to public
school, serving as athletic
coaches, volunteering with
local charities and many
other roles. Other youth
workers live on the penin-
sula and in Clatsop County.
State Rep. Jim Walsh,
R-Aberdeen, took to Face-
book to voice his displea-
sure after learning of the
surprise.
“The only person who
can save the Naselle Youth
Camp is the governor,” he
said. “He can use the ‘sec-
tion veto’ power to cut this
section out of the s upple-
mental o perating b udget.
I suggest everyone who
cares about the Naselle
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13 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$37.00
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Youth Camp contact the
governor and demand that
he veto this section.”
Walsh and Rep. Joel
McEntire,
R-Cathlamet,
celebrated
what
they
thought was a win earlier in
the legislative session after
the youth camp closure was
removed from the House’s
proposed
supplemental
operating budget.
But few budget actions
in Olympia are fi nal until
the conference committee
process concludes — when
Senate and House negoti-
ators hammer out diff er-
ences in their plans just
before adjournment of the
session.
A statement released by
the Department of Chil-
dren, Youth, and Families
appears to dash hopes that
Gov. Jay Inslee will inter-
vene to save the facility.
“DCYF has also prior-
itized ensuring youth in
facilities remain close to
their home communities
and families,” Jason Wett-
stein, the department’s
director of communica-
tions, said. “While ( the)
closure is legislatively
directed, the decision sup-
ports the agency’s prior-
ity to place youth closer
to home and ( their) com-
munity and recognize the
declining state trends in
youth incarceration.”
According to the state-
ment, the need for juve-
nile rehabilitation centers
has dropped by about 73%
over the past 22 years.
“I am proud of the
work that we have done
to put youth fi rst at the
Naselle Youth Camp,”
Felice Upton, the assistant
secretary of juvenile reha-
bilitation, said. “Staff at
Naselle have changed the
life trajectories for many
young people since the
facility was established in
1966.”
Even with the closure
lurking and the situation
dire, the American Fed-
eration of State, County
and Municipal Employ-
ees u nion that represents
youth camp employees said
it continues to fi ght to keep
the camp open. The union
is asking Inslee to veto the
closure.
“We are calling on the
governor to veto the lan-
guage
that
legislators
sneaked into the fi nal bud-
get at the last minute,” Jus-
tin Lee, the union’s com-
munications director, said.
“This is rather disappoint-
ing considering neither the
House or Senate budget
included the language to
close Naselle.”
Lee said the closure was
“ initially in the House bud-
get but was removed after
more than 800 people
wrote their legislators and
urged them to keep it open.
Closing the Naselle Youth
Camp will hurt an already
understaff ed and under-
funded juvenile rehabilita-
tion program and displace
around 100 employees in
the community. ”