149TH YEAR, NO. 134
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2022
$1.50
ARCH CAPE
Residents
concerned
about forest
purchase
Logging, recreation
among the worries
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
Photos by Lydia Ely/The Astorian
The lack of transportation can be a barrier for rural veterans who need health care and other services.
Rural veterans are at
higher risk of suicide
Outreach to improve access
to mental health treatment
By ABBEY McDONALD
The Astorian
S
EASIDE — Each seat at American
Legion Post 99 had several take-home
items: a resource packet, a blue stress
ball and a fi rearm safety lock with suicide
prevention hotlines printed on either side.
Together With Veterans held its fi rst
regional community event on Wednesday ,
bringing together service groups, veterans
and family members from Clatsop, Colum-
bia, Tillamook, Lincoln and Washington
counties to discuss suicide prevention with a
public health perspective.
“We want to promote connectedness,
because that is one of the most important
things when it comes to preventing things
like suicide,” said Donna-Marie Drucker,
the president of the Oregon Firearm Safety
Coalition .
“Having that sense of community, that
sense of belonging, that sense that we have
something bigger than ourselves and to
serve. A ll the things that veterans really talk
about and often miss when they leave the
service,” she said.
Together With Veterans, a community
created program run through U.S. Depart-
ment of Veterans Aff airs, is the fi rst of its kind
in the state, Drucker said. They selected this
region of Oregon for the proximity to Port-
land and the high rates of veterans in rural
The Arch Cape Water District Board
took a big step in April when it signed off
on a $4.7 million purchase of 1,441 acres
of commercial timberland, but a segment
of the community is not confi dent in the
district’s plan.
The purchase, which has been years
in the making, will turn the timberlands
around the source of Arch Cape’s drink-
ing water into a community forest, mak-
ing the unincorporated area one of the
few coastal communities to have full con-
trol of its watershed.
But some residents and landowners are
concerned about the water district’s plan,
including the impact logging and public
recreational use could have on the area.
Financed by state and federal grants,
the plan will protect drinking water and
wildlife habitat. The property will tie into
an additional 3,500 acres the North Coast
Land Conservancy acquired for its Rain-
forest Reserve project above Arch Cape
and adjacent to Oswald West State Park.
The water district, which oversees 295
water connections, also plans to signifi -
cantly scale back logging and provide
recreational opportunities.
Astoria oversees a similar system at
its 3,700-acre Bear Creek watershed,
which provides the city’s drinking water.
However, there is no public access or
recreation .
Leading up to the board’s decision
to purchase the land, Bill Campbell, a
homeowner, sent a petition with more
than 100 names calling for the board to
defer the logging scheduled to start in
2023 and work with a ratepayer advisory
work group to come up with an opera-
tions management plan that could elimi-
nate the need for logging. He has also set
up a blog with critiques about diff erent
aspects of the board’s plan.
Campbell said the overarching con-
cern is lack of community involvement in
the process. He said there are also con-
cerns about logging and plans to open the
forest — which sits behind many neigh-
bors’ backyards — to the public for recre-
ational use. He also questions the board’s
ability to manage the forest and the fi nan-
cial plan.
See Arch Cape, Page A6
INSIDE
GOVERNOR’S
RACE
Kotek, Read diff er
on track records in
Democratic primary
• A2
See Veterans, Page A6
Republicans compete in crowded primary
fi eld for governor • A3
Josh Davis is Clatsop County’s
veterans services offi cer.
Candidates for governor tackle state issues
in unique Q&A • read online at
bit.ly/3KZPrHA
High school senior jumps life’s hurdles
Sisley battles through
asthma condition
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
storia High School senior
Maddie Sisley can tell you a
thing or two about clearing hurdles.
First, as the No. 2-ranked 100-
meter hurdler in the state, she
jumps hurdles pretty much every
day in practice or meets.
Two, she’s part of a senior class
that had to deal with nearly two
years of limited seasons — or no
season at all — in sports because of
A
COVID-19.
And third, Sisley has been
jumping obstacles for the better
part of her four-year athletic career
at Astoria, just to compete in the
sports she loves.
Anyone who has watched
Sisley play soccer for the p ast
four years can appreciate her
competitiveness.
She was a standout defender
for the Lady Fishermen her fi rst
two years, before coach Tim Fas-
tabend moved her to forward mid-
way through her junior season, and
Sisley responded by becoming a
scoring machine.
She spent her last year-and-a-
half as Astoria’s leading scorer and
most dangerous soccer player in
the open fi eld, fi nishing the 2021
season with all-league honors.
And she did it all while battling
an asthma condition that limited
her playing time.
Sisley would play until she
would drop, sometimes literally.
“It was a big thing,” she said
of the asthma, which would force
her to the sidelines at least once a
game. “It was a big bump in the
road for soccer, especially it being
my last year.”
It also made basketball diffi cult
to play, and prevented her from
running the 300-meter hurdles.
Gary Henley/The Astorian
See Sisley, Page A6
Maddie Sisley, jumping her last hurdle in her last home meet.