»INSIDE
THURSDAY
MAY 12
2022
THE RIVER
RUN ON FEST
IVALS RETURN
RUNNING
PAGE 8
ASTORIA
WINE TRAIL
PAGE 6
BAYSIDE
SINGERS
PERFORM
PAGE 10
NG
GLIDI ING
PARAGLID
S
SEASON BEGIN
PAGE 14
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022
149TH YEAR, NO. 135
$1.50
Estes to
step down
as city
manager
He will take on a regional
role with the state
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
City Manager Brett Estes announced
Wednesday he will step down after
accepting a job with the
state.
Estes, the former com-
munity
development
director and assistant city
manager in Astoria, was
hired in 2007 and took
the helm in 2014 when
Brett Estes
former City Manager
Paul Benoit resigned.
His last day is July 4.
Estes said he will focus on wrapping
up projects and bridging the gap while the
City Council searches for a new city man-
ager. He has accepted a job as the North
Coast regional representative for the state
Department of Land Conservation and
Development.
Photos by Ethan Myers/The Astorian
The Knappa School District has brought back music education.
A revived music program
sees early success in Knappa
See Estes, Page A6
A victim of budget cuts
two decades ago
SEASIDE
City struggles
to fi nd sites
for homeless
campers
Opposition likely
at most locations
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
SEASIDE — The list of no-camping
zones grew at a workshop Monday as city
councilors struggle to fi nd places for the
homeless to stay overnight within city
limits.
When the City
Council voted in late
MORE
April to enact an ordi-
INSIDE
nance
prohibiting
Seaside
overnight camping in
announces
most parts of the city,
fi nalists
including a makeshift
for city
camp off Necanicum
manager
Drive, they delayed
• A6
the selection of alter-
nate sites. The ordi-
nance, intended to
provide options for the homeless, puts
in place a permit program for tempo-
rary overnight camping in RVs and other
vehicles.
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
I
nstruments line the wall of a class-
room at Knappa High School : horns,
percussion, strings, a piano and many
more. Some are new, some are up to 70
years old, music teacher Jim Achilles
estimates.
The space has just recently begun to
resemble its old form.
Achilles recalls removing tables,
desks and packed boxes to bring the old
band room – which had become a stor-
age room – back to its old glory.
Knappa School District’s music pro-
gram, once a casualty of budget cuts in
the early 2000s, is making a comeback.
Several weeks ago near Portland,
students from the middle school begin-
ning band, the high school choir and
percussion programs gave their fi rst off -
site performance, the district’s fi rst since
2003.
“I’ve seen them from their start –
some of them just last fall picking up
an instrument for the fi rst time – and to
see them able to do a solid performance
in that kind of setting, under a lot of
pressure, was really fun for me to see,”
Knappa Superintendent Bill Fritz said.
“I really value music and the arts and
to see our kids thriving in that area is a
blast for me.”
The festival – Music in the Parks –
saw the school district take home sev-
eral awards. While all three groups took
home fi rst place, Achilles noted that
since there were not many other schools
in their divisions, he put more emphasis
on their ratings. The beginning band –
which doesn’t typically perform at festi-
vals – received a rating of “good,” while
Jim Achilles is the Knappa music teacher.
the two high school groups were rated
“excellent.”
“It was nerve-wracking,” Madeline
Lindstrom, of the high school choir,
said. With only fi ve students in the
group, there is nowhere to hide, Achil-
les said.
The students from Knappa also took
home the spirit award, which is given
based on attitude and support for the
other schools.
“To receive that on their fi rst fes-
tival out, to have the festival director
acknowledge our district in a way that
dealt with student conduct was a tre-
mendous encouragement to my stu-
dents and my chaperones as well,”
Achilles said.
When Fritz was brought on as super-
intendent in the summer of 2020, he
wondered why the school district did
not have a music program. The commu-
nity had previously indicated a desire
for the program to return, and it soon
became a priority for Fritz.
Through the state’s Student Invest-
ment Account, the opportunity arose to
put Knappa back on the music map.
In December 2020, the school dis-
trict hired Achilles, who had an exten-
sive background in music and educa-
tion, to build the program from scratch.
While volunteers and teachers had
done some work to keep music intact ,
the music program had become a distant
memory.
Music rooms took on other pur-
poses. The music library was thrown
out. Instruments were put in cupboards,
with many in desperate need of repair,
or as Achilles puts it, “ridden hard and
put away wet.”
Despite the tall task, by January
2021, music classes were back .
“Just the basics of even how to count
– the basic music rhythm and things like
that – it was all brand new to almost all of
them … it was really starting everybody
at the most basic level,” Achilles said.
With Achilles at the helm, the school
district now teaches music from kinder-
garten-through-12th grade.
See Music program, Page A6
See Campers, Page A6
State education director
speaks in Astoria
Columbia Memorial raises
money for expansion project
Derby-themed event
brings in over $400K
By ABBEY McDONALD
The Astorian
The Columbia Memorial Hos-
pital Foundation raised over
$400,000 for an upcoming project
during a Diamond Derby event last
weekend.
The Kentucky Derby-themed
event on Saturday had over 275
attendees, including Jordan Poyer,
a safety for the Buff alo Bills.
Former hospital board chair-
woman Constance Waisanen con-
tributed $100,000 and the Samuel
S. Johnson Foundation donated
$25,000.
Poyer, who went to Asto-
ria High School, contributed
$10,000 through his foundation
and donated an autographed jer-
sey and helmet that raised an addi-
tional $14,000.
“It was really nice to have his
participation, and he’s going to con-
tinue to be a partner with us going
forward,” said Mark Kujala, the
executive director of the Columbia
Memorial Hospital Foundation.
See Hospital, Page A5
Astoria Superintendent Craig
Hoppes in addressing school dis-
trict employees in the auditorium
at Astoria High School.
By ETHAN MYERS
“My most critical (message)
The Astorian
is a ‘thank you’ … just a deep
appreciation for the work
Colt Gill, the direc-
that you have been doing
tor of the Oregon Depart-
and for holding it together
ment of Education, spoke
for so many students,
to teachers and staff in the
families and one another,
Astoria School District
and for many of you, your
on Monday, refl ecting on
own families … The last
the eff ects of the corona-
two years have been dif-
Colt Gill
virus pandemic, show-
fi cult on all levels,” Gill
said.
ing appreciation for edu-
Gill, who previously served
cators and eyeing a path forward.
During an in-service day as Oregon’s fi rst education
focusing on mental health and
related topics, Gill followed
See Gill, Page A5
Gill praises response
to pandemic
Kylie Horning Events Northwest/
Willow Wisp Photography
Jordan Poyer, of the Buff alo Bills,
poses with Amber Hill and Chris
Hayward at the Diamond Derby.