»INSIDE
THURSDAY
JUNE 16
2022
AN
SCANDINAVI TU
S
FESTIVAL RE RN
EXHIBIT
THE
RECALLS
CLASSICS AT
NSION
THIRD DIME
ASTORIA FIRE
FESTIVAL
10
PAGE 6
‘BIRDS
OF A
FEATHER’
PAGE 14
PAGE
PAGE 8
July 2-3
Astoria
Co. Fairgrounds
Clatsop
149TH YEAR, NO. 150
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2022
$1.50
Portion of Buoy Beer
building collapses
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
One side of the Buoy Beer Co. building was caved in after a partial collapse
Tuesday night.
A portion of the Buoy Beer
Co. building collapsed over the
Columbia River on Tuesday night,
causing signifi cant damage but no
injuries.
It was not immediately clear
what triggered the collapse . No
one was known to be in the build-
Port pushes
back on
state billing
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
See Port, Page A6
friends. We feel lucky to live and
work in this place and in an indus-
try like ours,” he said.
“Thank you for all your kind-
ness while we navigate this
situation.”
The call to law enforcement
about the collapse went out around
6:10 p.m.
See Collapse, Page A6
On the
North
Coast, a
fi sherman
makes a
rare fi nd
Local agency was charged
for media interviews
Following years of invoices, the Port
of Astoria is pushing back on how the
Oregon Department of Environmental
Quality bills for a cleanup program .
Over the p ast two decades, the Port
has worked with the state to clean up
petroleum contamination along the
waterfront that stemmed from the oper-
ations of oil companies during the last
century . The project — known as AOC4
— reached a consent judgment earlier
this year.
W hen state employees engaged in
activities related to the project, includ-
ing communication, coordination and
document review, the Port and others
were billed for the time, often at a rate
exceeding $200 an hour.
Will Isom, the Port’s executive direc-
tor, has challenged the D epartment of
Environmental Quality’s cost recovery
policy many times over the years, par-
ticularly around billing for time spent on
media interviews , looking at the Port’s
website and reading articles related to
the project .
Isom’s frustrations surfaced again
after the Port was billed for an interview
Anna Coates, the project manager from
the Department of Environmental Qual-
ity who oversaw AOC4, gave with The
Astorian.
“I have a real problem with it because
I don’t know where that line stops,” he
said. “Talking to the media does not
directly impact the project or getting
the remedial action moving forward …
I just think it’s a ridiculous abuse of the
authority that DEQ has.
“Again, it’s a little bit immaterial for
the Port in terms of the total cost, but …
it’s bad government.”
Isom met virtually last week with
several staff ers with the Department of
Environmental Quality to discuss his
objections .
“We want to have a good relationship
with DEQ, but it can’t feel like we’re
taken advantage of and just gouged as
we try to move this forward,” he said.
ing, which houses the popular
brewery’s restaurant, small-batch
brewery, brite tanks, lager tanks
and canning line .
David Kroening, the president
of Buoy Beer, said in a statement
that the building was closed until
further notice.
“We are humbled by the over-
whelming support from our local
community as well as our industry
Timbers from the
Beeswax shipwreck
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
KMUN
N
o one believed Craig Andes
when he said he found pieces
of a shipwreck that resisted
discovery for centuries in sea caves
north of Manzanita.
But Andes, a commercial fi sherman
based in Tillamook County and an avid
beachcomber, persisted. Samples of the
timbers he found sticking out of the sand
in the caves were eventually tested and
dated. The timbers are now believed to
belong to the wreck of Santo Cristo de
Burgos, a Spanish galleon also known
as the Beeswax for the valuable wax
that formed part of its cargo.
See Rare fi nd, Page A2
ABOVE: Craig Andes is a
commercial fi sherman and avid
beachcomber. RIGHT: A large
piece of the Beeswax shipwreck
was recovered on Tuesday.
MORE ONLINE
Read more on the Beeswax shipwreck
and the recovery at National Geographic.
nationalgeographic.com
Photos by Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Elevator at Owens-Adair remains out
Service disrupted
by power outage
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
The elevator at Owens-Adair,
an aff ordable housing complex for
seniors and people with disabilities,
is not expected to be repaired until
the end of the month after it failed
during a power outage last week.
Residents at Owens-Adair were
among the more than 7,400 Asto-
ria area customers aff ected by the
power outage on June 7. While
power was restored for most cus-
tomers within a couple of hours,
residents at Owens-Adair have
been waiting for repairs to be made
to the sole elevator in the four-story,
46-unit complex near downtown.
Jim Evans, the interim direc-
tor of the Northwest Oregon Hous-
ing Authority, which owns the
building, told The Astorian that
the elevator company conducted a
national parts search for the con-
troller needed to restore service to
the elevator.
Because of the age of the equip-
ment, a replacement part was not
located and a new control mod-
ule must be fabricated. Evans said
the order has been placed and is
expected to be delivered the week
of June 27.
To help ease the challenges
associated with the elevator outage,
Evans said the housing authority
has off ered to reimburse delivery
fees for groceries and medications .
A list of community based
resources has been provided to res-
idents, and the housing authority is
working with Clatsop Community
Action to provide outreach to res-
idents with mobility impairments.
Residents with mobility issues
have also been off ered fi rst-fl oor
apartments, but Evans said no one
has requested to move.
See Elevator, Page A6
The sole elevator is out at the Owens-Adair near downtown.