WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 2022
149TH YEAR, NO. 151
$1.50
County
to finance
child care
grants
A $500,000 investment of
federal stimulus money
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
A new grant program may help local
child care providers stay in business and
aspiring providers get in the game.
At a Clatsop County Board of Com-
missioners work session on Wednesday,
the county’s child care task force intro-
duced the proposal to stabilize funding
for providers.
The task force, an advisory group of
specialists, stakeholders and community
leaders, formed to address the region’s
lack of child care options.
The North Coast has been steadily
hemorrhaging child care slots. Over the
past five years, the county has lost more
than half of its licensed child care capac-
ity, The Astorian has reported.
Child care workers often make low
wages, have no benefits and do the kind
of work that burns them out, Eva Mander-
son, director of Northwest Regional
Child Care Resource and Referral, said
on Wednesday. It is also difficult to make
child care operations pencil out.
“We want the solution to be as easy
as, ‘I know of a building around the cor-
ner from my work that’s open where we
could open child care,’” Manderson told
commissioners. The unfortunate thing,
she said, is that “it’s much more complex
than that.”
The task force hopes the proposed
child care retention and expansion grants
will allow providers eventually to pay
their staff a living wage on par with that
of a kindergarten teacher.
“Right now, we’re a long ways from
that,” Manderson said, “and we see this
program as a way to help do that without
it being on the backs of families.”
Details of the grants will be posted on
the county website. Once applicants sub-
mit their grant applications, a committee
will review the applications and award
funds.
The Columbia-Pacific Economic
Development District will likely serve
as the program’s fiscal agent, responsi-
ble for collecting and distributing funds,
Manderson said.
The goal is to do all of this before Sep-
tember, partly because that’s when child
care programs run out of COVID-19
funds, Manderson pointed out. “It puts
a little bit of urgency around getting this
moving forward,” she said.
Photos by Lydia Ely/The Astorian
The Astoria Nordic Heritage Park honors the Scandinavian immigrant experience.
At Nordic Heritage Park,
Scandinavians celebrate a
sense of place and belonging
Displays mark
culture and history
The park
features a
gateway
arch.
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
A
fter years of planning and fundrais-
ing, the Astoria Nordic Heritage Park
opened to the public Friday morning
with a celebratory dedication.
The park off Marine Drive downtown,
completed for $1.5 million, was inspired by
the Astoria Scandinavian Heritage Associa-
tion to honor the city’s rich history of Nordic
immigration.
Hundreds of people attended the dedication,
which was held before the start of the annual
Astoria Scandinavian Midsummer Festival.
The event featured the Nordic Viking Scandia
Dancers and lur and flag anthem performances.
Karl Marlantes, the author of “Deep River,”
a novel that described the Finnish immigrant
experience along the Columbia River, was the
keynote speaker.
“We’re hoping this becomes a source of
community pride,” Janet Bowler, the vice pres-
See Park, Page A6
The Nordic Viking Scandia Dancers
performed at the dedication.
See Child care, Page A6
A shortage of sexual assault nurse
examiners leaves a critical gap in access
Many survivors
are referred to
Portland hospitals
By ABBEY McDONALD
The Astorian
Most people who are sex-
ually assaulted on the North
Coast do not seek medical
care afterward.
Shame, embarrassment,
anxiety and not knowing
what to expect are among the
main deterrents. The few sur-
vivors that do go to local hos-
pitals often have to wait hours
for forensic exams.
Many are referred to hos-
pitals in Portland instead.
“For someone who’s
already experienced trauma,
knowing that you have to take
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
The contents of a sexual assault forensic evidence kit are
displayed on a bed at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria.
a two-hour trip one way, and
then wait for hours at a hospi-
tal to have an exam done and
then find your way back here,
it’s really discouraging,”
said Jessica Klein, the dep-
uty director at The Harbor,
an advocacy center in Astoria
for survivors of domestic vio-
lence and sexual assault.
Few people opt to make
the trip.
“The rest of the survivors
typically just turn and walk
out and they leave the hos-
pital without receiving any
care,” she said, “which is
really unfortunate because
even if someone doesn’t get
the forensic exam, there’s still
other services that are avail-
able to them.”
According to advocates,
law enforcement and medical
experts on the North Coast,
the medical response to sex-
ual assault does not ade-
quately meet the needs of sur-
vivors, a critical gap in access
that can compound trauma.
A survey last year by The
Harbor found that 83% of
survivors who participated
did not receive any medi-
cal care after their assault
and only 15% reported their
assault to law enforcement.
Thirty percent did not know
medical services were an
option, while 16% cited a
lack of transportation.
Insufficient
funding,
burnout and limited opportu-
nities for training have led to
a persistent shortage of sex-
ual assault nurse examiners,
who are needed to treat sur-
vivors and collect evidence.
See Shortage, Page A2
Port reaches
agreement with
seafood company
New development coming to Pier 1
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
The Port of Astoria
is taking the first steps
toward implementing the
vision of a new water-
front master plan.
The Port Commis-
sion voted unanimously
on Tuesday to approve a
memorandum of under-
standing with Asto-
ria Crab & Fish Co.
to work toward devel-
opment on Pier 1. The
group is a subsidiary of
Pacific Dream Seafoods,
a wholesale distributor
that operates a seafood
processing and storage
facility in Anacortes,
Washington.
While the exact plans
for the space have yet
to be solidified, Matt
McGrath, the Port’s dep-
uty director, said the
agreement is intended to
get the ball rolling with
development on Pier 1.
“The goal is to create
a facility that is a com-
munity landmark for
Pier 1, for Astoria, that
can be utilized by both
Astoria Crab & Fish Co.,
local fishermen, tour-
ists coming off the cruise
lines and then locals —
for coming down and
enjoying some form of
See Port, Page A6