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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, AuguST 2, 2022
Weed control program targets new threat Lambert: A PGA
junior league also
in the works
Hoary alyssum
found in few
counties so far
By CLAYTON FRANKE
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — Jeffrey
Pettingill is fortunate that the
rural roads west of Haines
don’t harbor much traffic.
His eyes wander often.
He’s searching for signs
of an enemy.
An enemy that, when
faced in a one-on-one bat-
tle with Pettingill’s burly
6-foot-2 frame, doesn’t stand
much of a chance. He can
win by simply gripping the
base of its green-gray stem,
pulling and exposing its
annual root, which is only a
few inches long.
But Pettingill is outnum-
bered — this battle will
require a more strategic
approach.
Chemical
warfare,
perhaps.
Pettingill, Baker Coun-
ty’s weed control supervisor,
is facing the county’s new-
est noxious weed, hoary alys-
sum, which he hopes to con-
trol before it poses a greater
threat to livestock, crop pro-
duction and native plants.
The first step for Pettingill
is identifying where exactly
the hoary alyssum — which
travels mostly by hitching
rides on equipment and the
hooves of livestock — has
spread.
That’s what he set out to
do in late July, when he trav-
eled to a property in the foot-
hills of the Elkhorns to see
how much of the plant was
there.
When Pettingill first saw
the weed in the pastures near
North Rock Creek Road west
of Haines in the summer of
2020, he wasn’t certain he
was dealing with hoary alys-
sum. Its spindly stem and
small white flower can be
tough to pick out — even
with Pettingill’s trained gaze
— from clusters of yarrow,
a native plant with a simi-
lar white flower that grows
in similar areas to the hoary
alyssum, like fields, range-
lands and pastures.
Pettingill applied for a
state grant through the Ore-
gon Watershed Enhancement
Continued from Page A1
Clayton Franke/Baker City Herald
Hoary alyssum is a noxious weed that invades pastures, fields and rangelands.
‘WE’RE dEFINITELy
OuTNuMBEREd By WEEdS.’
Jeffrey Pettingill | Baker County’s weed control supervisor
Board to help identify where
the weed had spread. He
was awarded $9,500 in July
2021, paid for by Oregon
lottery dollars, which sup-
ported on-foot surveys that
confirmed hoary alyssum’s
spread in Baker County.
He also sent a letter to 82
landowners informing them
about the new weed.
Although 2020 was the
first sighting, Pettingill said
he didn’t know when the
weed actually arrived in
the county and how long it
went unnoticed — its mod-
est appearance might have
allowed it to spend years
growing and spreading under
the radar.
According to the state’s
noxious weed profile, hoary
alyssum was already wide-
spread in the Northeastern
United States by the 1890s
after it was originally trans-
ported to North America
from Europe as a seed con-
taminant. It’s listed as a nox-
ious weed in several other
Western states.
But hoary alyssum isn’t
widespread in Oregon. Other
than the recent Baker County
infestation, two isolated
patches of the plant exist: one
in Wallowa County near the
town of Wallowa and a dense
infestation near Sisters in
Deschutes County.
Pettingill said he doesn’t
know exactly how the weed
spread into Baker County,
and that he initially underes-
timated its local prevalence.
“We didn’t know how
vast it was,” he said.
Pettingill discovered that
the weed wasn’t only in pas-
tures near Haines, but also in
higher elevations in the foot-
hills of the Elkhorn Moun-
tains. Pettengill said he
wasn’t aware last summer
that the weed had also spread
to the pastures near South
Rock Creek Road.
He said he believes the
weed started in the hills and
then moved into the pastures.
Pettingill applied for
another state grant of the
same amount to continue
fighting the weed in 2021
and 2022. Over a third of the
grant went to buying herbi-
cides, enough to treat 300
acres of hoary alyssum.
He said he’s already
sprayed that amount this year.
He said the amount of
the grant is “unfortunate,
based on how many acres
we found. We need to try to
write another one this winter
to supplement somehow.”
Since the state has classi-
fied hoary alyssum as nox-
ious, property owners who
find it on their land are
required to take some kind of
action — either themselves
or through Pettingill’s pro-
gram — to control it.
Landowners can also par-
ticipate in a cost share pro-
gram, separate from the
hoary alyssum grants, where
the county will reimburse
owners for half the cost of
herbicide and then train the
owners with weed-spraying
practice.
Pettingill said he needs as
much help as he can get from
landowners because he’s had
trouble hiring a weed con-
trol staff to help him with
spraying projects. The Baker
County Weed Control team
is made up of Pettingill and
his black Lab, “Jack,” who
is probably more likely to
spread weeds than control
them.
“We’re definitely outnum-
bered by weeds,” Pettingill
said.
RV park: Sits on land leased from the Port of Ilwaco
Continued from Page A1
it has not received specifics
from the Werners, despite
being told this information
would be provided.
Police presence
The Werners, through
their company Deer Point
Meadows
Investments
LLC, bought the RV park
business from Mayor Mike
Cassinelli earlier this year
for $1.5 million. The RV
park is located on land
leased from the Port of
Ilwaco and many tenants
have lived there for years.
The Werners’ actions at
the RV park since before
they formally took owner-
ship have been a source of
community consternation
and the Long Beach Police
Department has become a
semiregular presence at the
property.
Just after the sale was
finalized, tenants called
police when one of the Wer-
ners’ representatives showed
up openly carrying a gun and
saying he was there to begin
removing trailers. Police
Chief Flint Wright told the
man he couldn’t take away
any private property without
a court order.
Police officers responded
in late July when demolition
crews arrived to tear down
some of the trailers.
The police department
deals in criminal law, but
Wright said, “Civil viola-
tions can cross over to crim-
inal violations pretty quick if
you’re not careful. My hope
is they’ll stay within the
guidelines, but I don’t know
what’s going to happen.”
With the turmoil at the RV
park and the recent orders
from the state, the police
department finds itself in a
strange position.
‘OuR CONTENTION IS WE LOOK AT BEACON RV PARK
AS NOT A CAMPgROuNd. PEOPLE HAVE BEEN LIVINg
THERE PERMANENTLy FOR A LONg TIME ANd THAT’S
HOW WE’RE APPROACHINg THIS. THE ONLy WAy
THAT ANyBOdy IS gOINg TO BE REMOVEd FROM
THERE IS WITH A COuRT ORdER FROM A JudgE
SAyINg, ‘yOu SHALL VACATE THE PREMISES.’ ’
Flint Wright | Long Beach police chief
Officers are now docu-
menting everything going
on at the RV park and — so
long as it doesn’t involve an
immediate risk or threat to
someone — referring any
potential violations by the
Werners and their represen-
tatives and contractors to the
attorney general’s office.
“This is an area I have
never been in, in 30-plus
years of being a cop,”
Wright said.
The Port of Ilwaco and
the Werners have asserted
that the RV park is essen-
tially a campground meant
for temporary stays, with-
out the protections afforded
to tenants of long-term facil-
ities. But Wright disagrees.
“Our contention is we
look at Beacon RV Park as
not a campground,” he said.
“People have been living
there permanently for a long
time and that’s how we’re
approaching this. The only
way that anybody is going
to be removed from there
is with a court order from
a judge saying, ‘You shall
vacate the premises.’”
Community backlash
Concern about the fate
of the RV park’s remaining
tenants and questions about
the role of local government
has sparked stormy back-
and-forth debates at port and
City Council meetings.
The RV park has been
home to as many as 100
people, according to local
estimates. But “due to Bea-
con RV’s unlawful behavior,
a majority of tenants were
forced to leave the park,” the
state noted in its order.
With few affordable
rental options across Pacific
County, steep costs, crowded
RV parks elsewhere and lit-
tle time to prepare for such
a big change, many of Bea-
con’s tenants have been
unsure about where they will
go. Many live on minimal or
fixed incomes; among them
are people who are elderly,
disabled or facing other
health issues.
Cassinelli and Butch
Smith, the chairman of the
port commission, maintain
there is little to nothing the
city or the port can do to
address the situation at the
RV park — an answer that
has not satisfied tenants or
others advocating on their
behalf.
At a recent City Coun-
cil meeting, Cassinelli was
forced to recuse himself
from future discussions of
the RV park after a vote by
the majority of the other
councilors.
After issuing several
vacate notices to tenants ear-
lier this year that were either
rescinded or considered
unlawful by the state, the
Werners began formal evic-
tion proceedings against 15
remaining tenants through
the Pacific County Superior
Court in June.
Robina Rayamajhi, an
attorney with Thurston
County Volunteer Legal Ser-
vices, represents nine of the
tenants, including Gill. She
filed a response to the evic-
tion lawsuits in late July and
cited a number of factual
and legal issues.
She can’t say what will
happen next as the mat-
ter winds its way through
court. For now, her goal is to
help her clients achieve their
individual wishes when it
comes to their residency at
the RV park.
“I know none of them
really want to be there,” she
said. “It’s not a great situa-
tion to be living in.”
Meanwhile, the Werners
have until Aug. 20 to request
an administrative hearing
regarding the attorney gen-
eral’s cease-and-desist order
or the order will become
permanent.
KMUN reached out to
the Werners for comment,
but received no response.
This story is part of a
collaboration between The
Astorian and Coast Commu-
nity Radio.
“I’ve been here almost
three full months, so I’m
feeling a lot more com-
fortable,” Lambert said.
“Everybody at the club
has been great. All the
employees, the members …
they’ve been very welcom-
ing and amazing at making
me feel at home.”
Lambert spent just over
a year as the club pro at
Salishan.
“I got my trial run of
coastal weather and had a
great time,” he said. “When
I told people I was going to
Astoria, I was asked ‘why?’
a lot. It wasn’t anything
wrong with my last job —
I enjoyed it a lot — (Asto-
ria) is just a special club and
a job that doesn’t come up
very often, so I jumped at
the chance.”
To be exact, the Astoria
Golf & Country Club has
had just eight golf pros since
1936, including Lambert.
“Astoria is a special
place,” he said. “They take
care of their people here. To
be frank, not every place is
like that. So to land in a spot
like this, I feel very, very
lucky to be here.”
Last week, Lambert was
in the midst of his first Ore-
gon Coast Invitational.
“The Coast” began on
Aug. 6, 1910, making it the
second-oldest tournament
in the state behind the Ore-
gon Amateur Champion-
ship. The new challenge is a
little daunting for Lambert.
“Fortunately,
(club
employees) Cody Mullins
and Brad Young have been
through the gauntlet, and
they have been very benefi-
cial to have on the team,” he
said. “Cody’s been here 15
years, and is really familiar
and knows what to expect.
He has helped a ton.”
The invitational was
canceled in 2020 — the
first time since 1945 —
before making its return last
summer.
“It’s been in the works
for nine months,” he said.
“I just arrived in the middle
of it, so I just hope I don’t
screw anything up. It’s
not often you get to run an
event that has 350 players,
but I’m looking forward to
the challenge.”
In his role as the club
professional, Lambert is
also looking at continu-
ing the area’s already solid
youth programs.
“As far as junior pro-
grams and player devel-
opment goes, there’s some
new stuff we’re trying,” he
said. “We’re focusing on
group lessons. We have a
couple junior clinics going,
and I teach a ladies class as
well. They are groups of six
to eight players. It’s $250
per person, and they get
eight weeks of instruction,
one-hour lessons, and they
get four nine-hole playing
lessons with an instructor.
The group format makes it
fun for everybody.”
He adds, “We’re also in
the works of doing a PGA
junior league here, either
this fall or next spring. It’s
great to see the numbers
that the high school pro-
grams are able to attract.”
But, “I’d like to start that
process earlier,” with golf-
ers 9 to 11 years old. “That’s
how you build the winning
programs. When you have a
high school kid who comes
in with four or five years
experience already, it’s
helpful.”
Born and raised in cen-
tral Oregon, Lambert was
an all-state golfer at Red-
mond High School, then
played four years at Corban
University, where he earned
all-Cascade
Conference
honors as a sophomore,
junior and senior, graduat-
ing in 2015.
He turned professional
in 2016 and played in var-
ious tournaments for two
years before becoming an
assistant club professional
at Eagle Crest Resort in
Redmond.
He spent part of 2018
at Meadow Lakes Golf
Course in Prineville, while
working seasonally in Palm
Desert.
Warrenton: Second time within
last several months that city has
named a new city manager
Continued from Page A1
Moberg, along with Marc
Howatt, a former public
works director in Warrenton,
and Donald Kewley, most
recently a senior risk man-
ager for a technical consul-
tant, were named as finalists
for the position earlier this
month.
The city held staff and
community receptions with
candidates, as well panel
interviews by community
leaders, public administra-
tors, city department heads
and the City Commission
over the past week.
“I’m pleased that we have
unanimous support to offer
Esther Moberg the job,”
Mayor Henry Balensifer said
in a statement. “We look for-
ward to working together to
build a better Warrenton.”
Moberg is set to replace
Linda Engbretson, who
is retiring. Her last day is
Friday.
Mathew Workman, the
police chief, will act as
interim city manager until
Moberg is hired.
This is the second time
within the last several
months that the city has
named a new city manager.
In April, Ben Burgener, who
held the same role in Stan-
field, was named city man-
ager, but contract negotia-
tions failed.
The city then tasked Jen-
sen Strategies, the Portland
consulting firm hired to find
and vet applicants, with con-
ducting another search.
Ashley Driscoll, the city’s
attorney, and Balensifer will
negotiate the contract with
Moberg. A timeline for her
arrival will be announced at
a later date, the city said.
Indicted: ‘(Law enforcement) did
a good job in digging into this’
Continued from Page A1
The indictment does not
specify the total amount of
money in question, but the
state alleges the loss was
more than $50,000.
Morrow could not imme-
diately be reached for
comment.
Morrow has served as
the board chairwoman of
the Warrenton-Hammond
School District and has been
involved in several other
boards on the North Coast
over the years.
“It sounds like (law
enforcement) did a good job
in digging into this,” Lynn
Brigham, the president of the
realty association, said. “We
support them, and we’re
going to continue to do what
we can to support our mem-
bers and keep the integrity
and professionalism of the
group together.”
District Attorney Ron
Brown declined to comment.
Doug Bell, a past pres-
ident of the realty associa-
tion, is named in the indict-
ment as a victim of identity
theft.
Upon hearing the news
of the charges, he said, “Oh,
good. Good for her.”