150TH YEAR, NO. 29
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2022
A Q&A with the top
candidates for governor
A historic campaign on
the November ballot
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
O
n Nov. 8, Oregonians will elect
a new governor.
Several factors make this
race unique and explain why it’s gar-
nering national attention.
First, many Oregonians are dis-
enchanted with the state’s leader-
ship. Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat,
is America’s least popular governor,
according to a poll from the data firm
Morning Consult.
The race is also
capturing
national
interest because it’s
a tight contest. Saba-
to’s Crystal Ball at
the University of Vir-
ginia Center for Politics, a nonpartisan
newsletter with a high rate of accuracy
in predicting election results, labeled
Oregon’s outcome as a “toss-up.”
Oregon is hosting an unusual three-
way race among a trio of women who
are all recent members of the state Leg-
islature: former state House Speaker
Tina Kotek, running as a Democrat;
former House Minority Leader Chris-
tine Drazan, running as a Republican;
and former state Sen. Betsy Johnson,
running as nonaffiliated, formerly a
$1.50
Mass
timber
coalition
scores
funding
A $41.4 million boost from
the Biden administration
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Tina
Kotek
Betsy
Johnson
moderate Democrat.
If Kotek wins, she will be Ameri-
ca’s first out lesbian governor. If Dra-
zan wins, she will be the first Repub-
lican to win an Oregon gubernatorial
race since 1982. If Johnson wins, she
will be the first independent governor
to win since 1930.
The Capital Press sat down with
each of the candidates to talk about
issues that matter to rural Oregonians.
Each candidate answered the same set
of questions.
The candidates’ answers have been
shortened for readability. Words in
Christine
Drazan
parenthesis are written by the Cap-
ital Press to add context and clarity.
Follow-up questions are indicated in
italics.
Q: If you are elected, how do you
plan to bridge the political divide
between Oregon’s urban and rural
communities?
Johnson: Well, show up is the first
one. We’ve just come back from a trip
to Eastern Oregon. I think being there
is important and understanding that
whether you’re making silicon chips,
PORTLAND — A coalition of uni-
versity researchers and state agencies in
Oregon is betting big on the potential of
mass timber to help bridge the urban-rural
divide.
Not only can the budding industry
revive long-lost timber jobs, but the build-
ing material may also boost affordable
housing in the Portland metro area — all
while helping to thin Oregon’s forests,
making them more resilient to wildfire.
The concept has garnered support from
the Biden administration, which awarded
$41.4 million to the Oregon Mass Timber
Coalition.
Funding comes from the Build Back
Better Regional Challenge, providing $1
billion in grants to assist local economies
recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.
See Timber, Page A3
See Governor, Page A6
Christine Drazan, the Republican candidate for governor, Betsy Johnson, the independent candidate, and Tina Kotek, the
Democratic candidate, talked about issues that matter to rural Oregonians.
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Dog spared
from city
euthanasia
order
Pit bull released to her owner
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
A pit bull that faced a city euthanasia
order after killing a cat in Astoria in June
has been released to her owner in Mult-
nomah County.
James Mayer had been fighting to save
Layla, a dog he adopted this year, after
she was designated a level five dangerous
animal.
Weeks after Mayer lost an appeal in
Circuit Court, the city pivoted to allow
Layla’s release to Mayer’s residence in
Multnomah County, where the dangerous
animal ordinance is more forgiving.
City Attorney Blair Henningsgaard,
Police Chief Stacy Kelly and Mult-
nomah County agreed to the release with
conditions.
See Pit bull, Page A3
A fascination with sea glass
Stein sees life with
ocean-colored glasses
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
EARHART — When some
people go to the beach, they see
waves, sun and sky.
When Peggy Stein visits the
beach, she is looking into the rocks.
She was living at the beach at
Channel Islands Harbor in Ventura,
California, when she first started
collecting sea glass — ocean-pol-
ished glass that can come from bot-
G
tles, household goods, car lights or
insulators. It may have been left on
the beach, left over from a glass fac-
tory or dumped into the ocean.
The glass is found throughout the
world, but is predominantly found
in areas with gravel piles and small
rocks that can “wash” the glass to a
smooth polish. “You won’t find it
on sand beaches, which is why we
don’t have it in Oregon,” she said.
“It needs to be tumbling in with
other pebbles to create and to get
caught. It’s something that basi-
cally was trash. It went in as a sharp
shard, and came back as a really
rounded beautiful piece of glass.”
The tumbling process can usu-
ally take 50 to 100 years, she said.
Anything less would likely be
thrown back. “Anything that you
find that has still a shiny, glossy
piece on or edge on it, we consider
to be ‘uncooked,‘” she said. “It has
to be cooked to keep it.”
Born Peggy Hannon in Portland,
she was brought up in a letterpress
shop, she said, where she learned
to handset type and operate a letter-
press machine.
“From the time my sister and I
were young, we were hanging out in
the shop, and then probably middle
school, he started to teach me more
R.J. Marx/The Astorian
See Stein, Page A3
Peggy Stein displays a portion of her sea glass collection.