The BulleTin • Tuesday, april 27, 2021 A3
LOCAL, STATE & REGION
River cruises to return to Astoria
Differing state
guidelines lead to
alternate stops than
in summers past
BY EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
American Queen Steam-
boat Co. and American Cruise
Lines have been sailing the
southeastern U.S. for the past
month under guidelines ap-
proved by the federal Centers
for Disease Control and Pre-
vention during the coronavi-
rus pandemic.
While oceangoing cruises
are on hold until at least fall,
trips on the Columbia and
Snake rivers will likely restart
in early May after coordina-
tion with state officials and
ports between Astoria and
Lewiston, Idaho.
Clatsop County Manager
Don Bohn described the situa-
tion as fluid but said local offi-
cials have been told the Amer-
ican Song, one of four regional
American Cruise Lines ships,
will stop at the 17th Street
Dock in Astoria the first week
of May with fewer than 40
passengers.
“I’ve heard that the first
ships will be at about 50% ca-
pacity,” Bohn said. “But I also
know that if things go well,
they might notch that up. But
even at the maximum, they
were going to be running with
about 25% vacancy.”
A spokesperson for Amer-
ican Queen Steamboat said
the company hopes to begin
cruises on its sternwheeler,
the American Empress, later
in the spring. A reservation
specialist with the company
said cruises on the Columbia
won’t begin until June and are
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
River cruise ships docked at North Tongue Point over the winter.
already fully booked into No-
vember.
Overnight river cruises were
shut down more than a year
ago because of the pandemic.
But a conditional sailing or-
der from the CDC has allowed
ships to carry up to 250 com-
bined passengers and crew.
American Cruise Lines and
American Queen Steamboat
launched the 2021 season
in mid-March with coastal
voyages between South Car-
olina and Florida and along
the Mississippi River between
Memphis and New Orleans.
The companies instituted en-
hanced safety measures, such
as decreased capacity, mask
requirements, testing of pas-
sengers and additional medi-
cal personnel.
American Cruise Lines
homeported its regional ves-
sels at the North Tongue Point
shipyards on the eastern edge
of Astoria, where local ship-
wrights from WCT Marine &
Construction have provided
maintenance.
Oregon has allowed river
cruises to operate, provided
they follow CDC guidelines
on the water and county-by-
county virus guidelines when
docked. Bohn and Astoria
Mayor Bruce Jones said they
worry more about the masses
of tourists coming by car than
smaller, partially empty cruise
ships carrying older passen-
gers more likely to be vacci-
nated and following enhanced
health protocols.
“If they do follow all the
state guidelines, there’s not
really a basis on which to
prohibit other operations, es-
pecially in the context of the
level of tourism that’s already
taking place in Astoria,” Jones
said. “Most of the hotels on the
coast are full or nearly full.”
Washington state on hold
Cruises on the Columbia
and Snake rivers include stops
upriver in Washington state,
where Gov. Jay Inslee has
banned all cruise ship dock-
ings until at least May 15, after
which conditions will be re-
evaluated.
American Cruise Lines of-
ten docks at the Port of Ska-
mania in Stevenson, Wash-
ington. Pat Albaugh, the port’s
executive director, said 130
dockings have been canceled
over the past year, costing the
agency much of its dockside
revenue and preventing some
seasonal hires.
Instead of Stevenson, the
American Song is expected to
dock in early May at the Port
of Cascade Locks. Olga Ka-
ganova, the general manager
of the port, said the commu-
nity welcomes the additional
tourism revenue. But she
doesn’t see the logic of allow-
ing cruise ships on one side of
the narrow Columbia channel
but not less than 2 miles away
in Stevenson.
American Cruise Lines
cruises usually head upriver
to Richland, Washington, be-
fore leaving the Columbia for
the Snake and ending the trip
in Clarkston, Washington.
Wanda Keefer, the port man-
ager in Clarkston, said Ameri-
can Cruise Lines is instead ne-
gotiating to stop next door in
Lewiston, Idaho.
Keefer said local officials
have tried to relay to the states
how much safer the river
cruises are than tourists com-
ing in by car.
“I’m personally confident
that those managing the cruise
lines have done it thoughtfully
with a great deal of intention
to the safety of their passen-
gers,” she said. “And they’ve
been consultative with the
communities along the way.
The cruising has reopened on
the Mississippi River. We’re
not hearing anything about it
because it’s successful. So I ex-
pect that we will have a good
season.”
Feds arrest
Hillsboro
man in
siege of the
U.S. Capitol
BY MAXINE BERNSTEIN
The Oregonian
Federal agents Sunday ar-
rested a 62-year-old Hillsboro
man in connection with the
Jan. 6 takeover of the U.S. Cap-
itol.
Reed Knox Christensen is
accused of assaulting a federal
law enforcement officer during
the U.S. Capitol siege, federal
prosecutor Paul Maloney told a
magistrate judge.
An FBI video on the U.S.
Department of Justice website
shows him pushing past a bar-
rier in front of the U.S. Capi-
tol and grappling with several
officers, according to a federal
complaint.
Christensen made his first
appearance in federal court in
Portland on Monday, becom-
ing the third person arrested in
Oregon whom federal prosecu-
tors have tied to the U.S. Capi-
tol insurrection. Another man
was arrested in Vancouver,
Washington, last month.
“I was picked up in my suit
on my way to church,” he told
U.S. Magistrate Judge Youlee
Yim You.
He’s also accused of engag-
ing in an act of physical vi-
olence in a Capitol building
and entering or remaining on
restricted grounds without
lawful authority, among other
charges.
Maloney asked that firearms
that were found at his home be
removed before Christensen
could be released from cus-
tody, pending trial.