T he C olumbia P ress
1
50 ¢
C latsop C ounty ’ s I ndependent W eekly n eWspaper
503-861-3331
February 23, 2018
Snow day in Clatsop County
Top: Snow covers Highway 101 and the North Coast
Business Park Tuesday afternoon.
Above: These 2018 Ford Mustangs wear a blanket of
snow at Astoria Ford.
Left: Workers carry on at an Alder Avenue apartment
complex renovation despite the falling snow.
Vol. 2, Issue 8
Man arrested for
boating under
the influence and
so much more
The Columbia Press
A day of pleasure boating ended in
arrest on three charges for an Aber-
deen, Washington, man.
Ian Michael Wood, 40, was booked at
Clatsop County Jail for providing false
information to a police officer serving
an arrest warrant, driving a boat while
intoxicated and for failing to appear in
court on a drunken driving charge.
His blood-alcohol content was re-
corded at 0.255 percent at the time of
his arrest and 0.20 percent when he
was booked later at the jail. A person
is considered too drunk to legally drive
or operate a boat at 0.08 percent.
Warrenton police were called to the
Hammond Marina about 3:30 p.m.
Feb. 14 to assist the Coast Guard with
a boater they deemed too intoxicated
to remain on the Columbia River.
The Coast Guard and the Clatsop
County Sheriff’s Office both operate
marine safety patrols, ensuring boaters
See ‘BUII’ on Page 6
Seafood processing industry gaining jobs
B y E rik k nodEr
Oregon Employment Dept.
An increase in the number of
Oregon’s seafood processing
businesses is helping reverse a
nearly decade-long decline in
jobs for that industry.
In 2016, Oregon had 30 em-
ployers and 1,141 employees
turning slimy fish and armored
crustaceans into succulent sea-
food ready for cooking and eat-
ing.
Preliminary data for 2017 in-
dicate the addition of two more
businesses and a gain of about
50 jobs.
The number of seafood pro-
cessing businesses had been
slowly declining since 2007,
but that trend reversed in 2015.
Oregon’s processing industry
gained five businesses that year.
Two more were gained in
2016, and another two were
added in 2017. Still, the trend
toward more consolidation may
continue.
Pacific Seafood, which is re-
building its burned plant in
Warrenton, has moved to op-
erate a Trident Seafood plant in
Newport, leaving just two main
seafood processors in Newport.
Consolidation also has occurred
in the Oregon fishing fleet.
Three ports: Astoria, Newport
and Charleston, had about 80
percent of all commercial fish
landings by value in Oregon in
2016.
Smaller ports like Garibaldi,
Depoe Bay, and Florence struggle
The Columbia Press
to find money for infrastructure,
Workers
put
the
finishing
touches
on
the
new Pacific
dredging, and jetty maintenance
Coast
Seafood
plant
in
Warrenton.
Before
the 2013
that can attract vessel owners and
fire,
it
had
100
full-time
and
100
seasonal
employees.
See ‘Seafood’ on Page 4