T he C olumbia P ress
February 23, 2018
Century-old farms sought for state honors
The Columbia Press
Farm families are being
asked to share their stories,
particularly those who have
continuously farmed the
family ranch for 100 years or
more.
Sharing the story could lead
to a century farm award.
About 96 percent of Ore-
gon’s farms and ranches are
family owned and operated,
according to Oregon State
University’s Rural Studies
Program.
Oregon is No. 1 in the na-
tion for Christmas trees, ha-
zelnuts, blackberries, boy-
senberries, black raspberries,
several types of grasses, pep-
permint and potted azaleas.
We’re No. 2 in hops, blueber-
ries and pears.
Some of those crops and
family farms are in Clatsop
County.
Applications for the Oregon
Century Farm & Ranch Pro-
gram’s 2018 awards will be
accepted through May 1.
The program was launched
in 1958 to honor farmers with
century-long connections to
the land.
To qualify, the farm must
have been in continuous fam-
Courtesy Century Farm program
The Century Farm & Ranch Program seeks longtime farm-
ers for its 2018 awards program.
ily operation, received gross
income from farm use of at
least $1,000 per year for at
least three out of five years
prior to application and fam-
ily members must live on or
actively manage the farm or
ranch activities.
Application documentation
may include photos, original
deeds, personal stories and
other historic records.
The records help support
Oregon’s agricultural histo-
ry by providing valuable in-
formation about settlement
patterns and statistics on
livestock and crop cycles. All
documents are archived for
public access.
Those receiving awards
get a personalized certificate
with acknowledgment by the
governor and director of the
Department of Agriculture as
well as a durable metal road-
side sign to identify the fami-
ly’s farm or ranch.
Families will be honored
at a ceremony at the Oregon
State Fair on Aug. 25.
To date, 1,200 families have
formally received a Century
designation and 39 families
have received a Sesquicen-
tennial Award.
More information and ap-
plications are available at
centuryfarm.oregonfb.org, or
by calling 503-400-7884.
Reporting road hazards just got easier
The Oregon State Police is
launching a program making
it easy for cell phone users to
contact the dispatch center
for nonemergency matters.
It’s called star OSP or
*OSP. Punching in *OSP
(or the numbers *677) pro-
vides the public with a quick,
easy-to-remember number
for reporting nonemergency
traffic safety issues, highway
hazards and obstructions,
minor crashes and requests
for assistance.
The number rings directly
to the dispatch center, where
it’s answered by a live dis-
patcher 24 hours a day.
Verizon, AT&T, Sprint,
T-Mobile, and US Cellular
worked with the Department
of Transportation and OSP to
facilitate the service.
It’s the department’s goal
that, as the program devel-
ops, other cell providers
will provide access to all cell
phone users. Members of the
public without cell phones,
or who have providers that
aren’t yet supporting the ac-
cess number, can still dial the
OSP’s toll free phone num-
ber, 800-452-7888.
The number also can be
used to turn in wildlife poach-
ers, habitat law violators and
other suspicious activity.
And it can pay to turn in
poachers. TIP rewards include
$1,000 for bighorn sheep,
mountain goat and moose;
$500 for elk, deer and ante-
lope; $300 for bear, cougar
and wolf and any type of hab-
itat destruction; $100 for fish,
shellfish, birds and furbearers.
3
WHS names top students
Warrenton High School
released the names of stu-
dents currently on the hon-
or roll. These are students
whose grade-point averag-
es are 3.5 and above. Those
students marked with an
asterisk have achieved a
straight-A or 4.0 grade-
point average. Those with
two asterisks have a higher
than 4.0 average, such as
through extra-credit or oth-
er exceptional work.
Ninth graders on the hon-
or roll: Bergerson, Emily R.;
Cannon, Marissa J.; Care-
lock, Kora B.; Cassalata,
Courtney S.; Church, Lars
W.; Cote, Aaron*; Green,
Jalen M.; Heyen, Ann M.*;
Irwin, Samuel C.; Pierce,
Aviana A.; Rivera, Darian
B.; Sprengeler, Caleb N.*;
Vollmer, Isaiah; Whitsett,
Julien M.
Tenth-graders on the hon-
or roll: Atwood, Thomas
J.**; Beeman, Hobie A.;
Burgher, Billy J.; Carr, Isa-
bella L.; Dowaliby, Mara H.;
Garnett, Darren E.; Leitch,
Robert B.; Liljenwall, Kaisa
L.**; Little, Austin A.; Med-
jo, McKenzie R.; Moha, Ser-
ena A.**; Morrill, Isabella
P.**; Moss, Kale D.; Ram-
sey, McKenzie L.; Sanders,
Caitlyn; Schenbeck, Anna.
Eleventh-graders on the
honor roll: Alvarez, Fernan-
da E.; Bennett, Cailin C.**
Wine-tasting event before crabfest
If you like wine and want
to try the region’s best, con-
sider attending the annual
Unwined event sponsored by
the Astoria-Warrenton Area
Chamber of Commerce.
The event is a precursor to
the Crab, Seafood and Wine
Festival, the chamber’s larg-
est fund-raiser of the year.
Unwined follows the offi-
cial wine competition for the
2018 “crabfest.”
Admission is $40 and in-
cludes 10 wine taste tickets,
appetizers and a commemo-
rative wine glass.
The event is from 5:30 to
8 p.m. Saturday, March 3, at
the Liberty Theatre in Asto-
ria.
Tickets can be purchased at
the chamber office on Marine
Drive.