T he C olumbia P ress
1
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C latsop C ounty ’ s I ndependent W eekly n eWspaper
www.thecolumbiapress.com
June 21, 2019
Vol. 3, Issue 25
Port of Astoria
Festival could bring out the Viking in you chief resigns
Celebrate Scandinavian style
Above: Norwegian folk musicians Bjorn
Odde and Ole Nilssen perform all three
days of the 2019 festival.
Right: The 2018 Running of the Trolls.
Bottom left: The Viking encampment
includes sparring and sword fights.
Bottom right: A couple gets in the
Scandinavian spirit at the 2018 festival.
Photos courtesy Astoria Scandinavian Festival
The Columbia Press
B y C indy y ingst
Velkommen til Clatsop Fylke!
That’s how a Norwegian might
welcome you to the 52nd annual
Scandinavian Midsummer Festi-
val, which kicks off today and runs
through the weekend.
With April’s Crab, Seafood and
Wine Festival, and the Regatta in
August, “Scandi fest” is the top of
the triangle in the county’s summer
celebrations trifecta.
“It’s a fabulous event,” said Judi
Lampi, publicity director. “We try
really hard to keep it authentic with
Scandinavian traditions.”
The Columbia Press
the Warrenton area: Fort Stevens, the
Daniel Warren House on Skipanon
Drive and the Goodwin-Wilkinson
Farmhouse west of Cullaby Lake.
Clatsop County is the only location in
the continental United States attacked
during World War II and it happened
77 years ago today on June 21, 1942.
During the War of 1812, Astoria was
briefly owned by the British, who re-
named it Fort George (yes, that’s how
the popular brewery got its name).
Clatsop County popularized Ameri-
ca’s love of salmon in the 1870s when
dozens of canneries sprung up along
Port of Astoria Executive Director Jim
Knight chose to resign Tuesday instead
of face an inevitable firing.
During a closed-door session, Knight
verbally gave the five publicly elected
directors his resignation effective im-
mediately and agreed to sign a mutual
release of claims, which means neither
entity will sue the other.
At a special meeting Tuesday evening,
the board unanimously approved the
resignation.
Then the board voted 4-1 to approve the
release and settlement agreement and
ignored Commissioner Bill Hunsinger,
who’d phoned in for the meeting from
Alaska, when he attempted to speak in
opposition to the settlement.
Details of the agreement were ob-
tained by The Columbia Press through
a public records request Wednesday.
Knight will receive $221,005 and has 21
days to sign. The sum was calculated as
$145,406 for alleged emotional distress
damages, $33,600 for alleged economic
damages and $42,000 for attorney fees
and costs. Knight also will get health in-
surance for six months, unpaid vacation
and sick leave benefits.
The panel also named Finance Direc-
tor Will Isom to serve as interim direc-
tor, with a search for a new chief execu-
tive to begin immediately.
Knight did not attend the open ses-
sion.
“The only thing I would say at the end
of the day is that I’m so very grateful for
the opportunity to have served our com-
munity,” Knight said Wednesday. “I’m
very proud of our accomplishments and
hope for the best for the port.”
He wasn’t sure whether he’d retire or
take a job elsewhere.
“I still feel pretty young, I’m in great
health and my brain is still intact after 4
See ‘Clatsop’ on Page 7
See ‘Port’ on Page 4
See ‘Scandi fest’ on Page 6
If you go
Scandinavian Midsummer Festival
When: 2-11 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 11
p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday
Where: Clatsop County Fairgrounds,
92937 Walluski Loop, Astoria
Admission: $8 adults, $3 children
6-12.Parking $2.
More info: astoriascanfest.org
How far we’ve come: Clatsop County turns 175 this week
B y C indy y ingst
The Columbia Press
Clatsop County is officially 175 years
old Saturday.
While many like to think of our ru-
ral area as one of the loveliest spots on
earth, there are more reasons Clatsop
County is noteworthy.
We’re at the confluence of two mag-
nificent waters: Columbia, the largest
river in the West, and the Pacific, the
world’s largest ocean.
The region’s earliest residents, the
Chinook, Clatsop and Kathlamet peo-
ple, had an abundant and self-suf-
ficient lifestyle with all the salmon,
shellfish, deer, elk and other natural
resources from which today’s resi-
dents continue to benefit.
Lewis and Clark slept here. Two
years after the 1803 Louisiana Pur-
chase added 827,000 square miles to
the United States, President Thomas
Jefferson sent the captains and their
team off to explore the new land and
the expedition ended its westward
journey here.
There are 61 buildings and sites on
the National Register of Historic Plac-
es, one of them an Indian site dating
to the 1100s. There are three sites in