The Columbia press., August 16, 2019, Image 1

T he C olumbia P ress
1
50 ¢
C latsop C ounty ’ s I ndependent W eekly n eWspaper
www.thecolumbiapress.com
August 16, 2019
Warrenton shined in Astoria’s 2019 Regatta
The Columbia Press
Mitch Eckhardt/Courtesy Astoria Regatta
Warrenton High School’s Mara Dowaliby was
crowned Regatta queen during last week’s event.
Warrenton High School’s
Mara Dowaliby was named
2019
Astoria
Regatta
Queen and for the first
time ever, the Junior Re-
gatta Parade was held in
Warrenton.
“It was a huge honor; I
was beyond excited,” said
Dowaliby, 17, who will be a
senior in the fall as well as
student body president.
She and three other lo-
cal teens (Serena Moha of
Warrenton, Kayla Helligso
of Astoria High and Caitlin
Hillman of Seaside High)
spent eight months pre-
paring for last weekend’s
big event, which included
boat races and parades, a
concert, a seamen’s memo-
rial, rose planting, dinners
and other events.
They tackled public ser-
vice work, speaking events,
and generally represented
B y C indy y ingst
The Columbia Press
It’s time Warrenton asks for better
and demands more of itself, Mayor
Henry Balensifer said during his State
of the City speech Tuesday night.
“It’s time we invest in ourselves; not
for others, but for our own sakes,”
he said. “It’s the difference between
having a house and having a home. …
I’m not interested in chasing tourists.
I’m interested in shaping our future
for ourselves immediately and in the
long term.”
Balensifer talked about ways the city
has changed in the past decade and
ways it needs to change in the future.
Student loan debt continues growing for state’s borrowers
As the cost of attending college in-
creases, student loan debt continues
to affect the future for students in all
schools in the country, according to a
study released this month.
Fifty-five percent of Oregon’s 2018
college graduates borrowed money
to attend and those students walked
away with an average debt of $28,627.
Nationally, outstanding student
loan debt sits at $1.52 trillion, making
it the second largest form of consum-
er debt trailing only mortgages.
It’s the fourth year that LendEDU
has conducted the nationwide survey
of student debt. The Hoboken, N.J.,
company runs a website to help con-
sumers learn about and compare finan-
cial products, including credit cards,
insurance products and student loans.
The company analyzed debt at 1,000
four-year private and public colleges in
the nation.
Three of Oregon’s colleges -- Corban
University, Linfield College, and Pacific
University -- ranked in the top 250 for
highest student debt. Western Oregon
University and Reed College fell in the
ranks of colleges with the lowest.
The figures come from licensing data
in the annual Peterson’s financial aid
survey.
‘Warrenton for
Warrenton is
the new mantra’
Mayor talks change in
state of city address
See ‘Regatta’ on Page 4
The Columbia Press and news sources
Vol. 3, Issue 33
By the numbers
Western Oregon Univ.: $19,246
Reed College: $22,697
University of Oregon: $26,729
Warner Pacific University: $27,540
Oregon State University: $28,482
Eastern Oregon University:
$28,975
University of Portland: $29,186
NW Christian University: $29,617
Willamette University: $31,740
George Fox University: $32,043
Lewis & Clark College: $32,379
Pacific University: $35,373
Linfield College: $35,792
Corban University: $40,239
s ense of plaCe
The vast majority of
comments he and oth-
er commissioners hear
center on how War-
renton has changed
and a desire to pre-
serve the city’s quality
of life.
“We have changed Balensifer
both in landscape/
amenities and demographics,” Bal-
ensifer said. “While both new and cu-
mulative changes present challenges,
they also present opportunities.”
He proposed forming several his-
torical districts based on the several
towns that came together to form the
city of Warrenton: New Astoria, Lex-
ington, Skipanon, Flavel and Yellow
Bank/Upper Landing.
The first district, already in the
works, is Hammond Heritage Dis-
trict.
See ‘State of City’ on Page 5