August 23, 2019
T he C olumbia P ress
Warriors expect one of their best seasons
B y B ruCe d ustin
The Columbia Press
Warrenton
High
School’s head football
coach, Ian O’Brien, is ex-
cited about the upcoming
football season.
The Warriors were 5-4
last year and, even though
they lost in the first round
of the state playoffs, their
most important achieve-
ment was the experience
players gained, O’Brien
said.
The five returning se-
niors on this year’s squad
-- Jake Morrow, Devin
Jackson, Mark Warren,
Austin Little, and Ken-
zie Ramsey -- have been
through a lot of ups and
downs.
O’Brien wants to assure
them that their fourth
and final year might be
the Warrenton Warriors
best season in quite some
time.
“The key for these se-
niors is that they believe
Bruce Dustin/The Columbia Press
Above: Coach Ian O’Brien (in black) leads training exercis-
es this week. Below: Sam Irwin gets into practice.
they can leave a legacy,”
O’Brien said. “Yeah, they
need to work tremen-
dously hard, but then they
have to believe, believe, in
themselves. And if they do,
they will leave a legacy.”
Players had their first
football practice this week.
They’ll host the Jambo-
ree Invitational at 6 p.m.
Aug. 30 and play their
first official home game
at 7 p.m. Sept. 6 against
Yamhill-Carlton. It will
also be Military Apprecia-
tion Night, with the school
paying homage to for-
mer and current military
members.
Agent among 33 statewide to get health insurance grants
Linda Dugan Insurance of
Astoria is among the nine
community groups and 33
insurance agencies statewide
to receive grants to provide
free help for consumers who
don’t get health insurance
benefits through their work.
The Oregon Health Insur-
ance Marketplace announced
the grant awards last week.
Awardees will use the grants
to publicize the upcoming
health insurance open enroll-
ment period and to help Or-
egonians enroll in coverage
through HealthCare.gov and
other programs.
For most people who buy
their own health insurance,
open enrollment is the only
time of year to sign up for a
health plan or switch plans.
Open enrollment for 2020
coverage runs from Nov. 1
through Dec. 15.
Grantees were judged on
multiple criteria, including
ties to community networks,
ability to reach underserved
populations, and capacity
to serve consumers whether
they are eligible for Health-
Care.gov plans or programs
such as the Oregon Health
Plan or Medicare.
The amount paid to those
filing for unemployment ben-
efits has increased.
The maximum weekly ben-
efit increases from $624 to
$648, while the minimum
amount increases from $146
to $151.
The change affects claims
filed on or after June 30.
Those with existing claims
will continue to receive the
same weekly amount they’ve
been receiving.
Oregon’s Unemployment
Insurance program provides
temporary, partial wage re-
placement for workers who
are unemployed through no
fault of their own.
Under Oregon law, the Or-
egon Employment Depart-
ment recalculates the maxi-
mum and minimum amounts
of unemployment insurance
benefits people can receive
each year.
Benefits increase for those receiving unemployment
5
Girls Build: When power tools rule
Continued from Page 1
how much fun working with
your hands can be,” said Katie
Hughes, executive director of
Girls Build, which was found-
ed in 2016.
The girls are so riveted, they
don’t notice that eight hours
have gone by and they haven’t
even glanced at their phones.
“That’s what we want,”
Hughes said, “to get girls to
understand how the world
works physically. To realize
the world around them in a
bigger way and be inspired.
Someone laid those railroad
tracks. Someone painted the
walls of my classroom.”
“The most fun was making
a picnic table,” said Pashense
Akamichi, 9, of Warrenton.
She had a blast working the
jigsaw.
“It’s just fun to play with and
work with the tools,” said El-
eanor Nye, 9, of Astoria. “I’ve
learned how to use a hammer
and a jigsaw. We made a mag-
net board.”
Brooke Holmes, 9, of Ilwaco
said her dad is a builder and
she was eager to get home and
show him what she can do.
“Parents tell us their kids ab-
solutely love it,” Hughes said.
“They come home at the end
of the day exhausted and they
can’t stop talking about what
they did.”
Teslyn Wintersteen, 10, of
Astoria liked that there was so
much variety in what she got
Instructor Laloni Wilson assists
Alexis Schumaker, 11, of Knap-
pa in building a metal box.
to build and being surrounded
by old and new friends was a
bonus.
“I think maybe I might want
to be an engineer,” Teslyn
said.
On Wednesday, Valerie Mill-
er of Girls Build was showing
a group how to measure twice
and cut once before using the
skill saw.
“This camp is so important,”
Miller said. “A real common
theme or backstory for my
male co-workers is that they
don’t remember when they
learned to use power tools.
Their father or grandfather
showed them and worked
with them from an early age.
… Girls just don’t have that.”
The program is grateful to
Hampton Lumber, Hughes
said. “They want to show
the community that there
are great jobs in the building
trade. They don’t have to go
far from home to have a liv-
ing-wage career.”