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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (May 29, 2020)
T he C olumbia P ress May 29, 2020 Lodge awards scholarships Warrenton’s Gateway Ma- sonic Lodge 175 will give away up to $156,000 in scholarships to Warrenton High School’s class of 2020. Ordinarily, the Masons hold an honor student ban- quet at their lodge on Fourth Street in late April or early May. But the 60th annual event was scrapped this year be- cause of Gov. Kate Brown’s executive order prohibiting public gatherings. This year’s honorees re- ceived their certificates and scholarships by mail. There are 13 freshmen, 11 sophomores, 18 juniors and 22 seniors who received honors. Monetary awards were given to the following se- niors, with each renewable for up to four years. Awarded $3,000: Thom- as Atwood, Darren Gar- nett, Kaisa Liljenwall, and Isabella Morrill. Awarded $2,500: Serena Moha, Mara Dowaliby, Kale Moss, and Isabella Carr. Awarded $2,000: Robert Leitch, Austin Little, Aurora Mackey, and Jacob Morrow. Awarded $1,500: McKen- zie Ramsey, Natalie Dun- can, Melia Kapua, Elizabeth Whitsett, Mark Warren, and Anna Schenbeck. Several one-time awards also were given. Students receiving them are Kaisa Liljenwall and Isabella Morrill, who split the $500 Murl G. Peter- son Outstanding Student Award; and Kale Moss, who received the $250 Edwin L. Mowick Outstanding Stu- dent Award. The lodge has award- ed more than $1.5 million during the 17 years scholar- ships have been awarded. Masks mandatory on all public transit All bus riders must wear face masks, Sunset Empire Transportation District an- nounced. “The face covering require- ment is in compliance with the Oregon Health Authori- ty’s transit requirements re- leased on May 15,” said Jeff Hazen, executive director of the agency. The OHA defines a face covering as a cloth, paper, or disposable face covering that goes over the nose and mouth. Any of the face coverings de- fined by OHA are acceptable, Hazen said. The requirement excludes riders younger than 2, those with medical condi- tions that makes it hard to breathe and those with a dis- ability that prevents wearing a face covering. All SETD bus routes are running on normal sched- ules but have limited capacity due to rider spacing require- ments. The agency will continue its enhanced disinfecting proto- cols on buses throughout the day with a total disinfection completed every evening. For questions or more infor- mation, contact Mary Parker 503-861-5370 or mary@ride- thebus.org Drug runner sentenced to federal prison The Columbia Press and news services A Canadian national arrest- ed by the U.S. Coast Guard’s Cutter Alert crew in Astoria was sentenced late last week to 40 months in federal pris- on for trafficking metham- phetamine. The crew was on routine patrol on April 9, 2019, when they detected the vessel Man- dalay headed north from Mexico to Canada about 225 nautical miles from Newport. When Coast Guard person- nel attempted to communi- cate with the captain, he re- sponded only via VHF radio. They boarded the vessel and found John Philip Stirling, 66, its only occupant. Stirling claimed to have no vessel documentation and refused to produce identifica- tion. His speech was slurred and he displayed signs of a drug overdose. Court records revealed Stirling consumed what he thought was a large amount of pure fentanyl, but was lat- er determined to be pento- barbital, shortly before the Cutter Alert crew boarded the vessel. Coast Guard personnel ad- ministered medical aid and evacuated him by helicopter to Astoria. He was later trans- ferred to Adventist Health in Portland. The Mandalay was towed to port and searched after a Volunteers sought for planning posts Three seats are open on the Clatsop County Plan- ning Commission. The panel is the county’s committee for citizen in- volvement on development and land-use issues, such as zoning, natural resources and transportation. The group meets at 10 a.m. 3 on the second Tuesday of each month in Astoria. The open positions are for two terms ending on June 30, 2024, and one term ending on June 30, 2022. For more information, contact Gail Henrikson at 503-325-8611. June 5 is the deadline. federal warrant was guilty to one count of issued. Investigators possession with intent found 28 jugs con- to distribute metham- taining more than phetamine. seven gallons of liquid Stirling has a long methamphetamine history of drug smug- each and a duffel bag gling, with several containing several previous convictions. Stirling plastic-wrapped bricks The case was inves- of pentobarbital. tigated by the Coast Guard The drugs had been loaded Investigative Service and onto the Mandalay from an- Homeland Security Investi- other vessel in the Sea of Cor- gations with assistance from tez for delivery to Canada. U.S. Customs and Border On Jan. 13, Stirling pleaded Protection.