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.