T HE C OLUMBIA P RESS
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C LATSOP C OUNTY ’ S I NDEPENDENT W EEKLY
www.thecolumbiapress.com
July 24, 2020
Vol. 4, Issue 30
Keeping it clean during a pandemic
Left: Members of the
Flores family, who
have volunteered with
SOLVE for six years.
Below left: A group
from St. Mary Star of
the Sea poses at the
Peter Iredale ship-
wreck.
Below: Volunteers
spread out to clean
the beach near the
shipwreck.
SOLVE has had to get
creative in its m ission
B y C indy y ingst
The Colum bia Press
Skipanon Water
Control District
a step closer to
disbanding
B y C indy y ingst
The Colum bia Press
County ’s virus cases on steady incline; new m ask rules
A board that worked diligently for de-
cades providing flood control along the
Skipanon River has all but disbanded.
And now the Clatsop County Commis-
sion must decide how to dissolve the
agency and its assets.
“It has come to more urgency recently
as the Skipanon board no longer has a
quorum,” County Manager Don Bohn
said Wednesday.
Skipanon Water Control District was
unable to find anyone to run for a seat
on the board during its last election two
years ago. That left the board one mem-
ber short.
Eighteen months ago, another board
member resigned. Then another re-
signed six months ago.
On June 23, the three remaining Ski-
panon district board members voted
unanimously to dissolve and filed a six-
step dissolution plan with the county.
The next step would have been for
the board to call for a vote of property
owners within the district, but longtime
Chair Tessa Scheller resigned June 29.
See ‘Skipanon’ on Page 7
pany. On Sunday, the company alert-
ed Public Health officials, which ar-
ranged to have the man tested at the
county’s drive-through program the
following day. His results came back
positive on Tuesday. He is recovering
at home.
All 160 employees at the company’s
two Astoria facilities were to be tested
Thursday with results expected today
or Saturday.
Da Yang closed the plants for deep
cleaning on Wednesday and it will re-
main closed until test results are re-
ceived from the rest of the workforce.
Eighth Street Dam, looking north.
A group that has organized mass
beach cleanups for years has found
keeping the coastline clean a bit
challenging with social distancing
requirements.
“Although we had to cancel the
Spring Oregon Beach Cleanup in
March, we have replaced this mas-
sive one-day effort with a summer
beach cleanup series,” said Jon
Schmidt, coordinator of SOLVE’s
beach cleanup programs.
SOLVE, formerly SOLV or Sus-
taining Oregon’s Legacy by Volun-
teering, was founded in 1969 as a
way to improve the environment,
bring residents together, and foster
generations of good stewardship.
The “e” was added when the group
added education to its repertoire.
New programs, or those that will
Courtesy SOLVE
See ‘SOLVE’ on Page 4
The Colum bia Press
Da Yang Seafoods, which has two
processing plants in Clatsop County,
reported a positive COVID-19 case
last weekend and is working with the
county to ensure any potential out-
break is contained.
“The cooperation of Da Yang has al-
lowed the county to respond quickly
to the case,” county officials wrote in
a press release.
The man, who is in his 30s and a
north county resident, was identified
as a potential positive case through
daily health screenings at the com-
In the past week, Clatsop County
has recorded 13 coronavirus cases for
a total of 68 cases as of Wednesday.
Fifty-five of them have recovered and
the rest are recuperating at home.
On July 16, three cases were re-
ported. They are a male in his 20s
who lives in north county and who
had been hospitalized for an unrelat-
ed condition; a male in his 60s from
north county; and an adolescent boy
who lives in south county.
On July 17, six cases were reported,
all in south county. Three of them
See ‘Pandem ic’ on Page 4