The Columbia Press
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Clatsop County’s Independent Weekly
www.thecolumbiapress.com
November 27, 2020
Infusing holiday charm into downtown
The Columbia Press
Spruce Up Warrenton is taking to
the streets to put some holly jolly
frosting on what could be a sad sea-
son for those in isolation or other-
wise dealing with the pandemic.
“If all this comes together, we’ll
be able to be seen from space,” said
Brenda Hoxsey, chair of the non-
profit group that’s dedicated to im-
proving downtown Warrenton.
Last weekend, volunteers includ-
ed Tommy and Jeanne Smith, Ken
Davis, Mike Moha, Brenda and
Norm Hoxsey, and Pacific Power
employees.
This weekend, the group plans to
decorate light poles, add lights to
downtown businesses, install deco-
rations at the Lighthouse Park and
put something special in the vacant
lot across from City Hall.
How to help
Contact the group through its
Facebook page, send a mes-
sage to spruceupwarrenton@
gmail.com, or send a check to
Spruce Up Warrenton, PO Box
97, Warrenton OR 97146.
Vol. 4, Issue 48
County, seafood
processor reach
virus accord
The Columbia Press
Above: Volunteers use bucket
trucks to put up the Merry Christ-
mas and Happy Holidays ban-
ners near the four-way stop.
Right: Mike Moha carries letters
that will be hung overhead.
Photos by Jeanne Smith
and courtesy
Spruce Up Warrenton
A standoff between Clatsop Coun-
ty and Pacific Seafood over handling
of COVID-19 cases has been settled
with an agreement reached Monday
between the two.
The agreement details how the
two will work together to protect the
health and safety of company em-
ployees and the rest of the communi-
ty during the pandemic.
Last month, the state stepped in to
facilitate an hourlong virtual town
hall meeting for elected officials and
the public meant to shed light on how
the plant was dealing with pandemic
requirements.
Nearly 100 employees at the War-
renton fish-processing plant tested
positive in September after many
attended an off-premises Labor Day
gathering.
In May, an outbreak at the Warren-
ton plant was linked to 15 cases and
another worker there tested positive
in June. Also that month, Pacific Sea-
food had one of the largest workplace
outbreaks in the state with 187 cases
See ‘Virus’ on Page 4
UO chemist’s research getting to bottom of top cup of coffee
By Jim Barlow
University of Oregon
The future of good espresso will be
brewed with the help of University of
Oregon chemist Christopher Hendon,
known widely as Dr. Coffee.
The Specialty Coffee Association, after
months of grinding through proposals
from universities around the world, an-
nounced that the UO will be a research
partner for a four-year espresso ex-
traction research project.
“Toward a Deeper Understanding of
Espresso Extraction” was announced Nov.
12. The project will spark the development
of formal guidelines on processing param-
eters and an espresso-brewing control
chart.
Hendon’s main collaborators are Oregon
State University professors Michael Qian,
Elizabeth Tomasino and Jung Kwon, and
Jamie Foster of the University of Ports-
mouth in the United Kingdom.
“This is a landmark moment for both
coffee and education, as we are going to
try and tackle the fundamental challenge
of creating a predictive tool to assess
espresso quality,” said Hendon, an assis-
tant professor and computational chem-
ist in the UO’s Department of Chemistry
and Biochemistry.
“In addition to the technological ad-
vances in the coffee industry, this fund-
ing will ultimately be used to develop a
See ‘Coffee’ on Page 4
Christopher Hendon