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The Columbia Press 1 Clatsop County’s Independent Weekly www.thecolumbiapress.com 50 ¢ Vol. 5, Issue 43 October 22, 2021 Feds ponder a return of Oregon’s sea otters Firefighters step up as vaccine deadline passes By Cindy Yingst The Columbia Press Oregon’s last living sea otter was killed by fur hunters a century ago. Otters are in the news again after a study of their reintroduction to the state was included in last year’s fed- eral budget, signed into law by Pres- ident Trump in December 2020. “They’ve been lost off the coast since the early 1900s,” said Michele Zwartjes, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Or- egon remains the only (coastal) state Zwartjes without otters.” The agency is tasked with com- pleting by the end of the year a re- port on the cost and consequences of reintroducing otters to Oregon. There is no active proposal to rein- troduce them. Yet. The Elakha Alliance, named for the Clatsop-Chinookan word for sea otter, has been working to bring ot- ters back to the Oregon Coast and was successful in working with U.S. By Cindy Yingst The Columbia Press providing marketable skills to those living in rural or impoverished areas. Internet technology is TechBridge’s specialty and the company agreed to work with Warrenton as its high school pilot program. “I was looking to create a class that dealt with students learning soft skills in the business world,” Princi- pal Rod Heyen said. “Soft skills” in- clude interpersonal and behavioral issues and things like resume writing, interviewing well, and maintaining a clean social media profile. Fears that Warrenton’s largely vol- unteer fire department would be dec- imated by the COVID-19 vaccination mandate have been quashed. All but two of the volunteers are now either vaccinated or have filed le- gitimate medical or religious exemp- tions, Chief Brian Alsbury said. “It’s great news,” he said. “It is just phenomenal that everyone did the right thing.” The best news: The city has four new volunteer firefighters. In late September, 15 of the city’s 23 paid and volunteer firefighters were unvaccinated and nearly all of the unvaccinated told the chief during a staff meeting that would not abide by the mandate. Others who are vac- cinated had threatened to walk off in solidarity. Mayor Henry Balen- sifer wrote to Gov. Kate Brown asking her to ex- empt rural firefighters from the vaccination mandate, warning he might request she send the National Guard if no volunteers were avail- Alsbury able to answer medical calls. She was not swayed and the mandate went into effect Monday. “We had a bunch of them kind of have a change of heart,” Alsbury said. As of Tuesday, Warrenton Fire De- partment had 23 volunteer firefight- ers and three paid staff members. Sev- en have been exempted for religious or medical reasons, one requested a six-month leave, and the final unvac- cinated medical worker resigned to See ‘Workforce’ on Page 4 See ‘Firefighters’ on Page 6 David Ledig, Bureau of Land Management A lack of sea otters off Oregon’s shores has led to an overpopulation of sea urchins. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., to add the feasibility study to the federal budget. The group argues the mammal’s re- turn would bring balance to the eco- system. Others have argued that, just as sea lions are a hit with coastal vis- itors, otters could boost tourism, too. “Some people are very excited about it and the tourism aspects it could bring,” Zwartjes said. “On the oth- er hand, shellfish fisheries are very concerned.” Otters’ favorite foods include crab, clams, oysters, and mussels – commodities many Clatsop Coun- See ‘Otters’ on Page 2 High school focuses on teaching real-world success Workforce Prep goes beyond churning out trained employees By Cindy Yingst The Columbia Press Imagine graduating from high school without knowing how to suc- ceed in the working world. An educa- tion is meant to prepare the learner for a valuable job, right? Yet there are 4.6 million Americans ages 16 to 24 – about 1 in 9 – who are neither enrolled in school nor work- ing, according to the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions. Once they’ve disconnected from school and work, it’s unlikely they’ll ever find a job that can support a fam- ily. This year, Warrenton High School established a Workforce Prep class designed to reach those “opportunity youth,” as they’ve been called, and the school has joined forces with Tech- Bridge, an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization. Its mission includes