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DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 15
ONE DOLLAR
Another way out of town
County looks at back roads near Astoria and Seaside as possible lifelines
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
MORE INSIDE
Seldom used back roads outside
Astoria and Seaside could offer a lifeline
in a Cascadia earthquake.
Clatsop County Public Works is
exploring ways to create alternate and
evacuation routes and have identifi ed sev-
eral possibilities, including s ome that are
A map outlining possible
evacuation routes the county is
exploring is on Page 10A.
currently gated off on private timberland.
County staff are proposing upgrades
to Pipeline Road that connects Astoria
A car drives
down Pipe-
line Road,
a potential
emergency
evacuation
route, on
Wednesday
in Astoria.
to the Svensen area, and the Lewis and
Clark Mainline that runs outside Gear-
hart and Seaside.
Pipeline Road is an 11-mile county
road, with only 2 miles that are main-
tained. Lewis and Clark Mainline is an
old logging road that cuts along a ridge
through the county.
Danny Miller
The Daily Astorian
See EVACUATION, Page 10A
DOUGHBOY TURNS 90
Merkley
on Trump,
trade at
town hall
Democratic Party is
making strides toward
unity, U.S. senator said
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
The Daily Astorian
The Astoria Victory Monument, also known as the Doughboy Monument to World War 1, turns 90 years old
today . ¶ The statue, whose offi cial name is “Over the Top at Cantigny,” is named for the village in France where
the fi rst American battle took place in 1918. Designed by John Paulding and cast by the American Art Bronze
Foundry of Chicago, the monument was presented to the city by the American Legion on July 21, 1926. ¶
American Legion Clatsop Post 12 and the Uniontown Association are sponsoring a rededication at 3 p.m. Saturday.
With the Republican National Conven-
tion underway in Cleveland, U.S. Sen. Jeff
Merkley said at an Astoria town hall Wednes-
day that he is “very concerned” about the
vision put forth by Donald Trump.
“It’s really one of tearing down various
groups,” particularly Mexican immigrants
and Mexican-Americans, the Democratic
senator said before a crowd of about 50 at
the Judge Guy Boying-
ton Building.
Though
he
acknowledged
his
Trump
comments
were partisan, Merk-
ley made them before
a receptive audience
that seemed to share
the senator’s misgiv-
ings about the real
estate mogul and
U.S. Sen.
reality TV star who
Jeff Merkley
took the Republican
nomination.
“Most of us in this room are the children
of immigrants. It’s what’s made America
what it is,” he said, adding that “it’s been part
of the creative power of our country to have
this input from all over the world.”
Merkley also questioned Trump’s fi delity
to American workers.
“When you look at the details: He cheated
his subcontractors, he cheated his work-
ers, he shipped jobs overseas, he brought in
See MERKLEY, Page 10A
Riverbank skeleton an unsolved mystery
4,000 new
unidentifi ed
remains are
found every year
By NATALIE ST. JOHN
EO Media Group
CATHLAMET,
Wash.
— Wearing jeans , a red but-
ton-down shirt, gaiters and
hiking boots, the skeleton
recently found on the bank of
the Columbia River looked
like it was dressed for a hike.
By the time a boater discov-
ered him in a remote area near
Pillar Rock in late May, the
unidentifi ed man’s only pos-
sessions were a 1999 penny
and a lens cloth in his pocket.
But he still had his teeth, com-
plete with quality, modern
dental work.
To Wahkiakum County
Coroner Dan Bigelow, it
seemed like a decent starting
point for an investigation, but
two months later, he is still try-
ing to fi nd the man’s name.
While his list of possible iden-
tities for the middle-aged man
keeps growing, his list of
promising leads has dwindled
to practically nothing.
“Just about anybody who
disappeared anywhere in the
Columbia River basin could
credibly be this person,” Bige-
low said .
Despite these setbacks,
Bigelow is still trying to fi nd
out who the man was, and how
he ended up in Wahkiakum
County. He recently delivered
the remains to the state’s only
certifi ed forensic anthropolo-
gist, and he is taking a closer
look at missing persons cases
from across the Northwest and
beyond.
“It’s a hell of a shame,”
Bigelow said. “I can’t help
thinking there is somebody out
there looking for this guy.”
‘Silent mass disaster’
In Washington’s smaller
counties, prosecutors also
serve as coroners. It’s an
imperfect arrangement that has
See REMAINS, Page 5A
T H E O N LY
2240 COMMERCIAL ST. ASTORIA
Wikipedia Commons
Unidentified human remains are found with surprising
frequency around the U.S. each year, including in rural
Washington state. Finding answers about them often is a
difficult task, for which few resources are available.
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