Cellist Gideon Freudman adding song to silence
Clatskanie Tigers start league play 2-0 PAGE A8
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Chronicle & Chief THE COLUMBIA COUNTY
Wednesday, September 18, 2024 | Columbia County, Oregon
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Do you ‘Dig St. Helens’? WILL LOHRE
Country Media, Inc.
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o you dig St. Helens? Do you want to support local downtown businesses during Riverfront District construction? Well, thanks to a program from the St. Helens Main Street Alliance, people can help local businesses, and they may even get a prize out of it. The program is called “I Dig St. Helens,” and it was developed by the Mainstreet Alliance board. It’s a simple initiative: grab a punch card, shop at participating businesses, and collect punches to win prizes. Punch cards are available at participating businesses, and customers get “one punch per visit.” Collect nine punches by Nov. 30, and folks will be able to cash in their punch card for some “I Dig St. Helens Swag.” All completed cards are entered to win one of several grand prizes. Christian Iverson Todd is a Board Member of the Main Street Alliance, and he explained what the program is all about. The idea for the I Dig St. Helens campaign was born out of a desire to help bring business downtown during the ongoing construction. We wanted to remind people that our downtown businesses are still open, active, and accessible throughout the construction project and to give people a fun reason to come downtown and support those businesses,” Iverson Todd said. “We came up with the stamp card idea because we wanted something that was really designed for locals, the people who live and work and shop regularly in St. Helens and the surrounding area. The ‘I Dig St. Helens’ slogan and logo are a light-
hearted way to show our support and love for our amazing little downtown, even through all of the digging.” The logo was designed by Iverson Todd and features two large engineering vehicles with a heart in the middle and the slogan below. The construction downtown has caused consternation for residents and business owners as the streets and sidewalks are torn up for the Riverwalk and Extension and Utilities projects.
We hope that through this campaign, we can get people talking, get people downtown to see the construction that’s happening, and get people excited for the future. ~ Christian Iverson Todd, Main Street Alliance Board Member
Growing pains The ongoing construction has also resulted in the augmentation of signature city events like the Spirit of Halloweentown, 13 Nights on the River, and 4th of July. Main Street Alliance President Erin Salisbury detailed some of the challenges for downtown businesses. “The tricky thing about construction in our riverfront district right now is, while we recognize that the end goal is a beautiful and improved downtown, the growing pains around construction are of particular impact to our businesses,” Salisbury said. “The loss of 13 Nights as a driver of
activity on what is a non-weekend night for downtown, seeing the loss of that foot traffic for our restaurants and our businesses downtown.” The construction has also been a concern for residents who say they don’t go downtown over concerns about inconvenient parking and access to the area. Salisbury said that the campaign is a way to “celebrate this moment in time,” while also recognizing the challenges and inconveniences the transition presents. “It’s all going to change after this. There was the ‘before,’ and we’re often comfortable with the ‘before,’ and we resist change as individuals. But at the same time, once the new downtown arrives, we’re going to quickly forget this transition,” Salisbury said. “But, the flip side of this is we want the same businesses to be around after. So how do we support them?” Owner of 2Cs Vendor Mall Mitzi Ponce also detailed the difficulties that the construction has presented downtown business owners. “It can be inconvenient right now to patronize the waterfront businesses, owing to the logistics of parking, temporary sidewalk surfaces, detours, and the like,” Ponce said. “However, customers’ continued support of their favorite businesses is necessary to ensure that those businesses remain healthy following the completion of construction.” Rather than just having one event, Salisbury said the more than month-long campaign will hopefully drive people to not only support downtown businesses but also see the change and growth that the construction represents. Iverson Todd echoed Salisbury’s sentiments about getting See DIG ST. HELENS, Page A5
COURTESY GRAPHIC
The I Dig St. Helens logo was designed by Christian Iverson Todd.
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1st Street in St. Helens is lined with businesses participating in the I Dig St. Helens campaign.
Clatskanie election candidates uncertain, Rainier set for stability WILL LOHRE
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Arcadia Paper Mills is in the process of finalizing a deal to take over the former Boise Cascade paper mill.
Project Arcadia nearing the finish line WILL LOHRE
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t’s no secret that a priority for the City of St. Helens is to bring industry back to town, and it appears the city is on the brink of getting the paper mill back online. At a special session on Aug. 27, the St. Helens City Council authorized a company called Arcadia Paper Mills to purchase the former Boise Cascade mill site located at 1300 Kaster Road. The company made the announcement in a press release on Aug. 30. “Arcadia Paper Mills is pleased to announce the authorization from the City of St Helens to purchase the former Boise Cascade mill site in St. Helens, Oregon. Thank you to the City of St. Helens for working together with Arcadia Paper Mills the last several months and seeing the vision for the future of the facility. We look forward to bringing back jobs to the community and returning the 35-acre site to its full potential. Significant investments will be made to rebuild and revitalize the mill site. Mill Manager,
Craig Allen has stated that future technology investments will be explored for related forestry products. Very special thanks to Ron Houghtelling,” the release stated. At the special meeting Aug. 27, the council declared the 1300 Kaster Road property as surplus and authorized the sale of the property. The motion passed unanimously, with all five councilors voting in favor of the sale. The agreed-upon price for the property stated in the purchase-of-sale agreement is $7.5 million. During the special session, Mayor Rick Scholl said it was a “fair price” as the property was appraised at $5.13 million. Councilor Russell Hubbard said that the sale is “the way to go,” and noted that the company is taking on a big undertaking. “The appraisal said that it would take about $7.8 million to bring the buildings back into saleability. So, I think Arcadia is taking on a huge chunk of responsibility,” Hubbard said. “They obviously see the virtue here.” See PROJECT, Page A3
IN THIS ISSUE Police Reports .............. A3 Opinion .......................... A4 Market ............................ A5 Public Notices .............. A6 Crossword .................... A6 Obituaries ...................... A7 Sports .......................... A8
lection day is drawing ever nearer, and the deadline to file for city council or mayoral candidacy has passed for cities around the county. Though the Rainier election ticket will feature incumbents seeking to retain their seats, Clatskanie’s ballot is a big contrast. Let’s take a look at who will be running in this election, and if no one is running, what that will mean for the Nov. 5 election. Clatskanie’s almost empty ballot When the filing deadline passed for mayoral and council candidacy for Clatskanie, only one candidate filed for either mayor or city council. Jeff Horness will run to keep his seat on the city council; however, none of current Mayor Bob Brajcich, Council President Bruce Jolma, and Councilor Gary Jones filed for reelection. Each of their terms expires Dec. 31, 2024. No other candidates filed for election. Horness will run unopposed, and the positions held by Brajcich, Jolma, and Jones will be decided by write-in ballot. To find out more about election proceedings in the case of a writein election, the Columbia County Chronicle & Chief reached out to Columbia County Election Supervisor Don Clack. “If there is no candidate, then essentially, we’ll have to abstract all the write-in votes. The rules for a write-in abstract are that every position gets a write-in option, but we will only abstract and tally write-in votes if the amount is equal to or greater than the top vote-getter,” Clack said. “But, by definition, when you have no candidates, then
7 DAY FORECAST
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The Rainier City Hall is located at 106 West B Street.
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The Clatskanie City Council chambers are located in the Clatskanie Cultural Center at 75 South Nehalem Street.
the top vote-getter is zero. So, we’ll tally everything.” According to Oregon’s Revised Statutes, a candidate needs no minimum amount of votes to win the election. The mayoral position and council positions previously held by Jones and Jolma will go to the
highest write-in vote-getter when the new term starts. For people who do end up running for office on a write-in campaign, Clack said that it is important that they distribute messaging with See CLATSKANIE, Page A8
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