Arts Commission’s 33rd Performing Arts Series
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
VOL. 131, NO. 20 Serving the Lower Columbia Region since 1891
Clatskanie Pool wraps up successful season other programs. The pool also offers full and part-time employment opportunities and training for student lifeguards. At one time, the Clatskanie Pool was used by a preforming local synchronized swim team. “Public swimming pools have long been the means for social interaction, exercise and stress relief,” according to Gone Outdoors publication. “They are used for educational purposes, swimming lessons and lifeguard training. Swimming is not just a form of exercise; it is a life-saving skill. No one dies from not being able to play basketball.” The Clatskanie Pool offers a safe and fun environment each summer for area children and their families. LAUREY WHITE Chief Guest Article
Another summer season has ended at the Clatskanie Pool and the season has been successful, according to Clatskanie Parks and Recreation District Administrator and Pool Manager Cyndi Warren. The last full swimming day, at the pool at 346 NE 5th Street, was Sept. 11. 2022 was the first fully operational summer in several years for the pool following the COVID-19 pandemic. “We had a significant rise in attendance,” Warren said. “Up 75%.” She added that the jump in pool attendance came as public concerns eased following the pandemic and less health and safety restrictions. After struggling to find and train lifeguards each summer, this
past summer the pool was staffed with 17 lifeguards. “Which worked out good,” Warren said, adding that having 20 lifeguards at the pool is the optimal number and that will be the goal again next year. One of the most rewarding aspects of this year’s pool season, Warren said, was the volunteers. “We had 12 volunteers, most of them being high school students,” she said. “They assisted with swimming lessons, which helped out a lot.” Pool renovations There were significant improvements done to the pool in 2021. The $600,000 renovation project included resurfacing the deck, replacing of the tile gutter with a stainless-steel gutter system, and resurfacing and repainting the pool. The wading pool no longer
Jeremy C. Ruark / The Chief
exists, having been replaced with a splash pad, designed for water play. Other multiple issues were also addressed, which included pool piping issues and existing leaks. The renovations were funded through the City of Clatskanie’s Scout Lake Funds, a special timber revenue collection set aside by the City of Clatskanie. Warren said in the off season this year they will work on the showers and sinks and update other plumbing issues. Over the years, the pool has aged, and significant repairs were needed.
Next summer planning
play sports,” she said. City Manager Greg Hinkelman said he has been very impressed with the job done by Warren. “Cyndi did a great job this summer,” Hinkelman said. “She is very detailed oriented and follows every job thoroughly to its completion. Those are all excellent attributes.” The city and Clatskanie Parks and Recreation will be seeking another pool manager next year, according to Warren, “I just filled in this year,” she said. “But if they cannot fill the position, I will gladly fill in again next year. I really will do my best to keep the pool open.” Fast Fact The Clatskanie Pool is 90feet long, 60-feet wide, and holds approximately 135,000 gallons of water.
Warren is hopeful the pool can open a few weeks earlier in 2023 but she said it will be difficult to extend the season. “All the lifeguards go back to high school or college. And many
Pool history The Clatskanie Pool was built in 1958 after the unfortunate drownings in the Clatskanie River. The pool draws thousands each summer for community and family swims, swimming lessons, aerobics, senior exercising and
Jeremy C. Ruark / The Chief
Lifeguards are staffed at the Clatskanie Pool each summer to ensure public safety.
9-1-1 communication system challenges JEREMY C. RUARK jruark@countrymedia.net
In Nov. 2021, The Chief published details of a long-term process to replace the Columbia 9-1-1 Communication District’s 20-year-old aging radio system. The system utilizes 12 land towers anchored in various points across Columbia County and two towers in Washington state. But over the years, the ability of the system to effectively support emergency communications between law enforcement, fire and ambulance first responders continues to deteriorate. “We have the ability to dispatch, but once they get on the road they can encounter poor or no radio coverage,” Columbia 9-1-1 Communication District Executive Director Mike Fletcher told The Chief in the Nov. 2021 report. “The equipment is failing and needs to be replaced. The parts that are failing aren’t made anymore, so we literally have to find replacement parts online to keep it going.” The Chief has reached out to Fletcher to find out what has happened with the system im-
Crossword ................ A2 Clatskanie Grows .... A3 Opinions ................... A4 Classified Ads ......... A5 Legals ....................... A5 Obituaries ................. A6
provements over the past year and what’s next.
band as well as that regardless of what new radio system is selected, the MW system would need to be replaced as part of the overall project. Phase 1
The Chief: In a brief summary, over the past year, has the communication system gotten worse, and what has been accomplished to resolve the Columbia County radio transmission issues? Mike Fletcher: The current radio system is still getting older by the day. While we do have on occasion, some problems that present themselves, we do our best to make immediate repairs to address them. We continue to provide preventive maintenance checks with all of the 911 district owned equipment on a monthly basis. We are also making system improvements to the current system that will be 100% transferable to any new system the District chooses to move to. A breakdown of these improvements are as follows: • The district contracts with Day Wireless to conduct monthly preventive maintenance (PM) at each of our sites. • This is a quarterly expendi-
Courtesy photo
The Columbia 9-1-1 Communication District radio system utilizes a series of tall towers.
ture of $15,606.39 and an annual expenditure of $62,425.00. This does not include any service callouts as exampled above or parts and materials or labor for service calls. (Microwave Backhaul) Knowing that the microwave (MW) system is agnostic regarding what it transports and on what frequency
Starting in the spring of 2019 the district embarked on a multiphase project to upgrade this portion of our LMR system. 2019 saw the most complicated portion of the project. Clatskanie to Green Mountain. This pathway runs from the peak of Clatskanie Mountain located at 2,100’ to Green Mountain located above Kalama, Washington at 1,965’ and a pathway of 25 miles. This pathway has historically experienced many problems due to atmospheric conditions (fog, smoke, snow, freezing rain and the Columbia River reflection). The District decided to diversify this pathway which is in essence building two separate microwave systems tied to together and separated on the towers at different elevations in order for the smart system to find the best pathway in milliseconds switching back and forth to maintain the best path.
This project cost $248,623.00. This project is complete and has proven to be highly successful in that the District and its users have not experienced any instances of signal fade or signal loss since the conclusion of the project. Phase 2
The second phase of the MW upgrades began late winter 2021. A new MW path was rebuilt between Clatskanie Mountain and Columbia Heights above Longview, Washington, and represents a 19mile transmission. Due to all things COVID, this project is not yet complete. All new radios, routers and switches are in place and fully operational. We are waiting on the new antennas and waveguides. This investment cost the District $254,321.00. Phase 3 At its August meeting, the Board approved the third phase of
See RADIO Page A3
COVID-19 forecast raises flu concern HERB SWETT chronicle1@countrymedia.net
Science University (OHSU). The latest forecast continues to show a steady decline in the number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in Oregon. Pressing concern
Contact The Chief Phone: 503-397-0116 Fax: 503-397-4093 chiefnews@countrymedia.net 1805 Columbia Blvd., St. Helens, OR 97051
Metro Creative Connection
A vigorous return of influenza may outpace COVID-19 in driving hospitalizations in Oregon over the fall and winter, according to the latest statewide biweekly forecast from Oregon Health &
A total of 253 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Sept. 14, with the OHSU forecast projecting the number continuing to decline through the end of October, until picking up again in November as immunity wanes and people increasingly gather indoors, according to OHSU’s Senior Media Specialize Erik Robinson. The new forecast raises a more pressing concern about influenza — a virus that has been all but absent for the past two and a half years. “Your flu vaccine is extremely important this year — and certainly more than it has been in the last two years, when we had virtually no flu that was circulat-
ing,” OHSU Office of Advanced Analytics Director Peter Graven said. “The flu is probably going to be at least as important this year as COVID.” Graven cites relatively high rates of influenza starting early in some areas of the Southern Hemisphere, where influenza typically circulates in their winter months, from April to October. The public’s willingness to wear masks, limit indoor gatherings and take other public health measures limited the spread of COVID-19 over the past two and a half years, according to OHSU School of Medicine Professor of Pediatrics Dr. Dawn Nolt. All of those public health measures also minimized the circulation of flu. However, Nolt said the lack of exposure to influenza over the past two years also means that the immune system lacks practice in fighting off the influenza virus. This, in turn, portends a poten-
tially vigorous flu season when the virus begins circulating this fall and winter. “In normal years, lots of people are exposed to the flu, which provides a natural boost to their immune response,” she said. “We haven’t seen much flu at all in the past three years. That makes it really important to get yourself vaccinated against flu this season.” Flu vaccines are widely available at pharmacies and health care systems across the region. In addition to the availability of the flu vaccine, the new bivalent booster vaccine against COVID-19 arrived in Oregon last week, targeting the BA.4 and BA.5 variants along with the original strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. The current number of COVID-19 cases is far below the 1,178
See COVID-19 Page A6