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Swimmers finish historic season strong
Tillamook Sharks earn six state medals
Library director addresses camera concerns
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Headlight Herald
Tuesday, March 3 2026 | Vol. 138, Issue 9
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busy Port board presented more detailed Weber in Salem hangar repair cost estimates WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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WILL CHAPPELL
Hatfield Marine Science Center Lisa Balance told the Lincoln County Leader while monitoring the efforts to save the whale, that one solution would be to use revised gear. “It would be pots that sit on the bottom of the ocean, where they fish, without being attached to the float at the surface of the line. It is that long line that entangles whales. Instead, the alternative gear is using a remote trigger device that allows the pot itself on the bottom and the trigger allows the float to come to the surface when you are ready,” she said. Accepting the petition would not have changed any rules but directed ODFW to conduct a public rulemaking process, with any proposed rule changes considered at a future public meeting and after an additional public process, The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife stated in a release. Rulemaking to address whale
tate Senator Suzanne Weber is in the middle of a productive legislative session in Salem, with numerous bills she has sponsored on the path to apparent passage as the short legislative session approaches its conclusion. Bills sponsored by Weber to ease the reconstruction of houses in the aftermath of disasters and allow alternate epinephrine administration methods in schools are in the house after passing the senate, while a bill cosponsored by Weber and State Representative Cyrus Javadi to amend the state’s transient lodging tax (TLT) allocation requirements is heading to the senate, where Weber thinks it has a good chance of passage. “We count votes every couple days, I think we’ll be doing okay,” Weber said of the TLT reform bill. “I have talked to the senate president several times about this bill in addition to all of my other colleagues, so I am guardedly optimistic.” The TLT reform bill seeks to reduce the proportion of revenue generated by tax on overnight visitor stays required to be spent on tourist marketing and tourism-related projects from 70% to 50% and passed out of the house on February 25. The bill was amended in house committee to add a provision allowing restricted funds to be used for grants to small businesses in the tourism space and to reduce the unrestricted amount from 60% to 50%, leading the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association to drop their opposition to the bill. Weber said that she was hopeful about the bill’s prospects in the senate and that she felt the bill would have a positive impact on communities with high rates of tourism. “I think the changes we have made are very positive,” Weber said. “They’re not going to be hurting our businesspeople that are paying the tax, there’s nothing that’s going to happen to them that’s going to be any different but we’re going to have more flexibility to be able to deal with the impact that tourism brings to our area.” Weber’s bill looking to remove red tape for homeowners trying to rebuild houses in the aftermath of a fire or other destructive event is also on the path to success after passing the senate in a unanimous vote. Weber said she had testified in front of the house early last week on the bill and it had been well received, so she expected it to pass.
See CRAB PETITION, Page A5
See WEBER, Page A8
Headlight Editor
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epresentatives from project management firm Turner and Townsend Heery briefed the Port of Tillamook Bay’s board of commissioners on what they had learned about the potential costs to repair or dismantle Hangar B at the Port of Tillamook Bay at their meeting on February 18. Lloyd Stoller and Damon Roche told the board that after consulting with their counterparts who had helped with the reconstruction of Hangar One and dismantling of Hangar Three at Moffett Airfield in California, they estimated dismantling Hangar B would cost $50 to 70 million, while a full refresh would cost around $300 million. Stoller started the presentation by saying that since the board’s January meeting and consulting with their California counterparts, he and Roche had created See PORT BOARD, Page A3
Courtesy Friends of Tillamook Air Museum
An image from the drone conducted lidar scan of Hangar B recently completed by Turner and Townsend Heery.
Garibaldi City Hall closed indefinitely amid mold concerns WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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aribaldi city hall has been closed since January 29, and will remain so for the foreseeable future after the discovery of colonies of mold in several spaces in the building, City Manager Jake Boone told city council at their February 23 meeting. Boone told councilors that he was working with contractors to determine a fix and exploring possibilities for temporary office space for the city staff and an alternative meeting space for the city council but cautioned that remediating the situation would be more of a marathon than a sprint. In January, a suspicion of mold in the city hall’s downstairs led Boone to contract experts to collect air samples downstairs, initially foregoing testing upstairs to keep costs down. Those initial samples revealed See GARIBALDI, Page A8
State commission denies crab petition JEREMT C. RUARK
T
Country Media, Inc.
he Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has voted 6-1 to deny a petition that requested crab fishery rules be modified to further reduce the risk of whale entanglement, while urging the department to continue its planned rulemaking process and engagement with NOAA fisheries to obtain ESA coverage. Whale entanglements have increased in Oregon and other West Coast states since 2014. This rise is linked to a growing humpback whale population, changing ocean conditions that increase overlap between whales and crab gear, and improved reporting. Most humpback whales that occur off Oregon’s coast are listed as Threatened or Endangered. Commissioners made the decision February 20, after reviewing hundreds of pages of comments and hearing testimony from nearly 70 people at their
Headlight Herald
meeting in Springfield today, including crab fishermen and representatives from the petitioning organizations (Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, the Natural Resources Defense Council, American Cetacean Society and other parties). Representative Boice of Curry County testified, representing Oregon’s coastal caucus, as did several coastal county commissioners. On Dec.11, 2025, the Commission received a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, the Natural Resources Defense Council, American Cetacean Society and other parties. The petition requested that rules for Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery be modified to further reduce the risk of whale entanglement. The petition came after a November 2025 incident near Yachts in which a large humpback whale washed ashore after becoming entangled in fishing gear. Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute Director and Executive Director of the
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