Dealing with abandoned vehicles
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Wednesday, October 20, 2021
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Out of stock: Supply chain disruptions ZOE GOTTLIEB chronicle2@countrymedia.net
A supply chain shortage, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, has rattled Oregon. With global shipping container prices rising and transport moving at crawl speed, the nation, its businesses and consumers are challenged by unprecedented goods and service delays. Local impact The Chronicle reached out to several local businesses to find out how the supply chain shortage has affected daily operations and its customers. St. Helens Ace Hardware Operations Manager John Ketels said that his store is experiencing large warehouse shortages almost two years into the COVID-19 pandemic. “One-hundred percent of our business is based on product that we can get from our Ace Hardware warehouse that is located close to Yakima, Washington,” he said. “We’re dependent on what they’re able to get for suppliers. Right now, we’re running about fifty percent of what we ordered that we’re getting.” St. Helens Ace Hardware General Manager Melissa Peterson said that some of these delayed items include sealant, plumbing tools, electrical breakers, paint, propane, and canning jar lids. “We want to serve our community,” she said. “If they don’t have it, they don’t have it. We’re doing the best with the cards we’re given.” According to Ketels, maintain-
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A representative of the St. Helens Ace Hardware store said his store is only receiving about 50% of its normal warehouse orders.
ing inventory was most challenging in the first few months of the pandemic. “We order twice a week. Normally it just takes two or three days to get back in stock on something,” he said. “But during the pandemic and then with a certain category being out of stock, we’ve been out of certain products for
three or four months.” Columbia River Auto Glass Owner Tricia Stockwell said that pandemic shut downs created invisible supply chain backups that weren’t realized in her St. Helensbased company until much later, when production resumed. “We continued throughout COVID and ultimately what
happened was over time, we depleted the stock that was in all the warehouses and when the (glass) manufacturing plants reopened, most of them, reopen at 25 or 50% capacity. They’re having a hard time getting caught back up,” she said. According to Stockwell, the company has never seen its inven-
tory this low. “We really didn’t realize it until about April of this year that was when we first started having supply chain issues. Initially, I was starting to go, ‘What, there’s no glass for this?’ It’s kind of strange, you know, there’s always a ton of these types of vehicles out there,” Stockwell said. “It’s something we’ve never seen in our 13 years of business.” St. Helens EMS personnel came to Stockwell for repairs, making it critically important for her business to stay operational. As the pandemic spread across the state, it was unclear if her company would be qualified essential under state health and safety guidelines. “We weren’t sure if we were open, and customers didn’t really know or call. But I got calls that both the sheriff’s office and the fire department medic’s windshields got broken and at that point, we realized okay, I guess we’re essential,” Stockwell said. St. Helens Market Fresh Manager Scott Simpson said that although his store hasn’t been hit quite as hard overall, certain commodities are difficult to come by. “Right now, cat food is a big one, and then there were Gatorade and water shortages,” he said. “There’s been strikes that have happened with different companies like Nabisco, for instance, which has since been solved, but for a little while Oreos weren’t coming in. There’s a lot of sporadic and random things like that.” See SHORTAGE Page A7
County port investigates ‘possible misuse of funds’
JEREMY C. RUARK jruark@countrymedia.net
The Port of Columbia County is revealing an investigation about ‘possible misuse of Port funds’ by former Port Executive Director Doug Hayes. The following is an open letter
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Contact The Chronicle
Phone: 503-397-0116 Fax: 503-397-4093 Email: chroniclenews@ countrymedia.net 1805 Columbia Blvd., St. Helens, OR 97051
Vol. 139, No. 42
issued Friday afternoon, Oct. 15, by the Port of Columbia County Board of Commissioners. We are writing to share an update on the leadership transition at the Port. As you know, Doug Hayes resigned at the end of September. At the time, we did not comment on his resignation because it was premature to do so. We have now gathered additional information, and we’d like to provide you with an update. We are investigating the possible misuse of Port funds by Mr. Hayes. The alleged improper use came to light after an employee reported concerns to the Port Commission. Mr. Hayes resigned and recently paid the Port back $23,335. This represents the total amount identified. This was a significant breach of trust, and we will complete a thorough investigation. We are working with local authorities and will be following their lead in that process. We are also conducting an internal review looking back several years. We are committed to sharing the results of the investigation with our community. We are also evaluating improvements, including possible changes to organizational structure to ensure financial oversight. We recognize that this is concerning news and a distraction to our work. As the leaders of the Port, our focus is on improving our organization and moving forward. The letter is signed by each of the Port of Columbia Commissioners. A port representative told The Chronicle that a police report concerning the investigation has been filed with the Columbia City Police Department. The Chronicle has reached out to law enforcement officials to determine the process of a police investigation into such a report, whether criminal charges would be considered, and under Oregon law, what those charges might be. Follow this developing story at thechronicleonline.com and in the Wednesday print editions of The Chronicle.
The Columbia County Courthouse tower and clock seen through the fog in St. Helens.
Jeremy C. Ruark / The Chronicle
St. Helens bell tradition JEREMY C. RUARK jruark@countrymedia.net
It has been a familiar sound echoing throughout St. Helens each hour but for much of the summer and into this fall, the Columbia County Courthouse bell has been silent and the large clock disabled. The bell would sound each hour signifying the time of day or night. “The Columbia County Courthouse clock continues to represent our community’s sense of pride, determination, and endurance,” Columbia County Public Information Officer Mark Pacheco said. But mechanical challenges have led to on and off operations of the tower clock and bell. “The county’s general services team performs regular cleaning and basic maintenance on the clock as a part of their established routines,” Pacheco said. “And while they have been doing an outstanding job in preserving the clock, it is a large and complicated device that is over a century old and needs expert attention.” Pacheco said the county has reached out to clockmakers in the Portland area who can inspect and diagnose the clock’s unique mechanisms. Bell tower history When the Columbia County Courthouse was built in 1906,
Chronicle photo
The large bell at the Columbia County Courthouse that rings on the hour.
it did not include a functioning clock. Initially, the clock tower housed only a clock face replica which always read 9 o’clock. After a few years, members of the community began writing to the town newspapers to voice their grievances about the courthouse having a non-working replica in the clock tower instead of an actual clock. Not long afterward, in 1911, the hand-made Seth-Thomas clock installation was completed, according to Pacheco. “The addition of a precision clock to the Columbia County courthouse was a milestone for the community,” Pacheco said. “The clock was considered state-of-theart for its time and made a bold statement with faces pointing in all
four directions. It reinforced the idea that Columbia County was a hard-working, dependable place to do business and raise a family.” For over a century the clock held steady, allowing visitors and workers to set their watches to the correct Standard Time reliably kept on Columbia County’s clock tower. Following detailed work over the past several weeks, the county’s general services department has gotten the courthouse clock and bell running again. “It requires regular (daily or near-daily) attention for now, and the county continues to search for a partner that can return the century old mechanism to its previous reliability,” Pacheco said.