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INSIDE
143rd YEAR, No. 24
MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2015
ONE DOLLAR
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LNG
Federal magistrate
¿ nds against
energy company
%\ DERRICK DHPLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Juan Jimenez, right, shows his sheep during the sheep showmanship competition at the Clatsop County Fair .
Showing off
Keep smiling, even when your pig won’t listen
%\ MFKINLEY SMITH
The Daily Astorian
J
uan Jimenez, a 14-year-old sophomore at
Astoria High School, knows to pose his
sheep for the judge to show off the muscles
on its legs. He also knows how to walk his chicken
with its head and tail high.
L ast week at the Clatsop
County Fair, he showed a
sheep named Lamborghini, a
chicken named Winston and
a pig named Tocino. That’s
Spanish for bacon.
Jimenez, who has been
in 4-H for four years, enjoys
showing his animals, but it
can be frustrating when the
animal does not behave in
showmanship competition.
Nevertheless, it is important
to keep a smile on your face .
“I kept smiling and tried to
go with it even though my pig
didn’t listen,” he said.
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Raising and working with
animals destined for market
can be tough. Jimenez said
he cried at the end of last year
over his sheep.
“If it’s a market animal,
don’t get too attached to it,”
he said.
For instance, now he is
careful to stop his sheep from
nibbling on him because he
knows he will miss that expe-
rience when the sheep is gone.
Tim Clark, a swine super-
intendent, has worked with
Jimenez for two years. He said
the teenager always keeps his
pig pen clean and tidy and is
very helpful .
“He’s one of the hardest
working kids out there,” Clark
said.
Jimenez couples that work
ethic with a drive to improve.
He gets better and better each
year, Clark said.
“If he doesn’t know some-
thing, he’ll ¿ nd out the answer
or a way to ¿ gure something
out,” Clark said.
When Jimenez is given
advice in the showroom, he
immediately puts it to use to
improve his showing style,
Clark said.
Katherine Kahl, Jimenez’s
4-H leader, said he is saving
money for college from the
auctions. He is also in the
A federal magistrate judge has
found that Oregon LNG’s challenge
to an Army Corps of Engineers ease-
ment on the Skipanon Peninsula in
Warrenton came too late.
Oregon LNG claimed the Army
Corps, which has held an easement
to deposit dredging spoils since
1957, has no right to land beneath
the water that the energy company
intends to use for a $6 billion export
terminal and pipeline project. The
company also wanted the U.S. Dis-
trict Court in Portland to declare that
the company has the right to access
the property across tidelands.
But Magistrate Judge John V.
Acosta concluded Tuesday that the
federal lawsuit should be dismissed
because the 12-year statute of lim-
itations to bring such a claim under
federal law had expired.
The federal statute of limitations
starts to run in such property title
disputes when a complainant knew
or should have known that the Unit-
ed States claimed an interest in the
land.
While the Army Corps has not de-
posited dredging spoils on the ease-
ment since 1992, the judge found
that the state and the Port of Astoria
— which has leased the property to
Oregon LNG since 2004 — knew or
should have known of the easement.
See LNG, Page 10A
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Smithart will keep
control for now
%\ DERRICK DHPLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
See FAIR, Page 10A
Juan Jiminez competes in the swine showmanship competition .
Miethe rapping out hits for Stealth
Warrenton teenager
lives, breathes softball
S
he’s just one of those girls who
eats, sleeps and breathes softball.
And a l ong season just came to a close
for Warrenton’s Landree Miethe, as her
16U Amateur Softball Association team
— the Stealth — went 1-3 in the recent
n ational c hampionship ‘A’ tournament,
held last week in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The Stealth opened pool play — along
with 184 other teams from around the
country — a week ago with a 4-3 win
over the White Lightning 99, from Knox-
ville, Tenn.
The rest of the tournament was not so
good for the Stealth, who dropped a 10-4
decision to the Kenosha, Wisc., Cyclones
to ¿ nish up pool play followed by a pair of
losses to teams from Indiana and Alabama
in bracket play Wednesday and Thursday.
Still, “it was a lot of fun,” said Miethe,
who will be a junior at Warrenton High
School this fall. “It’s been a nice ride,
and it was a pleasure playing with all my
teammates.”
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The Stealth are a 16U team based out
of Milwaukie. Most of the players are
from larger schools, such as Rex Putnam
Submitted Photo
High School and others in and around
Warrenton’s Landree Miethe, right, with
Milwaukie.
one of her softball idols, former USA
See MIETHE, Page 10A national team pitcher Jennie Finch.
Brad Smithart will operate the
Astoria Riverwalk Inn for a few
more weeks.
The owner of Hospitality Mas-
ters, whose lease on the hotel was
terminated by the Port of Astoria for
failing to pay rent, has challenged
the Port’s attempt to evict him.
Smithart’s move Friday sets up a
Circuit Court trial on Aug. 11 on the
eviction.
Three suitors are competing to
take over the Uniontown hotel, a
potentially valuable waterfront prop-
erty, but will have to wait until the
legal case plays out.
While the Port wants Smithart off
the property, the trial gives the Port
more time to vet the suitors and work
out the details of a management tran-
sition.
Had Smithart been evicted Fri-
day, the Port would have had to se-
lect a new operator immediately or
been left with the choice of running
the hotel or shutting the property
down during peak summer season.
See PORT, Page 10A