NORTH COAST
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2015
3A
A craft beer weekend
Man who tried
to escape jail
gets over 6 years
until the window shattered.
A couple of more swings
and they could have broken
Kevin Michael Burnham, through the window, which
the Seaside man who tried is large enough for them to
get through.
escaping
from
“They
took
Clatsop County
a steel drain, at-
Jail while in custo-
tached it to a bed
dy for an attempt-
sheet and started
ed murder charge
waling on the win-
from a hammer
dow and they did
attack, was sen-
knock some of the
tenced
Friday
glass out,” Buz-
to more than six
zard said.
years in prison.
The two men
Burnham, 26,
appeared in Clat- Kevin Michael also Àooded a toi-
Burnham
let in the cellblock
sop County Circuit
and added soap
Court Friday to ac-
to make the Àoor
cept his sentence.
He pleaded guilty last slippery for responding cor-
month to a lesser charge of rections of¿cers.
Their plan failed when
second-degree robbery for
the hammer attack and to corrections of¿cers heard
¿rst-degree attempted escape the grate hitting the window.
for the jail incident. He also The of¿cers detained the in-
pleaded guilty to unlawful mates and placed them in a
possession of methamphet- more secure part of the jail.
The estimated damage
amine from a previous case.
Other charges, includ- could cost between $4,000
ing attempted murder, were and $,000 to ¿x, according
dropped through the plea to the jail.
Buzzard
requested
agreement.
Burnham was arrested 90 days to determine the
in Seaside in February with amount of restitution for the
damage.
Joshua Lee Fitch, 24.
Osborne, 24, was in cus-
Seaside Police responded
to Providence Seaside Hos- tody on theft, burglary and
pital after receiving a report drug charges. He is sched-
of a man who had suffered uled for a ¿nal resolution
a serious head injury. The conference in December.
Burnham’s defense at-
man reported being assault-
ed with hammers by two torney Rock Pizzo and the
other men, later identi¿ed as prosecution were negotiat-
ing a plea agreement in the
Burnham and Fitch.
Fitch was sentenced ear- attempted murder case be-
lier this month to more than fore the attempted escape.
The reason he tried to
¿ve years in prison.
“There was really no ra- escape was because the Dis-
tional reason to beat up (the trict Attorney’s Of¿ce gave
victim),” Prosecutor Dawn him such a bad deal. How-
Buzzard said. “He didn’t ever, he accepted that deal
steal from them or any- by pleading guilty to sec-
ond-degree robbery.
thing.”
“In the end Mr. Burn-
While in custody, Burn-
ham and another inmate, ham has discovered, through
Anthony Craig Osborne, the angst of these past six
attempted to escape from months, that however it went
the county jail. The two in- down at some point he has
mates broke off a shower lost his soul to drugs and
drain grate, tied it to a bed- he wants to spend this time
sheet and swung it against to get his soul back,” Pizzo
a window about 20 times said.
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
Aquatic Center reopens,
but pool hours restricted
By DERRICK
DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
The Astoria Aquatic Cen-
ter reopened today after a
six-¿gure restoration, but the
pools will be closed during
afternoons because of a lack
of certi¿ed lifeguards.
The city invested $250,000
in capital improvement fund
money to replaster pools, im-
prove showers and make other
upgrades and repairs. The city
described the improvements
as the most extensive since the
aquatic center opened in 1998.
The work was done during the
annual maintenance closure in
September.
While the aquatic center
reopened as scheduled this
morning, Parks and Recre-
ation staff have decided to
restrict afternoon hours to
the pools because of a lack of
lifeguards.
Transient
man found
dead near
Astoria
Riverwalk
The Daily Astorian
A 48-year-old transient
man was found dead Friday
morning in an alcove of an old
property near Eighth Street
off the Astoria Riverwalk.
Astoria Police said the man
died of natural causes. There
were no signs of foul play.
Cliffton Scott Bruton was
discovered about 8 a.m. by
another person he was camp-
ing with. The Clatsop County
Medical Examiner assisted
police at the scene.
The pools will be closed
from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Mon-
day through Friday. The
¿tness center will still be
open.
“We’ve had a good
amount of staff leave over
the last month for better pay-
ing jobs,” said Angela Cos-
by, the director of the city’s
Parks and Recreation De-
partment. “So we’re strug-
gling.”
The city said it has been
increasingly dif¿cult to ¿nd
and train certi¿ed lifeguards
who will work for minimum
wage.
A lifeguard training course
will be held Friday through
Sunday in the hopes of ¿nd-
ing additional lifeguards.
Cosby said the restricted
pool hours will likely be in
place for at least a month,
or until the city can ¿nd and
train enough lifeguards to re-
store hours.
Smokey Brights, a band from Seattle, Washington, performs at the Pacific Northwest Brew Cup Saturday night. Bands from
all over the Pacific Northwest, and even Nebraska, entertained the crowd all weekend long.
Visitors enjoy hula hoops at the Pacific Northwest Brew
Cup Saturday night. The Brew Cup featured over 36 differ-
ent beers and ciders.
Visitors attend Brew Cup Saturday night.
Photos by
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
County purchases ballot-counting machine
The Daily Astorian
A new ballot-counting ma-
chine was recently delivered
to the Clatsop County Clerk
and Elections Division for
more ef¿cient vote tallying in
elections.
The $110,135 machine,
called a DS850, was approved
for purchase by the Board of
Commissioners in July.
Elections Division staff
received training on the new
machine on Tuesday.
The new machine’s ¿rst
use will come during the
Nov. 3 special election fea-
turing a local option tax mea-
sure for the Seaside School
District.
The former ballot-count-
er, in use since 2005, used
outdated technology for cap-
turing data that is no longer
available and had reached the
end of its service life, accord-
ing to the county.
The old machine used
an optical scanner to tabu-
late ballots, and frequently
jammed on folded or dam-
aged ballots.
The new machine uses a
high-speed digital scanner
that can process 300 ballots
per minute with virtually no
jamming. The model is used
by numerous elections of¿c-
es across the country.
Introduction of the new
machine will not change the
look of ballots or the method
of voting.
Ballots for the Nov. 3
election will mailed out to
eligible voters in the Seaside
School District the week of
Oct. 19. The deadline to reg-
ister to vote in the election is
Oct. 13.
The new machine arrives
at a time when the county is
focused on avoiding ballot
errors, which were found in
the primary and general elec-
tions last year.
Last year’s primary ballot
had a mistake in the Board
of Commissioners’ District 5
race. Two errors were found
on the general election ballot
last fall for a Clatsop Com-
munity College bond mea-
sure and a Cannon Beach
City Council race.
As a result of the general
election errors, the Oregon
Secretary of State’s Of¿ce
required the county to dis-
tribute supplemental ballots,
costing about $14,000.
Judge Nelson returns to bench after heart attack
The Daily Astorian
Clatsop County Circuit
Court Judge Philip Nelson re-
turned to the bench last week
after suffering a heart attack in
July.
Temporary judges presided
during Nelson’s two-month ab-
sence.
The Of¿ce of the State Court
Administrator is able to pull
from a pool of retired judges
across the state through a Judge
Member Program. Judges are
able to retire early if they agree
to give a cer-
tain number of
days each year
on assignment
wherever they
are needed.
Nelson be-
Judge Philip came a circuit
court judge in
Nelson
1992, and is
the longest serving elected of¿-
cial in Clatsop County. He is up
for re-election next year.
He is one of three circuit
court judges in Clatsop County
along with Paula Brownhill and
Cindee Matyas.
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