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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 2015)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2015 SPORTS 7A Lady Warriors blank the Cougars, 9-0 By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Seaside’s Sam Hinton chips a shot on the green of the 14th hole of the Fish Invitational at the Astoria Country Club Monday. He was medalist in Thursday’s meet against Astoria at Gearhart Golf Links. Gulls win the golfers’ Clatsop Clash The Daily Astorian GEARHART — The Seaside boys golf team im- proved to 2-0 in Cowapa League play, with a 326-389 victory in golf’s version of the Clatsop Clash Thursday at the Gearhart Golf Links. Seaside’s Sam Hinton was medalist with a 75, while teammate Shane Frit- ter was second with an 80, followed by Aaron Richard- son at 81. Kevin Lacoste had the other counting score for Seaside with a 90, with Jo- sef Barbic rounding out the Gull golfers with a 102. Will Keeran and Joey Voeller both shot 95 to lead Astoria. Also competing for the Fishermen varsity were Kirk Fausett (98, personal best), Ron Schumacher (101) and Arthur Clark (102). Hinton and Richardson played together in the first group and had quite a battle between themselves, at least after Richardson took a 10 on the second hole. Throwing out that hole, the two went back and forth with the duo recording 23 pars and four birdies be- tween them. Fritter added two more birdies and was tied with Hinton through 13 holes before Hinton birdied the next two holes. Lacoste added a birdie for the Gulls with a two on the 15th. “We had some troubles out there today,” said Sea- side coach Jim Poetsch, “but we were still able to put up a decent score. Sam was solid again today. He had his highest score of the year and was still only 3-over-par. Aaron was able to overcome a 10 on the second hole, with the help of two two’s, and posted a respectable number.” He added, “It is promis- ing when we have some hic- cups on the course and are still able to post a score that would be competitive in any tournament.” TRACK Fishermen win 11 events TILLAMOOK — The Astoria track team compet- ed against a host of smaller schools Tuesday, in an invi- tational track meet hosted by Tillamook. Team results were in- complete, as were some in- dividual events. Astoria athletes won 11 separate events, including nine on the girls’ side. The Lady Fishermen col- lected victories from fresh- man Darian Hageman in three different events (pole vault, 10-feet; long jump, 16-11 ½; triple jump, 35-2 ½); Natalie Cummings in two events (100 meters, 12.62 seconds; 200 me- ters, 26.78); Kaylee Mitch- ell in both the 400 meters (1:00.79) and 800 meters (2:29.94); Kaisa Johnson (1,500 meters, 5:22.70); and the 400-meter relay (Jillian Ketcham, Shrida Sharma, Mitchell and Cummings, 53.10). Winners for the Astoria boys included Lucas Caru- ana in two events (800, 2:11.19 seconds; and the 1,500, 4:24.69). For Knappa, Devin Lew- is Allen won the 400 meters (53.52). PORTLAND — The Warrenton Lady Warriors are off to a perfect start in league play, as they opened the Lew- is & Clark League softball season with a 9-0 win at Port- land Adventist Thursday. Warrenton pitcher Niqui Blodgett tossed a six-hitter against the Cougars, striking out 10 with no walks. Landree Miethe led off the game with a single, stole second and eventually VFRUHG RQ D VDFUL¿FH À\ E\ Alyssa Casteel, for the only run Warrenton would need. Rachel Dyer added a two-run single in the fourth, FRXSOHG ZLWK D VDFUL¿FH bunt by Alyssa Herrera that scored Ally Hanna. Warrenton tacked on four runs in the sixth and one in the seventh. 7KH :DUULRUV ¿QLVKHG with nine hits, led by Dyer (3-for-4) and Miethe (2-for- 5, scored twice). Brianna Marsch had two RBIs. Warrenton hosts Seaside today. Clatskanie 7, Astoria 5 CLATSKANIE — In another nonleague softball contest between the Lewis & Clark League and the Cowa- pa League, Clatskanie rallied for a 7-5 win over Astoria Thursday. The Fishermen built a 5-0 lead before the Tigers an- swered with seven runs over the third and fourth innings. Clatskanie pitcher Mak- enzie Mitchell allowed six hits with six strikeouts and three walks. She also had three hits at the plate, while teammate Sage Miller was 2-for-4 with a triple. BASEBALL Seaside 5, Tillamook 3 TILLAMOOK — Sea- side bounced back from Tuesday’s 16-5 loss to Til- lamook with a 5-3 win over the Cheesemakers Thursday, in Cowapa League baseball action at Tillamook. Sophomore Brent Walsh pitched a complete game for WKH*XOOVDOORZLQJ¿YHKLWV with 10 strikeouts and one walk. He retired the last 14 batters he faced. At the plate, Walsh had a key two-out, two-run single in WKH¿IWKLQQLQJ6FRWW\3ODPS- in added a double for Seaside, which hosts Warrenton for a single game at noon Saturday. SCOREBOARD PREP SCHEDULE SOFTBALL TODAY Baseball — Horizon Christian at Astoria, 4 p.m.; Faith Bible at Knap- pa (2), 3 p.m. Softball — Seaside at Warrenton (2), 4 p.m. SATURDAY Baseball — Warrenton at Sea- side, Noon Softball — Molalla at Seaside, 4 p.m. Track — Lower Columbia Invita- tional, TBA; Meet of Champions (at Willamette U.), 10 a.m.; Warrenton at De La Salle, 11:30 a.m. MONDAY Girls Golf — Seaside Invitational, 11 a.m. Boys Golf — Banks Invitational, 1 p.m. HIGH SCHOOLS Warrenton 9, P. Adventist 0 W: Niqui Blodgett (10 K’s, 0 walks). L: Tori Johnson. RBI: Marsch 2, Dyer 2, Casteel, Herrera. 2B: War, Miethe. 3B: PA, Gressele. LOB: Warrenton 7, Portland Adventist 5. Warreton 100 034 1—9 9 0 P.Adventist 000 000 0—0 6 3 BASEBALL HIGH SCHOOLS Seaside 5, Tillamook 3 Walsh and Quicke; Reeves, Ru- mage (6) and Harmon. W: Walsh. L: Reeves. 2B: Sea, Plampin; Til, Reeves. Seaside 000 030 2—5 7 0 Tillamook 003 000 0—3 5 1 Clerk: It’s up to county’s insurance to respond to the torts claim notice Continued from Page 1A Somers said it is up to the county’s insurance agency as to “Ms. Grimes felt torn be- whether or not the county will tween the clear direction she had respond to the torts claim notice. received from the SOS and Mr. “I don’t know if we will re- Somer’s demand that she ignore spond. It’s up to our insurance that direction,” Altschul wrote. agency,” Somers said. “We have The notice claims Kennedy insurance for these kinds of *ULPHVZDVXQODZIXOO\¿UHGEH- things. If they want to respond, cause she insisted on implement- they will.” ing the lawfully required process. An internal investigation 6KH ZDV RI¿FLDOO\ ¿UHG RQ completed by Somers in No- 'HF $OWVFKXO VDLG KH ¿UVW vember found that the clerk’s contacted the county on Dec. RI¿FH GLG QRW IROORZ LWV HVWDE- 15 regarding Kennedy Grimes’ lished protocol for proofreading employment law claims against the draft ballots before the elec- the county. tion. +LV ¿QGLQJV GHVFULEHG DQ issue with distractions and multitasking. The proofread- ers worked individually rather than following the procedure of reading out loud while another proofreader reads along, Somers said. In response, the torts claim notice states, Kennedy Grimes revised the proofreading process because it was no longer practi- FDO ZLWK VPDOOHU VWDI¿QJ OHYHOV and increased workload. “Notably, Mr. Somers un- truthfully stated that Ms. Grimes failed to follow procedures even though Ms. Grimes had the au- thority to and did implement updated procedures,” Altschul wrote. Altschul concludes that if there was a failure of leadership and process, it was Somers’ fail- ure as “ultimately responsible, and the person accountable.” Kennedy Grimes served as Clatsop County clerk from 2011 to 2012, then returned to the po- sition in June 2013. Valerie Crafard, former clerk of the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, was hired as Clatsop County clerk in March. The Astoria ballot for the South Slope in the November general election. Somers: Mill Creek opportunity is one he didn’t want to overlook Continued from Page 1A “Scott is a really great manager and we would hate to lose him,” Clatsop Coun- ty Board of Commissioner Chairman Scott Lee said. “Someone of his caliber, I can see how other places would want to recruit him. He has done such a great job balancing our budget, and handled controversy really well.” In recent months, Somers had been the focus of com- plaints in anonymous letters sent to the Board of Com- missioners and The Daily Astorian that questioned his management style. He has admitted a large number of changes have oc- curred in his time as manag- er. Since March 2013, at least six department heads have left the county. County Clerk Maeve Kennedy Grimes was fired in December after errors were discovered on the gen- eral election ballot. In ad- dition, half the county staff were moved to the higher deductible health plans and the Juvenile Detention Cen- ter closed, as Somers men- Daily Astorian file Clatsop County Manager Scott Somers fields a question from Skip Hauke about getting more manufacturing jobs on the North Coast during an economic forum last year. tioned in his cover letter. To put the concerns to bed, Somers proposed a third-party, 360-degree re- view of himself to the Board of Commissioners. The Board of Commis- sioners hired Kennedy Con- sulting, a Portland-based firm with over 25 years experience, in March to conduct the 360 review of Somers. Hiring Kennedy Consult- ing will cost the county be- tween $10,000 and $12,000. If Somers does get hired in Mill Creek, he said, the Board of Commissioners should still pursue the 360 evaluation because it entails a review on county manage- ment in general. “I would recommend continuing to move for- ward no matter what. It’s an overall review of the county and management process,” Somers said. “It will be very good information for the commission, the citizens and (county) employees.” Somer’s resume lists his address as Hillsboro, al- though he said, he has an apartment in Astoria where he stays during the week. With a Master of Pub- lic Administration from the University of Arizona, Somers started his public service career in White Bear Lake, Minn., as an assistant to the city manager and then as the assistant city adminis- trator in Savage, Minn., near Minneapolis. Somers describes the Mill Creek position as an oppor- tunity he did not want to overlook. “It think, for me, it’s kind of a natural progression or evolution in my own pro- fessional development,” Somers said. “It fits in nice- ly with what could be a next step for me.”