Hands Across
the Sands
Burnard throws
no-hitter No. 5
PAGE 7A
SPORTS • 4A
142nd YEAR, No. 214
MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015
ONE DOLLAR
Cutter
From Harlem, with grace
leader to
contest
removal
Steadfast commander
claimed Coast Guard
ship was in disrepair
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Dancers, including Lindsey Croop and Fredrick Davis, center, with the Dance Theatre of Harlem perform “New Bach” at the Liberty Theater
Saturday. See more of Joshua’s photos of the dancers and their performance online at www.dailyastorian.com
Dancers offer students rare look inside world of ballet
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
See REMOVAL, Page 10A
T
he lights went down in
the Liberty Theater Friday
morning and more than
200 rambunctious young students
turned their eyes up toward the
stage.
“Shhh!” teachers and parents
hushed.
Keith Saunders, ballet master
for the Dance Theatre of Harlem,
explained the rigor and discipline
necessary for a professional dancer
to stay sharp.
Like a chef making a souf-
flé, the ballet master, using his
dancers as visual aids, carefully
took the students through the five
basic positions of ballet and the
fundamental movements before
treating them to excerpts from the
New York ballet company’s rep-
ertoire.
Students learned about the turn-
out — the foundational stance of
ballet; the demi-plie — the slight
bending of the knees; and en pointe
— where dancers balance on the
tips of their toes.
Once Saunders revealed the
mechanics, students watched in
wonder as the lithe dancers pulled
the techniques together in elements
of “New Bach,” by choreographer
Robert Garland; “Tschaikovsky
Pas De Deux,” by choreographer
George Balanchine; and “Vessels,”
by choreographer Darrell Grand
Moultrie.
$IWHUWKH¿QDOHWKHYLEUDQW³5H-
turn (Mother Popcorn),” a Garland
piece that fuses classical ballet with
The attorney for a U.S. Coast
Guard commander temporarily re-
lieved from his post on the Asto-
ria-based Cutter
Steadfast said
Monday that
the command-
er is a whis-
tleblower who
called attention
to the ship’s
poor condition.
Cmdr. John
Bitterman was
Cmdr. John
temporarily re-
Bitterman
lieved last week
for what the
Coast Guard described as a loss of
FRQ¿GHQFHLQKLVOHDGHUVKLSDELOLWLHV
Power
needs
of pot
Marijuana growers’
use of electricity
sparks concerns
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Local elementary school students watch as members of the Dance Theatre of Harlem demonstrate
ballet dance techniques at the Liberty Theater Friday. Students got the opportunity to learn about the
origins of ballet, ask questions and see demonstrations by the performers.
the soul music of James Brown,
many students were jumping out of
their seats.
Stephanie Snyder, who accom-
panied her daughter, a student
at Seaside Heights Elementary
School, was surprised the famed
ballet company made a stop in As-
toria.
“I think it’s just absolutely
amazing,” she said.
See BALLET, Page 10A
Virginia Johnson, artistic director at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, left,
leads a ballet class in the Paulson Pavilion at the Liberty Theater Friday.
SALEM — As Oregon prepares for
legal marijuana July 1, the state’s ener-
gy agency is looking for ways to curb
electricity use by indoor pot growers.
Indoor marijuana gardens are
well-known power hogs, but Oregon
faces a dilemma as it researches how
WR H[WHQG LWV HQHUJ\ HI¿FLHQF\ SUR-
grams to the cannabis industry: feder-
al money that typically helps pay for
HI¿FLHQF\SURMHFWVFDQQRWEHXVHGIRU
any activities that involve pot.
“We don’t have answers to that
yet, which is why we’re looking at
it so carefully,” said Rachel Wray,
a spokeswoman for the Oregon De-
partment of Energy. “It is an emerg-
ing energy issue and we pay atten-
tion to those.”
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
See POT, Page 10A
Staying calm, organized to help save lives
911 Dispatch Center, which
receives calls for Astoria Po-
lice, Warrenton Police, Clat-
VRS &RXQW\ 6KHULII¶V 2I¿FH
DQGDUHD¿UHGHSDUWPHQWV
Dispatchers across the
country have been honored
this month as part of National
911 Education Month. In ad-
dition, the second full week in
April is designated as Nation-
al Public Safety Telecommu-
nicator Week.
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
The key to successfully
working as a 911 dispatcher
is being able to multitask at
an intense level while stay-
ing calm the entire time, ac-
cording to Astoria Dispatcher
Summer Bartlett.
Unlike other jobs behind a
desk, Bartlett must stay calm
and organized on the phone
while often listening to a dis-
tressed person explaining de-
tails of an emergency.
If a dispatcher misses
what someone says, it could
become a safety issue for the
caller and the responding po-
OLFH RI¿FHUV RU ¿UH¿JKWHUV
Bartlett said.
“You have to be able to
KYLE SPURR — The Daily Astorian
Summer Bartlett, an Astoria 911 Dispatcher for seven
years, has to multitask on six different 911 lines, work fast
and stay calm during her shifts. If she misses what some-
one says on the other line, it could become a safety issue
for the caller or responding officers or firefighters.
handle six 911 lines ringing,
answering the radios, send-
LQJ WKH ¿UH GHSDUWPHQWV WR
things,” Bartlett said. “There
is an intense level of multi- doing their homework and
tasking. It’s not like someone watching TV.”
Bartlett is one of six full-
time dispatchers in the Astoria
Phone time
In 2014, Astoria, Seaside
and Medix Dispatch centers
received about 16,500 calls.
Astoria Police recognized
its local dispatchers on its
Facebook page this month,
See BARTLETT, Page 10A