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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 12, 2015)
Gone Goonies! What are kids reading? WEEKEND FRIDAY EXTRA • 2C 142nd YEAR, No. 248 EDITION FRIDAY EXTRA • 3C FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2015 ONE DOLLAR Serial An alternative for a better life burglar says he’s ‘sorry’ Man says he meant no harm, was cold, hungry By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian Photos by JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Graduate Sarah Clark, right, hugs instructional assistant Deanna Rascoe during the Gray School Campus Alternative Education Program graduation ceremony at the Capt. Robert Gray School Thursday. (OHYHQ¿QLVKKLJKVFKRROLQDGLIIHUHQWZD\WRRYHUFRPHWULDOV By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Clatsop County’s alternative high school education program just ¿QLVKHG SRVVLEO\ LWV EHVW \HDU WR date Thursday. Gray School Campus Alterna- tive Education Program, operated by Astoria School District to help struggling students from through- out the county, celebrated 11 of its HQUROOHGVWXGHQWV¿QLVKLQJKLJK school throughout the year. The graduates came from As- toria, Warrenton and Seaside to be AHS students studying mostly on- OLQHRQWKHVHFRQGÀRRURIWKH&DSW Robert Gray School building. At Gray, lead teacher Alexa Knutsen, counselor Rachel Rollins, assis- tant Deanna Rascoe, teachers and counselors from the high school and community volunteers help the VWXGHQWV¿QLVKUHPDLQLQJFUHGLWVWR get a diploma. Knutsen, in her third year, said this is the program’s best perfor- mance since she joined. She said AHS Principal Lynn Jackson and Superintendent Craig Hoppes have given her and the staff free rein to create the kind of program that shepherds its students to graduation. On Thursday, Knutsen and Rol- lins handed out awards to the grad- uates, from Biggest Heart and Mr. Motivation to Most Organized and the Master of Mindfulness. Community effort Knutsen also thanked the large number of volunteers who help Graduate Kylee Pitts hugs school nurse Lisa McClean during the alternative high school graduation ceremony at the Capt. Robert Gray School Thursday. who volunteer their time to pro- vide food, tutoring, mentorship and emotional support to the students. “I’ll cry a lot today,” a teary - eyed Knutsen said, asking students to send letters of thanks to Dan “The Carrot Man” Strite, who comes in every Tuesday to hand out fresh car- rots, apples and magic tricks but has been sidelined by health problems. Shortly thereafter, Strite sur- prised the graduates, stopping in for graduation. Also there was Frank Loyd, pastor at the Astoria Christian Church, which provides goody bags and meals to help hold students over the weekend. “They’re not here to pat them- selves on the back,” Knutsen said. “They’re not here for their own accord. They’re here because they believe in what we’re doing.” The Gray clique Jordan Lance greets Dan “The Carrot Man” Strite, a regular volun- teer with the Gray School Campus Alternative Education Program during graduation at the Capt. Robert Gray School Thursday. make the campus click, from the teachers, counselors, school nurse and administrators at the high school to the community members Most of the students at Gray work part- to full-time jobs; a few have children of their own; and most faced bullying or other chal- lenges at their previous schools. Brittany Alley, 18, said her sophomore year, she was suspend- HG GXULQJ ¿QDOV ZHHN DW 6HDVLGH High School and ended up leaving to go the college to get her GED. %XW¿QGLQJKHUVHOILQDURRPZLWK a bunch of older students, she said, made her uncomfortable. Her counselor from Seaside, Travis Cave, called Knutsen, who then reached out to Alley and helped her enroll at Gray. See GRADUATION, Page 8A Claws! Monster machine remakes jetty By KATIE WILSON EO Media Group The Astoria man responsible for several South Slope burglaries wants the victims to know their homes were not invaded by some sinister criminal, but rather someone struggling to survive. Before be- ing sentenced to two years in Jesse prison Thurs- Allan Pitts day in Clat- sop County Circuit Court, Jesse Allan Pitts, 32, apologized to the multiple victims, claiming he understood the fear and diminished sense of security he cre- ated. None of the victims attended the court hearing. “Coming from my heart and soul, I say to you all, forgive me for my actions during a drastic period of See BURGLAR, Page 8A Lawyers seek to split trials in toddler murder Seaside couple blame each other in statements By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian Lawyers representing the live-in boyfriend accused of murdering his JLUOIULHQG¶V\HDUROGGDXJKWHU¿OHG a motion Thursday asking the court for separate trials. Dorothy Ann Wing, 25, and Ran- dy Lee Roden, 27, are co-defendants set to face trial April 5, 2016. In the motion to sever, Roden’s defense lawyers, Conor Huseby and Robert Axford, argue the two are not charged with the same crimes and both have made numerous and ex- tensive statements about the events and both implicate the other. “Mr. Roden and Ms. Wing do not have the same charges. The charges See TRIAL, Page 8A CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT, Wash. — The rock looks like the prow of a ship. At 11 tons, it could easily crush the two men who are overseeing its placement on the jetty be- low. It dangles above them, held tight in enormous metal claws operated by a massive crane. Jetty stones — some weighing in as heavy as 27 tons — have been arriving at Cape Disappointment State Park in Ilwaco for months now as critical repairs on North Jetty continue. The repairs are just one small piece of a massive effort to rehabilitate and repair all three jetties at the mouth of the Columbia River. The system is long overdue for such work, according to reports by the U.S. Army Corps of Engi- neers. The two largest jetties, Washington’s North Jetty and 2UHJRQ¶V6RXWK-HWW\VWUHWFKRXWLQWRWKH3DFL¿F2FHDQSUR tecting channels that keep the river open and accessible to ERWKFDUJRDQG¿VKLQJWUDI¿FDOLNH The Corps, tasked with maintaining the jetty system, is ahead of schedule on repairs to North Jetty and hopes to DAMIAN MULINIX — EO Media Group See MACHINE, Page 8A Quarried rocks as large as 27 tons are swung into place by an enormous crane operating on top of North Jetty. Everyday People MONDAY From AHS to Alaska