8A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2015
Graduation: ‘I feel like we’re all kind
of one clique. It’s the Gray clique.’
Continued from Page 1A
out to Alley and helped her enroll at Gray.
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then it blossomed into something great,” Al-
ley said, adding a girl’s group created by a
former counselor at Gray helped break the
ice.
“I feel like we’re all kind of one clique.
It’s the Gray clique, I guess.”
Five or six of the Gray clique walked at
Astoria’s graduation Saturday, including Me-
gan Halicki, 18, who said she had to be talk-
ed into the tradition.
Halicki said she walked out of Warrenton
High School early after a particularly bad
day her junior year. Her father told her drop-
ping out wasn’t an option, Halicki said, and
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year at Gray.
“I think this program is awesome,” she
said, “and people don’t understand what a
good thing it is.”
EDWARD STRATTON — The Daily Astorian
Members of the Astoria Christian Church, with Pas-
tor Frank Loyd, third from left, were honored for
supporting the Gray School Campus Alternative
Education Program with food and other supplies by
Astoria School Board Chairman Martin Dursse, sec-
ond from left, at the governing body’s Wednesday
night meeting.
Astoria schools
honor church support
The Daily Astorian
Into summer
The Gray graduation Thursday ended
with a garden party in the community vege-
table plots outside Capt. Robert Gray School.
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cializing with peers, Knutsen and their men-
tors, before heading into a summer of work
and other adult responsibilities.
Knutsen said as the program improves, it
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own schedule but before aging out of high
school. She hopes the school will become a
GED proctor site to help students for whom
graduation isn’t a reality.
She attributed the particularly high gradu-
ation rate this year to those students who per-
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
severed, including one who spent three years
DW *UD\ EHIRUH ¿QLVKLQJ WKLV \HDU ³,I WKH\ Kylee Pitts, holds up her senior project, a “Cookbook for Life.” The cook-
come back for a second semester or a second book features recipes to help students cook for themselves. Pitts handed
out copies of the cookbook to students at the school.
year, we know they’re not going to quit.”
The Astoria School Board recognized the Asto-
ria Christian Church and Pastor Frank Loyd at its
Wednesday meeting for the congregation’s support of
the Gray School Campus Alternative Education Pro-
gram.
“The support and mentorship of Astoria Christian
Church is invaluable to Gray School students as it en-
courages them to remain committed and to persevere
through the many obstacles they may face while try-
ing to earn their high school diplomas,” the district’s
release said.
Over the past four years, Loyd and his congregation
provided food and resources every Friday to ensure
students have meals to eat over the weekends. In ad-
dition, the church continues to host the annual winter
break potluck and provide gifts for graduates of the
Gray School program.
“It has been a real honor to work with the staff
and the teachers,” Loyd said. “They’re a good group
of kids in there who have had a hard time at various
points for various reasons.”
Trial: They implicated each other through various statements
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counts of criminal mistreat-
may vaguely correlate be- ment. The sex abuse charges
cause the period of time listed relate to Roden allegedly sub-
in two separate indictments jecting the girl to sexual con-
span two months and involve tact by touching.
the same children, to some ex-
Wing was indicted on
tent,” the lawyers wrote.
counts of murder by abuse
Roden was indicted on 15 from neglect and maltreat-
counts. Four counts of ag- PHQW¿UVWGHJUHHPDQVODXJK-
gravated murder, two counts ter and six counts of criminal
of murder by abuse, felony mistreatment.
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The alleged crimes oc-
VH[XDO SHQHWUDWLRQ ¿UVW GH- curred between Oct. 31 to
gree sex abuse, thee counts of Dec. 20, 2014. An autopsy
Continued from Page 1A
found Wing’s daughter, Evan-
gelina Wing, was the victim of
homicide and apparently died
Dec. 20 from blunt force trau-
ma. She would have turned 3
on Jan. 22.
The couple told investi-
gators about incidents where
the toddler fell coming from
a bus stop, fell off of a toilet
and got in tussles with Wing’s
two sons, ages 5 and 2, who
were found injured the same
day the girl was found dead.
The boys were hospitalized
and placed in state protective
custody.
“In the various statements
each made, they implicated
the other,” the lawyers wrote.
“Arguably, Ms. Wing impli-
cated Mr. Roden more than he
did Ms. Wing.”
According to the motion,
Wing made numerous state-
ments about injuries to her
children that occurred while
she was at work. She made
statements about a broken arm
her daughter suffered while in
Roden’s care, again while she
was out of the house.
“There are many other in-
criminating statements made
by defendant Wing that clear-
ly implicate Mr. Roden in the
crimes with which he was
charged,” the motion states.
“Those statements require
separate trials.”
Roden is serving 100
months, or about eight years,
in prison for a probation vio-
lation from a previous domes-
tic violence conviction.
He violated the probation
by possessing marijuana, oxy-
codone, and methadone and
failing to report that he moved
in with Wing. The drugs were
discovered during a search
warrant of Roden and Wing’s
Seaside resident Dec. 20, the
day the toddler was found
dead.
Wing remains in custody
without the possibility of bail.
A hearing to discuss the
motion to sever is scheduled
for July 8.
Burglar: ‘... in all reality, it
was a brief lapse of judgment’
Continued from Page 1A
survival,” Pitts said. “I meant
no harm. I was cold, starving
and that just allowed me to
justify a lapse in judgment.”
Judge Philip Nelson com-
mended Pitts for his apology.
“That is probably one of
the most sincere apologies
that I’ve heard,” Nelson said.
“That was more heartfelt
and thought out than a lot of
them. But on the other hand,
someone that has their house
broken into, it takes a long
time to get past that lost sense
of security.”
As part of Pitts’ two-year
prison sentence, Judge Nel-
son required Pitts to have no
contact with the victims or the
properties and pay restitution
to be determined later. In ad-
dition, Pitts will be on two-
year, post-prison supervision.
Astoria Police found
Pitts in March camping in
the densely wooded area off
Kensington Avenue. He was
found by a campsite he set up
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the top. Police were search-
ing for Pitts in connection to
previous burglaries in No-
vember.
He was arrested in March
and charged with eight counts
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was also arrested on a warrant
for failing to appear in court.
The burglary charges re-
lated to incidents reported
on the 100 block of West
Duane Street, the 200 block
of West Exchange Street, the
100 block of Hume Street,
the 100 block of Washington
Street, the 4000 block of Ir-
ving Avenue and the 3800
block of Kensington Avenue.
On Thursday, Pitts plead-
ed no contest to four counts
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one count of failure to appear
in court. The other burglary
charges were dropped, in-
cluding all the charges from
the November incidents.
Police originally arrest-
ed Pitts in November when
he was found in an attic at a
vacant residence on the 100
block of Hume Avenue. He
was arrested and booked in
November for a felony war-
rant and the two counts of
burglary
Pitts, who was homeless
at the time of the various
burglaries, stole mostly per-
ishable food items from the
homes.
“Frankly, he probably left
the homes cleaner than when
he got there,” Pitts’ defense
lawyer Kris Kaino said.
During his supposed run
from the law, Pitts said, he
was not a criminal run amok.
Instead, Pitts said, the time
allowed him to stay away
from drugs and volunteer
for services such as garbage
cleanup.
“Although on a piece of
paper it looks like I’m this
chronic criminally intended
burglar, in all reality, it was
a brief lapse in judgment,”
Pitts said. “It is not some-
thing that would ever happen
again.”
Machine: Access to the jetty is
restricted while the work is in progress
ing jetty stones is as much
an art as it is a science, say
complete critical repair work the crane operators, and, of-
by September. As of June 8, ten, they tell right away if
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have delivered approximately not. But they rely on the guys
1,400 granite stones, or about down below to let them know
35 percent of the total that for sure.
will need to be placed on the
Up in the crane, the op-
jetty.
erator has what he thinks
A massive crane now is a good stone for the sec-
crouches on the top of North tion they’re working on. He
Jetty, picking up rocks as makes the claw turn, rotating
they’re brought by trucks that the rock one way then anoth-
must back up along the length er so the men below can get a
of the jetty to deliver their good look at it, at its shape, at
loads. Sometimes, they don’t its many faces. Then, slowly,
quite bring the right rock. after they give their approv-
The crane swings around, the al, he begins to lower the
claw descends, picks up the rock. The claws open. The
rock and sets it aside. Plac- rock drops. The thud is au-
Continued from Page 1A
dible even over the wind and
waves that pound the sides of
the jetty without ceasing.
Another truck is already
waiting with another rock
and the crane swings around
again.
Work on the smaller Jetty
A, located east of North Jetty,
is set to begin this year while
a full rehabilitation of North
Jetty and South Jetty will
likely begin in 2017.
Access to the jetty is re-
stricted while this potentially
hazardous work is in prog-
ress. Would-be spectators
can glimpse the huge crane
in action from Waikiki and
Benson beaches in Cape Dis-
appointment State Park.
Our people make
The Planetree Difference
Congratulations Spirit of Caring Award
Winner Kelsey Betts!
The Spirit of Caring
Awards honor individuals
who personalize, humanize
and demystify the
healthcare experience.
“ I am truly impressed with the
nurse and person that Kelsey
is. Her passion for maternity
nursing and CMH is clear in her
everyday work.”
– Award nomination for Kelsey Betts, RN
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