Hundreds wrestle
at Ilwaco camp
Summer
on the land
SPORTS • 4A
COAST WEEKEND
THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2015
143rd YEAR, No. 12
ONE DOLLAR
Johnson’s bill helps Warrenton tackle FEMA
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By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — When state
Sen. Betsy Johnson needed a “des-
ignated hitter” to tell Salem why her
Senate Bill 306 would help small
coastal communities, she turned to
Warrenton Mayor Mark Kujala.
For nearly a decade, Warrenton has
have been forced to pay skyrock-
eting rates.
struggled to leap through all of the bu- levees do not exist.
“Some people are paying more
reaucratic hoops needed to show the
“It’s a bad situation,” Kujala said. IRU WKHLU ÀRRG LQVXUDQFH WKDQ IRU
city’s levee system can protect against
This means that property owners their mortgage on a monthly ba-
WKH\HDUÀRRGWKUHDWSRVHGE\WKH living and laboring behind Warren- sis,” Paul Levesque, Tillamook
Columbia River — all to no avail.
WRQ¶VOHYHHVDUHIRUÀRRGLQVXUDQFH County’s chief of staff, said.
:LWKRXW WKLV FHUWL¿FDWLRQ WKH OH- SXUSRVHV FRQVLGHUHG LQ WKH ÀRRG
.XMDODVDZKLVKRPHÀRRGLQ-
vees may be ineligible for accred- SODLQ $QG DV IHGHUDO ÀRRG LQVXU- surance rates increase from $400 a
itation by the Federal Emergency ance subsidies have gradually disap- year to $2,400 a year, he said.
Management Agency. And without peared in the wake of hurricanes Ka-
See FEMA, Page 10A
accreditation, in FEMA’s eyes, the trina and Sandy, many policyholders
GETTING TO THE BOTTOM
OF HERITAGE SQUARE
Sen. Betsy
Johnson
Mark
Kujala
Inmates
attempt
to Àee
Men use shower
drain grate to
shatter window
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the City of Astoria a $400,000 Brownfields Multipurpose Pilot Grant in 2012 for the
Heritage Square site. The city is testing the site for the degree of soil contamination before the site is cleared for redevelopment.
New round of tests help Astoria prepare hole for redevelopment
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
T
he unsightly pit at Heritage
Square, a riddle for city plan-
ners, might take a little longer
to solve.
The state Department of Environ-
mental Quality has asked for more
tests to better identify the extent of
contamination in the soil and other
material on the former Safeway lot.
Astoria wants to cleanse the block
to make Heritage Square more en-
ticing for redevelopment. The City
Council is exploring a new public
library and housing in a mixed-use
project, presuming the troublesome
hole will eventually be ready to fill.
“I understand and recognize the
impatience,” City Manager Brett Es-
tes said. “I understand it. However,
these redevelopment projects take a
lot of time and, more specifically, en-
vironmental cleanup sites take even
more.”
Metals and petroleum
byproducts
Lead and polycyclic aromatic hy-
drocarbons — or byproducts of petro-
leum — have been found in soil that
was unearthed during construction
of the Garden of Surging Waves and
in material under a parking lot in the
northeast corner of the block. Poly-
chlorinated biphenyls — or PCBs —
are also in some of the soil.
Before Safeway, the property was
used for a printing press, auto repair and
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
See HOLE, Page 10A
A sign outside of the Heritage Square site explains the
history of the site as well as future steps going forward.
City, property owner resolve straw squabble
Landscaping bales
coming back in batches
“I think that Ted Ames and Jeff Har-
rington proved to be very solid men of
integrity,” Reitman said, reserving harsh-
er descriptions for others at the city.
7KH FLW\ FRQ¿VFDWHG ZKDW $PHV
called a “mountain” of straw in late
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weather. The city’s Public Works De-
partment also found that the straw was
in a public right-of-way.
week that she was considering legal
action.
Reitman said she intends to brief
the City Council Monday night on
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
the progress. She said City Council-
The Daily Astorian
or Drew Herzig, who represents her
neighborhood, even helped return
The city has signed off on a retired
some of the straw.
physician’s plan to use 9 tons of straw
“I’m just going to say how well
for a landscaping project off Niagara
everything ended up,” she said. “And
Avenue, ending a dispute that kindled
just to point out that I think that, in the
TXHVWLRQVDERXW¿UHULVNDQG
future, if something
property rights.
like this happens again
‘I’m just going to say how
Jean Reitman, who
with another resident,
well everything ended up.’
bought the straw to stabilize
just to be sure — re-
a slope she had cleared of
ally sure — to follow
Jean Reitman
invasive Himalayan black-
due process.”
berry, met with Fire Chief
Harrington
de-
Ted Ames Friday and the pair agreed
Reitman and the city reached an scribed the landscaping project as “a
the straw would be returned to her agreement soon after that the bales very well thought-out plan.” As long
home in batches.
would be returned in small batches. as Reitman follows the steps, he said,
Jeff Harrington, the city engineer, But the two sides were back to impasse the bales will be brought back in in-
also approved Reitman’s landscaping after Reitman wanted larger quantities. crements and “everything should be
plan.
She had warned the City Council last ¿QH´
A Seaside man accused of at-
tempted murder in a hammer at-
tack and another inmate attempted
to escape from Clatsop County
Jail early Sunday morning.
Kevin Michael Burnham and
Anthony Craig Osborne broke off
a shower drain grate, tied it to a
bedsheet and swung it against a
window until the window shat-
tered.
The inmates
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a toilet in the
cellblock and
added soap to
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slippery
for
any responding
corrections of-
¿FHUV
Their plan
Kevin Michael
was foiled once
Burnham
a corrections
RI¿FHU VWDUW-
ed hearing the
PXIÀHGWKXPS-
ing sound of
the grate hitting
the window.
“They put
soapy water all
RYHU WKH ÀRRU´
Clatsop Coun-
ty Sheriff Tom
Anthony Craig
Bergin
said.
Osborne
“Had the cor-
UHFWLRQV RI¿FHUV JRQH LQ WKH\ FRXOG
have slipped and fell. Our correc-
tions officers are smart enough not
to rush into something like that.”
7KH RI¿FHUV GHWDLQHG %XUQKDP
and Osborne at about 1 a.m. Sunday
and placed them back into a different
part of the jail. They are both being
FKDUJHG ZLWK ¿UVWGHJUHH DWWHPSWHG
HVFDSHDQG¿UVWGHJUHHFULPLQDOPLV-
chief.
Burnham, 25, of Seaside, is in
custody for attempted murder after
allegedly assaulting another man
with a hammer in February. His de-
fense attorney and the prosecution
are trying to reach a plea deal on the
case.
Prosecutor Dawn Buzzard said
she is not budging from her offer
of 70 months, or about six years,
in prison for Burnham to plead to a
lesser charge of second-degree rob-
bery.
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the reason he tried to escape was be-
FDXVH WKH 'LVWULFW$WWRUQH\¶V 2I¿FH
gave him such a bad deal on the at-
tempted murder case.
Osborne, 24, of Seaside, is in
custody on theft, burglary and drug
charges.
The new charges could add
about 30 months, or more than
two years, to their sentences.
“They conceived a scheme to
break out and fortunately the staff
was far too attentive for that to
occur,” Bergin said.
The two inmates shared a
cellblock with 13 other inmates
when they made the attempted
escape. The other inmates had to
See ESCAPE, Page 10A