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8A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2015 Pantry: Warrenton allocated $20,000 for association to spend on social giving practice to keep that sep- aration,” he said. The funding recom- City Attorney Harold mendations came from Snow pointed out that the Warrenton the Oregon Business As- Constitution sociation. An forbids the ap- all-volunteer propriation of advisory board public money whose budget for religious comes from purposes. business li- “That’s a cense fees, the fundamental association reg- first principle,” ularly identifies he said. “The Mark local causes separation of Kujala and events to government spend the city’s and religious money on. For institutions is this fiscal year , the founding principle of our the city allocat- country, really.” ed $20,000 for Commis- the association sioner Tom to spend on so- Dyer responded cial giving. that he didn’t In addition see an issue to the $5,000 with city funds for the food Kurt going to church- pantry, the as- Fritsch es doing charity sociation also work and per- recommended $3,000 for a youth camp forming good deeds, like hosted by the Warrenton hosting a youth camp. “I think it’s good that Christian Church and $5,000 for the North we have charity from the Coast Christian School city,” he said, adding to set up a fence at a that the commissioners should not be afraid to Hammond playground. Because the three rec- offend people who dis- ommendations fell under like where the city’s non- the same line item gener- profit money is spent. ically labeled “nonprof- “Sometimes a need ex- its,” the City Commis- ists, and you have to do sion had no idea it had what’s right.” Snow argued that, if signed off on funding religious organizations the city wants to fund until City Manager Kurt the food pantry, the mon- Fritsch flagged the prob- ey should flow through lematic expenditures a secular organization while approving the — for example, Clat- sop Community Action, grants. “The social services a nonprofit that helps residents line item was not broken low-income out as to who the mon- meet housing, food and ey would go to,” Fritsch other basic living needs. This compromise would said. The city decided to let help the city “(avoid) the the North Coast Chris- taint” of inappropriate tian School expenditure spending, he said. After the meeting, go forward because the playground fence serves Mayor Mark Kujala said a public, nonreligious the business association, purpose. The Warrenton by recommending grants Christian Church with- for the three churches, drew its request for fund- had acted in good faith ing when the church re- and sought to fulfill its alized it had applied for mission to better the city funds through the community and promote Warrenton Business As- livability in Warrenton. “We certainly don’t sociation. The $5,000 originally want to stifle the great designated for the food progress and hard work pantry is still residing that they have done,” he in the city’s accounts, said. However, “I think (it) was clear at the end Fritsch said. of the discussion that we Founding principle have to be very mindful At a work session about being legal, fol- with the business associ- lowing the state of Ore- ation earlier this month, gon laws and statutes.” Fritsch said that most “There’s no bad guys communities work to associated with this,” maintain the separation Fritsch said. “We just of church and state when want to make sure it’s it comes to spending city appropriate expenditures money. of city government fund- “It is clearly standard ing.” Continued from Page 1A Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Tami Schultz, right, receives her certificate from Police Chief Brad Johnston, left, during the last Citizen Police Acade- my class Wednesday. Simulation: Chief Johnston wants to continue discussion at future academies Continued from Page 1A a gun. The man then pulled the gun, and Randall had to UHDFW E\ SXOOLQJ KLV ¿UHDUP equipped with a laser to shoot at the video screen. “When we are in those sit- uations and we are under that kind of stress, we revert to training,” he said. 7KH¿UVWVWXGHQWWRDWWHPSW the simulation had a scenario where he was backing up an- RWKHU RI¿FHU RQ D WUDI¿F VWRS On the screen, a woman in the stopped car pulls a gun and starts shooting. The student described feeling his heart rate spike and experiencing tunnel vision, where he could only focus on the shooter. He was also surprised by KRZ PDQ\ VKRWV KH ¿UHG LQ less than one second. Randall asked him how he felt after the simulation. “Not comfortable at all,” he said. Detective Thomas Litwin operated the simulation. He controlled the outcome of each scenario. For one where a mother and daughter were ¿JKWLQJ /LWZLQ FRXOG VHOHFW three options: Mother shoots daughter, mother complies or mother commits suicide. After each simulation, the participants were asked why they did or did not use their ¿UHDUP(DFKSHUVRQGHVFULEHG how the incidents happened so fast they were often unable to react in time. One student shot an un- armed drunk in a bar, while another accidentally shot an RI¿FHU ZKLOH VHDUFKLQJ IRU DQ active shooter in a school. Astoria Police Officer Andrew Randall speaks with Craig Yamasaki after Yamasaki’s ses- sion with the use-of-force simulator. After each person used the simulator, the class had a discussion about how it went and if situations could have been handled differently. “We have to explain why we did what we did because we are held accountable for what our actions are and what we based those upon,” Randall said. “We have to be able to articulate that, and this a good time to do that as a police of- ¿FHU´ A shootout took place be- fore the man took police on a high-speed chase that ended on U.S. Highway 26. Johnston explained how the shots the RI¿FHUV¿UHGDWWKHKRWHOZHUH warranted. He handed out the use-of- force review completed on the case. Back-and-forth “When we look at review- discussion ing the use of force, we are When Johnston addressed ORRNLQJ DW ZKDW WKH RI¿FHU WKH VWXGHQWV GXULQJ WKH ¿QDO knew or should have reason- session, he showed a patrol vid- ably known at the time they eo from a police shooting in As- used force,” Johnston said. toria at the Lamplighter Motel ³:H DUH ORRNLQJ DW WKH RI¿ in February 2012. The incident cer’s mind at the time they involved two Astoria Police used force.” RI¿FHUV UHVSRQGLQJ WR D PDQ Johnston then showed the in the hotel, who was building YLGHR RI D SROLFH RI¿FHU LQ silencers for weapons. North Charleston, S.C., who was charged with murder this spring after shooting and kill- ing a man, who was running away. “What you just watched is a criminal act, that is no use of force,” Johnston said. The two videos helped spark a discussion with the stu- dents. The back-and-forth dia- logue is something Johnston wants to continue at future citizen academies and with the community as a whole. “Anytime we can bring a connection between the com- munity and the police depart- ment we are doing a great service,” Johnston said. “ I don’t know many better ways to build relationships with the community.” Plea deal: He has to register as a sex offender Continued from Page 1A The allegations surfaced when the girl was at a camp and was told to write down a wish on a piece of paper. She wrote something in regard to how she wished she could tell her moth- er about the abuse, or how she wished Mitchell would stop, Buzzard said. The tampering and bribing charges relate to Mitchell send- ing emails to the victim and her mother with scripts about what to say if questioned by law enforce- PHQWRI¿FLDOVDQGSURPLVLQJWKH girl a trip to Disneyland if she stayed quiet. “She is not doing this for any type of vindictiveness or to get him out of her life,” Buzzard said. “She did want him out of her life, but that is because he was touching her improperly.” Mitchell was original- ly charged with 30 counts of ¿UVWGHJUHH VH[XDO DEXVH WZR counts of tampering with a wit- ness and one count of bribing a witness. The other charges were dropped and he pleaded to a less- er charge of attempted sex abuse, as part of the plea deal. At the court hearing Thurs- day, Mitchell acknowledged friends and family who support- ed him over the past year, and hoped the settlement offered some closure for them. About two dozen people at- tended the court hearing , some in support of Mitchell and some Michel Mitchell, right, appears with his lawyer, Jay Frank, left, during a sentencing hearing at the Clatsop County Court- house Thursday. Joshua Bessex The Daily Astorian Visit us online at www.DailyAstorian.com Columbia River Maritime Museum in support of the victim and her family. The same closure Mitchell hoped for was not felt by the vic- tim’s grandmother and mother, who also spoke during the hear- ing . The girl’s mother detailed what her daughter had to endure to get Mitchell convicted. The past year consisted of an inter- view at Clatsop County’s child abuse resource center, a three- hour medical examination for sexual assault and sitting through a grand jury hearing, where she had to relive the details of the case. “My daughter, like all of the many victims of sex crimes, will live with this the rest of her life, dealing with what Mitchell did to her ,” she said. She shared statistics from the National Crime Victimization Survey by the U.S. Department of Justice that show sexual as- sault is one of the most under- reported crimes, with 68 percent not being reported. Children be- tween the ages of 7 to 13 are the most vulnerable to sexual abuse, statistics show. “When my daughter met Mitchell, she was a beautiful, joyful 7-year-old child,” the girl’s mother said. “He stole her beauty and innocence by violating her, and left her with permanent emo- tional and psychological damage that she may never overcome.” While on probation, Mitchell will be required have no contact with the girl or her family, and complete drug, alcohol and sex offender treatments and evalua- tions. In addition, he will have to register as a sex offender. “I hope you keep an open mind and welcome the opportu- nities that are presented to you while on supervision,” Judge Matyas said. “That is the only way you will be successful, and I hope you are successful.” Teen A rt W eek A ugust 1 0 -1 4 Barbey Maritime Center Monday – Friday 9 am to 3 pm Friday Art Show 4 pm - 6 pm $100 Museum members $125 non-members Explore your creativity and be inspired this summer at the Columbia River Maritime Museum! Summer Art Week provides one of a kind opportunities for teens to unleash their imaginations and develop their art making skills. Delve into the local galleries of Astoria for inspiration as we dive into a variety of mediums including: fiber arts, sculpture, painting, drawing and more. The week will culminate with an evening art show that will highlight and exhibit participant’s creations at the Barbey Maritime Center. To register, please contact Education Program Coordinator, Christine Fleming at: fleming@crmm.org or 503 – 325 – 2323
