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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 2015)
Tiny Oregon school to reopen Parklets could be coming to Astoria PAGE 7A PAGE 3A 143rd YEAR, No. 25 TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2015 ONE DOLLAR Wildfire scorches 27 acres at Fort Stevens End of an era Park closed for mop up By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Mike Sarin, with Big River Excavating, uses an excavator to tear down a section of siding from the John Warren Field grandstands Monday. Crews tear down the grandstands at John Warren Field A car drives by a section of grandstands that has been torn down at John Warren Field Monday. By JOSHUA BESSEX The Daily Astorian C rews from Big River Exca- vating used chainsaws and excavators Monday to tear down the grandstands at John War- ren Field. 7he ¿eld, which opened as Gyro Field for a baseball game in and ¿rst hosted Astoria +igh School football in , was the backdrop for generations of Friday night memories. 7he ¿eld also had a cameo in the 8 movie ³7he Goonies.´ The property was transferred from the Astoria School District to Columbia Memorial Hospital as part of a deal that resulted in the new Astoria Sports Complex on Williamsport Road. The excavating crew expects to be ¿nished with the grandstands sometime today. Joshua Bessex The Daily Astorian WARRENTON — A popular ¿shing area near the South Jetty in Fort Stevens State Park remains closed today as ¿re crews mop up a brush ¿re that burned acres. The public is not able to access parking lots C or D at the South Jet- ty until the area is cleared. There is no timetable for when the lots will reopen. The ¿re started at about p.m. Monday. An enormous column of smoke could be seen drifting east- ward from where the South Jetty joins the mainland. While a cause is still being de- termined, the ¿re grew from a west wind combined with the same tin- der-dry conditions throughout the region that have brought ¿re danger to a high level. ³It¶s a wake-up call to how dry it really is,´ Warrenton Fire Chief Tim Demers said. ³Even the coast is dry.´ No structures or campgrounds were threatened by the ¿re. Flames did burn up to the sand dunes near the jetty stones before running out of fuel. The ¿re consumed beach grass, shrubs, shore pine and Sitka spruce trees. See FIRE, Page 12A Communications tower could move from Coxcomb Hill Verizon Wireless had resisted idea By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian of Corrections does ¿nally come, the county will have to decide whether to house Brush in the small county jail, The city could ¿nally move a communications tower off Coxcomb Hill that many think is a scar on a park home to the Astoria Column. In a deal with Verizon Wireless, the city would get to use a new com- munications tower with Verizon on Reservoir Ridge, east of Coxcomb Hill, while Verizon would also erect a monopole at Shively Park and equipment on top of the Astor Hotel. The agreement, approved by the City Council Monday night, should improve the city¶s emergen- cy communications and Verizon¶s cellphone and mobile broadband service. The city has wanted the commu- nications tower off Coxcomb Hill for several years, but the deal with Verizon became intertwined with questions about transparency in city spending, preferential treatment for the wealthy benefactors of the As- toria Column, and a strange attempt by a young man to perform a citi- zen¶s arrest of the mayor and police chief. Even in the end, some on the City Council were disappointed Verizon would get a -foot monopole at Shively Park, which, while not as visually prominent as the lattice tower at the entrance of Coxcomb Hill, could still change the character of a city park. See BRUSH, Page 12A See TOWER, Page 12A Siding from the grandstands rests in a pile. Joshua Bessex The Daily Astorian What cell for Brian Brush? Authorities seek custody options for ex-Oregon cop coming back for re-sentencing By NATALIE ST. JOHN EO Media Group EO Media Group 6O87+ %(1' :ash ² 3aci¿c County Jail staff have been expecting Brian Brush to return to their custody since early July, when the state Su- preme Court threw out his exceptional 88-year prison sentence and ordered the county to re-sentence him. But a month has passed, and coun- ty of¿cials still don¶t know when the state Department of Corrections plans Brian Brush appeared in Pacific County, Wash., Superior Court in August 2010 for sentencing for first-degree murder. His sentence having been overruled by the Washington Supreme Court, authorities are trying to de- termine where to house him, pending new proceedings in South Bend. to transfer Brush, who was convicted of ¿rst-degree murder for the Sept. , shooting of his ex-¿ancpe /isa Bonney. When the call from Department