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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 2015)
NORTH COAST THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2015 3A Seaside man who tried to escape jail pleads guilty to charges ment, the other charges — in- cluding attempted murder — were dropped. The Seaside man who tried Burnham could face about escaping last month from six years in prison for the Clatsop County Jail while in robbery charge and another custody for an attempted mur- two years for the attempted der charge from a hammer at- escape. tack has pleaded guilty. A sentencing hearing is Kevin Michael Burnham, scheduled next month in Clat- 25, pleaded guilty last week to sop County Circuit Court. a lesser charge of second-de- Burnham was arrested JUHH UREEHU\ DQG ¿UVWGHJUHH with Joshua Lee Fitch, 23, of attempted escape. He also Longview, Wash., in Seaside pleaded guilty to unlawful in February after a weeklong possession of methamphet- investigation into the hammer amine from a previous case. attack. As part of the plea agree- Seaside Police had re- By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian sponded to Prov- another inmate, idence Seaside Anthony Craig Hospital after re- Osborne, attempt- ceiving a report ed to escape from of a man who Clatsop County suffered a serious Jail. The two in- head injury. The mates broke off man reported be- a shower drain ing assaulted with grate, tied it to hammers by two a bedsheet and Burnham other men, later swung it against LGHQWL¿HGDV%XUQ- a window about ham and Fitch. 20 times until the window )LWFKLVVFKHGXOHGIRUD¿- shattered. A couple of more nal resolution conference next swings and they could have month. broken through the window, While in custody on which is large enough for $250,000 bail, Burnham and them to get through. Driver in fatal crash pleads not guilty weeks after be- was traveling ing indicted. She westbound when has since been she crossed the Michelle Lynn Fletcher, transferred to double solid cen- the driver in a fatal crash last Clatsop County terline and side- summer that killed a War- Jail, where she swiped an east- renton man and injured two is in custody on bound 1993 Ford others, pleaded not guilty $250,000 bail. pickup, accord- last week in Clatsop County She appeared ing to the Oregon Circuit Court. in court last State Police. Fletcher Fletcher, 40, of Longview, week via video She was trav- Wash., was indicted in July link from the jail eling with two RQ FKDUJHV RI ¿UVWGHJUHH to plead not guilty to the passengers — Warrenton manslaughter, second-degree charges. residents Arthur Romine Jr. assault, third-degree assault, The fatal crash occurred and Bryce William Saran- GULYLQJ XQGHU WKH LQÀXHQFH just before 7 a.m. on July paa. of intoxicants and driving 25, 2014 about three miles Saranpaa, 43, died at while license is suspended. east of Astoria on Highway the scene. He was riding Cowlitz County Sher- 30 near Liberty Lane. in the back seat and was iff’s Office arrested Fletch- Fletcher, driving a 1999 not using safety restraints, er on a fugitive warrant two Toyota Tacoma pickup, according to state police. By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian Romine Jr. was not injured. Fletcher was se- riously injured and extri- cated by firefighters. Both were using safety restraints and the pickup’s airbags deployed, state police said. The Ford pickup had two occupants. The driver had non-life threatening in- juries and a passenger was not injured. According to the indict- ment, Fletcher is accused of being under the influ- ence of a controlled sub- stance at the time of the crash. She is due back in court next month for an early resolution conference. Learn to avoid bear problems at forum mother bear and her two cubs from a tree in the Safari RV Park, where bears had gotten accustomed to raiding an unse- cured dumpster. By NATALIE ST. JOHN EO Media Group LONG BEACH, Wash. — 2I¿FHUV IURP WKH :DVKLQJWRQ Department of Fish and Wildlife on Aug. 27 will hold a commu- nity forum about issues related to the peninsula’s large (and hungry) bear population. The purpose of the meeting is to “educate and inform,” Sgt. Tony Leonetti said. A biologist and enforcement RI¿FHUV IURP WKH 'HSDUWPHQW of Fish and Wildlife will give a presentation about the local population of black bears and state efforts to manage them. They will show examples of ways to secure garbage and other items that can tempt bears into populated areas. Represen- tatives from local government are expected to attend the meet- ing, which will include a ques- tion-and-answer session. Expect to coexist The bears that have visited Long Beach and Seaview re- cently aren’t necessarily “ha- bituated” to humans, and so far, there have not been any indications that they are danger- ous. With almost two bears per square mile — one of the most dense populations of bears in Roy Western Photo the lower 48 — locals should Pacific County’s large population of black bears is peace- expect to continue coexisting able, but individuals can be intimidating when encoun- with bears. tered at close quarters. Wildlife officers plan a community But they could become more meeting on Aug. 27 to offer guidance on how to avoid in- persistent in the fall, as they at- teractions that place humans and bears both at risk. tempt to fatten up before going dormant. That’s why WDFW The garbage raids tend to calls about a single incident. staff say it’s very important to occur near dunes and swampy 6WDWH ZLOGOLIH RI¿FHUV KDYH take steps now to limit contact areas on both sides of the high- dealt with a few notable local between humans and bears, way, in the area extending cases where bears with easy and prevent the animals from roughly from Sid Snyder Bou- access to human-provided food becoming dependent upon hu- Getting into garbage levard in Long Beach, to 38th lost their natural fear of hu- man-provided food sources. With plenty of blackber- Street in Seaview. The meeting will take place PDQV ,Q DQG RI¿- ries and other traditional bear The problems were preva- cers killed or relocated several at 6 p.m. at the Chautauqua food sources coming into sea- lent in the spring, when the bears unnaturally tame bears in the Lodge at 304 14th Street NW son, reports of “problem bears” emerged from their dormant pe- Sahalee neighborhood of Ilwa- in Long Beach. The meeting is GURSSHGRIIVLJQL¿FDQWO\LQ-XO\ riod with ravenous appetites. In co, where a woman was sus- expected to last one-and-a-half %XW /HRQHWWL DQG 2I¿FHU 3DXO May and June, it wasn’t unusual pected of feeding bears. Last to two hours, and is open to any- Jacobson said Long Beach and IRUWKH:'):WR¿HOGWKUHHRU \HDU RI¿FHUV DOVR KDG WR XVH one with questions or concerns Seaview residents are still hav- four complaints per day, though tranquilizer darts to remove a about local bear issues. ing semi-regular problems with Leonetti and Jacobson stress bears getting into garbage. that they often received multiple Another gay skate night in the works The Daily Astorian The Lower Columbia Q Center is hosting another gay skate night Sept. 12 at the Astoria Armory to support a meeting place for the LGBT community. All ages are welcome be- tween 7 and 9 p.m. At 9 p.m., the event transitions to adult only. Entry is $3, with $2 for skate rentals. DJ imcodefour will be spinning. Costumes and bright colors are encouraged. The Astoria Armory is lo- cated at 407 17th St. Donations at the event support the establishment of the Lower Columbia Q Cen- ter’s permanent meeting place being built in the Van Dusen Building at 10th and Duane streets, where The Harbor is establishing its new headquar- ters. charges. He is due back in court next month on the pre- vious charges and the new es- cape charges. Before the attempted es- cape, Burnham’s defense at- torney and the prosecution were negotiating a plea agree- ment in the attempted murder case. Burnham reportedly told RI¿FHUVWKHUHDVRQKHWULHGWR escape was because the Dis- WULFW $WWRUQH\¶V 2I¿FH JDYH him such a bad deal. He accepted that deal last week, pleading guilty to sec- ond-degree robbery. Federal government sets Oregon LNG hearings Draft environmental impact statement up for public comment each meeting, whichever comes ¿UVW Anyone who wants to weigh ,I D VLJQL¿FDQW QXPEHU RI in on the Federal Energy Reg- people want to provide verbal ulatory Commission’s draft en- comments, a time limit of three vironmental impact statement minutes may be implement- for the Oregon LNG project is ed for each commenter to en- encouraged to attend one of two sure that everyone wishing to public comment meetings in As- comment has the opportunity toria next month. to do so within the designated 7KH¿UVWZLOOEHKHOGIURP meeting time. Speakers should 1 to 4 p.m., Sept. 21, at the Clat- structure their oral comments sop County Fairgrounds Exhibit accordingly. If time limits are implement- Hall at 92937 Walluski Loop. • The second will be held 6 ed, they will be strictly enforced to 9 p.m., Sept. 21, at the exhibit to ensure that as many individ- uals as possible are given an hall. The commission’s staff will opportunity to comment. Oral begin signing up speakers 30 comments hold the same weight minutes before the meetings as written or electronically sub- mitted comments. begin. Additional public comment The public comment meet- ings will begin with a brief de- meetings will be held next scription of the commission’s month in Oregon and Wash- environmental review process ington state regarding the com- by commission staff, after mission’s environmental impact which speakers will be called. statement. The public comment period The meetings will end once all speakers have provided their for the document will end Oct. comments or at the end time for 6. The Daily Astorian Town hall meeting set for Neighborhood Greenway The Daily Astorian Residents are invited to dis- cuss the Neighborhood Gre- enway phase of the city’s Riv- erfront Vision Plan Thursday night at a town hall meeting. The Neighborhood Green- way, from 41st Street to 54th Street, is the third of four legs of the vision plan. The city has completed Civic Greenway — from 16th Street to 41st Street — and the Bridge Vista — from Portway Street to Sec- ond Street. The Urban Core — between Second Street and WK6WUHHW²ZLOOEHWKH¿QDO phase. The vision plan, approved in 2009, was devised to create better land use and develop- ment guidelines along the Co- lumbia River. The Astoria Planning Com- mission will host the town hall meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Hampton Inn and Suites. W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500 Jeffery G. Hille, 71 of Warrenton, passed away peacefully at home on August 14th, 2015. All that knew Jeffery are welcome to attend a viewing Thurs. August 20th, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Funeral to follow at Hughes Ransom Annual Alderbrook Picnic Sunday August 23rd, 2015 at 12:30 Violet LaPlante Park 45th and Cedar St. Astoria, Oregon Please come share Alderbrook memories and a potluck dish. Burgers and hot dogs provided. Cancelled if raining Questions can be directed to Barbara Tolboe Chappell 503-468-8219 or Dennis LaPlante at 503-568-2455 Mortuary, 576 12th St., Astoria. August 26-29 O i n k O i n k , C l u c k Herzig to hold meet-and-greet k , M o o C l u c Bringing you delicious fair food , live music, great exhibits and fun carnival rides for 119 years! WEDNESDAY Opening Ceremonies; Intro of Fair Court; Stoddard and Cole SHANGHAIED 3 1 IN ASTORIA Thursdays to Saturdays 7pm (July 9th-Sept. 12th) and Sundays 2pm (7/19, 8/16, 9/6) Tickets on sale ONE HOUR before all shows! SHANGHAIED w ith the 12th a nnua l Cro w n in g o f M iss Vivia n & Virg in ia Sponsors: N a pa Au to Pa rts of W a rren ton • O ld Tow n e F ra m in g Co. FRIDAY RESERVATIONS RECOMMENDED For discounts to Shanghaied in Astoria, go to our website Market Livestock Auction; Senior and Military Day; Lulu LaFever; Tony Wintrip AstorStreetOpryCompany.com SATURDAY 4-H Cowboy Breakfast; The VanBlaricom Family Band; Country Mile (Sponsored by Sunday Afternoon Life); Jesse Lee Falls Band; Cheerleader Demonstration; Anatize F RID AY & SATU RD AY S EPT. 18 & 19 • 7PM Topsy Turvey retu rn Carnival rides – wristband day; Scott McDougall and 2015 Fair Court Coronation 8 PM Nothing New - Main Stage Time Old ddle Fi Jam ival s Fe t ! Daily ST SEA SO N SHOW RUNS THRU SEPT. 12, 2015 THURSDAY The Daily Astorian The public is invited to meet with Astoria City Coun- cilor Drew Herzig from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Saturday in the Flag Room at the Astoria Public Library, 450 10th St. All are welcome to come and share their thoughts, sug- gestions, questions, and con- cerns about Astoria. 7KH\ WKHQ ÀRRGHG D WRLOHW in the cellblock and added VRDS WR PDNH WKH ÀRRU VOLS- pery for responding correc- WLRQVRI¿FHUV Their plan failed when FRUUHFWLRQV RI¿FHUV KHDUG WKH grate hitting the window. The RI¿FHUV GHWDLQHG WKH LQPDWHV and placed them in a more se- cure part of the jail. The estimated damage could cost between $4,000 DQG WR ¿[ DFFRUGLQJ to the jail. Osborne, 24, of Seaside, was originally in custody on theft, burglary and drug YEAR ROUND THEATER! 129 W. BOND ST UNIONTOWN ASTORIA (Behind the Chamber of Commerce) INFO: CALL 503-325-6104 s
