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10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2015 The Harbor: 1RQSUR¿WLVVWLOO building out its new headquarters Continued from Page 1A Schermerhorn said the move was a surprise to the board, which placed Soder- berg on leave shortly there- after. He would not go into detail about why Soderberg is on leave, saying The Har- bor is “in the middle of an employee situation” involv- ing Soderberg. 7KH QRQSUR¿W¶V JRY- erning board had Wright and The Harbor’s Busi- ness Manager Jessica Hinman-Seeley take over Soderberg’s duties. Scher- PHUKRUQ VDLG WKH QRQSUR¿W is looking for another in- terim director through the 1RQSUR¿W $VVRFLDWLRQ RI Oregon and hopes to hire a new permanent director within three months, work- ing with the association and the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sex- ual Violence. Wright said all the ser- vices of The Harbor are running as normal. “I think I’ve really learned how important our organization is to the com- munity through this pro- cess,” Wright said. “We have a strong group of ad- vocates, and they are con- tinuing their services the way that they always have.” The Harbor includes six full-time and eight part- time employees. The board includes Schermerhorn, Chris Palmer, Janet Moss- man, Stephen Hildreth and Gregg Polidori. Schermer- KRUQ VDLG WKH QRQSUR¿W LV looking for several more board members to help build community partner- ships and secure grants. There are “so many dif- ferent services and things we provide,” Schermerhorn said. “We’re trying to have more oversight into the dif- ferent services.” New home The Harbor is still build- ing out a new headquarters in the Van Dusen building, gifted to the nonprofit in 2012 by late Pig ’n Pan- cake owner and co-founder Robert Poole. The Harbor hopes to relocate Deja Vu, whose sales support the nonprofit, by the end of the year. “Right now, they’re put- ting up Sheetrock, and get- ting ready and prepping for painting,” Wright said. In its September news- letter, The Harbor an- nounced it needs $50,000 more to complete the re- model of the building, which includes Deja Vu and the Sexual Assault Peer Center downstairs and do- mestic violence advocates and The Harbor’s adminis- trative offices upstairs. Wright said the entire project has a budget of $350,000, not including the $50,000 to $90,000 it would FRVWWR¿[DQHOHYDWRULQWKH building. She said the inside of Deja Vu will include shades of beige and purple, the color of domestic violence awareness. Crash: The suspect drove over lawns and down walking paths At one point, Sanders stopped and tried to steal a 'HSXW\ 3DXO :LOOLDPV ¿UVW Clatsop County parks de- saw the suspect speed past partment pickup truck, but in Seaside and head north- the keys were not inside the bound on U.S. Highway vehicle. He then got back 101. into his 1995 Nissan Maxi- “He took the ma. corner and almost Warrenton Po- hit me,” Williams lice Chief Matt said. “I turned Workman re- around to pursue sponded to the the vehicle north Cullaby Lake area on U.S. Highway and happened to 101.” ¿QG6DQGHUVGULY- Williams, ing toward him. driving his pa- “He ended up trol pickup truck, coming straight at eventually lost me and I pursued Donald A. sight of the sus- him for a bit,” Sanders pect’s vehicle. Workman said. Sanders continued on to the The suspect lost con- neighborhood around Culla- trol, crashed near the dep- by Lake. He drove through uty sheriff’s house and ran barricades and went over on foot. He broke into the lawns and down walking house on the 33000 block paths. of Cullaby Lake Lane, “He was hauling down according to law enforce- a walking trail on a county ment, and allegedly as- park that gets pretty heavy saulted the deputy’s wife. use. Luckily no one was The deputy sheriff grabbed on it at the time,” Williams Sanders and Workman ar- said. rested him. Continued from Page 1A College workshop teaches basics of grant-writing The Daily Astorian Clatsop Community College is hosting a free workshop on proposal writ- ing from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Oct. 22 in the college’s Dora Ba- dollet Library at 1680 Lex- ington Ave. in Astoria. The workshop is pre- sented by visiting staff of the Foundation Center’s Funding Information Net- work. The class provides an overview of how to write a standard project proposal to a foundation, including basic elements of a pro- posal, “dos” and “don’ts” of writing and submitting a proposal and how to follow up, whether the answer is yes or no. For more information on the workshop and to regis- ter, visit www.foundation- center.org Both electronic and print materials in the Funding Information Network col- lection are available to all grant-seekers in the Dora Badollet Library. The li- brary is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. The library also wel- comes general use by the community. Materials may be used in the library at any time and checked out by those holding a library card from an Oregon Library Passport Program partici- pant, or through a commu- nity patron membership. For more information, visit lrc.clatsopcc.edu Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard Candida Miller, left, and Brandon Snyder leave flowers at a site of a growing memorial to victims of the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg on Tuesday. Mother-son bond over guns links Oregon and Connecticut slayings By GOSIA WOZNIACKA and BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press PORTLAND — The dead- ly shooting last week at an Oregon community college has an eerie parallel with the massacre at Sandy Hook El- ementary School that killed 20 pupils and six adult staff members in 2012. Like Adam Lanza, the gunman in the Connecticut massacre, Christopher Harp- er-Mercer was living a mostly solitary life with a mom who shared his fascination with ¿UHDUPV Both stories illustrate the struggles parents face caring for a deeply troubled child, struggles that can inadvertent- ly lead to a volatile outcome made easier by ready access to weaponry. “When you begin to bring guns into the home environ- ment where you have that dangerous cocktail of be- havior, that’s pretty unbe- lievable,” said Mary Ellen 2¶7RROHDIRUPHU)%,SUR¿O- er who directs George Mason University’s forensic science program. Harper-Mercer bears simi- larities to other school shoot- ers: a young male focused on mass lethality and carry- ing out the killings in a mil- itary-like mission destined to end in the killer’s own death, O’Toole said. He was a loner in his 20s like James Holmes, who killed 12 people in a cinema in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012; Jared Loughner, who serious- ly wounded Rep. Gabby Gif- fords and killed six in Tucson, Arizona, in 2011; and Elliot Rodger, who killed six people near the University of Califor- nia, Santa Barbara, campus last year. Like Rodger, he left be- hind a note that complained ‘When you begin to bring guns into the home environment where you have that dangerous cocktail of behavior, that’s pretty unbelievable.’ lican Army. Neighbors in the Los Angeles-area suburb of Torrance, where the mother and son lived before moving to Oregon, recalled him as un- communicative, having child- OLNH WDQWUXPV DQG ORXG ¿JKWV with his mother, who was overprotective of him. Adam Lanza’s mother Nancy Lanza also struggled with her son, who had devel- Mary Ellen O’Toole a former FBI profiler who directs George Mason opmental issues from early University’s forensic science program childhood, according to a re- port released last November E\ WKH &RQQHFWLFXW 2I¿FH RI about not having a girlfriend. violence, he said. But the comparison to Laurel Harper’s online the Child Advocate. The report said Lanza’s Lanza extends to the relation- postings don’t indicate she ships both shooters had with knew her son had violent ten- mother, like Harper-Mercer’s, their mothers and guns. dencies, but it is clear she rel- was doting. She attempted to eliminate disruptions to Adam Both women were long- ished her weapons. time gun enthusiasts, not Investigators found eight Lanza’s life “entirely through uncommon in many parts of guns in the apartment she hypervigilance and manage- America where gun own- shared with her son near the ment of his symptoms.” In ership is prevalent and en- North Umpqua River and an- emails to her son, she wrote couraged. The two mothers other six at the school where she loved him and wanted him amassed weapons and took he killed eight students and a to be happy, according to the their sons to shooting ranges, professor before killing him- report. But Nancy Lanza isolated according to the investigation self last week. into the Sandy Hook shooting She wrote enthusiastically her son from the world. And and the Daily Breeze news- DERXW DVVDXOW ULÀHV DQG SLV- while she sought some treat- paper in Torrance, California, tols and derided gun-control ment for him, she rejected where Harper lived for years efforts in “lame states,” in a other help and was in denial with her son. three-year-old posting on Ya- about her son’s illness. The It’s easy to judge them in hoo! Answers that is linked to teen became increasingly pre- hindsight, but deeply strained an email address associated occupied with mass murder and engaged in a cyber-com- and complicated relationships with her. often lead to bad or desperate “I keep two full mags in munity of mass murder en- parental decisions with tragic my Glock case,” she wrote. thusiasts. Before the shoot- consequences, said psycholo- “No one will be ‘dropping’ by ing, he lived in virtual social isolation, spent months in his gist Peter Langman, author of my house uninvited.” two books on school shooters. Harper could not be locat- bedroom with the windows Many troubled young people ed for comment and has not blacked out, and communi- are so impaired they’re inca- returned messages left by The cated with his mother only pable of living on their own. Associated Press at her home. through email. The report says access to “In some cases, (parents) The nurse, who moved don’t recognize there’s a to rural Oregon with her son assault weapons with high problem,” Langman said. “In from the Los Angeles area capacity magazines “did play other cases, they’re aware of two years ago, speaks frankly a major role” in the Sandy their child’s mental health is- in the postings about her son’s Hook massacre, alongside sues, but they don’t see any Asperger’s syndrome, a mild inadequate and uncoordi- evidence of violence, so they form of autism. Investigators nated mental health services don’t see any reason not to said she told them he had and Adam Lanza’s extreme preoccupation with violence. take their kid target shooting.” mental health issues. Parents may also use guns 6RFLDO SUR¿OHV OLQNHG WR His mother, it notes, “seemed to bond with a mentally trou- her son suggested he tracked unaware of any potential det- bled, isolated child who is other mass shootings and was rimental impact of providing obsessed with weapons and fascinated by the Irish Repub- XQIHWWHUHGDFFHVVWR¿UHDUPV´ Clamming: Activity draws thousands Continued from Page 1A Levels in Twin Harbors, however, dropped from 68 ppm to 44 ppm, still above the threshold. Twin Harbors is the coastline between the mouths of Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor. In Washington, only one beach currently has clams that are safe to eat — Co- palis, the coast immediately north of the mouth of Grays Harbor. Ayres said this puts the department in a bit of a quandry. If a second round of test- ing comes back clean, “Do we open just one beach?” he said. ³)URPD¿VKHULHVPDQDJH- ment standpoint, we’d think real hard about that,” he had said earlier. “We don’t want to jam up one beach ... it just turns into a train wreck.” Favorable clam tides will occur at the end of October and again in mid-November. With levels still high every- where else, Ayres says Fish and Wildlife probably won’t schedule any October digs. In Oregon, levels remain high and the Clatsop County states with the arrival of mas- sive algal blooms and domoic acid. These blooms — perhaps the largest ever recorded on the West Coast, say state and federal scientists — later led to the closure of commercial and recreational Dungeness FUDE¿VKHULHVDORQJPLOHV of Washington’s coast. Ra- zor clams are a major com- ponent of the crabs’ diets, and levels in sampled crabs’ guts (viscera) eventually hit EO Media Group/File Photo above the 30 ppm allowed Razor clamming days can bring long lines of vehicles by the Department of Health. to local beach approaches, along with many dollars for Though domoic acid levels in coastal businesses. After the latest marine-toxin test re- razor clams remained high in sults, it will be at least another month before clamming Oregon, crabbing remained will resume in Oregon and Washington. open. 7KRXJK EHQH¿FLDO WR beaches will likely remain SRSXODU DFWLYLW\ LQ 3DFL¿F ocean ecosystems under nor- closed to clamming at least and Clatsop counties, draw- mal circumstances, domoic until November, too. In Coos ing thousands of people acid can be deadly to hu- Bay, samples came back with when the tides are favorable. PDQV ,I FRQVXPHG LQ VXI¿- domoic acid levels at 99 parts In Long Beach, diggers will cient quantities, it can cause line the beaches for miles. In permanent brain damage per million. Washington last year, Fish and even death. Other mam- Down and up and Wildlife was able to open mals such as sea lions can It is not uncommon for 104 days for digging — the slowly accumulate too much levels to jump back up just as most it has ever allowed in and suffer similar nerve im- they seem to be inching down, more than 30 years. pairment that leads to death. VWDWH¿VKHU\PDQDJHUVVD\ But the season came to an Cooking and freezing will Razor clam digging is a abrupt end this spring in both not get rid of it in food.
