Ohio just says ‘No’ to pot Tigers, Gulls take game to overtime ELECTIONS • 7A SPORTS • 4A 143rd YEAR, No. 91 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2015 ONE DOLLAR LEARNING HAPPENS BEHIND THESE WALLS Spurned hotelier sues Port over bias Riverwalk Inn suitor claims family ties thwarted deal By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Inmates do classwork in the computer lab at the South Jetty High School Monday. More photos on www.dailyastorian.com 6RXWK-HWW\+LJK6FKRROKHOSV\RXQJIHORQV¿QGDEHWWHUZD\ By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian W ARRENTON — From the outside, the North Coast Youth Correctional Facility looks fair- ly nondescript, a secluded, walled-in green and beige complex in the woods near Costco. The facility houses a continually rotating population of up to 50 young inmates between the ages of 14 and 21, mostly invisible to local residents. But inside the walls, employees are engaged on the front lines of trying to prevent some of Oregon’s most troubled youths from a fur- ther life of crime through drug and alcohol treatment, education and job training. “We do great work with tough kids,” said James Sapper, an Or- egon Youth Authority employee who helped start the facility in barracks at Camp Rilea nearly 20 years ago and took over as director in December. More than two-thirds of the LQPDWHV DUH DI¿OLDWHG ZLWK JDQJV from Portland and Salem, Sapper said, and many have dealt with substance abuse, been taken ad- vantage of by adults and largely lacked role models. His group life coordinators, guards for the youth offenders, handle their daily living needs. Joining Sapper Monday for an interview and tour of the facility was Richard Glinert, principal of the South Jetty High School, oper- ated by the Warrenton-Hammond School District within the prison. Glinert oversees the three teachers DQG¿YHHGXFDWLRQDODVVLVWDQWVZKR help the high-school-age inmates toward a diploma or GED exam. The two spoke with pride about the 25 students who, after coming into South Jetty with varying stag- es of a high school education and personal issues, have earned their diplomas since January. La’Braye Franklin speaks during an interview with The Daily Astorian. Franklin came to South Jetty in May as a high school junior needing 12 credits to graduate. He has earned those credits over the last six months and plans to graduate with his diploma in the coming weeks. See SCHOOL, Page 10A Kathy Merritt, a librarian at Warrenton Grade School, holds up a children’s book during a presentation about how to read out loud to children. The presentation is part of a program that allows the prisoners to record themselves reading children’s books to give to younger members of their family. Family pursues legal action over suicide County, CBH failed to protect woman from harm, claim alleges By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian The family of the woman who jumped from the Astoria Bridge in April is preparing a lawsuit against Clatsop County and Clatsop Behav- ioral Healthcare, alleging her suicide was preventable and that the county and the private mental health provid- er failed statutory and moral obliga- tions to protect her from harm. Carrie Barnhart, a 54-year-old mother of six, had chronic men- tal illness and committed suicide a week after Astoria Police pulled her from the bridge after midnight and took her to Columbia Memorial Hospital, where she was evaluated by Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare and released after two hours. Astoria Police had responded to suicide threats from Barnhart four times between January and April, and her family disclosed several other instances over the previous year where she had threatened to kill herself. See SUICIDE, Page 10A Submitted Photo A makeshift memorial under the As- toria Bridge honors Carrie Barnhart, who committed suicide in April. Ganesh Sonpatki, the Portland hotelier who has long tried and been spurned in his attempts to assume the lease of the Astoria Riverwalk ,QQKDV¿OHGVXLWDJDLQVWWKH3RUWRI Astoria, which owns the hotel, and the hotel’s current operators, Astoria Hospitality Ventures LLC. Sonpatki’s lawyer, Colin Hunter, ¿OHGWKHODZVXLW7XHVGD\LQ&ODWVRS County Circuit Court on behalf of the Param Hotel Group, which op- erates several budget hotels in the Portland metro area. The suit names the Port and Executive Director Jim Knight as defendants, along with Hospitality Ventures owners Chester Trabucco and William Orr. Param seeks relief for the alleged violation RIDVSHFL¿FSHUIRUPDQFHEUHDFKRI contract, fraud and intentional inter- ference with economic relations. See HOTELIER, Page 10A Seaside schools score a solid YES ‘An exciting time for students and staff,’ says superintendent By KATHERINE LACAZE EO Media Group SEASIDE — Nearly 70 percent of voters in Seaside School District 10 passed a ballot measure to renew a local option tax to help fund oper- DWLRQV LQ WKH GLVWULFW IRU ¿YH \HDUV starting 2016 . $FFRUGLQJWRWKHWKLUGXQRI¿FLDO results from the Clatsop County (OHFWLRQV2I¿FHEDOORWVZHUH cast, with 2,127, or about 70 per- FHQW VXSSRUWLQJ WKH PHDVXUH voters voted no. “What an exciting time for our students and staff!” Seaside School District 10 Superintendent Dr. Doug Dougherty said in an email shortly after the numbers were in. “Our FRPPXQLW\KDVSDVVHGLWV¿IWKFRQ secutive local option levy for Seaside School District. I’m very grateful to everyone who supported the students in the election.” Steve Phil- lips, chairman Doug of the district’s Dougherty board of direc- tors, said the local option tax renewal was im- portant because it “allows everyone to move forward in a positive man- ner.” ³2YHU WKH QH[W ¿YH \HDUV WKLV investment in our students will con- tinue to directly support the classes and the variety of program offer- ings our students access on a daily basis,” Dougherty added. See ELECTION, Page 7A