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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 2015)
143rd YEAR, No. 107 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2015 ONE DOLLAR Marquis weighs charges against ex-inn operator Smithart owes the Port and the city By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian From left: Volunteers Victor Kee and George Stecher, and Clatsop Community Action Food Bank Director Marlin Martin, prepare cuts of elk meat to be ground up and given to families during Thanksgiving. Poached game helps feed hungry Fish, game provide meals on Thanksgiving See SMITHART, Page 6A Paci¿ c County 911 ¿ nds ‘big’ error By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian W ildlife of¿ cials never want to see unlawfully killed game go to waste. Through an agreement with the Clatsop Community Action Re- gional Food Bank, the Oregon De- partment of Fish and Wildlife, Ore- gon 6tate 3olice and local ¿ sheries and hatcheries donate recovered ¿ sh, elk and deer . The meat from illegally killed game will provide meals to hun- dreds of families in Clatsop County this Thanksgiving. Since the food bank started ac- cepting wild game in 2011, more than 100,000 pounds of fresh ¿ sh and game have been processed. “It’s really invaluable to folks to get this,” Marlin Martin, director of the CCA Regional Food Bank, said. No other food bank in the state accepts and processes fresh meat in-house. Other food banks have to pay to have the meat processed. A designated kitchen area inside the f ood b ank’s distribution center in Warrenton allows volunteers to butcher the donated meat. Wild- life of¿ cials dress the meat, and volunteers ¿ nish processing it by cutting the meat off the bones. Elk and deer are all grounded into ham- burger meat. “If you can eat it, we will butch- Accounting goof results in $176,115 mistake Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Volunteer Darlene Webster packages ground -up elk meat. er it,” volunteer Victor Kee said. Last week, Oregon State Police’s Fish and Wildlife Division brought in seven unlawfully killed elk. Some were accidentally killed, while others were poached. The food bank estimates the seven elk will create more than 4,000 meals over Thanksgiving. “That adds up to a lot of meat,” Sgt. Joe Warwick said. About half of the con¿ scated meat comes from hunters self-re- porting their mistakes, and the other half is from poaching cases, Warwick said. Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian See GAME, Page 6A Cuts of elk meat are piled in a box to go to the meat grinder. In from the bitter cold: warming center reopens New church location helps shelter Astoria homeless By ERICK BENGEL The Daily Astorian The temperature in As- toria dropped to 34 degrees Tuesday night, and 19 people, who may otherwise have had to sleep outside, instead slept soundly in a 69-degree shel- ter: the basement of the First See CENTER, Page 6A The Clatsop County District At- torney is considering whether to press charges against Brad Smithart, the heavily indebted former operator of the Astoria Riverwalk Inn. It has been nearly two months since the Port of Astoria Commission voted to let Astoria Hospitality Ven- tures, led by Astoria natives William Orr and Chester Trabucco, run the inn for the short-term. Smithart and his company, Hospitality Masters, still owe the city of Astoria $114,000 and the Port another $324,000 . The Astoria Police Department recently handed information on Smi- thart’s tab with the city over to Dis- trict Attorney Josh MarTuis’ of¿ ce. Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Volunteers Steve Swenson, left, and Rory Gerard, center, help check people into the warming center at First United Methodist Church Tuesday. By KATHERYN HOUGHTON EO Media Group SO8TH BEND, Wash. ² Paci¿ c County Communications made an accounting error that led to spiked costs for local 911 user agencies . Paci¿ c County’s Emergency Management Director Stephanie Fritts had said earlier this month that the error equaled roughly $165,000. However, on Monday County Ad- ministrative Of¿ cer and Risk Man- ager Kathy Spoor said the error to- taled $176,115. Spoor said the error was identi- ¿ ed during the summer and was an- nounced at an administrative board meeting, although she didn’t remem- ber exactly who was present. See ERROR, Page 3A