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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 2015)
Westport illustrated FRIDAY EXTRA • 1C 143rd YEAR, No. 118 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 • WEEKEND EDITION ONE DOLLAR Women stranded in high water Calls for help went unheeded, family says By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Di Stuppy of Seaside smiles as she picks out a teddy bear for a young child at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds Wednesday as part of the Wishing Tree p rogram. The program will help more than 600 kids this Christmas. A wish, an ornament, a promise Wishing Tree helps children in need By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian D onated gifts and food are starting to pile up at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds through the annual Astoria Wishing Tree and Food Basket Program. Since taking over the fairgrounds Monday, the program has collected enough toys for 645 chil- dren and food for more than 300 families. Barbara Roberts, the Wishing Tree c oordi- nator for the past 25 years, said she hopes to see the numbers continue to grow until the program’s “Pickup Day ” on Dec. 19. “I don’t know what we are going to expect on the 19th,” Roberts said. “As long as I have toys to give them, we are going to be OK.” The Wishing Tree program begins each year with children in need writing their gift requests on paper bell orna- ments, which are then placed on Christmas trees in local businesses around the area. Those interested in donating can act as a “se- cret Santa ” and take a paper bell off one of the trees. Purchased gifts for the children are placed unwrapped under the trees. Volunteers gather the gifts and bring them to the fairgrounds, where they are organized for Pickup Day. There are still many paper bell ornaments hanging on trees, Roberts said. Popular gift requests this year are for Legos, items from the movie “Frozen,” and Barbies. Volunteer support Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Stuffed toys sit in a bag at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds . unteers to collect the presents from under the trees each day and organize them back at the fair- grounds. Volunteers also help sort additional do- QDWLRQVDQGXVHWKHPWR¿OODQ\JDSVZLWKDFKLOG¶V wish on their bell ornaments. It’s a system that has worked for a quarter cen- tury. “She works on it all year long,” Steve Roberts, Barbara’s husband, said. “It took us years to get everything to where it is now.” This year, the volunteers have been assisted by some Astoria High School students. The students are participating in the program as part of their se- nior projects. Each student must put in 20 hours of Roberts relies on the help of about eight vol- WISHING TREES • Wauna Credit Union , 100 Columbia Ave., Astoria • Wauna Credit Union , 107 U.S. Highway 101, Warrenton • Wells Fargo, 1218 Commercial St., Astoria • TLC Credit Union, 85 W Marine Drive , Astoria • Fred Meyer , 695 U.S. Highway 101, Warrenton • Safeway, 3250 Lief Erikson Drive, Astoria • Bank of the Pacific, 303 11th St., Astoria • Columbia Bank, 1122 Duane St., Astoria • Columbia Bank, 630 Marlin Drive, Warrenton • Astoria Aquatic Center, 1997 Marine Drive , Astoria • McDonald’s, 645 Marine Drive, Astoria • Video Horizons, 750 Astor St., Astoria See WISHING TREE, Page 9A For Astoria distillery, brand competition is sobering Owner changed name to avoid trademark suit By CYNTHIA WASHICKO EO Media Group When a California brew- ery threatened a trademark lawsuit against his Astoria distillery, Larry Cary opted to change the name of his grow- ing business rather than go to court. Formerly North Coast Distilling, Cary’s downtown Astoria storefront and tasting room in Seaside now sport the name Pilot House Spirits. The rebranding cost him more than $10,000, a price that in- cluded legal fees as well as changing signage and printing new bottle labels. North Coast Brewing, a Fort Bragg, California, brew- ery that opened in 1988, is known for craft beer, not spir- its like Cary’s hand-crafted See DISTILLERY, Page 9A Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian Larry Cary changed the name of his North Coast Distilling to Pilot House Spirits to avoid a trade- mark challenge. 7XHVGD\ QLJKW¶V UDLQ DQG ÀRRGLQJ brought a night of trauma for an Astoria family. Kari Steadman was returning home with her aunt, Marilyn Keno, home from a medical appointment. They had driven west through high water on U.S. Highway 26 the whole way, when they exited at the U.S. Highway 101 junc- tion headed north to Seaside at about 7 p.m. $VUDLQLQWHQVL¿HG.HQRGURYH her Ford Taurus, “slow, very carefully, but they had no idea the water was so high,” Steadman’s mother, Patti Brock- hoff, said. “As soon as they hit the water, the car stalled and they started ÀRRGLQJ´ Steadman was in the passenger seat. See STRANDED, Page 7A Driver in fatal crash high on meth Longview, Wash., woman sentenced to six-plus years By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian The amount of methamphetamine in Michelle Lynn Fletcher’s body was considered off the charts when she crashed her pickup truck last summer, killing a Warrenton man and injuring two others. Fletcher had more than 1,300 nanograms of methamphetamine in her blood at the time of the crash. Drivers are considered incapable of safely driving with more than 100 nanograms in their system. “This crash was caused by Michelle her being so Lynn Fletcher high on meth,” Clatsop County Chief Deputy District Attorney Ron Brown said. Fletcher, 40, of Longview, Wash- ington , was sentenced to more than six years in prison Thursday during a hearing in Clatsop County Circuit Court. Last month, she pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide, two counts of fourth-degree assault and GULYLQJXQGHUWKHLQÀXHQFHRILQWR[ icants. See CRASH, Page 9A