3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2016
Kitzhaber scandal, mass shooting top Oregon stories of 2015
1: GOVERNOR RESIGNS:
Just weeks after being sworn
in for his fourth term, Gov.
PORTLAND — Gov. John Kitzhaber surrendered to po-
Kitzhaber’s unprecedented litical pressure and quit over
fourth term turned into an un- DOOHJDWLRQVKLVOLYHLQ¿DQFHH
precedented short term, and Cylvia Hayes, used their rela-
his abrupt February resigna- tionship to win contracts for
tion was selected Oregon’s her consulting business and
story of the year in the annual failed to report the income
vote conducted by The Asso- on her taxes. Federal agents
launched a criminal inves-
ciated Press.
Every editor or news di- tigation in February, but no
rector who submitted a bal- FKDUJHVKDGEHHQ¿OHGDV
lot of 10 top stories had the drew to a close. Kitzhaber has
governor’s downfall as either denied wrongdoing. Secretary
the biggest or second-biggest of State Kate Brown assumed
story of 2015. Those who 2UHJRQ¶V KLJKHVW RI¿FH DIWHU
didn’t put Kitzhaber in the Kitzhaber ended his four-de-
top spot chose the massacre cade political career.
2: COLLEGE SHOOT-
at Umpqua Community Col-
OHJHZKLFK¿QLVKHGLQVHFRQG ING: A 26-year-old gunman
place, just ahead of the legal- RSHQHG¿UHDW8PSTXD&RP-
munity College, fatally shoot-
ization of recreational pot.
Those were the only sto- ing nine people before killing
ries named on every ballot as himself. The Oct. 1 attack
editors went all over the map shattered the Roseburg com-
with their remaining picks. munity and immediately re-
5HÀHFWLQJWKHYDULHW\RIRSLQ- ignited national debates about
ions, the three stories that just gun violence, school safe-
missed the top 10 included ty, mental health and media
the rollout of Common Core- coverage. President Barack
aligned testing, the Portland Obama lamented that mass
Timbers winning the Major shootings and the reaction to
League Soccer champion- them have become “routine.”
ship and — of course!— the He visited the timber town to
improbable stardom of the meet privately with grieving
Portland International Airport families, ignoring protests
from gun-rights activists.
carpet.
3: MARIJUANA LE-
Here are 2015’s top 10 sto-
GALIZATION: The deci-
ries:
By STEVEN DUBOIS
Associated Press
Don Ryan/AP Photo/File
Gov. John Kitzhaber kisses fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, in Jan-
uary after he is sworn in for an unprecedented fourth term
as governor in Salem. Kitzhaber resigned in February af-
ter influence-peddling allegations.
sion by Oregon voters to ap-
prove recreational marijuana
was last year’s No. 1 story.
The process of putting legal-
ization into practice remained
a major topic throughout
2015. The highlight day was
Oct. 1, when medical pot
dispensaries began selling to
recreational users over 21.
Some shops opened at mid-
night, giving away free food
and T-shirts, and offering dis-
counted marijuana.
4: DROUGHT: Last winter
saw a dreadfully low snow-
pack, and the continuing dry
weather led Gov. Brown to
declare drought emergen-
Housekeeper convicted for
stealing from Astoria couple
cies for more than two dozen
counties. Record December
precipitation that triggered
ÀRRGLQJDQGODQGVOLGHVHDVHG
the drought, with much of the
rain and snow occurring after
the ballots had been sent.
5: HOUSES BURN: Of-
¿FLDOV DQG UXUDO KRPHRZQHUV
IHDUHG D EDG ZLOG¿UH VHDVRQ
because the land was so dry.
Their fears were realized in
many parts of the state as
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forests and grasslands. A
lightning-sparked blaze near
John Day burned 172 square
miles and destroyed more
than 40 homes. No Oregon
different local shop, had already been
melted down, according to police.
The amount of restitution Scott will
The woman who stole from an As- owe is still being determined. It will be
toria couple after responding to their ad at least $1,000.
The couple gave a statement during
for a housekeeper on a local Facebook
page was convicted Thursday in Clatsop the court hearing Thursday, describing
how they felt betrayed. It will
County Circuit Court.
take a while before they can
Kourtney Marie Scott, 25,
trust someone again, they
of Astoria, was sentenced to
said.
two years probation and 20
Scott will get credit for the
days in jail after pleading no
few days she already spent in
FRQWHVWWR¿UVWGHJUHHWKHIW
jail. She is eligible to serve
Scott was arrested in Octo-
the remaining jail time al-
ber following a police inves-
ternatively, such as on home
tigation into multiple thefts
monitoring.
from the couple who hired
In addition, Judge Cindee
her as a housekeeper from the
Matyas ordered Scott to com-
Facebook page “Astoria Ore-
Kourtney
plete 40 hours of community
gon Virtual Yard Sales.”
Marie Scott
service.
The couple told police
Police warn the public about hiring
they noticed cash, jewelry, clothing
and electronic items missing from their people from sites like the Facebook
home and cars. They helped detectives page.
The page, and others including
conduct surveillance at their home.
Astoria Police Detective Thomas “GoonieVille Buy & Sell,” allow lo-
Litwin watched Scott break into the vic- cals to offer goods and services for sale,
tims’ car to take money. She was then though most pages have an informal
policy that the pages should only be
arrested.
Detectives were able to recover some XVHG WR VHOO RU WU\ WR ¿QG LWHPV +RZ-
of the stolen items including jewelry ever, people routinely use the pages to
which had been sold to a local jewelry post jobs and services and advertise
shop. However, other jewelry, sold to a their businesses.
estimated 68 to 70 percent of vege-
tated tidal wetlands have been lost
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which the Chinook River is a part,
according to the Lower Columbia
River Estuary Partnership. Loss of
this habitat is cited by biologists as
EO Media Group
a key factor in long-term declines in
CHINOOK, Wash. — A major salmon numbers.
Increasing the amount of these
land purchase on the inland side
of Chinook will place 250 acres wetlands accessible to migrating
in permanent conservation status. salmon is a key goal for agencies,
This is part of more than $1 million including the U.S. Army Corps of
in grant-funded salmon habitat ef- Engineers and the Washington State
IRUWVUHFHQWO\DQQRXQFHGIRU3DFL¿F Department of Fish and Wildlife.
County by the Washington Salmon The wildlife department has ex-
Recovery Funding Board and the panded its land holdings on the Chi-
nook River in recent years and now
Puget Sound Partnership.
Elsewhere in the county, the owns 1,000 acres.
Now, aided with $450,500
Cowlitz Indian Tribe was granted
more than $180,000 for ongoing in state grants announced earlier
habitat restoration in the Grays Riv- this month and $89,500 in federal
HUZDWHUVKHG$QGWKH3DFL¿F&RXQ- funds, Vancouver-based Columbia
ty Anglers were awarded $382,354 /DQG7UXVWZLOOEX\DPLOHRI¿VK
WR UHVWRUH ¿VK SDVVDJH RQ 6WULQJ- habitat on the Chinook River from
er Creek south of Menlo in north Chinook resident Brian Wirkkala
and associated owners. More than
county.
200 acres of the acquisition are wet-
lands.
Chinook River
“The acquisition will enable
Lands along the Chinook River
have been eyed for more than 20 habitat restoration and support lo-
years as offering the potential to cal and out-of-basin populations of
restore tidal wetlands that juvenile fall Chinook, chum and coho salm-
salmon and other species heavily on, and steelhead, all of which are
listed as threatened with extinction
rely on for food and shelter.
Since white settlement began, an under the federal Endangered Spe-
Cowlitz Tribe
expands efforts to
restore salmon
New highway signs honor Oregon veterans
Camp Rilea Armed Forces
Training Center in Warrenton
will host a dedication cere-
mony at 11 a.m. Jan. 9 for the
338-mile Persian Gulf, Af-
ghanistan and Iraq Veterans
Memorial Highway on U.S.
Highway 101.
At the dedication, a new
highway sign will be un-
veiled honoring veterans who
served during the wars begin-
ning 25 years ago.
A total of 67 signs are be-
ing installed on six Oregon
highways. The six highways
cover 2,040 miles.
One sign is already in-
stalled near the north end of
U.S. Highway 101 in War-
renton.
Nine signs will be installed
and dedicated early this year
along the Oregon Coast be-
tween Astoria and Brook-
ings. The border-to-border
veterans memorial highway
on U.S. Highway 101 is the
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country.
Legislation for the six war
veterans’ highways was re-
quested in 2008 by Bend He-
roes Foundation.
The Bend Heroes Founda-
tion managed the project in
cooperation with the state Leg-
islature, veterans groups, sign
sponsors and the state Depart-
ment of Transportation.
All signs are funded by
donations to Bend Heroes
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TUESDAY MORNINGS
Port of Astoria Office Building
10 Pier 1, Suite 209
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
VOLUN
T E E R
PICK OF THE WEE K
Foundation. The foundation
uses donations to pay the De-
partment of Transportation
$900 to fabricate and install
each sign on U.S Highway
101.
B RIDGE L ESSON S - R - U S
W A NTED
Ann M a rie 503-86 1 -1 1 33
g ila nd a nng ra m son@ cha rter.net
A storia B a n d B oosters
C A N & B OTTL E D R IVE
1 P .M . - 3 P .M . • S UND A Y , JA N. 3
R D
A T A S TOR IA HIGH S C HOOL
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game, but dreams of bringing
a national title back to Eugene
crumbled in a 42-20 loss to
Ohio State. Mariota passed
for two touchdowns, but the
Ducks were held to their low-
est point total of the season.
9: PORT OF PORTLAND:
Two major shipping com-
panies stopped serving the
Port of Portland amid labor
turmoil. Hanjin and Ha-
pag-Lloyd, which represent-
ed more than 90 percent of
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said their move was based on
low productivity. Businesses
that relied on the contain-
er terminal for internation-
al shipping are now paying
more to send their goods to
out-of-state ports via truck
or rail.
10: DRILLING PRO-
TEST: Greenpeace activists
rappelled off Portland’s St.
Johns Bridge this summer
in a dramatic attempt to
stop a Royal Dutch Shell
icebreaker from leaving the
city to join an Arctic drilling
operation. The vessel even-
tually threaded its way past
the dangling demonstrators.
But late in September, Shell
announced it was ending
further exploration in the
Chukchi and Beaufort seas
because of disappointing
results from an exploratory
well.
Chinook River lands eyed for conservation
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
The Daily Astorian
ZLOG¿UH VLQFH WKH *UHDW 'H-
pression has destroyed more
homes.
6: PUBLIC PENSIONS:
The Oregon Supreme Court
ruled in April that some cuts
to public-employee retirement
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wiping out much of the sav-
ings lawmakers were trying to
attain. The justices said work-
ers were promised an annual
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percent, and the Legislature
couldn’t scale it back retroac-
tively. It was the second time
in a decade the court rejected
legislative efforts to curtail
SHQVLRQ EHQH¿WV DOUHDG\ DF-
crued.
7: GUNS-BACKGROUND
CHECKS: Oregon legisla-
tors approved a law requiring
background checks for private
gun transactions. The law re-
quires gun buyers and sellers
who aren’t related to visit a
licensed gun dealer who can
run a background check. Re-
publicans opposed the mea-
sure, saying it would burden
gun owners who are commit-
ted to following the law with-
out changing the behavior of
people willing to break it.
8: OREGON DUCKS
FOOTBALL: Heisman win-
ner Marcus Mariota led the
University of Oregon to the
¿UVW &ROOHJH )RRWEDOO 3OD\-
off national championship
L E A SE , N O E A RL Y D RO P - O FFS
Th e Ban d Boosters are th e on ly sou rc e of fu n d s to k eep
A storia’s sc h ool b an d program s fu n c tion in g, provid in g
in stru m en ts, u n iform s, equ ipm en t, m u sic , tran sportation —
everyth in g b esid es th e b an d d irec tor’s salary. P lease h elp b y
d roppin g off you r em pties or m ak in g a d on ation .
Ca ll (503) 791-6596
to a rra n ge picku p of la rge a m ou n ts.
cies Act as well as listed eulachon
(also called smelt),” according to
the Salmon Recovery Funding
Board.
When completed, the purchase
will be one of Columbia Land
Trust’s larger acquisitions in Pacif-
ic County, where it already owns
45 parcels, according to the Pacif-
LF&RXQW\$VVHVVRU¶V2I¿FH,WKDV
major holdings in the Long Beach
Peninsula’s interior lakes region,
acquisitions which were indirectly
¿QDQFHG E\ 0LUFRVRIW FRIRXQGHU
Paul Allen. On the Columbia estu-
DU\LQ3DFL¿F&RXQW\WKHODQGWUXVW
DOUHDG\ KDV VLJQL¿FDQW KROGLQJV
near the mouth of the Wallacut Riv-
er in Ilwaco’s Stringtown neighbor-
hood, and near Knappton just off
State Route 401.
Cowlitz Tribe
The Cowlitz Indian Tribe has
been taking an interest in salm-
on-restoration projects in the Co-
lumbia estuary in about the past
two years in cooperation with
Bonneville Power Administra-
tion, though this area is outside
the tribe’s traditional sphere of
LQÀXHQFH 6WDUWLQJ LQ WKH
tribe managed habitat work in
&ODWVRS&RXQW\DWWKHFRQÀXHQFH
of the Wallooskee and Youngs
rivers.
