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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 2016)
8A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2016 Highway: Permitting process coulG taNe three to si[ months Continued from Page 1A Wet history The situation is familiar to several property owners on the lowlyinJ ÀooG plain of aEout 25 acres across the highway from Youngs River. In June 2 a tiGe gate on the e[isting 36-inch culvert fell off, allow- ing water from the river to Àow onto the reclaimeG wetlanG, where resiGents haG planteG trees, farmeG anG ran cattle. ³I lost 235 trees,´ saiG &urtis RutherforG, who has liveG at the property for more than 20 years. Gary Petteys, another prop- erty owner, saiG he lost 35 ElacN walnut trees, valueG at thousanGs of Gollars apiece. 6haree ParNer saiG she has haG to sanGEag arounG her house. Jim 1eiNes saiG emergency ve- hicles can have trouEle at high tiGe getting up to the 2 or so homes along 2rGway /ane. The property owners all agreeG that, without a tiGe gate to holG EacN the river, the property ne[t to the highway is useless, anG the new, larger culverts will only worsen the proElem. %ut the new culverts appear to Ee a moot point, as the worN is moving forwarG to reopen the highway Ey the enG of ne[t weeN, the 'epartment of Transportation’s highest pri- ority. Transportation of¿cials saiG they are trying to reopen the highway as e[peGiently as possiEle, while worNing within the legal reTuirements for ¿sh passage Gating to the miG-th century Eut only more recently enforceG. &orissa $nGerson-+orvath, a regional environmental coor- Ginator with the 'epartment of Transportation, saiG there are three ¿sh-Eearing creeNs run- ning through the property total- ing feet in wiGth. The state 'epartment of )ish anG :ilG- life requires at least that much wiGth in ¿sh passage through the GiNe, she saiG, anG the 1a- tional 0arine )isheries 6ervice e[pects 50 percent as much. “The regulators that reg- Courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration A fish-friendly tide gate cuts off reclaimed wetlands during higher tides, while allowing fish to cross back into tidelands during lower tides. Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian Crews with Axis Crane install a sheet piling wall to iso- late a failed culvert on Highway 202. Crews from Big Riv- er Construction Company Inc. will replace the culvert, a 36-inch pipe, with two new 6-foot pipes. The state Depart- ment of Transportation hopes to reopen the highway by the end of next week. Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian Crews pound in sheet piling to isolate the area around a failed culvert on Highway 202. ulate this stuff, they Eent the rules a little Eit in your favor, anG alloweG us to install two 6-foot culverts there, a little Eit less than they usually require,” 0iller saiG to the property own- ers. The reasoning EehinG the larger culverts GiG little to allay the concerns of neighEors who say their property anG rights are Eeing taNen away. Can we get a tide gate? “:hat I’m trying to get to toGay is, whether you liNe it or not, is there a practical ¿t that we can employ?” Johnson asNeG. Johnson, '-6cappoose, saiG a government Euyout ² liNe some property owners want ² is not liNely. %ut the state senator anG others reacheG a consensus that ¿sh-frienGly tiGe gates attacheG to the two new culverts woulG ¿[ the proElem. 0arN %uf¿ngton, Girec- tor of the local 'epartment of Transportation region, saiG the agency is willing to worN with property owners after the cul- verts are installeG anG the high- way is reopeneG. Johnson GirecteG the prop- erty owners to Neep visual anG other recorGs of any aGGitional Gamage to their lanG after the culvert is replaceG, aGGing she woulG taNe the information to her contacts in state gov- ernment to see whether the cost-to-Eene¿t ratio is right for the state to mitigate the Gamage to property Ey installing tiGe gates. “Then we have to go for permits,” Johnson saiG, asNing $nGerson-+orvath how long that might taNe. The e[asperation was au- GiEle after $nGerson-+orvath saiG the state anG feGeral per- mitting process for tiGe gates coulG taNe three to si[ months. 1ow neighEors along the highway can only wait for the incoming tiGe. Body cameras: 'evices will show people the reality of patrol Continued from Page 1A $storia 6gt. &hris 0c1eary saiG he has alreaGy Eeen using a EoGy camera for the past Ge- caGe, anG the Gepartment has useG vehicle cameras anG re- corGing Gevices for nearly 30 years. The local Gepartment has not haG the same issues with accountaEility as other law en- forcement agencies arounG the country. “It’s not new. It’s just that the /egislature has weigheG in on it anG the puElic is now GemanGing police Ee more transparent in their actions,” 0c1eary saiG. (quipping $storia Police of¿cers with EoGy cameras has the Eene¿t of showing people the reality of patrol. Johnston points to two e[- amples where viGeo recorGings helpeG clear of¿cers of com- plaints. In one case, a woman claimeG an of¿cer pulleG up to her son anG saiG he was going to shoot him. $nother case in- volveG someone saying they were EerateG Ey an of¿cer. %oth cases were resolveG Ey reviewing viGeo footage. $t the same time, Johnston saiG, he reali]es camera foot- age is still two-Gimensional anG is not always going to il- lustrate people’s perception of an inciGent. “$ camera is not going to solve all of these proElems with perception,” Johnston saiG. Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Astoria Police Chief Brad Johnston talks during an inter- view Thursday. ‘It’s going to be an every call decision for the officers. Those kind of decisions are going to be things officers are going to have to make in the field.’ Brad Johnston Astoria police chief Balancing act 8sing EoGy cameras in- volves a Ealancing act Eetween transparency anG privacy. $storia Police, for e[am- ple, haG an inciGent recently where someone was Eeing Eelligerent in the $storia $quatic &enter locNer room. +aG the situation escalateG, of¿cers may have wanteG to recorG even if people were Gressing in the EacNgrounG. “It’s going to Ee an every call Gecision for the of¿cers,” Johnston saiG. “Those NinG of Gecisions are going to Ee things of¿cers are going to have to maNe in the ¿elG.” 2nce the footage is recorG- eG, some police Gepartments have e[perienceG Gif¿culty with storage anG honoring puE- lic-recorGs requests. In Oregon, the new law speci¿es that requests for Gis- closure must iGentify appro[i- mate Gates anG times, not Gays or weeNs of footage, anG must Ee reasonaEly tailoreG to mate- rial in the puElic interest. The state law also requires that recorGings Ee retaineG for at least 0 Gays Eut no more than 30 months for recorGings not relateG to court proceeGings or ongoing criminal investiga- tions. Police must also Elur faces Eefore releasing viGeo to the puElic, an eGiting requirement that coulG ¿nancially EurGen Gepartments. )or $storia, Johnston saiG, :atchguarG 9iGeo has software that helps streamline the Elur- ring process to limit the EurGen on of¿cers. A hodgepodge (ven Eefore the /egislature acteG anG police accountaEility Eecame a national focus, John- ston saiG, he was maNing plans to aGG EoGy cameras. )or the past two years, Johnston has Eeen researching prices anG quality of Gifferent systems. In that same time, he Ge- scriEes the Gepartment’s viGeo use as a hoGgepoGge. One of¿- cer useG a GoPro, while others relieG only on their car viGeos. +aving all the equipment on the same system has Eeen a goal. “:e wanteG this for a long time,” Johnston saiG. Wing: RoGen was inGicteG on 5 charges Continued from Page 1A o[ycoGone, anG methaGone anG failing to report that he moveG in with :ing. The Grugs were GiscovereG Guring a search warrant of RoGen anG :ing’s SeasiGe resiGence 'ec. 20, 20, the Gay the toGGler was founG GeaG. RoGen was inGicteG on 5 charges relateG to the murGer of :ing’s Gaughter. +e is accuseG of intentional maiming or tor- ture of the toGGler anG having a pattern anG practice of assault. time to interview The charges carry former teachers, the possiEility of the neighEors, romantic Geath penalty. partners anG frienGs, Given the poten- many of whom live tial for capital pun- on the (ast &oast. ishment, RoGen’s In aGGition, the Gefense lawyers are Gefense neeGs to requesting the trial worN arounG the Ee GelayeG giving scheGules of e[pert them time to investi- witnesses. One e[- gate “anything in the Randy pert in particular, life of the GefenGant Roden 'r. Janice Ophoven, which might mitigate against the appropriateness of is consiGereG the heart of the Gefense’s case. 'r. Ophoven, a the Geath penalty.” The Gefense claims it neeGs peGiatric forensic pathologist, will testify that the reporteG result of torture is in fact a Gangerous Àesh eating virus Nnown as 0RS$. She will claim the toGGler liNely GieG from complications Gue to a severe methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infec- tion, rather than from Elunt force trauma. 'r. Ophoven is not availaEle in $pril, when the case is set for trial. The Gefense will argue for a Gelay at a hearing later this month. Starting this month, the EoGy cameras have Eeen slowly rolling out to of¿cers. 0c1eary saiG the process is in the infancy stage. Of¿cers are still getting a feel for the cameras, anG GeciGing when to turn them off anG when to turn them on. “:e Gon’t want the puElic to thinN we are trying to hiGe anything,” 0c1eary saiG. “The whole iGea EehinG this is to Ee transparent.” Phone and Internet Discounts Available to CenturyLink Customers The Oregon Public Utility Commission designated Centu- ryLink as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier within its service area for universal service purposes. CenturyLink’s basic local service rates for residential voice lines are $14.48-$16.55 per month and business services are $20.31- $27.25 per month. Specific rates will be provided upon re- quest. CenturyLink participates in a government benefit program (Lifeline) to make residential telephone service more afford- able to eligible low-income individuals and families. Eligi- ble customers are those that meet eligibility standards as defined by the FCC and state commissions. 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