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.”
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