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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 2016)
143rd YEAR, No. 134 TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016 ONE DOLLAR Defense: Smith suffers from mental disease She lacks ‘rational understanding’ of the case By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Crews from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers use a crane to remove jetty stones from Trestle Bay in an effort to improve fish habitat. AT TRESTLE BAY, BETTER PASSAGE FOR FISH Restoration project will remove jetty VWRQHVWRKHOS¿VK By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian F ORT STEVENS STATE PARK ²$ÀRDWLQJEDUJHDQGFUDQHDUH set up in a bay near the South Jet- ty to remove piles of jetty stones that ZLOORSHQSDVVDJHVIRU¿VKKDELWDW The $920,000 restoration project will remove 900 feet of jetty stones at seven locations in Trestle Bay, locat- ed on the river side of the South Jetty. &UHZVKDYHDOUHDG\¿QLVKHGEUHDFKLQJ one location. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ project is scheduled to be complete by the end of February. The work will open access to more than 600 acres of ¿VKKDELWDW Jetty stones are being removed down to the riverbed giving salmon and trout, mostly juveniles, access to quieter waters and feeding grounds. Nutrients from the river will be able to reach the bay, and visa versa. “Environmental restoration is one of our big missions,” Gail Saldana, the project manager, said. “The whole pur- A defense lawyer for Jessi- ca Smith says she suffers from DPHQWDOGLVHDVHDQGLVXQ¿WWR proceed in her criminal trial . Smith, 42, is accused of drugging and murdering her toddler and attempting to kill her teenager in Cannon Beach in July 2014. “I have met with Ms. Smith on a number of occasions since my appointment to this case,” Lynne Morgan, Smith’s defense lawyer, wrote in a FRXUW¿OLQJ³,WLVP\RSLQLRQ Ms. Smith currently suffers from a mental disease or de- fect and is unable to aid and assist in her own defense.” Morgan and co-counsel William Falls have hinted at plans to use a diminished-ca- pacity defense. Smith, an inmate in Tilla- mook County Jail, was eval- uated by the state’s psycholo- gist Paul Guastadisegni after she refused multiple times. The prosecution claims Smith also met with Eliza- beth Howell, the defense’s psychiatrist, on multiple occa- sions. Results from the mental health examinations have not Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Jessica Smith is led to her seat in the Clatsop Coun- ty Courthouse for a status hearing in May. A defense lawyer claims Smith has a mental disease and is unfit to proceed with her trial. been released. In the defense’s motion ¿OHG 0RQGD\ 0RUJDQ DVNV the court for a competency ex- amination of Smith and then a GHWHUPLQDWLRQ RI 6PLWK¶V ¿W ness to proceed. Morgan claims Smith does not appear to have a rational understanding of the proceed- ings against her. Her mental disability prevents her from rationally comprehending the evidence against her and im- pairs her ability to make a rea- soned choice among the pos- sible alternatives presented in the case, she wrote . See SMITH, Page 12A Gearhart, barn owner seek ‘cooling-off period’ Submitted Photo A jetty stone is removed from Trestle Bay. SRVHEHKLQGWKLVLVWRLPSURYH¿VKDF cess into the Trestle Bay estuary.” 6RPH¿VKEORFNHGIURPED\ The Army Corps originally breached the 8,800-foot jetty stone structure in Trestle Bay — known as the South Jet- ty Root — in 1995, removing 500 feet of jetty stones. Saldana said the 1995 breach helped SDUWLDOO\RSHQDFFHVVWR¿VKKDELWDWWKDW was previously blocked. It did not, however, remove stones all the way to the river bed. At low tides, Saldana VDLGVRPH¿VKZHUHEORFNHGIURPWKH bay. See TRESTLE BAY, Page 12A A gap in the Trestle Bay jetty will help improve fish habitat in the bay. Joshua Bessex The Daily Astorian what other Gearhart property owners are doing by renting her property out on a short- term basis, and claimed the charges “aren’t fair.” “The goal is to have an- By R.J. MARX other meeting with Shannon The Daily Astorian Smith, between the attorneys and us,” Gearhart City Man- Neacoxie Barn owner ager Chad Sweet said Mon- Shannon Smith and the city of day. The parties now seek terms Gearhart were no-shows at a Clatsop County Circuit Court of a temporary agreement in effect through March 1, ac- hearing on New Year’s Eve. Their absence was ex- cording to Sweet, allowing plained by new talks in which Smith to provide additional both sides hope to bring information to the city. The agreement would be Smith’s party barn into com- pliance with state and local submitted to Clatsop Coun- ty Circuit Court and Smith health and building codes. 7KH EDUQ DW 3DFL¿F would be subject to a tem- Way by the Neacoxie Creek, porary injunction pledging is used for weddings, family not to use the barn for future reunions and other commer- events without the necessary cial events, according to city permits, Sweet said. RI¿FLDOV%XWZLWKRXWDFRQGL Fines pile up tional use permit and a build- The city wants the court to ing occupancy permit, the owners are putting the health order Smith and barn co-own- and safety of guests and resi- er Martha Strickland to stop holding events at Neacoxie dents at risk. So far, Smith has racked up Barn until they obtain a new WKRXVDQGVLQ¿QHVZLWKPRUH conditional use permit and comply with other city laws. on the table. In a Gearhart City Council Use of the building, zoned appeal hearing in December, See GEARHART, Page 12A Smith said she’s only doing Injunction to close party barn delayed State to issue new industrial hemp licenses Obstacles slow growth of new crop By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press The state Department of Agri- culture expects to resume issuing licenses to grow industrial hemp by the end of February, but some prob- lems continue to dog the new crop. The state issued 11 hemp li- censes in 2015 before cutting off the process in August. Nine of the licensees planted a crop and three harvested a product, said Lindsay Eng, the department’s program manager. But the crops of two oth- er growers, one in Grants Pass and one in Bend, are embargoed be- cause the plants exceeded the THC limit required under state law, Eng said. The crops will have to be de- stroyed or remediated in some way, she said, perhaps by using the plant VWDONVZLWKRXWWKHÀRZHUVRUVHHGV Industrial hemp is related to marijuana, but doesn’t contain near- ly the level of THC, the chemical compound that makes pot users high. Instead, advocates say industri- DO KHPS ¿EHU DQG RLO FDQ EH XVHG to make clothing, food, rope, cos- metics, plastics and other products. They’ve long said hemp could re- place cotton or petroleum in some uses. Ag researchers say some con- ventional farmers might eventually be interested in growing hemp as a rotational crop, but for now the market appears to involve small- scale farmers who want to process hemp themselves to make lotions or other products. Details need tweaking Eng said details in Oregon’s hemp law may need tweaking by the Legislature when it meets in February. A section requiring 2.5- acre hemp plots causes some grow- ers problems, as does a requirement that the plants be directly seeded in- stead of started in greenhouse pots. In addition, it’s hard to obtain seed, Eng said. Canada is the most com- mon source. Oregon State University has asked the federal Drug Enforcement Agency for permission to import hemp seed and conduct basic crop Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press File See HEMP, Page 12A Hemp is harvested from a field in Marion County last fall.
