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
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By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
F
ORT STEVENS STATE PARK
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set up in a bay near the South Jet-
ty to remove piles of jetty stones that
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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the court for a competency ex-
amination of Smith and then a
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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.
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cess into the Trestle Bay estuary.”
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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.
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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
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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-
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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.