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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 2016)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2016 Man pleads not guilty to eluding police, drug charges A pursuit ensued and Huff lost control near milepost 93, where he crashed into a power The Long Beach, Wash- pole. Highway 30 was closed ington, man in possession of methamphetamine, heroin for about two hours from the power lines coming and cocaine when down and striking he crashed his car three other vehi- eluding police last cles — a milk truck, week in the John SUV and Toyota Day area pleaded Tundra. The damage not guilty to to each vehicle multiple criminal exceeded $500. charges. A nearby fence David Ryan was also damaged Huff, 36, appeared from the crash, in Clatsop County Circuit Court via David Ryan Huff according to the indictment. video link from jail Huff and his Wednesday for an arraignment hearing. He is passenger, Keisha Marie Ann being charged with 16 counts. Jones, 24, of Long Beach, The charges include were arrested after the crash. attempting to elude police with Huff had Oregon and Wash- a vehicle, delivery and posses- ington warrants and was in sion of methamphetamine, possession of methamphet- possession of heroin and amine, heroin and cocaine. In cocaine, reckless driving, four addition, drug paraphernalia counts of recklessly endan- such as baggies and scales gering another person, ¿ve were found in his possession, counts of second-degree crim- resulting in the delivery of inal mischief and providing methamphetamine charge. Jones was on post-prison false information to a police supervision and her probation of¿cer. Huff was stopped Jan. 26 of¿cer issued a detainer. Huff remains in custody on by Oregon State Police for having a taillight out at mile- $25,000 bail. An early resolution confer- post 89 on U.S. Highway 30. He gave a false name and then ence is scheduled for later this month. Àed from the stop. By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian Andrew Tonry/For EO Media Group Volunteer Samantha Ferber provides artistic instruction at the celebration of the Falcon Cove Marine Reserve in Cannon Beach. Cannon Beach celebrates nature reserve ‘Living laboratory’ to protect sea life By ANDREW TONRY For EO Media Group CANNON BEACH — From young children and grandparents to politicos, more than 100 people made their way to Cannon Beach’s Community Hall, Saturday to show off their support for the newly designated Falcon Cove Marine Reserve. Following a similar gala two weeks prior in Manzanita, staff and volunteers from the Friends of Cape Falcon Marine Reserve were again buoyed by the turnout — particularly that of Cannon Beach’s political class. “I want to thank Mayor Sam Steidel and City Council members Melissa Cadwal- lader and Mike Bene¿eld for coming,” volunteer Pam Jacobson said. “They attended with their community and I think that’s a really important thing.” Jacobson extended her Andrew Tonry/For EO Media Group Andrew Tonry/For EO Media Group County Commissioner Li- anne Thompson pitches in at the celebration of the Falcon Cove Marine Re- serve in Cannon Beach. gratitude to former Mayor Mike Morgan as well. The event was thrown to both honor and raise awareness about the 12.4-square-mile “no take” reserve, which went into effect Jan. 1 after years of concerted effort. Essentially a westward extension of Oswald West State Park boundaries, all commercial ¿shing and devel- opment in the area are prohib- ited until 2023. Lucie Menke explores her artistic side at the party for the Falcon Cove Marine Reserve in Cannon Beach. “The overall goal of the marine reserve is to increase the abundance and diversity of life,” Chrissy Smith, outreach coordinator for the Friends of Cape Falcon Marine Reserve said. “We look at it like a living laboratory.” In addition to a informa- tive presentation on the site, attendees were treated to music from Two Crows Joy and food, sweets and drinks donated from Bill’s Tavern. Youngsters were guided in printmaking by the Haystack Rock Awareness Program’s Melissa Keyser and Samantha Ferber. “I’m very glad that it has actually kicked off and I’m looking forward to having some successful results,” Cannon Beach resident Bob Lundy, a longtime volunteer, said. “I think the fecundity of the sea life will show because of the protection.” Lundy said he was glad to see such a big turnout. “I didn’t know there was a huge amount of public aware- ness about it, but this is really encouraging.” Audit will investigate possible fraud in energy tax credits By HILLARY BORRUD Capital Bureau Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian Kristina and Richard Afornorpe took ownership of the Downtown Coffee Shop last month and opened Monday. Downtown Coffee under new ownership By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Downtown Coffee Shop has reopened with a new set of owners. Kristina and Richard Afor- norpe opened Monday, after taking over from Hayley Clark last month. “We were looking for another business,” said Kris- tina Afornorpe, who with her husband runs RK Bouncing House, which rents out play structures for parties. The Afornorpes over- hauled the decor of the coffee shop and added hamburgers, pizza, hot dogs and soft-serve ice cream to the existing offering of paninis, sand- wiches, soups and pastries. They are having Columbia River Coffee Roasters create a special downtown blend for the shop, and Richard Afor- norpe, who is from Ghana in West Africa, said they plan to periodically offer a “taste of Africa,” offering special ethnic dishes, such as ground peanut soup, on the menu. “It hasn’t even been a week, and we have thousands of likes” on Facebook, Afor- norpe said, adding the shop mostly has the same clientele from before. Together 14 years, the Afornorpes met somewhat serendipitously. Kristina Afor- norpe, from Astoria, was browsing an online dating site. Richard Afornorpe, in a suburb of Accra, the capital of Ghana, had ducked into an Internet cafe to escape a Àash Àood, before logging on and eventu- ally meeting his future wife. The two have been foster parents together and adopted six children, ages 6 to 21. They bought a bounce house for their youngest. They now rent out bounce houses throughout the Lower Columbia region, and used the pro¿ts to buy the coffee shop. With all her kids in school or grown, and after two years of being a stay-at- home mother, Kristina Afor- norpe said it was time to get out of the house. “I had always wanted to own a coffee shop,” she said. “It was a high school dream.” Pork Chop D inner with Scalloped Potatoes, Veggies & Salad Bar ala Dan Reed Friday Feb. 5 th 4 pm ‘til gone $ 8.00 6PM “K araok e D ave” ASTORIA AMERICAN LEGION Cla t sop Post 12 1132 Exchange Street 325-5771 SALEM — The Oregon Secretary of State’s of¿ce plans to investigate whether poor record keeping at the state Department of Energy could have hidden fraud in the controversial business energy tax credit program. Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins said the agency will hire a contractor with forensic audit experience to conduct the inquiry, after energy agency director Michael Kaplan acknowledged the lack of records in a meeting with Atkins, her top staffers and advisers to Gov. Kate Brown in early January. The state Audits Division is housed at the Oregon Secretary of State’s Of¿ce. The business energy tax credit existed for more than three decades and drew little attention, until the Legislature and former Gov. Ted Kulon- goski greatly expanded the program in 2007. The state issued tax credits worth nearly $1 billion between 2007 and 2014, when lawmakers ended very straightforward about concerns that the record the program. Brown’s administration keeping around the (business is conducting a performance energy tax) credits was in review of the Department of many instances Àawed, that Energy following news reports the ¿les that record all of the different processes about problems that led to the tax last year, and the deductions are not governor’s staff set necessarily in great out speci¿cally to shape,” Atkins resolve remaining said of the Jan. problems with the 7 meeting with business energy tax Kaplan and the credits. Democratic governor’s staff. leaders in the Legis- “What that might lature also formed a mean for whether committee this year Jeanne Atkins there are prob- to explore whether lems with any of to overhaul or elimi- these (tax credits) nate the Department is an unknown ... The ques- of Energy. Atkins said in an interview tion for us was, was it worth Wednesday morning that the looking behind that bad Department of Energy might record keeping and see if not have the documents neces- there are indications of some- sary to justify the tax credits thing else that needs to be it issued, which companies investigated.” and wealthy individuals have used to reduce their Oregon Time to investigate tax bills. Atkins and her staff “During the course of that conversation, the director (Michael Kaplan) was W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500 decided they should inves- tigate. Atkins chose to hire a contractor in large part because state auditors already have a full slate of audits scheduled for 2016. The state was supposed to issue tax credits to compa- nies and government agen- cies only after those enti- ties provided documentation they completed the prom- ised investments in renewable energy and ef¿ciency projects. But The Oregonian reported last year that paperwork for tax credits issued for solar proj- ects at the Oregon Institute of Technology and Oregon State University appeared to be fraudulent. Emails released by the Department of Energy Wednesday afternoon showed that after The Oregonian’s story, Kaplan presented Brown’s staff with a request for additional energy staffers to review busi- ness energy tax credit ¿les for errors and potential fraud. Feb rua ry 13 th 1 PM o r 6 PM CON CEAL CONCEAL CARRY CARRY PERM IT PERMIT CLASS CLASS Oregon – O rego n 34 - U States tah Utah - Valid Valid 35 States Best W estern : 5 5 5 Ha m b urg Ave, Asto ria O OR/Utah–valid R/U ta h— va lid in in WA W A $80 $80 or o r Oregon O reg o n only o n ly $4 5 $45 | Firea rm Tra in in gN W @ gm a il.com w w shauncurtain.com w .Firea rm Tra in in gN W .com ~ shauncurtain@gmail.com We would like to personally thank everyone, from agencies to individuals, who were involved in the rescue efforts to save Kyle Harkless and his son Logan. We are so grateful for everything. We can’t thank you enough. Sincerely, the family of Kyle Harkless 36 0-921-2071 360-921-2071