Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 2016)
143RD YEAR, NO. 182 ONE DOLLAR WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2016 LUCKY LOUIE FINDS A HOME THE MAN BEHIND BOB’S RED MILL FRIDAY EXTRA 1C FRIDAY EXTRA 2C Astoria schools start new preschool Law enforcement faces waiting game to unlock technological clues in crimes Program would target students from low-income families By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian The Astoria School District is planning a preschool by ne[t year at Capt. 5obert Gray School targeting lower-income families. “We’ve talked about how our achieve- ment gap starts before kindergarten,” said Melissa Linder, curriculum director for Asto- ria, at a recent school board meeting. “We have to prepare kids to be in our institution.” Warrenton-Hammond and Jewell school districts are the only two in Clatsop County with their own preschool programs. Jewell is taking bids for a private operator to take over the program on campus. Astoria School District and Cannon Beach Preschool and Children’s Center, which is set to close in April, were part of a regional application covering school districts and private preschool providers from sev- eral n orthwest Oregon counties to the state’s Early Learning Council for grant funding See PRESCHOOL, Page 12A Children’s center to close after 39 years By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian A storia Police had to wait more than seven months before arresting a man for possessing up to 500 images of child pornogra- phy on his laptop and À ash drives. Christopher York’s laptop was seized in May 2013, but he was not arrested until January 2014, when his laptop was ¿ n- ished being e[amined by an analyst with Oregon Department of Justice. Astoria Police Deputy Chief Eric Halv- erson said it is unsettling to know crimi- nals such as York are free for months after they are identi¿ ed because of the delay in scrubbing technology for evidence. York was eventually convicted and sent to prison, where he is serving a si[ -year sentence. See BACKLOG, Page 11A With city help, Cannon Beach program to close ‘gracefully’ in April By LYRA FONTAINE EO Media Group Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian A pouch of adapters used with the Cellebrite software are seen in the Astoria Police Department. The software pulls data off cell phones and other mobile devices smaller than a laptop. ‘That’s the scary part when you are having to wait to confi rm what you believe is there.’ Eric Halverson Astoria Police deputy chief CANNON BEACH — The Cannon Beach Children’s Center will close in April due to declining enrollment and ¿ nancial troubles, a decision supported by the board and director. The nonpro¿ t children’s center, founded in 1977, is losing about $5,400 a month and spent down its savings, center representa- tives told City Manager Brant Kucera this month . “The situation at this point is a dire need,” said Christy Bisping, the children’s center director. “To be able to close the program gracefully and give enough notice to our par- ents, we need at least the $10,500.” See CENTER, Page 12A Jordan Schnitzer gets a son — and a court battle Schnitzer used science to pick baby’s gender, but parentage is now in dispute By NIGEL JAQUISS Willamette Week Portland businessman Jor- dan Schnitzer owns a bil- lion-dollar real estate port- folio. He has homes in San Francisco, Palm Springs and Gearhart, and four residences in Portland. He has a private jet and the nation’s largest col- lection of ¿ ne art prints. He’s one of the city’s top philan- thropists, collects honorary degrees, sits courtside at Trail Blazers games and even has a museum named after him. The only thing Schnitzer, 64, didn’t have? A son. Three days before Christ- mas, he ¿ [ed that. On Dec. 22, 2015, Schnitzer’s son was born at Samaritan Albany General Hospital, a modest, 69-bed Linn County facility. That location — far from Oregon Health & Science Uni- versity, to which Schnitzer’s family has given millions, or any of the other large Port- land hospitals — was close to the home of the woman who gave birth to Schnitzer’s son. She was a surrogate mother, paid by Schnitzer to carry and deliver his child. Gestational surrogate pregnancies — in which a woman carries another wom- an’s fertilized eggs and gives birth for pay — are increas- ingly common in Oregon and elsewhere. Frequently in gestational surrogacy, the donor of the eggs remains anonymous. But Schnitzer knew the woman whose eggs produced his son. He’d dated her for nearly two years. See SCHNITZER, Page 8A Submitted Photo Jordan Schnitzer says he discussed his desire to have a son with his mother, Arlene, a couple of years ago. “She said, ‘you’re older. Are you prepared for this? Is this what you want to do with the rest of your life?’ I said ‘yes,’’’ he recalls.
