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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 2016)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2016 JC Penney turns 100 in Astoria Retailer is a downtown landmark By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian File Photo Hotelier Mark Hollander wants to build a Marriott Hotel on Port of Astoria property in Uniontown between the Red Building and Astoria Bridge. But nearly six months after his lease was approved by the Port of Astoria Commis- sion, it has still not been executed by staff. Port slow to sign off on hotel lease Hotelier wants a Marriott under Astoria %ridge By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian In October, the Port of Astoria Commission approved having staff ¿nali]e a 2,000-a-month lease on 15 acres underneath the Astoria %ridge for hotelier Mark Hol- lander to develop a Marriott Hotel Nearly six months and the- oretically more than $10,000 later, the lease has still not been executed Jim Knight, the Port’s exec- utive director, said there is a discussion between the Port and Hollander’s lawyers about property lines and tax lots Hollander said he has already had the land surveyed, is con¿dent of the boundaries and is waiting for the Port’s counsel to ¿nali]e the lease “I ¿gure I have to be patient, because maybe they’re understaffed,” Hollander said Hollander, of %ellingham, Washington, was to pay the Port $2,000 a month during a 120-day feasibility study, which could be extended Once he received a certi¿cate of occupancy for the hotel, Hollander would pay the Port 5 percent of the fair market value of the building and land, which would be appraised every 10 years Timely leases The delay with Hollander raised a conversation at the Port Commission meeting last week about how the agency should ensure a timely execu- tion of leases Commissioner Stephen Fulton said there should be a time limit from when the Port Commission approves a lease to when it is ¿nali]ed by staff and a customer The lease with Hollander was approved for staff to ¿nali]e, but Commissioner %ill Hunsinger said when the wording of a lease changes, it should be brought back before the commission Tim Ramis, the Port’s attor- ney, said there could be a rule included that limits the Port director’s authority to execute a lease to a certain number of days, before it has to go back before the commission Closed primaries spur political party changes By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau SALEM — Oregon’s closed primary elections and a pair of provocative presiden- tial candidates have fueled a striking uptick in political party changes, mostly among nonaf- ¿liated voters -oining or sZitching af¿lia- tion is common before an open presidential election, but the number of changes so far this year is more than double what it was during the same period in 2008 — the last time an incum- bent president was not on the ballot The vast majority of vot- ers — about 65 percent — are switching to the Democratic Party, a trend that suggests momentum in the state for 8S Sen %ernie Sanders, according to some political analysts Sanders, an independent who describes himself as a democratic socialist, is chal- lenging former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary “It’s pretty clear voters are switching to Democrat, and I would guess it’s because they’re e[cited about %ernie Sand- ers,” said Jim Moore, a politi- cal science professor and direc- tor of the Tom McCall Center for Policy Innovation at Paci¿c 8niversity “The evidence for that is 2008 when 150,000 new voters were registered for that primary Most were Demo- crats The vast majority was for %arack Obama” At ¿rst glance, it might appear that the state’s new auto- matic registration law, which took effect in January, is driv- ing the changes, but ¿gures from the Secretary of State’s Of¿ce show that isn’t the case An inÀu[ of new nonaf¿liated voters were registered automat- ically when getting their state driver’s license but accounted for only a tiny fraction of the changes in party registration through mid-March That could change, as the Secretary of State’s Of¿ce sent out notices last month that non- af¿liated voters must be regis- tered with a party to participate in the state’s May 1 primary W A NTED JC Penney Co opened its 109th store in Astoria 100 years ago this month According to an old price board in English and Finn- ish, the store ¿rst opened in the Spexarth building before moving to its current loca- tion on Commercial Street in 192 Chris Hoffman, the oper- ations manager at the local branch, started at the store 34 years ago when she was 19, after moving back from col- lege in Idaho to help her ail- ing father Her grandmother Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian also worked at the store J.C. Penney, which turned 100 in Astoria earlier this month, employs between nine and 15 “The Penney’s store people downtown, including (from left) Bekki McDonald, Melba O’Bryant, Patti Buckalew, down here is very good for Chris Hoffman and Tony Faletti. the downtown businesses,” she said “It’s the only big locations left that were made to look alike draw since Safeway left “We get a lot of people “It’s one of the few places where you can ¿nd a multi- saying, ‘Are you ever going to move out to Warrenton?’” tude of things” The three-story JC Pen- Hoffman said of the migra- ney, slotted into the block tion by major businesses from between Paramount Drug Co Astoria to Warrenton “Pen- and Allstate Insurance with a ney’s owns this building, so tiled entrance inscribed with my theory would be there the store name, was built spe- would have to be something ci¿cally for the retailer in happen pretty big in the area to 1924, shortly after a large fund a move to a new place in Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian ¿re two years prior destroyed Warrenton” A former price board for J.C. Penney, which opened in The store will celebrate its April 1916, comes in both English and Finnish and es- much of downtown Out of JC Penney Co’s thousands 100th anniversary with cake pouses the Golden Rule philosophy by which James of stores, Hoffman said Asto- and refreshments from 10 am Cash Penney did business: “Do unto others as you ria’s store is one of about 13 to 6 pm Thursday would have them do unto you.” Astoria man sentenced in connection to heroin overdose By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian An Astoria man arrested last fall for delivery of her- oin in connection to an over- dose death of a Warrenton man was sentenced to two years probation and 45 days in jail Sean Anthony Hill, 27, would have faced a longer sentence but the blood drawn from the dead man for the toxicology test was lost in the mail and never turned up The District Attorney’s Of¿ce could only prosecute Hill for the drug charges, and not seek a longer sentence for the connec- tion to Sean Anthony Hill the dead man “The case took a turn for the worse,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Ron %rown said %efore sentencing, Hill pleaded no contest in Clat- sop County Circuit Court to unlawful delivery of her- oin and unlawful delivery of methamphetamine He was found with methamphet- amine upon his arrest Prosecutors believed Hill was the one who provided heroin to Matthew Norris, 24, who was found dead in October from an apparent heroin overdose at a resi- dence on the 4600 block of Cedar Street in Astoria Police found a drug kit for using heroin at Norris’ feet Norris was on proba- tion for drug charges and was a participant in Clatsop County Drug Court The exact cause of Nor- ris’ death was pending tox- icology results from the Oregon State Medical Exam- iner’s Of¿ce However, the blood drawn from Norris for the toxicology test was lost in the mail The 8S Post Of¿ce could not account for why it did not show up As part of his sentence, Hill was ordered to write a letter of apology to the fam- ily of Norris within 60 days and submit the letter to the District Attorney’s Of¿ce W in a free $200 Gift Ca rd Sh a re yo u r o p in io n a b o u t Th e D a ily Asto ria n a n d D a ilyAsto ria n .co m a n d yo u ’ll a u to m a tica lly b e en tered in to a d ra w in g to receive a $200 VISA g ift ca rd T h e D a ily Astoria n is dedica ted to brin gin g you th e best in n ew s, en terta in m en t a n d a dvertisin g fea tures from a cross th e Colum bia -P a cific region . 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