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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016
Seaside woman convicted of stealing from elderly partner
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
A 53-year-old Seaside
woman was sentenced to more
than six years in prison for
stealing thousands of dollars
from her 79-year-old live-in
partner, who is suffering from
dementia.
Deborah Lynn Reinhardt
stole more than $50,000 from
the elderly man, along with
his truck and his identity to
access a Fidelity Investments
account.
Reinhardt. She had to move
out of the house she shared
with the man off U.S. High-
way 26 and could not use his
2008 Ford F350 truck. How-
ever, in January 2015, she went
back to the property and took
his truck. Reinhardt used the
money she stole on shopping,
gambling, eating out at restau-
rants and drinking in bars.
The drunken-driving con-
viction relates to an incident
in November 2014 when she
left a bar in Seaside, got into
her vehicle and crashed into
with a witness were
Reinhardt
dismissed.
entered Alford pleas
An Alford plea is
Tuesday at a sen-
a guilty plea from a
tencing hearing in
defendant who pro-
Clatsop
County
claims their inno-
Circuit Court to
cence, but admits
¿UVWGHJUHH DJJUD-
the prosecution has
YDWHG WKHIW ¿UVWGH-
enough evidence
gree theft, identity
to prove they are
theft, driving under
guilty.
WKH LQÀXHQFH RI Deborah Lynn
The
incidents
intoxicants and driv-
Reinhardt
occurred between
ing while her license
was suspended. Other charges July 2014 and January 2015.
including criminal mistreat- The man’s family was able to
ment, forgery and tampering get a restraining order against
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Five candidates
will be queried
By LYRA FONTAINE
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH — The
Cannon Beach Rural Fire Pro-
WHFWLRQ'LVWULFWKDVVHOHFWHG¿YH
WRSFDQGLGDWHVIRUWKH¿UHFKLHI
position out of 20 applications
received, interim Fire Chief Jim
Stearns announced at the Mon-
day board meeting.
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come to Cannon Beach on April
23 for interviews, and will be
QDUURZHG GRZQ WR WKUHH ¿QDO-
ists. Community members are
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three candidates, expected from
2 to 4 p.m. at the Cannon Beach
¿UHVWDWLRQ
Stearns said he hopes the
board will reach a hiring deci-
sion by May so that the chief can
begin working in June.
The district seeks an experi-
HQFHG¿UHFKLHIZKRZLOOEH³DQ
active, involved part of the com-
munity, work effectively with
WKH¿YHPHPEHUERDUGRIGLUHF-
WRUV GHPRQVWUDWH VWURQJ ¿V-
cal accountability and provide
fair, honest, effective leadership
to the paid staff and 26 volun-
teers,” the job description states.
Salary for the chief’s job is
$67,500 to $75,000, depending
RQTXDOL¿FDWLRQV
Stearns suggested that the
board help to create and imple-
ment a strategic plan.
“I think it’s really important
to have a strategic plan that we
all buy into,” he said. “As we
look at hiring people, it’s nice
for them to be able to walk into
the organization and say, organi-
zationally, this is what the values
are, this is where we’re going.”
The board is seeking to
replace former Fire Chief Mike
%DO]HUZKRZDV¿UHGLQ2FWR-
EHU %DO]HU KDV VLQFH ¿OHG D
ODZVXLW DJDLQVW WKH ¿UH GLVWULFW
claiming wrongful dismissal.
Community member Mary
Peterson commented that with
the lawsuit pending, hiring a
new chief was a mistake.
The lawsuit could bring his
reinstatement.
,W ZRXOG EH ³¿VFDOO\ LUUH-
sponsible for this board to gam-
ble with citizens’ money to
have to buy out a new chief’s
contract, if in fact Mike Balzer
is successful in his lawsuit,” she
VDLG ³,W ZRXOG EH ¿QH LI \RX
were gambling with your own
money, but you’re not.”
7KUHH ¿UH ERDUG PHP-
bers turned back a recall elec-
tion last week. The recall effort
stemmed from frustration
among some residents over the
board’s handling of Balzer’s
¿ULQJ
“I would like to compli-
ment the entire board for the
grace and professionalism
with which you have handled
yourselves over the last sev-
eral months and to congratu-
late the three of you who stood
for recall and were success-
ful in defeating it,” community
member Marty Schwab Harris
said of board members Sharon
Clyde, Garry Smith and Linda
Beck-Sweeney. “If the issue of
¿GXFLDU\UHVSRQVLELOLW\LVWREH
brought up at this time, I would
like to suggest that perhaps
those who initiated the recall
ZRXOGOLNHWRUHLPEXUVHWKH¿UH
district for the cost of the recall,
which will fall to the district’s
budget and therefore consume
funds that could otherwise be
XVHG IRU WUDLQLQJ ¿UH HTXLS-
ment and other much-needed
goods and services.”
PORTLAND — Oregon’s
unemployment rate tumbled
to 4.5 percent in March — the
lowest mark since compara-
ble record-keeping began in
¿JXUHV UHOHDVHG 7XHV-
day show.
A total of 1.94 million Ore-
gonians were employed in
March, an increase from 1.84
million at this time last year
when the jobless rate was 5.7
percent, the state Employment
Department statistics indicate.
Meanwhile, the job gains
led to rising wages, with
the average pay rate for pri-
vate sector payroll employ-
ees jumping to $24.45 an
hour last month, an increase
of more than a dollar from a
year ago.
“Businesses are rais-
ing wages to attract the help
they need, and it’s working
EHFDXVH SHRSOH DUH ÀRFNLQJ
to Oregon’s labor force,” said
Nick Beleiciks, state employ-
ment economist.
The jobless rate has
steadily dropped since reach-
Downsized school library
rankles some in Warrenton
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — A plan
by
Warrenton-Hammond
School District to convert
more than half of the existing
library at Warrenton Grade
School into a multipurpose
space for physical education
classes by next school year
has some worried the gather-
ing space is being curtailed.
The district recently
announced plans to take the
high-ceiling portion of the
grade school’s library — col-
loquially referred to as “The
3LW´ DQG ODUJHO\ ¿OOHG ZLWK
tables, chairs and shelving
for books — and turn it into
a multipurpose space, largely
for PE and recess. The space
represents about 60 percent of
the library, which will be con-
solidated into the remaining
space.
Superintendent Mark Jef-
fery said the change is driven
by the lack of space and over-
crowding in gym classes at the
grade school, which houses
approximately 750 students
in kindergarten through eighth
grade. He said the district is
currently getting bids on the
work to convert the space.
Currently there are no set
requirements for PE instruc-
tion per day. But a law passed
in 2007 by the state Legisla-
ture requires that by the 2017-
18 school year, students in
ing a peak of nearly 12 percent
in 2009. It’s now a half-per-
centage point below the U.S.
unemployment rate, a distinc-
tion Oregon last saw in 1995.
Oregon added 3,900 jobs
last month, led by the health
care and wholesale trade sec-
tors, after a revised gain of
7,400 jobs in February.
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Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
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Submitted Photo
The Warrenton Grade School Library may undergo
some changes soon.
kindergarten through eighth
grade receive year-round PE
instruction, including at least
150 minutes per week for ele-
mentary schoolers and 225
minutes per week for middle
schoolers.
Community
members
decried the potential loss of
space for the many events
held in the grade school
library.
Kathleen Merritt, a long-
time librarian and teacher in
the district, asked the district
to delay the decision and give
the community more time to
¿QG RWKHU RSWLRQV WR H[SDQG
PE space without disrupting
the library.
Jennifer Rasmussen, an
adviser at Warrenton with the
federal Talent Search student
support program, said the dis-
trict should be thinking about
how to transform the library
into a learning commons to
better support academics.
Jeffery said that while
Consult a
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Never give out or confirm your financial or
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district will consolidate the
library’s physical collection
into a smaller space, it will try
to expand students’ access to
digital content. He added that
the new multipurpose space
could be used for many of
the same events the library’s
high-ceilinged section is now.
During a recent tour of the
grade school library, he said
the district has some money
set aside in the budget to buy
e-readers, along with some
community members willing
to donate money. The district
would like to start out next
year with about 100 of the
devices, he said, while pro-
viding access to online cat-
alogs and potentially letting
students check devices out.
“This isn’t the death knell
for the library by any means,”
Jeffery told the audience
at Tuesday’s board meet-
ing. “This is an opportunity
to modernize it and move it
forward.”
NORTH COAST SYMPHONIC BAND
D R . I K E N AIL
can I expect
Q: What
during a dental exam?
said. “She is a different person
when she is not drinking.”
As part of her 78-month
prison sentence, Reinhardt is
RUGHUHGWRSD\D¿QH
to the man. She is also not
allowed to have any contact
with him or his family.
The victim’s daughter, who
aided in the law enforcement
investigation, spoke at the sen-
tencing hearing.
“She squandered away the
health of my father, the time he
had with family,” the daughter
said.
Space could
be converted
to PE classes
Oregon jobless rate drops to
4.5 percent, lowest since 1976
By STEVEN DUBOIS
Associated Press
another car. Her blood alco-
hol level was measured at 0.20
percent, according to police.
Reinhardt’s defense lawyer
Kirk Wintermute said alcohol
abuse is the root of her prob-
lems. He described how she
was having a good time with
her partner trying to enjoy the
last few years of the man’s life.
However, Reinhardt started
spending money too quickly
and things snowballed out of
control.
“She was drinking more
than she should,” Wintermute
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