The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current, April 20, 2016, Page 12A, Image 12

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    12A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016
Goldthorpe: He says
he has the temperament
to stay even-keeled
Woltjer: He always
tries to explain his
decisions to people
McIntosh: She says
she’ll have no problem
dealing with busy docket
WKHUH LV D FRQÀLFW ZLWK 5RQ-
ald Woltjer — now a munici-
Another day he would be in the pal court judge — being mar-
gymnasium making sure no one ried to Circuit Court Judge
was hurting each other. Once in Cindee Matyas. As an exam-
a while, he would have to physi- ple, Goldthorpe says if Matyas
writes a search warrant that is
cally restrain an inmate.
He looks back on his time challenged in court, Woltjer
at the prison as an eye-open- could not be the judge to review
ing experience. He recalls see- the search warrant, and vice
ing how much some inmates versa. That work would always
fall to Judge Paula Brownhill.
changed for the better.
³,ZRXOGQ¶WKDYHDFRQÀLFW´
“I personally don’t believe
a prosecutor should ask to send Goldthorpe said. “I feel I have
somebody somewhere that you the experience that would make
me an excellent judge, and my
haven’t seen,” he said.
Becoming a judge has been a experience shouldn’t be deval-
lifelong goal for Goldthorpe. He ued by just years as an attorney.”
believes he has the personality Goldthorpe said he would bring
and temperament to stay even- a different world of experience
keeled in the courtroom and to the Circuit Court.
Growing up, he became an
make the right decisions.
“It’s always a job I’ve seen Eagle Scout. He lived in Europe
myself willing and able to do,” for two years experiencing how
the world works outside of the
he said.
As a deputy district attorney, United States. As a judicial
Goldthorpe only represents the clerk, he helped handle child
state. He said he does not have abuse, drug, homicide and civil
WKH VDPH SRWHQWLDO FRQÀLFWV DQG cases. His work in the District
baggage as his opponents. He $WWRUQH\¶V 2I¿FH UDQJHV IURP
believes Dawn McIntosh, an attempted-murder cases to traf-
attorney and former prosecutor, ¿FYLRODWLRQV
No matter who is elected,
could not be the judge on a hear-
ing for the many people she rep- Goldthorpe said, they will have
resented in private practice. She a learning curve. “Everyone is
KDVDQDXWRPDWLFFRQÀLFWKHVDLG going to have their areas that
In addition, Goldthorpe said, they have to learn,” he said.
Continued from Page 1A
ZLWK UHVSHFW WR ¿QG VROXWLRQV
to problems, she said.
Working in private prac-
When she became a dep-
uty district attorney in Clat- tice before serving as a judge
sop County in 1998, McIn- means McIntosh will come
tosh supervised all child-abuse across people she has repre-
prosecutions. She was also sented. In response to con-
a founding member of the FHUQVDERXWSRVVLEOHFRQÀLFWV
Lighthouse for Kids, a child- McIntosh said, the fact that a
abuse assessment and preven- judge knows somebody does
not change their job of being
tion center.
McIntosh is not concerned fair and impartial.
If she did represent some-
with the potential emotional
one in the past and they came
toll from being a judge.
“As a judge it’s not a steady before her, a different judge
diet of child abuse. For me, for would have to handle the case.
that many years, it was,” she However, McIntosh said, con-
ÀLFW UXOHV DUH VSHFL¿F DQG
said.
Five years after moving many times people are willing
to Clatsop County, McIntosh to sign waivers and proceed.
McIntosh also points out
went into private practice. In
VKH VWDUWHG KHU ¿UP LQ that both Judge Philip Nelson
Gearhart.
and Judge Paula Brownhill
As a Circuit Court judge, were lawyers in the commu-
McIntosh said, she will have nity before taking the bench.
no problem handling a busy
“Just because you dealt
docket.
with somebody doesn’t mean
“Anybody that knows me WKHUH LV D FRQÀLFW´ VKH VDLG
knows that the workload is ³<RXKDYHWRKDYHFRQ¿GHQWLDO
probably the least of my wor- information that causes you
ries,” she said. “I work very not to be impartial.”
hard.”
If elected, McIntosh said,
McIntosh sees the role of a she would prepare herself by
judge as the person who keeps visiting with the current judges
D OHYHO SOD\LQJ ¿HOG LQ WKH and court administrator. “I’m
courtroom. Judges make sure ready to go back to public ser-
everyone is treated fairly and vice,” she said.
Continued from Page 1A
Woltjer said people’s
experiences of how they
were treated in municipal
court often form how they
see the entire court system.
As a judge, he explains to
each person their rights and
makes sure they are com-
fortable moving forward.
“I always explain my
decision to people,” Wolt-
jer said. “Even if they walk
out not with the result they
hoped for, at least they
know they were listened to.”
Working as a judge in
small communities can
mean sentencing neighbors
and acquaintances. A judge
at any level must stick to
the law, Woltjer said, and
make decisions based on
facts and not personal feel-
ings. In municipal court , he
said, there were people who
were likable that he found
guilty, and more chal-
lenging people he found
innocent.
“You have to make sure
people are aware you are
doing this solely on what is
before you,” he said.
As a Circuit Court judge,
the majority of the day is
Continued from Page 1A
focused on complex felony
crimes. To avoid an emo-
tional toll, Woltjer said, he
is able to compartmentalize
work and not take it home
with him.
However, not taking his
ZRUN KRPH PD\ EH GLI¿-
cult, since Woltjer’s wife
is Circuit Court Judge Cin-
dee Matyas. If Woltjer is
elected, the couple would
work together in the same
courthouse.
Woltjer insists he does
not see an issue with work-
ing at the same judicial level
as his wife. He compares it
to two schoolteachers work-
ing in the same building, but
teaching in different class-
rooms, grading different
papers and developing dif-
ferent lesson plans.
“It is unusual. I will grant
you that,” he said. “I don’t
see an issue.”
Whoever is elected will
have more than six months
to prepare. Woltjer believes
his work at the munici-
pal level has provided him
a foundation. “I’m already
a judge, so I have the basic
framework and the basic
understanding of how a
hearing works,” he said.
Port: The leased land’s appraisal has risen from $384,000 to $1.29 million
³5HJDUGLQJWKHVWDWXVRIWKH
lease, the Port has the option to
The Port leases the property amend the lease if they want to
from the Department of State change the use, or the Port and
Lands for $129,000 annually, department can mutually agree
which is paid through the sub- to terminate the lease,” Lorna
lease to Oregon LNG. Oppo- Stafford, assistant to the direc-
QHQWV RI WKH OLTXH¿HG QDWXUDO tor of the State Land Board,
gas project shared their relief said in an email. “We have not
Tuesday at a Port Commission yet been contacted by the Port
PHHWLQJWKDWWKHVDJDLV¿QDOO\ regarding the lease.”
ending.
“We’ve worked almost 12
Calpine
years on this, the community,
In November 2004, the Port
the state,” said Lori Durheim, leased more than 90 acres on
who regularly attends Port meet- the Skipanon Peninsula from
ings and criticizes the Port’s sub- the Department of State Lands
lease to Oregon LNG and its IRU¿YH\HDUVZLWKWZR\HDU
options to renew. The Port was
predecessor, Calpine Corp.
Ted Thomas, another regu- initially charged $38,400 a
lar Port Commission attendee \HDU DQG WKH OHDVH VSHFL¿HG
and LNG opponent, said the the land could only be used for
Port should withdraw from a golf course or marine indus-
the lease and request the prop- trial facility.
Several days after execut-
erty revert from state to county
ing the lease with the state,
control.
“I would say that I’m pretty the Port Commission unani-
sure that the Port is going to mously approved a sublease to
have an important role to play Skipanon Natural Gas, a sub-
in the dissolution, or the end- sidiary of Calpine Corp., a Cal-
ing of Oregon LNG here in ifornia-based energy company
Clatsop County,” Jim Knight, that wanted to build a natural
the Port’s executive director, gas terminal at the mouth of
WKH6NLSDQRQ5LYHUDQGVWDUWHG
said after the meeting.
Continued from Page 1A
paying the Port’s lease to the
state.
Calpine, reporting $10 bil-
lion lost amid a slumping
ZKROHVDOHHQHUJ\PDUNHW¿OHG
for bankruptcy near the end of
2005. To help satisfy its debts,
the company sold Skipanon
Natural Gas and the sublease on
the Skipanon Peninsula to LNG
Development Co. LLC, a sub-
sidiary of Leucadia National
Corp., a New York-based hold-
ing company. The sale came
after Leucadia agreed to the
Port’s request for a guarantee of
payment on the lease.
over whether the Port or state
owned the land on the pen-
insula, and how the original
Calpine Corp. lease was struc-
tured, commissioners delayed
renewing the lease with the
Department of State Lands.
Oregon LNG sued the Port
to force it to renew the lease.
A judge eventually ruled the
agency had violated the sub-
lease with Oregon LNG by
not renewing the lease with
the state. The Port eventually
renewed the lease and settled
to avoid paying damages to the
company.
Dueling appraisals
In 2012, the value of the
Skipanon Peninsula prop-
erty shot up from $384,000
to $1.29 million. Meanwhile,
the annual lease payments
Oregon LNG pays through
the Port to the state went
from $38,400 to $129,000.
An
amended
lease
between the Port and state
from 2009 said the rent
would be recalculated every
¿YH \HDUV EDVHG RQ WKH IDLU
market value of the land.
In December 2011, an
appraiser hired by the state
had valued the land at more
than $1.6 million, largely
because of a zoning change
from urban recreational —
for a golf course — to marine
industrial for a gas terminal.
The appraisal was challenged
by Oregon LNG, and a sec-
ond appraisal valued it at
$692,000.
A third-party appraiser
was brought in and com-
pared the site to other indus-
trial property in Vancouver,
:DVKLQJWRQ DQG 5DLQLHU
and valued the land at $1.29
million.
Oregon LNG
LNG Development Co.,
doing business as Oregon
/1* VWDUWHG LWV RZQ ¿OLQJV
ZLWKWKH)HGHUDO(QHUJ\5HJX-
latory Commission, but ran into
¿HUFH RSSRVLWLRQ IURP ORFDOV
and a competing terminal proj-
ect by NorthernStar Natural
Gas Inc., which had been plan-
ning a similar project at Brad-
wood Landing east of Astoria.
The Port Commission even-
tually renewed the agency’s
sublease with Oregon LNG.
But amid lingering questions
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R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
Kyle and Stephanie Schlip are managers of Oasis Cannabis in Seaside.
Pot shop: ‘Cannabis has so many
healing qualities that help people’
The store’s mission is “to
present the recreational in an
Schlip and her husband, informed way to get away from
Kyle, manage the store, backed the stereotypes of recreational
by investors Sherry Bateman use,” Sivers said. “We want peo-
and Dennis Sivers, who ple to be aware of all the chemi-
helped purchase the building. cals involved in the strain of can-
Sivers, president and CEO of a nabis and its potential effects.”
Stephanie Schlip, a Manza-
Portland real estate and invest-
PHQW¿UPKDVEHHQFRPLQJWR nita native, worked in a medical
a family home in Arch Cape for dispensary in Portland before
the couple returned to the coast.
50 years.
“I had no idea what the can-
He sees Seaside as “the heart
nabis industry was like until I
of the north Oregon Coast.”
“It seemed a place that made got into it,” she said. “I realized
how it really helped people.
sense,” Sivers said.
Continued from Page 1A
Cannabis has so many healing
qualities that help people.”
Oasis Cannabis is Sea-
side’s fourth dispensary, join-
ing Highway 420 and Cannabis
Nation in town and the Sip Stop
in Elsie.
“I want us all to be friends
and be teams,” Schlip said. “If I
don’t have something I want to
be able to send them down the
road and vice versa.”
³3HRSOH ZLOO ¿QG WKH WKUHH
places have different approaches
DQG¿QGWKHRQHWKDWVXLWVWKHP
best,” Sivers said.
Q Job fairs
GET STARTED NOW!
Call 503-861-9502 or visit
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