143RD YEAR, NO. 207
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2016
Warrenton still ‘open for business’ ‘I always
Balensifer wants to
create a strategic plan
for city¶s economy
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
Henry
Balensifer
WARRENTON — In light of Ore-
gon LN*¶s decision to ditch a proposed
$6 billion terminal and pipeline proj-
ect on the Skipanon Peninsula, the City
Commission wants outside industries
to know that Warrenton still welcomes
business development.
Commissioner Henry Balensifer
said the city should also devise a stra-
tegic plan for Warrenton¶s economy,
a document that spells out the kind of
businesses the community wants to
encourage.
“We need to have a plan about what
industries we want to see coming to
our town,” he said. “I believe we need
to have an economic strategy for our
industrial lands, including our water-
front lands.”
)or 1 years, the lique¿ ed natural gas
project split the North Coast community
into opposing factions.
Supporters wanted the jobs and tax
revenue the energy company promised,
while opponents cast the project as envi-
ronmentally degrading and — given its
location in a known earthquake and tsu-
nami zone — possibly dangerous.
See WARRENTON, Page 9A
ONE WHEEL WORKOUT
South County students take to unicycles for physical education
knew …
cops would
kill him¶
)erry¶s mother: He was
a sociopath and monster
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
The morning after Phillip Ferry shot and
killed Seaside Police Sgt. Jason Goodding,
police met with Ferry¶s mother, Barbara
O¶Malley, to explain that her son was dead.
O¶Malley appeared
almost relieved at the
news, police said, and
she called her son a
sociopath and a mon-
ster. She started crying
and grabbed both sides
of her head, saying,
“It¶s over. It¶s over. It¶s
¿ nally over"”
She told the of¿ cers
that the nightmares
Phillip Max
she had of Ferry being
Ferry
killed by police had
¿ nally came true. “He destroyed everybody
he was ever around,” she said. “I always
knew that the cops would kill him.”
The encounter with Ferry¶s mother is one
of several perspectives found in police reports
compiled in an investigation into the fatal
shooting. The full account , released Thursday ,
led District Attorney Josh Marquis to conclude
the police shooting of Ferry was justi¿ ed.
Interviews with family and friends depict
Ferry, a habitual criminal, as someone who
would rather die than go back to jail.
Others speak out
Edna Viles, an acquaintance , told police
she took Ferry to Sea Breeze restaurant the day
of the shooting in February. He wanted to get
money to buy things like cigarettes, she said.
She recalled a previous conversation
when Ferry told her he would rather die
than go back to jail.
Photos by Joshua Bessex/EO Media Group
See FERRY, Page 11A
Thomas Jenkins, center, watches as Portia Butori unicycles through the gym at Gearhart Elementary School on Thursday.
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For The Daily Astorian
G
EARHART — Unicy-
cling probably does not
come to mind when you
think about physical edu-
cation at elementary school . An
exception is in the Seaside School
District.
Each ¿ fth-grade physical edu-
cation class at Gearhart Elemen-
tary School and Seaside Heights
Elementary School completed a
¿ ve-week unit focused on the uni-
cycle this term.
PE teacher Brian Sigler, who
has been with the school district
about 27 years, pitched the idea last
summer to Seaside Heights Ele-
mentary School Principal Sande
Brown, who was supportive. The
school got 10 unicycles and Sigler
acquired an additional ¿ ve.
With the cycles in hand, Sigler
introduced the activity ¿ rst to
¿ fth-graders at Seaside Heights
Elementary before moving on to
Gearhart Elementary. Sigler even-
tually wants all the elementa-
ry-aged students to get unicycle
experience in their PE classes —
although that would require more
Instructor
Brian Sigler,
right, and
Cameron
Schulte,
left, help
Brody Hill-
man keep
his bal-
ance while
learning
how to ride
a unicycle
at Gearhart
Elementary
School.
unicycles. However, “this has been
a really nice start,” he said, adding
he wished he introduced the activ-
ity earlier.
“We¶ve got some kids that have
gotten really excited about unicy-
cles,” he said.
Club forms
Sigler rode a unicycle as a hobby
for a couple years starting in fourth
grade. When he started teaching the
activity at Seaside Heights, he had
not ridden in 40 years, but he said
his background still made it easy
to give demonstrations and instruct
the students in the basics.
“It is a lifetime skill — once
you learn, you really do not for-
get,” he said.
The unit at Gearhart Elemen-
tary School ended earlier this
month. However, Sigler received
so much positive feedback from
students he felt compelled to con-
tinue their opportunity to learn and
practice. So, he started a unicy-
cling club for all ¿ fth-graders in the
See UNICYCLES, Page 12A
What¶s in a name" Jim Saules, not Jim Crow
Washington effort
afoot to change racist
Wahkiakum names
By NATALIE ST. JOHN
EO Media Group
WAHKIAKUM COUNTY, Wash. —
In July 1841, black sailor James D. Saules
jumped ship when the U S S Peacock foundered
on a spit in the mouth of the Columbia River.
A multi lingual ¿ ddler, bar pilot, ship¶s captain
and entrepreneur, Saules became well-known
around the region and landed in the middle of
two historic conÀ icts.
He was one of just two people known to
have been publicly À ogged in Astoria, and was
probably the catalyst for Oregon¶s infamous
black-exclusion policy. But all he got for his
trouble were three Columbia River landmarks
in Washington with miserably racist names:
Jim Crow Creek, Jim Crow Hill and Jim
Crow Point; and one on the Oregon side of
the r iver, James Crow Sands.
That could change soon in Washington.
State Sen. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle,
recently proposed a coordinated effort
to change 36 Washington place names
that contain racial slurs like “squaw” and
“coon.”
Last week , Jayapal said the three Jim
Crow places are a priority, because there¶s an
obvious alternative — Saules¶ actual name.
However, her proposal has received “a
mixed reaction” from locals.
Some, including two county commission-
ers, have defended the name as part of the
county¶s “heritage” and dismissed Jayapal as
a city-dwelling liberal who is trying to impose
“political correctness.”
See CROW, Page 8A
Oddbits photo
The 1950s and
‘60s saw the rise
of African-Ameri-
can empowerment
groups like the
National Negro
Congress, which
sought to end Jim
Crow laws.
Pot shop
nickname has
Port leader
DOO¿UHGXS
Port Astordam
is a play on words
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Port of Astoria Commissioner James
Campbell takes exception to Port Astordam,
the bottom half of a sign greeting travel-
ers on Portway Street,
with marijuana leaves
on either side and a
large green cross in the
middle.
The sign marks the
second Astoria loca-
tion for marijuana
retailer Sweet Relief
Natural
Medicine,
which opened up on
James
Portway Street above
Campbell
the city¶s ¿ rst marijua-
na -growing business
and just outside the Port¶s boundaries.
“I don¶t want a pot-growing organization
stamping their name on the Port,” Camp-
bell said at a Tuesday meeting. “I think we
should run it past our attorney. They can
change their name. They don¶t need our
name.”
There might not be much to change.
The name of the business on Portway is
legally Sweet Relief West. C o-owner Oscar
Nelson said Port Astordam is a nickname, a
play on words between the location¶s prox-
imity to the Port, Astoria and Amsterdam,
the capital of the Netherlands and a popular
marijuana tourism destination.
He said he hasn¶t received any complaints
about Port Astordam from the city or Port so
far. B ut Sweet Relief has faced a trademark
tiff with the Tillamook County Creamery
Association, which operates the Tillamook
Cheese Factory.
See POT SHOP, Page 9A