DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016
143RD YEAR, NO. 219
ONE DOLLAR
Maeve Kennedy
Grimes
Scott
Somers
$1 million
county
lawsuit
goes to trial
Dispute arose after
ballot errors, county
clerk’s iring
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
Erick Bengel/The Daily Astorian
Jerry Boisvert, a member of the Lower Columbia Youth Soccer Association board, stands where the new playground equipment will
go up at the Warrenton Soccer Complex.
PLAYING IT BACK
Warrenton Soccer Complex remains a true team effort
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
W
ARRENTON —
The
Warrenton
Soccer Complex
is getting a play-
ground — and, as beitting the
site’s history, the new feature has
been a team effort.
The equipment won’t be the
standard playground fare:
A spinning ring for kids to
ride on called a “Supernova”;
a spring-mounted toy called a
“Hopper,” which resembles a
souped-up teetotaler; a rotating
device called a “Spica”; and a
structure of rope-covered cables
called a “Spacenet.”
The parts will be assembled
within the next few weeks, said
Jerry Boisvert, a member of the
Lower Columbia Youth Soccer
Association board, which man-
ages the complex. A local busi-
ness may also donate a swing
set, he added.
A playground is “something
we’ve always desired because
we have so many kids here on
Saturday mornings,” he said.
“My dream is that everybody
who’s helped out on the ield will
bring their kids, and we’ll have a
ribbon-cutting, and all the kids’ll
run down the hill and go play on
the toys,” he said. “That’s kind
of my hope.”
Erick Bengel/The Daily Astorian
The memorial for Harold Snow, one of many volunteers who
made the Warrenton Sports Complex possible, is getting
raised to road level so it can be seen by more passers-by.
A smaller play structure
already exists on ield No. 1, but
it may get removed after the new
playground is set up.
To bring them closer to
the play equipment, the 5- to
10-year-old soccer players will
play their games on Field No. 2
instead of Field No. 1.
Meanwhile, the parking lot
— which, like ield No. 1, sits
atop a decommissioned, clay-
capped landill — is undergo-
ing a major renovation to make
it more driver-friendly.
And the granite monument
to volunteers, including Harold
Snow — who helped conceive,
fund and build the four-ield soc-
cer complex, and who died in
2008 — will be raised to road
level, making it more visible to
passers-by.
Partnerships
The history of the Warren-
ton Soccer Complex is one of
collaboration between the soc-
cer association and local donors,
sponsors and other partners. And
the playground — to be built
between ields 1 and 2 — con-
tinues that tradition.
Last year, the city of War-
renton gave the association a
$25,000 grant — pass-through
funds from the Quincy Robinson
Trust — plus the land to build
on.
“We thought that was unbe-
lievably generous,” Boisvert
said. “They’ve been unbeliev-
ably supportive.”
The county donated the sand
from their nearby sandpit, and
Gilbert Gramson — a princi-
pal at Sandridge Construction
in Warrenton, and former city
manager and mayor — hauled it
across the street. Nygaard Log-
ging agreed to donate cedar
chips for the playground bed.
Phil Gaffney, superintendent
at Big River Construction, lev-
eled the sand, excavated the play
areas and installed a new drain-
age line. When Gaffney attended
Astoria High School, Boisvert
was his soccer coach.
“I’ve grown up working on
the soccer ields, playing on the
soccer ields, since I was 4 years
old,” said Gaffney, who worked
for the soccer association in high
school. “I don’t have a whole lot
of free time, but when I do, and
they need something done, I’m
more than happy to go out and
help out when I can.”
See COMPLEX, Page 10A
‘My dream is that everybody who’s helped out on the field will
bring their kids, and we’ll have a ribbon-cutting, and all the kids’ll
run down the hill and go play on the toys. That’s kind of my hope.’
Jerry Boisvert
member of the Lower Columbia Youth Soccer Association board
Former staffers ile suit against mental health agency
Federal claim
alleges retaliation,
discrimination
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
A former case manager and a pro-
gram supervisor at Clatsop Behav-
ioral Healthcare have iled a federal
lawsuit against the mental health
agency, alleging that top adminis-
trators failed to take action against
a co-worker who made homophobic
remarks and engaged in other inap-
propriate conduct.
Richard Holmes, a case man-
ager who worked with chronically
mentally ill patients at risk of hos-
pitalization and jail, alleges that
administrators forced him to endure
homophobic slurs and sexually
explicit comments from a female
case manager. Holmes, who is gay,
resigned in April 2015 after he
claims administrators denied a trans-
fer request to another unit.
Colleen Studinarz, a program
manager who was Holmes’ super-
visor, was ired after the agency
accepted Holmes’ resignation. Stu-
dinarz says the agency told her she
was not an “organizational it” and
had shown “resistance to communi-
cation,” but she claims she was retal-
iated against for validating Holmes’
concerns about a hostile work envi-
ronment and calling for a formal
investigation.
The lawsuit, iled in U.S. District
Court in Portland in April, alleges
discrimination and retaliation and
seeks damages. The suit names
Sumuer Watkins, the agency’s exec-
utive director; Nick Benas, the
director of business operations; and
Lois Gilmore, the human resources
manager.
“It is our policy not to litigate in
the press,” Benas said in an email.
“We vigorously oppose any claims
or allegations made against our
agency.”
Former Clatsop County Clerk Maeve
Kennedy Grimes’ $1 million lawsuit
against the county is heading for trial later
this month.
The former clerk claims she was unlaw-
fully ired after errors were discovered on
the November 2014 general election ballot.
Her lawsuit contends former County Man-
ager Scott Somers ired her due to whis-
tleblower retaliation.
Karen Vickers, the county’s attorney,
requested the case be dismissed, claiming
the lawsuit did not reach whistleblower
standards. The former clerk never reported
any mismanagement, any abuse of author-
ity or any violation of law, according to
Vickers.
“Plaintiff made several errors, and
because she disagreed with her boss about
how best to correct the errors, she claims
she was a whistleblower,” Vickers wrote
in court documents. “Disagreement with a
supervisor does not equal whistleblowing.”
Judge Philip Nelson denied the county’
request Monday in Clatsop County Circuit
Court. The trial is set to begin May 24. “It’s
going take a jury to decide,” Nelson said.
See LAWSUIT, Page 10A
Activists
release video
of cormorant
shootings
Animal welfare group
wants to stop federal
killing of birds
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Showing Animals Respect and Kindness,
a nonproit animal welfare group, released
video Monday showing federal agents shoot-
ing double-crested cormorants at the mouth
of the Columbia River.
The video shows agents in a boat taking
aim at locks as they ly overhead, picking
them out of the sky a few at a time.
Activists hope the footage will help with
their campaign to stop what they describe as
a “taxpayer-funded cormorant slaughter.”
Wildlife Services, an agency under the
U.S. Department of Agriculture tasked with
protecting natural resources against wildlife,
was contracted by the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers to shoot cormorants and oil their
nests. According to a story in National Geo-
graphic, Wildlife Services has killed at least
2 million mammals and 15 million birds
since 2000, from coyotes and cougars pre-
dating on livestock to feral pigs and birds
endangering air trafic.
To lower predation on endangered juve-
nile salmon migrating downstream, the
Corps started last year trying to cut the num-
ber of birds on East Sand Island from 13,000
to 5,600 over a four-year period. The agency
estimates East Sand Island holds the larg-
est double-crested cormorant colony in the
See VIDEO, Page 10A
ONLINE
http://bit.ly/1TAH1ob
See AGENCY, Page 10A