MEMORIAL DAY: TODAY IS ABOUT THE COST OF WAR OPINION • 4A
DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, MAY 30, 2016
143RD YEAR, NO. 232
ONE DOLLAR
Former clerk ‘vindicated’ in ballot-error lawsuit
Election oficial awarded more than $400,000
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
Former Clatsop County Clerk
Maeve Kennedy Grimes said she felt
vindicated after a jury awarded her
more than $400,000 in damages in
a lawsuit against the county over her
dismissal.
The former clerk was ired after
two errors were discovered on the
November 2014 general election bal-
lot. Former County Manager Scott
Somers called her insubordinate for
pursuing the Secretary of State’s
directive to issue corrected ballots
without consulting him.
“I was not terminated for the right
reasons,” she said during the trial. “I
was made out to be a person who I am
not. I was made out to look like some-
one who didn’t know how to do my
job, and that is not true.”
A 12-person jury unanimously
agreed Friday that Kennedy Grimes
was ired because she disclosed infor-
mation she reasonably believed was
evidence of the county violating the
law, mismanagement, wasting funds
and abusing authority. The jury also
found the county interfered with Ken-
nedy Grimes’ disclosure.
Kennedy Grimes was awarded
$168,136 in economic damages and
$271,610 in noneconomic damages,
totaling nearly $440,000. Noneco-
nomic damages apply to her emo-
tional distress and the damage to her
professional reputation. The county
will also have to cover her attorney’s
fees.
Ballot errors
In October 2014, a citizen alerted
Kennedy Grimes to a small typo-
graphical error on the ballot. The
clerk then discovered a second ballot
error shortly after.
One ballot mistake left off a zero
in the amount of a Clatsop Commu-
nity College bond measure as “not
exceeding $8,200,00.” The second
mistake gave Cannon Beach voters
incorrect instructions in an at-large
Scott
Somers
Maeve Kennedy
Grimes
election for City Council.
Kennedy Grimes immediately
contacted the Secretary of State’s
Ofice, which directed her to proceed
with supplemental ballots, costing
about $14,000.
Somers, however, ordered the
clerk to consider other options.
Somers and former Clatsop Com-
munity College President Lawrence
Galizio wanted to possibly send out
an explanatory letter to voters — a
cheaper option for the county — or
take no action since the errors were
considered insigniicant.
Somers, who testiied at trial via
video link from his new job as city
manager of College Park, Maryland,
said he was concerned when Ken-
nedy Grimes did not include him in
the decision to send out supplemen-
tal ballots.
“It was a very big decision. It was a
very public error,” Somers said. “The
decision on how to rectify the bal-
lot error was very important. I think
it would have been appropriate for
See CLERK, Page 10A
A life in free fall
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
A mother and
her son tried to
navigate limited
drug treatment
options before his
incarceration
Capt. William Timmons,
right, shakes Capt. Daniel
Travers’ hand, left, as Rear
Admiral Richard Gromlich,
center, congratulates them
both during the change-of-
command ceremony Friday.
Coast
Guard
changes
command
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
I
t didn’t take long for Vincent
Davidson-Gilbert’s life to fall
apart once he starting using drugs
again.
The former Seaside resident had a
house, a good job and an eight-year
marriage. Though he went to prison at
18 for stealing cars — crimes commit-
ted during his irst streak of drug abuse
in Portland — he’d spent eight years
living as a productive member of North
Coast society.
But in September he lost his super-
visor job at Home Depot in Warrenton.
Then he began to get high, irst with
black-market OxyContin, then with
heroin and methamphetamines. Every-
thing in his world began to crumble.
“It happened all so quick,” he said.
As his relapse worsened, Vincent
asked his mother, Kathleen Gilbert, for
help. Together, they explored different
treatment options. She’d been through
this search before with her older son,
Devin.
They checked with Astoria Pointe,
KLEAN in Long Beach, Washington,
and elsewhere for inpatient treatment,
and with Clatsop Behavioral Health-
care and the Oregon Health Authority
for outpatient care.
But with no insurance, little
money and drugs overriding his judg-
ment, Vincent felt powerless.
“I know I needed help, but I wasn’t
able to do anything; I was really on
the drugs,” he said.
Meanwhile, his usage intensiied.
Drug-induced drama played out as he
mixed with dealers and other junkies,
made unwise decisions and fright-
ened his loved ones.
“In six months, (he) completely
destroyed his life,” said Kathleen,
a sterile supply technician at Prov-
idence Seaside Hospital who often
Timmons
replaces Travers
as sector leader
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Stories like Vincent’s are depress-
ingly common in Clatsop County and
throughout Oregon: A person abuses
painkillers before turning to harder
drugs, has trouble inding or affording
proper treatment, engages in criminal
activity as the addiction becomes a
lifestyle, and ends up in prison.
WARRENTON — Capt.
William Timmons, a former
executive oficer for the U.S.
Coast Guard Sector Columbia
River, is glad to be back.
Standing beneath an
American lag three stories
high in his old unit’s hangar
Friday, Timmons took com-
mand of the sector from Capt.
Daniel Travers, who is retir-
ing to Astoria after 26 years of
service.
The two served together at
Air Station Sitka in Alaska.
“It is an honor and a priv-
ilege to have this incredible
opportunity to serve as sector
commander,” Timmons said.
“And it’s icing on the cake to
take the handoff from Capt.
Travers.”
Sector Columbia River
includes 500 active-duty per-
sonnel, 440 auxiliarists, 105
reservists and 33 civilians
ensuring safe and lawful nav-
igation along more than 480
miles of coastline and 535
miles of the Columbia, Wil-
lamette and Snake rivers.
See LIFE, Page 5A
See CHANGE, Page 10A
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Vincent Davidson-Gilbert is escorted by officers into the courtroom Friday for his sentencing at Clatsop
County Circuit Court.
It didn’t matter that Vincent’s
irst felony occurred almost a decade
ago. It didn’t matter that he had vol-
unteered for a local food bank and
helped Providence Seaside Hospi-
tal set up for community parades. It
didn’t matter that he was a loving son
and brother, and a much-loved uncle
to his niece and nephews.
What mattered is that Vincent
was a felon with guns, and, what-
ever the bitter backstory behind the
burglaries, law enforcement deter-
mined he met the legal deinition of a
burglar.
“It’s horrible,” Kathleen said.
“And he did it to himself.”
Without means
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Kathleen Gilbert, mother of Vincent Davidson-Gilbert, listens during
her son’s sentencing Friday at Clatsop County Circuit Court.
sees patients in the throes of drug
abuse.
Before Vincent could get help, he
was arrested Jan. 25 — his 27th birth-
day — for burglary and for being a
felon in possession of a irearm.
After his family posted his bail, Vin-
cent committed a second burglary, in
which his estranged wife was named
among the witnesses.
On Friday, Circuit Court Judge
Cindee Matyas sentenced David-
son-Gilbert to ive-and-a-half
years in prison.
Environmental advocate steps up at the Rock
New volunteer
coordinator
protects whales
C
ANNON BEACH —In
2014, Frances Holtman
was among crew members
detained when four small boats
were seized by Danish author-
ities for protesting the slaugh-
ter of pilot whales in the Faroe
Islands.
That incident is behind her,
but Holtman’s dedication to
environmental
conservation
continues in Cannon Beach as
the Haystack Rock Awareness
Program’s new volunteer coor-
dinator. She began working with
the program as a staff interpreter
in February.
On a bright May morning,
Holtman, 25, awaited a group of
local elementary school students
to arrive for a ield trip.
Holtman said ocean ecosys-
tems provide air for every sec-
ond breath we take.
“The oceans are an intricate
ecosystem that we rely upon to
survive,” she said. “It’s really
fulilling to be able to address
that.”
Holtman noted that the Hay-
stack Rock Awareness Pro-
gram has an educational pro-
gram open to students of all ages
Lyra Fontaine/The Daily Astorian
Frances Holtman is the new volunteer coordinator for the
Haystack Rock Awareness Program.
that regularly sees students from
across the state.
“I think this is an import-
ant part of making a positive
impact,” she said. “A lot of
adults have been telling me that
one of the things they remember
the most from when they were a
kid is coming out on ield trips
to Haystack Rock. And I know
myself, when I was a kid, going
on ield trips really stand out for
me.”
Holtman emphasized the
importance of both year-round
and one-time volunteers in
protecting Haystack Rock, a
national wildlife refuge and
marine garden.
“I can see the effect that
we’re having and that’s what
is really important to me, to be
able to directly protect these
ecosystems,” she said.
Holtman has found it use-
ful to have an interpreter north
of the rock inform people about
wildlife in the marine garden
— like sea anemones — and let
See HOLTMAN, Page 10A