DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, JULY 11, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 7
ONE DOLLAR
Flavel’s
M&N
Building
has new
owners
Warrenton couple hopes
to lease storefronts
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
A Warrenton couple has purchased the
building owned by Mary Louise Flavel at
Ninth and Commercial streets, an investment
that could help improve an eyesore downtown.
Marcus and Michelle Liotta, who moved
to the area from Portland earlier this year,
bought the vacant building Friday for
$135,000. They plan to set up their own busi-
nesses eventually in two or three of the ive
storefronts and lease the others.
“We chose that building because we see
potential in it. We know the history of it.
We’d like to invest in Astoria and put some-
thing into the community,” said Marcus
Liotta, a 35-year-old technology marketing
specialist at Ticor Title. “We both feel, by
restoring a building like that, given its his-
torical signiicance, that we will be contrib-
uting to the city.”
Submitted Photo
See FLAVEL, Page 10A
Cannon Beach park maps include comments from area residents.
Cannon Beach ponders pocket
parks, trail, city acquisitions
By LYRA FONTAINE
The Daily Astorian
ANNON BEACH —
A community garden,
stream restoration and
no bathrooms on the beach
are all on residents’ parks
wish list.
At an open house for the
city’s parks master plan, peo-
ple marked their ideas for
Cannon Beach parks, beach
access and trails on large
maps and spoke with plan-
ners from design irm Otak.
“Park planning is one
of our favorites,” said Glen
Bolen, Otak’s senior planner.
“It’s rewarding.”
Planners said commu-
nity input gives validity to
the parks master plan, mak-
ing the city more likely to get
grants and funds, and pro-
vides a way for residents to
share what they want the city
to invest in.
According
to
the
marked-up maps, some
would like the city to acquire
the former elementary school
land near NeCus’ Park and
obtain Tolovana State Park
from Oregon State Parks and
C
Short-staffed department
seeks to beef up ranks
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Submitted Photo
See PLAN, Page 10A
Summer,
holidays
put stress
on Seaside
oficers
SEASIDE — Six months after the shoot-
ing death of Sgt. Jason Goodding in Seaside,
the Police Department remains short-handed
ive oficers, despite
recent hires, among
them second-in-com-
mand Lt. Bruce Holt
and Oficer Bethany
Workman, who starts
today.
The July Fourth
holiday put particular
strain on the depart-
ment, Chief Dave Ham
Dave
said at Friday’s Sea-
Ham
side Chamber of Com-
merce breakfast. “It
was basically one big shift for all of our ofi-
cers.” Retirements and Goodding’s death in
Residents review potential park plans at a Cannon Beach open house.
See OFFICERS, Page 10A
Guide dog gives Warrenton man freedom
Hartley inds a
friend, navigator
in Grover
eorge Hartley, a man
legally blind since 2007,
decided last year it was time to
get a service animal.
“I’m bullheaded and stub-
born,” said the 67-year-old
Warrenton resident, who
talked it over with his wife,
Roxanne, and a family friend.
“I knew I needed one. So I
said, ‘Yeah, it’s time.’”
Now Hartley and Roxanne
live with Grover, an almost-
2-year-old yellow Labrador
8retriever. And the guide dog
G
has changed his life.
“He’s simply amazing,”
Hartley said. “I couldn’t get
along without him anymore.”
Hartley
found
Gro-
ver in May through Guide
Dogs for the Blind, a donor-
funded nonproit that pairs
trained canines with visually
impaired people.
Though they became fast
friends, Hartley and Gro-
ver had to earn their bond:
For two weeks, they became
acquainted with each others’
moves and signals at the Guide
Dogs’ campus in Boring.
The dog helps Hartley
move through the world —
especially the world of War-
renton, where Hartley has
lived since he was 5 years old.
Strapped in a harness, Grover
inds doors and seats, takes
him up and down curbs, stops
for cars, and winds through
stores, shopping centers and
whole city blocks.
“He’s my eyes, basically,”
Hartley said.
A playful pup with the tam-
est temperament, Grover is a
near-constant companion for
See HARTLEY, Page 10A
George Hartley
and his guide
dog, Grover, a
yellow Labra-
dor retriever,
on the back
porch of their
Warrenton
home.
Erick Bengel
The Daily Astorian