BASEBALL: WARRIORS, GULLS SPLIT TWINBILL PAGE 2A DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2016 144TH YEAR, NO. 8 Did D.B. Cooper stay in Astoria? ONE DOLLAR A pearl or problem pebble? Homeowners fear new hotel will crowd them out By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian AP Photo An artist made these sketches of the skyjkacker known as Dan Cooper from the recollections of the passengers and crew of an Northwest Airlines jet he hijacked between Portland and Seattle on Thanksgiving eve in 1971. “Cooper” later parachuted from the plane with $200,000 of ransom money. Locals recall a man some suspect of 1971 skyjacking By ERICK BENGEL The Daily Astorian A bizarre episode in Asto- ria lore has become part of the infamous D.B. Cooper mystery, in which an unidentifi ed passen- ger in the early 1970s hijacked a Pacifi c Northwest fl ight, stole $200,000 and parachuted into the Oregon-Washington wilderness. The History channel on Sun- day and Monday premiered a two-part documentary, “D.B. Cooper: Case Closed?,” featur- ing Astoria’s own Peter Ros- coe, Marian Soderberg, former Mayor Willis Van Dusen and oth- ers who gave a fresh take on the only unsolved skyjacking in U.S. history. They recounted the story of a visitor named “Norman de Winter.” A few months before the D.B. Cooper incident occurred on Nov. 24, 1971, de Winter arrived in town. Claiming he was a wealthy Swiss baron, he befriended the locals, ate their food, stayed in their homes and, in various ways, took their money. He offered to charter a large group on a passenger jet to his lodge in Switzerland for Christ- mas, free of charge. “And then suddenly, one night, he was gone,” Roscoe told The Daily Astorian. See COOPER, Page 10A SEASIDE — A proposed hotel is tak- ing some Seaside residents by surprise and could box in two neighboring property own- ers. The Planning Commission could grant variances at a July 19 meeting to owner Antoine Simmons for his proposed 48-room Pearl of Seaside hotel at Avenue A and Beach Drive. Variances requested at a meet- ing last week sought additional height, side- yard reductions and changes in setbacks. Simmons is CEO of Haystack Lodgings, a Antoine property management Simmons company that owns and operates four boutique inns in Cannon Beach and Seaside. He is described by his publicist, Kasey Kalchert, as “one of the leading experts in online hotel marketing.” See HOTEL, Page 10A AP Photo/Nick Ut Some “D.B. Cooper cash” is displayed at Collectors Universe in Santa Ana, Calif., in 2008. Brian Ingram, from Arkansas, found the sole link to the only unsolved airline hijacking in U.S. history buried along the Columbia River during a family vacation in 1980. Ingram brought the recovered money to Collectors Universe to be authenticated, certified and preserved. Oregon urges no go for timber lawsuit County suit alleges state’s management has cost counties $1.4 billion By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Bureau The Daily Astorian/File Photo Chef Peter Roscoe stands in the dining room of Fulio’s Pastaria, Tuscan Steak House and Delicatessen. Roscoe has long maintained that Nor- man de Winter, who visited Astoria in November 1971 just before the infamous highjack- ing, is D.B. Cooper. AP Photo A hijacked Northwest Airlines jetliner 727 sits on a runway for refu- eling at Tacoma International Airport, Nov. 25, 1971, Seattle, Wash. Celebrate, remember and fi ght back Annual Relay for Life event held in Seaside By KATHERINE LACAZE For The Daily Astorian SEASIDE — Bright paper flowers in varying shades of purple, softly illuminated memorial bags and attend- ees of all ages tak e lap after lap around a track for multiple hours of continuous movement. E ach symbol present Saturday at Seaside High School contrib- uted to the underlying message of the annual Relay For Life of Clatsop County: celebrate, remember and fight back. Although the traditional 24-hour event, which started at 10 a.m. Saturday, was shortened because of bad weather, about 15 teams from around the county withstood high winds and rain to raise awareness and funds for the fi ght to end cancer. Relay For Life, an annual American Cancer Society event, brings “awareness in the community, and camarade- rie,” said Linda Yeager, of Asto- ria. Her husband, Tim, being diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia is what got the fam- ily involved with Relay about 15 years ago. “Seventeen years ago, they gave me 10 years to live,” Tim Yeager said. See RELAY, Page 10A nty, u o C p o e! s t m o a l s e C w a o s ing $ 2 adults e b r o f s k n a h t ny day… , a Pick a day the week! or stay for $ 1 kiddos $ 1 per car ALBANY — The s tate is urging the dis- missal of a lawsuit that alleges state forest management prioritizes environmental con- cerns to the detriment of logging. Earlier this year, Linn County fi led a com- plaint against Oregon for allegedly depriving multiple counties of more than $1.4 billion due to a forestry rule that emphasizes wild- life, water quality and recreation over tim- ber harvest. During oral arguments Monday in Albany, attorneys for the state said the case should be thrown out because the forests are meant to be managed for the greatest perma- nent value to the state, not to the counties. This “greatest permanent value” is allowed to include many factors beyond timber production under laws that allowed counties to donate burned and logged forests to the state government, said Sarah Weston, an attorney for the state. “The statute does not require revenue maximization,” she said. “The statutes have always provided for multiple values and multiple uses.” See LAWSUIT, Page 10A Katherine Lacaze/For The Daily Astorian Young participants take to the track at Seaside High School to walk laps during the Clatsop County Relay For Life, which started Saturday . The Daily Astorian/File Photo Douglas fir is sorted from a timber har- vest on Clatsop State Forest land near Jewell in 2014. 2016 Clatsop County Fair August 2-6 For more information go to www.clatsopfairgrounds.com