3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2016
Specialty food company
sets up production in Astoria
Smith: Sentencing
is scheduled for next
week in Circuit Court
Continued from Page 1A
In the recording, Smith
admits to drowning her 2-year-
old daughter, Isabella Smith.
“The intention was to drown
her and end her misery,” she
said.
Smith, who could have
faced the death penalty, will
serve a minimum of 40 years
in prison, according to the plea
agreement. A sentencing hear-
ing is scheduled in Circuit
Court next week.
Clatsop County Dis-
trict Attorney Josh Marquis
said avoiding trial will spare
Smith’s family, especially her
surviving daughter.
Alana Smith and Smith’s
ex-husband, Gregory Smith,
are invited to speak at the sen-
tencing hearing.
The morning after Smith
murdered
Isabella
and
wounded Alana, she aban-
doned the hotel room. House-
keeping staff could hear Alana
Smith slipping and falling, and
called 911 to report a disori-
ented female.
Cannon Beach Police
Chief Jason Schermerhorn
and Cannon Beach Assistant
Fire Chief Frank Swedenborg
were the irst to respond.
They saw the two girls laying
on the bed. Isabella appeared
lifeless and posed, and Alana
had been bleeding profusely
from cuts on her neck and
wrists.
After a three-day search, a
U.S. Coast Guard helicopter
crew spotted Smith near her
gold 2007 Chevy Suburban on
a heavily forested logging road
about 15 miles east of Cannon
Beach.
A Clatsop County Sheriff’s
Ofice detective and FBI spe-
cial agent drove an SUV down
forest roads to arrest Smith.
Alana Smith, now 15,
told investigators her mother
helped her cut her own throat
and drowned her sister because
they did not want to live with
her father. Alana is now liv-
ing with family in Washing-
ton state.
Jessica and Gregory Smith
separated in April 2014. The
girls’ father sought a custody
evaluation less than two weeks
before the murder. Smith was
supposed to return the children
to her ex-husband the day they
were discovered in the hotel
room.
In the video interview taken
at the Seaside Police Depart-
ment the day she was arrested,
Smith said she and Alana were
terriied of her ex-husband.
Instead of bringing the chil-
dren back, Smith made spe-
ciic plans to drug her daugh-
ters and used razor blades to
cut Alana’s throat and wrists.
Smith’s defense lawyer
William Falls and Lynne Mor-
gan, who previously described
her as having a mental break-
down, said Wednesday they
were conident in her physical
and mental health.
“We believe she is com-
petent, and that she under-
stands what she is doing at this
point,” Falls said.
Judge Matyas determined
in June that Smith was men-
tally competent had the case
gone to trial.
Main product
is Voodoo Nuts
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Astoria’s about to get a
lot more nutty.
Sedona Smokehouse
Specialty Foods, which
sells hickory-smoked nuts
at markets and in more
than 50 grocery stores in
Oregon and Washington
state, recently set up a pro-
duction space at the for-
mer Paradoxx Bistro along
Youngs Bay in Astoria.
The company’s main
product is Voodoo Nuts,
its habanero garlic-la-
vored pistachios. Sedona
also sells smoked salts
and barbecue seasonings.
Robert Johnston, who
founded the company two
years ago and lives in Sea-
side, had been traveling
to a cooperative commer-
cial kitchen in Beaver-
ton to smoke his nuts, but
said the space became too
crowded for him to keep
up with orders.
He contacted Kevin
Leahy, director of Clatsop
Economic Development
Resources, who put him in
touch with Robert Stang,
owner of the building that
had housed the Paradoxx
Bistro until April.
“This was a godsend,”
Johnston said, adding he
can produce about 150
pounds of nuts a day in
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jump into opening our retail
operation,” he said.
Eventually, the company
wants to add a couple of
employees, sell the nuts out
of the storefront of Paradoxx
and open a restaurant. John-
ston is also selling his nuts
and seasonings at the Astoria
Sunday Market.
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Don’t settle for
anything less
business with his friend, Alex
Trautt, who takes the nuts
to distributors in the Seattle
metro area and pitches the
product to grocers.
In the midst of market
season, Johnston said he is
just trying to keep ahead of
orders. “The event season
ends in October, then we can
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Astoria, compared to about
50 at the kitchen in Beaver-
ton. He leases and hopes to
eventually buy the building.
Johnston sources the nuts
from farms in California and
hickory smokes them with
whole cloves of garlic before
a month of aging. The nuts
are packaged in mylar bags
and glass jars, boxed up and
mostly sent to distributors.
Johnston said he started
doing barbecue at 9 years old
and selling his nuts at markets
in 2009. He now operates the
his year we added Hotdogs & Hamburgers
to our traditional Pit Roasted Pig
www.eomediagroup.com
April of 2 01 6
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Robert Johnston, left, and Alex Trautt have started smoking nuts out of the former Para-
doxx Bistro on Youngs Bay in Astoria.
June of 2 01 6
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Kelly
Edward
Smotherman
Warrenton
June 26, 1963 - August 9, 2016
#
Kelly Edward Smotherman, 53, of Warrenton, Oregon, passed away on Aug.
9, 2016, in Valdez, Alaska, from complications resulting from refusing to listen
to his doctor, having as much fun as humanly possible, raising hell for 50 years
and a heart attack.
A celebration of life will be held on Aug. 20, 2016, at 1 p.m., at Warrenton
High School, where Kelly was an exceptional student, graduated in 1981,
played basketball and made lifelong friends.
Kelly was born in Astoria, Oregon, to Sally and Eddie Ray Smotherman,
on June 26, 1963, and grew up in Warrenton. He married Danene Jones, with
whom he had two beautiful daughters, Chelsea and Madison Smotherman. He
mastered his trade of commercial fi shing for over 30 years, with most recently
being the owner and captain of The Fate Hunter out of Warrenton, Oregon.
Kelly is survived
by his ex-wife, Danene
Lethin; daughters
Chelsea and Madison
Smotherman;
his mother, Sally
Smotherman; and
three brothers,
Steve Hitchman
and Russ and Scott
Smotherman.
Above all, Kelly
loved his family and
cherished his friends.
He loved to have a
good time, and was
always ready to have
fun! Kelly will live on
forever in the hearts
and minds of everyone
who was lucky enough
to know him.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the
K elly S motherman M emorial F und at Wells Fargo Bank