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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2016
Erick Bengel/The Daily Astorian
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Judge Paula Brownhill’s courtroom.
Deciders: Lawyers are looking for
the middle ground in jury selection
Continued from Page 1A
The prosecution and
defense will review the ques-
tionnaires prior to jury selec-
tion, when available jurors will
be brought into the courtroom
in groups of six for follow-up
questions.
In the Garner case, which
Brownhill also presided over,
jurors were questioned indi-
vidually in 15-minute seg-
ments, and it took more than a
week to select 12 jurors.
The lawyers in Roden’s case
would prefer individual inter-
views, but Brownhill plans to
bring in people in panels of six
to speed up the process.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Judge Paula Brownhill’s courtroom.
‘Aggravated murder cases
are the only cases where
a jury makes the decision.
The judge is bound by the
sentence.’
Open minded
While scrutinizing poten-
tial jurors, both prosecu-
tors and defense lawyers in
Roden’s case will look for peo-
ple who do not have extreme
views about the death penalty.
People who could never
impose death for religious or
political reasons, or who could
not imagine any other itting
penalty for the crimes, will be
excluded.
Clatsop County District
Attorney Josh Marquis said
lawyers are looking for the
middle ground.
A qualiied juror would have
an open mind, have heard about
the case but had not formed
strong opinions, and would lis-
ten to the judge’s instructions
and follow the law.
Josh Marquis
Clatsop County district attorney
If Roden is found guilty of
aggravated murder, the jury
decides the appropriate sen-
tence. The jury would have
to unanimously answer four
questions in the penalty phase
before sentencing Roden to
death.
All 12 jurors would have
to agree on the following
questions:
Was the murder deliber-
ate? Did the victim do any-
thing to provoke the murder?
Is the defendant likely to com-
mit serious acts in the future?
Should the defendant receive a
death sentence?
If just one juror says “no”
to one question, the sentence
drops to life in prison without
parole.
“Aggravated murder cases
are the only cases where a jury
makes the decision,” Marquis
said of sentencing. “The judge
is bound by the sentence.”
Uncomfortable evidence
The death penalty in Ore-
gon is rare. The last execution
was in 1997, after the inmate
— Henry Charles Moore, con-
victed of killing his wife’s
parents — chose not to seek
appeals. Thirty-four inmates
are on death row.
Jurors in the Roden case
will have to sort through
uncomfortable evidence.
Roden, 28, is accused of
murdering 2-year-old Evange-
lina Wing and viciously abus-
ing her two brothers. Prosecu-
tors believe Evangelina Wing
and her brothers were tor-
tured, burned, bitten and caged
in the Seaside apartment their
mother, Dorothy Wing, shared
with Roden.
Wing, 26, pleaded guilty in
January to irst-degree man-
slaughter and two counts of
irst-degree criminal mistreat-
ment. She was sentenced to
more than 15 years in prison,
contingent on her truthfully
testifying at Roden’s trial.
Earlier this year, Roden’s
defense lawyer Conor Huseby
requested a change of venue.
Huseby claimed the impact of
the case on the Clatsop County
community, along with exten-
sive media coverage, requires
that the trial be held in another
county.
Brownhill denied the
request in June but is allow-
ing the defense to renew their
motion if a fair jury is unable
to be seated.
“In this case, I believe the
defendant can obtain a fair trial
in Clatsop County,” the judge
ruled.
Pot shop: ‘We take the small farm-to-table approach’
Continued from Page 1A
dispensary. The company will
lease the location from Don-
ald Sloan, who also owns the
building directly to the east
that houses the Deals Only
thrift store.
“We’ve been looking at
the coast for a while and
wanting to expand our reach
to the coastal region,” Van
Dorne said.
He said he sees the dis-
pensary itting well with cof-
fee shops, breweries and
other nearby businesses.
Tidewater owns two dis-
pensaries in Portland called
Five Zero Trees, although
Van Dorne said he and his
partners have not decided
what to call the Astoria store.
Van Dorne said his com-
pany’s model is differ-
ent than other dispensaries,
focusing on a small number
of high-quality growers and
producers. “We take the small
farm-to-table approach,” he
said.
With all the licens-
ing, build-out and security
requirements, he said the
soonest the new store could
open would be early next
year.
“These guys are a irst-
class outit,” Sloan said of
his new tenants, adding the
dispensary will be better for
downtown and the economy
than Garbo’s.
“They hire people,” he
said. “They pay better than
average wages. Nobody there
makes minimum wage.”
Tidewater’s will be the
sixth marijuana retail store
in Astoria. Sweet Relief Nat-
ural Medicine has locations
in downtown and on Port-
way Street. Nature’s Choice
Alternative Medicine has a
location in Uniontown, along
with Hi Casual Cannabis.
The Farmacy is located in
Uppertown.
B A CK
TO
Too many?
Lynn Hadley, the owner of
Garbo’s, told the Astoria City
Council Monday that she has
to vacate to make room for
the marijuana retailer.
“While I don’t pretend
to be ignorant to the money
being made in the marijuana
sales and the state benefits in
collecting the sales tax, I do
wonder how many pot shops
can be sustained in a small
town, and how the charm
factor will be maintained as
boutiques give way to more
marijuana stores,” Hadley
said.
Community Development
Director Kevin Cronin said
selling marijuana is treated
as retail services, an outright
permitted use in downtown
commercial zones, meaning
Tidewater’s operation will
not come before the Planning
Commission.
City Councilor Cindy
Price would prefer some
S CHOOL
restrictions on the number
and location of marijuana
stores.
“I would be in favor
of restricting the number
myself, because I think it
just gets a little crazy, but it’s
Astoria, it’s the Wild West,”
Price said, commiserating
with Hadley. “I’ve asked
about this earlier. There’s not
any traction, really, on the
council for that. Sorry, I love
your shop (Garbo’s).”
Asked about Hadley’s
comments Thursday, Sloan
said he gave her 90 days to
vacate, even though she was
on a month-to-month lease,
and that he had charged her
signiicantly below-market
rent.
Warrenton Community Library Site Manager Nettie-Lee
Calog, left, shares her concerns about the future of
the library during a meeting at City Hall. Board Chair-
woman Kelsey Balensifer, right, said the board invites
feedback from the community and wants to keep the
community library “community-focused.”
Library: ‘... It’s just
not tenable anymore.’
Continued from Page 1A
The roof has warped,
the loor has weakened, the
foundation has settled, the
walls have bowed, and the
electrical system is substan-
dard. Replacing the foun-
dation alone would cost
$80,000 to $90,000 — more
than the building itself is
worth, according to Byerly.
He and Library Board
members have expressed
concern about what will
happen to the building in the
coming months, when the
coastal storm season gets
underway.
“I don’t know how much
time we’ve got,” Nettie-Lee
Calog, the library site man-
ager, told the packed room.
“I mean, I just don’t know.
The roof could blow off this
winter. But, then again, it
might not.”
Even if the building was
sound, however, the con-
ined space of 1,280 square
feet limits what the library
can become, she argued.
In the 21st century,
library users have come to
expect children’s reading
rooms, community meet-
ing rooms, event spaces and
adequate parking — none
of which the present library
can provide.
“I want a library like Sea-
side’s library,” Linda Kakuk,
of Warrenton, said. “I lived
in Seaside seven years —
their library was heaven.
And that’s what I think this
area deserves.”
In addition, the Library
Board would like an ofice
for Calog and room to
expand their services.
Spitballing
But, Calog said, the
Library Board doesn’t have
the luxury of planning a new
state-of-the-art facility right
now.
“It’s getting down to the
wire, and we need to move
as soon as possible to a safer
place,” she said.
Board members and
attendees tossed around sev-
eral ideas for potential short-
term locations, including
space in the Houston Plaza
and the ground loor of the
former thrift store on Main
Street.
A patron suggested the
board turn to crowdsourc-
ing to build an interim or
‘Not tenable anymore’
The Warrenton Commu-
nity Library, which opened
in the 1990s, carries a col-
lection of approximately
20,000 items and serves
thousands of patrons;
almost 4,000 library cards
have been taken out,
according to igures pro-
vided by Calog.
“It would be a real trag-
edy, in my eyes, if it were to
go away — and I don’t want
it to go away,” she said. “But
we’ve got to do something,
because it’s just not tenable
anymore.”
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permanent structure and tap
into crowdfunding to raise
money.
Another proposal was to
set up a modular structure on
the property, using the util-
ities already in place, while
the current building gets
torn down and rebuilt. Once
a new library is inished, the
modular could be used for
storage.
But Paul Mitchell, a
member of the Warrenton
Business Association, said
the city-owned library —
the former Hammond Town
Hall — should be marked
for historic preservation.
The subcommittee —
which now has three mem-
bers, who volunteered
during the meeting — will
devise a list of “bridge”
options for the board to con-
sider, while the nonprof-
it-to-be looks into grants to
inance an upgraded library.
A previous nonproit group
for the library was allowed
to expire.
The Warrenton Commu-
nity Library operates largely
on a ive-year tax levy
that expires in 2017. The
money, which may increase
if renewed, pays for operat-
ing expenses and for Calog
and an assistant to work
part time; their combined
hours add up to less than 40
a week.
But a new library will cost
a lot more than the current
funding streams can afford.
If it went up in a downtown
location, the development
could be paid for, in part,
with urban renewal dollars,
Mitchell said.
“This is exactly what
those dollars were set aside
for,” he said. “This is the
gateway to our community.”
Kelly Knick
AVP Branch Manager
Astoria Branch
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