DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 57
ONE DOLLAR
FISHERMEN SNARE THE TRAPPERS
SPORTS • 7A
Seaside
toddler
murder
trial up
Death penalty trial may
take up to two months
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Competitors in the high school boys moderate course race begin their race during the 3-Course-Challenge on Saturday at Camp
Rilea in Warrenton. More photos of the 3-Course-Challenge available online at DailyAstorian.com/sports
Clatsop County’s fi rst death penalty trial
in 15 years starts Tuesday in Circuit Court.
Randy Lee Roden, 28, is on trial for
allegedly murdering his girlfriend’s 2-year-
old daughter and abusing her two sons while
they all lived together in a Seaside apart-
ment. The gruesome
scene discovered in
December 2014 is
described as among
the worst child-abuse
cases in the county.
The trial, in Cou-
troom 300, will focus
this week on jury selec-
tion. Prospective jurors
will be screened in the
courtroom in groups
Randy
of six until the 12-per-
Lee Roden
son jury is selected,
with two to four alternates. The pool of
available jurors will be asked about their atti-
tudes toward capital punishment and whether
See RODEN, Page 5A
Runners
tackle the
‘Challenge’
Feds get
fi re chief
lawsuit
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
W
ARRENTON — Cross
country is not the ideal
spectator sport (they blow
a horn, all the competitors
run into the woods), but one thing is cer-
tain: Cross -country runners are some of the
toughest athletes around.
To run for 15, 20, 30 minutes … without
a timeout or a stoppage … that takes guts.
More than 2,200 runners were strut-
ting their stuff and enjoying their sport Sat-
urday at Camp Rilea, where the Seaside
cross -country team hosted the 27th annual
3-Course Challenge.
The boys’ race on the Easy course alone
had 441 runners — and with that many ath-
letes in one race on one course — cross coun-
try all of a sudden becomes a contact sport.
Several members (most, actually) of
Seaside’s boys’ cross -country team also
play soccer.
And a quick, informal poll found that at
least some of the Gulls think cross country
is the tougher sport.
New allegations over
Cannon Beach fi ring
By LYRA FONTAINE and R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Seaside’s Jackson Januik runs through a mud pit during the 3-Course-Challenge on
Saturday at Camp Rilea in Warrenton.
CANNON BEACH — A lawsuit pitting
former fi re chief Mike Balzer against the
Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District
has been moved to federal court after Balzer
raised civil rights claims.
The change of venue was triggered by a
new complaint from Balzer that his federal
due process and free association rights were
violated when he was fi red last October.
The case, which had been slated for trial
in Clatsop County Circuit Court in October,
will instead be heard next year before U.S.
Magistrate Judge Paul Papak in U.S. District
Court in Portland.
See CHALLENGE, Page 10A
See CLAIM, Page 5A
Indoors or outdoors, Benthin loves football
Former Logger
stays in the game
N
ov. 29, 2008. As he was
walking around the fi eld
at Hillsboro Stadium that day,
following his last high school
football game for the Knappa
Loggers — a 20-6 state cham-
pionship win over Culver —
John Benthin probably would
not have been surprised if you
had told him he’d still be play-
ing football in 2016.
Playing, no … but for an
Arena Football League team
named the Los Angeles Kiss?
Probably not, since the Kiss
didn’t even exist in 2008.
At least not the football team.
Of course, the rock group Kiss
was still around. Actually, that’s
where the football team gained
its name, as the Los Angeles
Kiss are under the ownership of
Gene Simmons and Paul Stan-
ley, two of the four original band
members of Kiss .
The team is based in Ana-
heim, and plays its home games
at the Honda Center, also home
to the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks.
“I love Los Angeles,” said
Benthin, who recently wrapped
up his fi rst season with the foot-
ball team. “Gene Simmons and
Paul Stanley … they’re great
people. Real nice guys. They
went on tour about halfway
through the season.”
Always a bummer, when the
front offi ce takes off to go on
tour halfway through the season.
But Benthin doesn’t concern
himself so much with the music
as the football.
Brief NFL tryout
After graduating from
Knappa, Benthin went to Western
Oregon, had a brief tryout for the
San Diego Chargers, and ended
up in the Arena Football League.
See BENTHIN, Page 5A
John
Benthin
and
girlfriend
Dijana
Topalovic,
with their
two kids,
Beau, left,
and John
Jr.
Submitted
Photo