144TH YEAR, NO. 61
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2016
ONE DOLLAR
AT THE
CRAFT
BEER
PAC
SPECIAL SECTION • INSIDE
FRIDAY EXTRA • 1C
Shut
the
barn
doors
Gearhart seeks to get
Neacoxie Creek Barn
into compliance
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office Deputies Dave Clarke, left, and Tessy Workman wait to check people through the new metal
detector on Thursday at Clatsop County Circuit Court in Astoria. The new measures were installed in time for a death penalty trial.
COURTHOUSE
SECURITY
IN
QUESTION
Prosecutor, sheriff, county manager concerned about change
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
T
ougher security at Clatsop County Cir-
cuit Court is intended to improve public
safety, but the new protocol has divided
the presiding judge and the prosecutor
and sheriff.
Visitors to the courthouse in downtown
Astoria are now directed through a metal
detector at one secure entrance off Commer-
cial Street . T wo other entrances on the south
side of the building are blocked off with
security signs, although the entrance on the
bottom fl oor is still open to the disabled.
The change was approved in February
by a c ourt s ecurity a dvisory c ommittee over
the objections of the prosecutor, sheriff and
interim county manager, who wanted more
discussion over security design.
Judge Paula Brownhill, who presides over
Circuit Court , said the heightened security
was timed for the death penalty trial of Randy
Lee Roden in the murder of a Seaside toddler .
“Today was the target date,” Brownhill
said Tuesday, when the trial opened in her
courtroom.
See BARN, Page 10A
Cormorant
case heads
to Oregon
Activists fi lmed
federal bird killings
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Sheriff’s Deputy Dave Clarke, left, checks a bag while Deputy Tessy Workman watch-
es Thursday at Clatsop County Circuit Court .
Alternatives
Some at the county do not necessarily see
the change as a permanent solution.
District Attorney Josh Marquis, Sher-
iff Tom Bergin and former interim County
Manager Rich Mays all voted against the
change in February as members of the c ourt
s ecurity a dvisory c ommittee.
Each offi cial agrees the courthouse needs
stronger security, but they want to consider
alternatives. One proposal is to build a sepa-
rate security screening entrance for the pub-
lic, including people with disabilities.
The new security plan asks the disabled to
GEARHART — Last fall, a judge said
Gearhart’s zoning code wasn’t enough to
close down Neacoxie Creek Barn, a former
livery stable turned event space.
But it’s not the zoning code that mat-
ters, it’s the building code, Gearhart offi -
cials say.
The city used the building code to
assess nearly $20,000 in fi nes since 2011
and seeks to permanently shut down Nea-
coxie Creek Barn until owner Shannon
Smith receives a certifi cate of occupancy.
Gearhart offi cials say the former liv-
ery stable has been operating as a wedding
venue illegally for years . The barn “has
been determined by the city to be uninhab-
itable because it poses an immediate threat
to the health and safety, not only of (defen-
dants’) guests but the general public,”
according to Building Offi cial Jim Brien.
use an intercom at the blocked off entrance
on the lower level of the building, then
wait for a sheriff’s deputy to let them in the
courthouse.
“We all agreed permanent screening of
the public was a good idea, but had to be
done on a permanent basis and not render the
county liable to lawsuits by disabled peo-
ple.” Marquis said.
The recommendation for the new secu-
rity plan came from a security wing of the
state court offi ce, which evaluates security
at each C ircuit C ourt. The state ’s suggestion
started intense conversations between local
offi cials.
Even after the court security commit-
tee voted, Marquis and the other dissenting
voices thought everyone agreed more study
was needed before launching the new secu-
rity plan.
“For almost a year now there has been
considerable controversy about how and
when the courthouse itself will be secured,”
Marquis said.
The federal lawsuit brought by an animal
welfare group against the U.S. Coast Guard
over the group’s efforts to document the con-
troversial shooting of double-crested cormo-
rants near East Sand Island has been moved
from San Diego to Portland.
U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia in
San Diego sided with the Coast Guard, rul-
ing on Wednesday that moving the lawsuit
to Portland is warranted for the convenience
of witnesses, because of local interest in the
controversy and because of similarities with
a lawsuit brought by the Audubon Society
of Portland against the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers over the killing of cormorants.
See SECURITY, Page 10A
See CORMORANTS, Page 10A
Staff shortages hamper US wildlife refuges
Three refuges
are in our area
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Hundreds
of national wildlife refuges
that provide critical habitat for
migratory birds and other spe-
cies are crippled by a staff-
ing shortage that has curtailed
educational programs, ham-
pered the fi ght against inva-
sive species and weakened
security at facilities that attract
nearly 50 million visitors annu-
ally, a group of public employ-
ees and law enforcement said
Wednesday.
Staffi ng at the nation’s 565
wildlife refuges and related
properties shrank nearly 15
percent in the past decade, and
more than one-third of those
locations don’t have any staff
on site, the Washington, D.C.-
based Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibil-
ity said. More than half of the
refuges no longer have their
own manager and have been
combined into massive “com-
plexes” that are overseen by
someone who might be hun-
dreds of miles away, said Jeff
Ruch, executive director of the
nonprofi t alliance.
Malheur concerns
The report raises concerns
about low staffi ng levels given
the recent armed takeover of
the Malheur National Wild-
life Refuge in remote southeast
Oregon. More than two dozen
occupied the refuge’s head-
quarters in January, launching
a 41-day standoff with author-
ities that ended two weeks after
one of them was fatally shot.
The occupiers were pro-
testing the prosecution of two
ranchers who set fi res on fed-
eral lands. Seven of them are
now on trial in federal court in
Portland.
The crisis set off alarm bells
and prompted offi cials to spend
$6 million from an already tight
Meghan Kearney/U.S. Fish and Wildlife
See REFUGES, Page 9A
Trail around Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge
in Washington.