144TH YEAR, NO. 71
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2016
CUSTOM CARE AT COLUMBIA MEMORIAL HOSPITAL COAST RIVER BUSINESS JOURNAL
Developer backs away from Miles Crossing
Krueger was set to appeal to county commissioners
By KYLE SPURR
and ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
The developer who wanted
to build new apartments in
Miles Crossing that could have
helped ease the lack of afford-
able housing has backed away
from the project.
Richard Krueger is no lon-
ger challenging a Clatsop
County Planning Commission
decision in July to deny his
proposed 48-unit complex.
A hearing that had been
scheduled for Tuesday before
the Board of Commissioners
has been canceled.
Krueger said he withdrew
based on negative input he was
getting from neighbors, who
were concerned with trafic
impacts and whether the area
Developer Richard
Krueger listens
during the Clatsop
County Planning
Commission’s
deliberation on his
proposed Miles
Crossing apartment
project in July.
has enough water and sewer
capacity.
“I just got a negative feel-
ing,” said Krueger, who had
agreed to scale the original
project down from 168 units.
Danny Miller
The Daily Astorian
See KRUEGER, Page 7A
WARRENTON SCHOOLS
SEEK ROOM TO GROW
Gov. Kate
Brown
Bud
Pierce
Cliff
Thomason
Governor
hopefuls
square off
Independent candidate
joins the third debate
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Photos by Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Each weekday, more than 700 students stream into and out of Warrenton Grade School, which has ballooned in enrollment by
nearly a third over the past few years. The Warrenton-Hammond School Board is discussing how to best accommodate the
growth, whether that means expanding old schools or building new.
More students drives
need for more space
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
W
ARRENTON — Every week-
day morning, more than 700
students stream into Warren-
ton Grade School from school buses and
idling cars crowding the parking lot.
The growing housing developments
around Clatsop Plains, so far the region’s
best answer to the housing crunch, have
been a boon for Warrenton-Hammond
School District’s enrollment. While
other school districts shrank over the
past decade, Warrenton-Hammond has
grown by nearly 20 percent, topping
1,000 students for the irst time this year
in initial enrollment counts.
The growth leaves the Warren-
ton-Hammond School Board with some
big decisions to make. Does the district
build within its existing schools, hedged
in by city streets and wetlands? Does it
utilize or sell property the district owns
in Hammond? Does the district follow
Seaside’s example and ask voters to
fund a new campus on higher ground?
EUGENE — Candidates in the contest for
governor faced off in a debate at Churchill
High School Thursday, offering their take on
how to address the housing crisis, transpor-
tation, a revenue shortfall and the state’s low
graduation rate.
The third of ive debates between Gov.
Kate Brown and GOP nominee Dr. William
“Bud” Pierce, the event also featured for the
irst time Cliff Thomason, Independent Party
of Oregon candidate and an industrial hemp
farmer from Grants Pass.
The candidates are seeking election to
complete the last two years of former Gov.
John Kitzhaber’s four-year term. As former
secretary of state, Brown was next in the line
of succession when Kitzhaber resigned in
February 2015 amid an inluence-peddling
scandal.
The debate was hosted by League of
Women Voters Oregon and Oregon Public
Broadcasting, and moderated by Think Out
Loud host David Miller.
Talking points
Thomason provided a departure from
largely partisan talking points by Brown and
Pierce.
While Brown supports a $3 billion corpo-
rate sales tax measure on the November ballot
to help fund expansion of the Oregon Health
Plan, Pierce said state government could
come up with the money for the expansion
simply with more eficient operations.
Meanwhile, Thomason proposed ditching
the corporate tax in favor of passing a gen-
eral sales tax, with corresponding reductions
in other kinds of taxes, to help pay for health
care and other services. Voters have rejected a
sales tax 10 times.
Asked why voters would approve a sales
tax on an 11th try, Thomason responded:
“Because I am asking them.”
The next ive years
Superintendent Mark Jeffery said
the grade school has illed nearly every
nook and cranny available to pro-
vide more educational space and avoid
increasing class sizes. Closets and stor-
age spaces have been turned into ofices
and classrooms; the library has been
pared down by two-thirds to make way
for a new multipurpose gym; and larger
classrooms have been split in two.
The school board is poised to
approve a $2 million bond Tuesday to
cover the district’s needs in the next ive
See SCHOOLS, Page 8A
Affordable housing
Warrenton-Hammond Superintendent Mark Jeffery greets kids as they
walk into Warrenton Grade School Thursday morning. The superintendent
is overseeing efforts to accommodate an ever-growing number of stu-
dents entering the district. More photos online at DailyAstorian.com
On affordable housing, Pierce proposed
See DEBATE, Page 8A
Appeals court to weigh extent of DA’s immunity
Marquis froze out
ex-Seaside Police
detective Barnett
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Did Clatsop County District Attor-
ney Josh Marquis have absolute immu-
nity when he froze out a Seaside Police
detective who criticized him?
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals will answer the
question after accepting written legal
arguments Thursday at Pioneer Court-
house in Portland.
Steven Barnett, who retired from the
Seaside Police earlier this year, claimed
Marquis violated his free speech and
Clatsop County
District Attorney
Josh Marquis
Former Seaside
Police Lt.
Steven Barnett
due process rights by refusing to vouch
for his credibility to work on criminal
prosecutions.
Marquis made the decision after Bar-
nett, who was running against Sheriff
Tom Bergin in 2012, wrote a guest col-
umn in The Daily Astorian critical of the
district attorney, who had endorsed Ber-
gin in a newspaper column.
Barnett, who was one of four candi-
dates to challenge Bergin, inished last
in the primary with 7 percent of the vote.
U.S. District Judge Marco Hernan-
dez in Portland ruled against Barnett
in 2014, inding Marquis had absolute
immunity because he was acting in his
role as prosecutor in the judicial phase
of the criminal process.
Barnett appealed to the 9th Circuit.
The federal appeals court, like Judge
Hernandez, will focus on the question of
absolute immunity, not Barnett’s under-
lying claims that his civil rights were
violated.
“The only issue on appeal is the
question of immunity, not the merits of
the underlying claim, which will be for
the trial court to resolve if and only if the
9th Circuit concludes that immunity is
not available in this case,” state Senior
Assistant Attorney General Peenesh
Shah, who is representing Marquis, said
in an email.
Absolute immunity
Courts have long recognized abso-
lute immunity for government oficials
performing their duties, a cover meant
to protect the decision-making pro-
cess from constant legal second-guess-
ing. For prosecutors, courts have distin-
guished actions that are judicial in nature
from administrative functions.
In Barnett’s case, Marquis informed
the Seaside Police that the District Attor-
ney’s Ofice would not use the detective
as a witness in prosecutions or work
See COURT, Page 8A