Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2016)
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2016 144TH YEAR, NO. 79 ONE DOLLAR Port gives up lease tied to LNG project Agency had leased property on Skipanon Peninsula By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian The Port of Astoria Commission on Tuesday voted to relinquish the agency’s lease of more than 90 acres on the Skipanon Peninsula that was planned for an LNG project. The Port had been leasing the property in Warrenton from the Department of State Lands since the mid-2000s. The agency subleased the property to Oregon LNG, a subsidi- ary of New York-based holding com- pany Leucadia National Corp. Earlier this year, Oregon LNG abandoned a highly controversial liq- uefi ed natural gas terminal planned for the peninsula. A lawyer for the company sent the Port a letter in April requesting the Port terminate its sub- lease. The request said Oregon LNG was winding up its affairs and had paid for the sublease on the peninsula through November. Jim Knight, the Port’s executive director, said the agency’s fi rst lease payment of $129,000 on the prop- erty would be due Nov. 1. “I have met with the head of DSL, and they would be willing to accept a last-minute ter- mination without penalty,” he said. Commissioner Bill Hunsinger, the lone “no” in the 4-1 vote on the motion to terminate the lease, described the peninsula as “perfectly good property that has not been maintained.” He said the commission has been asking staff for months to investigate whether Oregon LNG had allowed the land to go to seed, violating an agreement to return it in a similar condition as when the lease started. See PORT, Page 11A The Daily Astorian/File Photo The Port Commission on Tuesday voted to relinquish its lease of more than 90 acres on the eastern side of the Skipanon Peninsula from the Department of State Lands. Control ‘OVERLOOKED ASTORIA’ of dam Historian says preservation a remains matter of values and vigilance murky By ERICK BENGEL The Daily Astorian storia, the oldest American settle- ment west of the Rocky Moun- tains, prides itself on historic preservation, but it takes considerable dedication to keep this reputation. At Tuesday’s Historic Landmarks Commission meet- ing, local historian John Goodenberger gave a presentation titled “Overlooked Astoria ” that high- lighted the history embedded in every corner of town — and made clear that the community has John much to lose if it Goodenberger isn’t careful. Alongside the obvious assets worth preserving — such as Victorian homes and other specimens of antique architecture — are relics that even locals fail to notice. Water district and Warrenton could meet A See ASTORIA, Page 11A By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian Photos by John Goodenberger/For The Daily Astorian ABOVE: The John Hobson House, built in 1863, on Bond Street was added to the Na- tional Register of Historic Places in 1978. BELOW: The Union Fishermen’s Coopera- tive Packing Co. Net Loft (a.k.a. “Big Red”) is a remnant of the Columbia River’s salm- on fishing and canning industry, and a place of interest for local preservationists. WARRENTON — The clash over con- trol of the Eighth Street Dam took another turn Tuesday when an attorney for Warren- ton acknowledged the federal government may have an ownership interest. Akin Blitz, a Portland attorney hired by the city to research the dam’s history, had presented a fact-fi nding report to the City Commission in September that concluded the city owned the dam based on a 1938 Cir- cuit Court ruling on the title of nearby land. The attorney argued that the Skipanon Water Control District, which has operated the dam since it was built on the Skipanon River with the help of the federal government in 1963, forfeited a city easement to use the property by removing the tide gates. But Blitz said Tuesday that based on recent correspondence with federal authori- ties, the dam likely remains a federal asset tied to the city’s levee system. The riverbed underneath the dam, he said, is owned by the Department of State Lands. See DAM, Page 4A RODEN TRIAL Pathologist asserts that toddler died of infection By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian SEASIDE — The Cannon Beach Academy saw its goal of opening next year move closer Tuesday night when the Seaside School District Board of Directors approved the organization’s charter application without conditions. Nearly four years after a group of residents initiated an effort to create a charter school in Cannon Beach, the organization reached a signifi - cant milestone with the approval of its charter. With that piece resolved, Lyra Fontaine/The Daily Astorian The defense of accused killer Randy Roden presented a key medical witness Tues- day as it tries to prove a fl esh-eating bacterial infection killed 2-year-old Evangelina Wing. Roden, 28, has been charged with mur- dering his ex-girlfriend Dorothy Wing’s daughter and abusing her two sons, now 3 and 7, in a Seaside apartment the two shared two years ago. He faces the death pen- alty if convicted. The couple called 911 on Dec. 20, 2014, after discovering Wing’s daughter unre- sponsive. Her two sons were also found Randy injured and taken into Roden protective custody. Prosecutors believe the children were tortured, burned, bitten and caged in the months before Evangelina Wing’s death, in one of the worst cases of child abuse in Clatsop County’s history. See SCHOOL, Page 4A Cannon Beach Academy board members Kellye Dewey, Patti Rouse, Kimm Mount and Barb Knop at a July board meeting. See TRIAL, Page 11A Cannon Beach charter school wins board OK Academy could open next fall By KATHERINE LACAZE For The Daily Astorian
