9A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2016
Roden: ‘Worse thing that ever happened is that little girl dying’
Continued from Page 1A
‘An extreme case’
Many involved in the Clat-
sop County justice system
have called the death of Evan-
gelina Wing in December
2014 one of the worst child-
abuse cases they have ever
seen in the county. Details
of the crime scene include
an apartment door stained
with blood and blood spatters
throughout the entire dwell-
ing. Then there is the phys-
ical evidence. Wing’s body
was completely battered, the
state says. An autopsy found
the child apparently died from
blunt-force trauma. At the time
of her death she had two black
eyes, a broken arm, multiple
bruises over her face and chest
and hemorrhaging around her
head as well as what the state
maintains are bite marks on
her and her brothers. Her two
brothers, ages 5 and 3 at the
time, also suffered other inju-
ries and bruises.
Wing’s mother, Doro-
thy Ann Wing, and her boy-
friend, Roden, were suspects
almost immediately.
In January, Wing took a
deal that dropped her prison
sentence from life to just over
15 years. In exchange, she
pleaded guilty to first-degree
manslaughter and two counts
of first-degree criminal mis-
treatment and agreed to give
testimony about Roden on
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
LEFT: Randy Roden, left, listens to the prosecution deliver closing arguments during his trial on Thursday at Clatsop County Circuit Court.
RIGHT: Randy Roden’s defense attorney Conor Huseby delivers closing arguments on Thursday at Clatsop County Circuit Court.
behalf of the prosecution.
Serial abuser
The state has painted
Evangelina Wing’s accused
killer as a serial domestic
abuser who preyed on single
mothers with young children.
His attorney, Huseby, has
attempted to show the oppo-
site, arguing that Roden was
a caring, if careless, guardian
while Evangelina’s mother
was an abusive parent and is
the one responsible for Evan-
gelina’s death.
The defense team argues
that a serious methicillin-re-
sistant Staphylococcus aureus
infection, coupled with the
mother’s abuse, is what ulti-
mately killed Evangelina.
“What happened to Eva
Wing is the worst thing I’ve
ever seen professionally,”
Huseby said during his clos-
ing arguments.
But, he said later, refer-
ring to witnesses he had called
who testified that they had
seen or heard Dorothy Wing
abuse her children in the past,
“Every single injury in this
case is explained by Dorothy
Wing’s history of abusing her
children.”
Deputy District Attorney
Ron Brown agrees that Wing
is certainly partially responsi-
ble for Evangelina’s death.
“She allowed her three
kids to be preyed upon by the
defendant and she didn’t do
anything,” Brown said. But,
as he has throughout the trial,
he dismissed the idea that an
infection was to blame for
Evangelina’s death.
Physical trauma was the
primary issue contributing to
the toddler’s death, Brown
said several times in his clos-
ing arguments. Any infection
was secondary.
The state maintains that
Roden abused all three chil-
dren frequently during the
time he lived with Wing in
Seaside, and that Roden is
the one who set out to murder
the toddler, in part to cover
up evidence of alleged sexual
assault.
“This is an extreme case,
with extreme injuries,” Brown
said. Addressing the jury, he
said, “Don’t be fooled, don’t
be allowed to think this was
an itty bitty case. This was
huge.”
CREST: Warrenton Fiber, Crest have had an antagonistic relationship
Continued from Page 1A
report also questioned whether
CREST’s actions related to
the impacts of the project and
salmon credits constituted
public corruption or a civil
rights violation.
Blitz, in an email Thurs-
day, stressed that his report
was preliminary. He said the
report raised questions but did
not make any conclusive find-
ings about CREST.
“I have no reason to doubt
or question Scott Lee’s confi-
dence in Denise Lofman or the
value of her work as the exec-
utive of the CREST intergov-
ernmental cooperative,” the
attorney wrote. “I am sure that
she pursues CREST’s mission
with ability and dedication.
Context is very important to
her and Commissioner Lee’s
reactions to the ‘report.’”
“The ‘report’ is prelimi-
nary. It may be prudent for
all to remember it was deliv-
ered to enable the City Com-
mission to make further scope
determinations and direct my
work.”
CREST not
interviewed
Blitz said Lofman was not
interviewed for the report,
which was based primarily
on a review of public records.
The attorney, however, did
speak with John Nygaard, an
attorney for Warrenton Fiber,
a timber processing com-
pany that owns property near
the river and wants the city to
take control of the dam.
Blitz’s report cast Warren-
ton Fiber’s “cautionary state-
ments” and “analysis and
advocacy” in a credible light.
Nygaard and others have
used Blitz’s report as vindica-
tion, alleging CREST inten-
tionally misled the city and
attempted to defraud property
owners to secure the $1.2 mil-
lion project.
Pat O’Grady, the owner
of Warrenton Auto & Marine
Repair, has appeared before
the City Commission and the
Port of Astoria Commission
and claimed Blitz’s report
is “proof that CREST lied,
cheated and tried to steal the
property from the citizens for
their own personal benefits.”
Lofman, at a CREST coun-
cil meeting Thursday, said the
agency no longer has anything
to do with the Eighth Street
Dam. Warrenton, like other
government entities in the
region, is a paying member
of CREST. “As you all know,
we only do projects with will-
ing, voluntary partners who
are interested in working with
us,” Lofman said.
She described the legal
issues that have arisen from
Blitz’s report as “alarming”
before urging the CREST
council to meet privately in
executive session.
Alex Pajunas/The Daily Astorian
Denise Lofman, the executive director of the Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce, pictured here with former staffer
Matt Van Ess on Gnat Creek in 2013, has received a vote of confidence from the CREST council. CREST has been crit-
icized by Warrenton over a project to remove the Eighth Street Dam.
Port of Astoria mulls leaving CREST
Two commissioners
want to exit, but
director sees value
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Port of Astoria Commission will
discuss Tuesday whether to leave the
Columbia River Estuary Study Task-
force, but the Port’s executive director
believes it is important to maintain the
relationship.
Port Commissioners Stephen Fulton
and Bill Hunsinger have called for the
Port to end its membership.
Fulton, a wetlands specialist for War-
renton Fiber, has clashed with CREST
over the possible removal of the Eighth
Street Dam in Warrenton. The company
has urged the city to take control of the
dam from the Skipanon Water Control
District over potential flooding concerns.
Jim Knight, the Port’s executive
director, said that while CREST has been
used sparingly, the agency has provided
quality technical support when asked.
“I personally think it is important we
maintain that relationship with CREST,”
Knight said.
Afterward, Lofman said
CREST is “investigating our
options.”
Issues at stake
Warrenton has asked the
federal Natural Resources
Conservation Service to clar-
ify a 2014 letter that gave con-
trol of the dam to the water
district, which has a city ease-
The Port is one of the founding mem-
bers of CREST. The task force’s council
of governments includes representatives
from Clatsop County and Washing-
ton’s Wahkiakum County, the Port and
the cities of Astoria, Warrenton, Gear-
hart, Seaside, Cannon Beach and Ilwaco,
Washington.
The task force was created in 1974 to
gather scientific material and help cre-
ate a comprehensive plan amid conflicts
over the use and development of estua-
rine land in the Lower Columbia. Pres-
ently, the task force has transformed its
mission to provide expertise in project
design, habitat restoration, funding, man-
agement, implementation and monitor-
ing. Much of the agency’s funding comes
from projects it oversees for the federal
Bonneville Power Administration.
The Port of Ilwaco left CREST in
December. Guy Glenn Jr., the port direc-
tor, said at the time that the port was not
using the task force’s services enough to
warrant being a member.
Glenn said Wednesday that the port is
still using the task force on a trail con-
nection plan. He declined to comment
on whether there had ever been concerns
over the quality of work or mission of the
task force.
Scott Lee, the chairman of the CREST
ment to operate the dam.
Blitz has argued that the
dam is likely a federal asset
tied to the city’s levee system.
He believes the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers and the
city should control the dam,
like the levees. The water
district does not consider the
dam part of the city’s levee
system, and continues to
council and the Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners, said the Port of Astoria
is the only agency he is aware of having a
discussion about leaving CREST.
“Nobody’s contacted me requesting
to leave,” Lee said.
Other government agencies say they
are on good terms with CREST and are
pleased with its services.
“We’ve liked what they’ve provided,”
Astoria Mayor Arline LaMear said.
Sue Lorain, a city councilor in Gear-
hart, said the city has had no conflict
with the task force. “We actually just had
an appointment to get some advice and
some help … for some dunes preserva-
tion,” she said.
Mike Cassinelli, the mayor of Ilwaco,
said the relationship with CREST has
been good. He said the agency’s staff
is trying to work out an agreement with
Weyerhaeuser logging company to avoid
clear-cutting land and threatening the
quality of the city’s watershed.
Warrenton, however, has questioned
CREST’s role in the debate over the
Eighth Street Dam. CREST has with-
drawn from the project, but the city is
still seeking answers about the validity of
engineering reports from CREST and the
water district on the impact of removing
the dam.
maintain that the dam should
be removed as obsolete. The
water district has removed the
tide gates and barricaded a
gravel road over the 53-year-
old structure.
Blitz initially told the
City Commission in Septem-
ber that the city is the right-
ful owner of the dam, which
emboldened
commission-
ers to authorize the attorney
to issue legal warnings to the
water district to give up any
interest.
But Blitz has since shifted
to the idea that the dam is
likely a federal asset linked to
the city’s levees.
Motives
While Blitz’s report raised
questions about the motives
of CREST and the water dis-
trict, his fact-finding effort did
not examine what has driven
Warrenton Fiber to take such
an intense interest in the dam.
Warrenton Fiber and
CREST have had an antago-
nistic relationship.
In October 2015, Lee, as
the CREST council chairman,
admonished Stephen Fulton,
who works for Warrenton
Fiber and serves on the Port
Commission, for his “non-
collaborative, threatening and
aggressive” conduct toward
CREST staff when he repre-
sented the Port on the coun-
cil. In one incident, accord-
ing to Lee, Fulton threatened
CREST staffer Matt Van Ess,
who had tried to shake his
hand at a Warrenton Planning
Commission meeting. “We’re
coming after you, Matt,” Ful-
ton allegedly said.
Robert Mushen, who now
represents the Port on the
CREST council, had told Ful-
ton last year that there was
confusion at CREST about
whether Fulton was repre-
senting the interests of the
Port, Warrenton or Warrenton
Fiber.
Fulton was the first to pub-
licly air questions in Warren-
ton about the potential for
flooding on upstream prop-
erty owners if the dam were
removed. He also pressed the
City Commission over why
the city would rely on pri-
vate engineers working with
CREST.
Development rights
Letters and emails show
Warrenton Fiber was wor-
ried the dam removal proj-
ect could lead to an Endan-
gered Species Act upgrade for
the Skipanon River that could
impact private property val-
ues and development rights.
In an April 2015 let-
ter to the Bonneville Power
Administration,
Nygaard
asked whether Warrenton
Fiber should be compen-
sated for increased salmon
access through the company’s
property.
Nygaard wrote that War-
renton Fiber would support
the project if the company
received a guarantee from the
Bonneville Power Admin-
istration and CREST that it
would cause no loss or chal-
lenge to development rights,
or that the company would
be directly compensated for
any development losses or
increased development costs
by the dam’s removal.
In a March email to City
Attorney Hal Snow, Nygaard
urged the city to research its
legal rights over the dam,
including whether the dam is
part of the city’s levee sys-
tem, the exact argument Blitz
is now making on the city’s
behalf.