DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 103
ONE DOLLAR
Rescue swimmer earns high honor for heroism
Crew saved two firefighters in Cape Kiwanda
Rescue swimmer Chief
Petty Officer Michael Spen-
cer was awarded the Coast
Guard Medal Monday. With
him, from left, were his
wife Brandy, daughter Ad-
dison (not pictured), son
Brody, stepmother Sharon,
father Mark and
mother Susan Self.
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Chief Petty Officer Michael
Spencer, a rescue swimmer with
the U.S. Coast Guard for the past
20 years, said he doesn’t want bad
things to happen to people. But if
they do, he wants to be on duty.
Edward Stratton
The Daily Astorian
Spencer was honored Monday
with the Coast Guard Medal for pull-
ing two members of the North Lin-
coln County Fire & Rescue out of the
Punch Bowl below Cape Kiwanda in
February.
The medal, one of the Coast
Guard’s highest honors, goes to ser-
vice members who display heroism
JUDGE TO SEASIDE CHILD MURDERER:
‘YOU ARE A CRUEL MAN’
not involving conflict with an enemy.
Spencer and his helicopter crew
— pilot Lt. Rob McCabe, co-pilot
Lt. j.g. Alex Martfeld and hoist oper-
ator Petty Officer 1st Class David
Corcino — were finishing training
with swimmers and boats near Grays
See HONOR, Page 7A
Needed:
Dollars to
bankroll
marker
City seeks corporate
help for monument
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Roden sat in a yellow prison
uniform throughout the sentenc-
ing. Next to him, set at an angle
on an easel so he could see them,
were large photos of Evangelina
and her brothers.
In the pictures, the children
are happy and healthy, com-
pletely different from how they
appeared in December when
Roden and Dorothy Wing
were arrested, Judge Brownhill
pointed out.
Astoria will look to corporate sponsors
to help underwrite maintenance costs for a
Scandinavian monument at Peoples Park
downtown.
City Councilor Cindy Price recom-
mended the idea Monday night to bridge a
gap between the Astoria Scandinavian Her-
itage Association and the city Parks and
Recreation Department over upkeep for the
monument.
The city is interested in a long-term
agreement of 10 years or more on main-
tenance because of the difficulty in main-
taining existing parks. A parks master plan
urged the city to focus on park maintenance
before adding new responsibilities, and the
parks department could have to make cuts
in the coming months.
The heritage association has offered to
powerwash the new monument twice a year
for three years and organize the Scandina-
vian community around cleanup events, but
is unsure about a long-term commitment.
A corporate sponsor for the Scandina-
vian monument could serve as a benefactor,
much like the Friends of the Astoria Col-
umn or the Holiday Inn Express at Mari-
time Memorial Park.
“I just feel strongly that we can make
that happen,” Price said.
A monument to mark the history of
Scandinavian immigration on Astoria was
widely praised when
announced earlier this
year. Private donors
would pay for the proj-
ect, with the city con-
tributing land at the
park off Marine Drive
between 15th and 16th
streets.
But maintenance
costs and other hic-
cups have left the
Loran
project at a standstill.
Mathews
The city will have
to decide whether the project needs to go
through the public bidding process and pay
prevailing wages.
Loran Mathews, the president of the her-
itage association, has not put a price tag
on the monument. The group wants a city
endorsement, however, to start fundraising
for the money to hire an architect.
See RODEN, Page 3A
See MONUMENT, Page 3A
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Randy Roden waits to hear his fate as photos of Dorothy Wing’s children sit on display in the Clatsop County Courthouse.
Roden sentenced
to more than 35
years in prison
Roden was acquitted of four
counts of aggravated murder,
serious charges that carried the
possibility of the death penalty or
life in prison. The jury also found
him not guilty of charges of sex-
ual abuse.
Dorothy Wing, Evangeli-
na’s mother, is serving 15 years
in prison for first-degree man-
slaughter and criminal mistreat-
ment related to her daughter’s
death. She testified against Roden
at his trial.
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
For The Daily Astorian
Seaside man convicted of
killing his girlfriend’s2-
year-old daughter will
spend close to 40 years in prison,
the maximum sentence the law
allows.
“Mr. Roden, you are a cruel
man,” Clatsop County Circuit
Court Judge Paula Brownhill
said before reading 28-year-old
Randy Roden’s sentence Monday
afternoon. “You have an excel-
lent legal team who has repre-
sented you in the best possible
light.”
But, she added, he was the one
taking care of 2-year-old Evan-
gelina Wing “when her arm was
broken and her mouth ruined and
her hair torn out by the roots.”
“If you get out of jail and hurt
another child, God have mercy
A
Further testimony
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Conor Huseby, left, talks with his client Randy Roden after
Roden hears his sentence Monday at Clatsop County Circuit
Court in Astoria. Roden received the maximum sentence.
on your soul.”
In October, after several days
of deliberation, a 12-person jury
found Roden guilty of murder
by abuse, felony murder, man-
slaughter, criminal mistreat-
ment and assault in the death of
Evangelina Wing in 2014 and
the abuse of her two surviving
brothers.
For these charges, Judge
Brownhill sentenced him to just
over 35 years in prison. He is still
serving time on a prior coercion
conviction which will add to his
overall prison time.
Bonamici visits Circle Creek, Boneyard Ridge
US representative tours floodplain restoration in Seaside
By LYRA FONTAINE
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — U.S. Rep.
Suzanne Bonamici got a bird’s
eye view of the North Coast
Land Conservancy’s floodplain
restoration project from an
area on Boneyard Ridge, over-
looking Circle Creek and U.S.
Highway 101 and the ocean.
Bonamici, D-Ore., visited
the land conservancy’s Cir-
cle Creek Habitat Reserve and
Boneyard Ridge property on
Monday to speak with staff and
see how the project alleviated
yearly flooding.
During high tides and
heavy rains, Highway 101
would flood every winter and
the road would have to close,
said Melissa Reich, the orga-
nization’s stewardship director.
When the highway was impass-
able, Cannon Beach residents
were unable to get to the hospi-
tal by ambulance.
The plan
To restore the floodplain,
the land conservancy and its
partners — including Clatsop
County and the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation — exca-
vated sections of a berm that
was built along the Necanicum
River, leaving certain areas to
maintain older trees.
The partial berm removal in
2013 allowed water from the
Necanicum River to naturally
flood the Circle Creek flood-
plain, instead of the adjacent
Highway 101, thus prevent-
ing unsafe driving conditions,
delays and road closures.
“If we had come up here in a
flood event, you would see that
the whole property is underwa-
ter,” Reich said. “Everywhere
that’s green is underwater.”
“Not a lot of properties
are excited about having their
property flooded, but we are,”
See BONAMICI, Page 3A
Lyra Fontaine/The Daily Astorian
North Coast Land Conservancy Associate Director Jon
Wickersham and Stewardship Director Melissa Reich
show U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (center) a map of Circle
Creek Habitat Reserve.