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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2016)
ASTORIA HIGH SCHOOL WINTER SPORTS PREVIEWS PAGES 6A & 7A 144TH YEAR, NO. 111 ONE DOLLAR WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2016 Governor’s budget would close youth prison Facility specializes in drug treatment, gang prevention By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian WARRENTON — The North Coast Youth Correctional Facility is on the chopping block . Gov. Kate Brown’s proposed two- year budget would close the youth prison by next fall to help the state reduce a $1.7 billion shortfall. “It’s heart breaking,” said James Sapper, the facility’s superintendent. “We’ve got a lot of heart and soul into this place.” The 50-bed facility in Warren- ton, which currently houses 45 inmates , serves males age 14 to 25 and specializes in substance-abuse See YOUTH PRISON, Page 8A Brown proposes cuts, tax hikes in state budget By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau Pamplin Media Group Gov. Kate Brown released two-year budget Thursday. her SALEM — Gov. Kate Brown Thursday proposed a state budget that cuts spending across most areas in state government, while keeping ‘We change lives’ New library director focuses on staff, services, during divisive time By ERICK BENGEL The Daily Astorian J Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian ABOVE: Jimmy Pearson, the new Astoria library director, poses for a portrait Thursday at the Astoria Library. BELOW: Astoria’s new library director, Jimmy Pearson, shows his work folder. Pearson served in the U.S. Army as a c ombat m edic before becoming a librarian . ‘I love being a librarian, and I love being the director for Astoria.’ immy Pearson, the new director of the Astoria Library, could talk about the beauty and neces- sity of libraries all day long. If he discovers that a resident doesn’t yet have a free library card, Pearson, a retired U.S. Army ser- geant, will address that malfunction. Whether helping children learn to read, intro- ducing adults to a book or resource that will give them a new hobby or career path, or creating a space for people to sit and feel welcome, “Libraries are impactful. We change lives,” he said. Pearson, who started in October , took the job at a divisive moment in the library’s history. The Astoria City Council voted in July not to build a new, multimillion-dollar library at Heritage Square, an ambitious but costly project that may have required a bond measure — and that, they felt, didn’t have enough public support. Other expensive ideas, like expanding the existing library at 10th and Exchange streets or branching into the vacant Wal- dorf Hotel, were also scrapped. Instead, the council directed city staff to study how to renovate the nearly 50-year-old library build- ing using funds already available. The 3-2 vote upset residents who feel the city deserves a modern library, just as the opposite vote would have upset those who believe they should not be forced to pay for one. Pearson is aware of both factions but does not take a stand on the issue. His role, as director, is “to help illuminate what the library can be for the com- munity, and then also work within the means that the community gives us to work with,” he said. When the time comes to realize the council’s scaled-down vision for the library, his expertise will come into play. He and City Manager Brett Estes are developing a budget for the renovation that will come before the council next year , Estes said. Right now, the city has $872,040 in the Logan Memorial Library Trust Fund for the project, plus $750,000 reserved in the capital improvement fund. The city budget set aside an additional $280,000 in the capital improvement fund for a new roof, but the council has since decided not to re roof the library this fi scal year amid discussion to eventually put in skylights. “It just doesn’t make sense to put a new roof on and then puncture holes in (it) after the fact,” Estes said. The council and budget committee will decide Jimmy Pearson whole K-12 education and programs assisting low-income students with college tuition. The $20.8 billion budget plan uses a potpourri of cuts and tax increases to fi ll in a $1.7 billion state revenue hole, caused largely by increases in negotiated salaries and benefi ts and a loss of federal funding for subsidiz- ing health insurance for low-income residents. See BUDGET, Page 8A Ackley prevails in recount City commissioner won by six votes By ERICK BENGEL The Daily Astorian The closest election in Clatsop County this year ended Thursday when Warrenton City Commissioner Pam Ackley prevailed over challenger Ryan Lampi by six votes in a recount. In the fi nal tally, conducted at the Judge Guy Boyington Build- ing in Astoria, Ackley took in 1,121 votes to Lampi’s 1,115 votes, according to the Clat- sop County Elections Division. Pam The recount gave Ackley Ackley one additional vote, the result of the recount election board arriving at a different determination about the intent of a voter than did the original inspec- tion board on Election Day, the county said in a release. Ackley, 55, said she Ryan was “very excited” to Lampi win the election. In her position, she serves as the commission’s liaison to the Way to Wellville Clatsop County and the Hammond Marina Task Force. She and her husband have had a boat slip at the Hammond Marina for 35 years. A Realtor at Windermere Stellar , Ackley also mentors at Seaside and Gearhart schools. As a commissioner, she plans to advocate for traditional local industries, including fi shing and building, and for creating more manufac- turing jobs . Lampi, 26, serves on the Planning Com- mission and works as a project manager at Big River Construction in Astoria. He offered his congratulations to Ackley and thanked his supporters. “I appreciate all the positive feedback,” he said. Asked if he anticipated the fi nal result, Lampi said, “Obviously, the reason I ran is because I was wanting to win, so I didn’t know what the result was going to be, but I was hopeful that it would be in my favor.” He has indicated that he may run again when the City Commission seat opens up. See PEARSON, Page 3A Astoria’s new library director See RECOUNT, Page 3A NONE OF THE ABOVE In Clatsop County, 3.7 percent chose write-ins for president By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian Downhearted by the choices for president, 732 voters in Clatsop County — or 3.7 per- cent — wrote in their own candidates. The fi gure was the highest since the county Elections Divi- sion began detailing write-in votes for president in 1996. County Clerk Valerie Cra- fard said the county does not publicly release the names of write-in candidates unless one rivals the offi cial party nomi- nees on the ballot. So we will never know whether Demo- cratic socialist Bernie Sanders — or Beyonce — cornered the write-in vote. Evan Goin, of Seaside, said on The Daily Astorian’s Face- book page that he wrote in “abstain.” Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, beat Don- ald Trump, the real estate mag- nate, 47 percent to 41 percent in Clatsop County, small consola- tion for local Democrats as the Republican won the presidency. Gary Johnson, the Lib- ertarian, took 4.9 percent of the county vote. Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, claimed 2.8 percent. Voter turnout in Clatsop County was 80 percent. “I think maybe people thought that it was a good way to give us a protest vote for whatever or to show that they didn’t like any of the candidates already on the ballot,” Laurie Caplan, the secretary of Clatsop County Democrats, said of the write-in votes. “And that kind of makes sense.” But Caplan also wonders whether a lack of civics edu- cation could be a factor. “They may not be aware that there are consequences, and what those WRITE-IN VOTES Clatsop County has detailed write-in votes for president over the past two decades. Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian A protester in Astoria car- ried a sign against Donald Trump’s election as presi- dent in November. consequences are,” she said. Patricia Roberts, the presi- dent of the North Coast Repub- lican Women, said the main- stream presidential candidates were not particularly popular. Roberts said it would be interesting to know the write-in choices. She said some folks in Gearhart used to write in “A dead spotted dog would be bet- • 2016: 732/3.7% • 2012: 197/1.1% • 2008: 167/0.9% • 2004: 131/0.6% • 2000: 65/0.3% • 1996: 35/0.2% *Source: Clatsop County Elections Division ter” to protest a local candidate. “It’s interesting that there were that many write-ins,” Roberts said. “It’s too bad they can’t reveal, you know, was it Donald Duck?”