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DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2016 144TH YEAR, NO. 117 ONE DOLLAR SEASIDE BOYS SWIM TEAM WINS ‘ANDREW’S MEET’ SPORTS • 10A ‘A love letter to my home state’ Counties prevail in paid sick leave case Judge calls it an unfunded mandate By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau Submitted Photo Director Sam Zalutsky with cinematographer Phil Anderson. Nine counties prevailed in a challenge to Oregon’s new paid sick leave requirements when a Linn County judge ruled the 2015 law is an unfunded mandate. The ruling Thursday allows those nine counties to opt out of providing paid sick leave to employees, but counties could use the new case law to challenge other legisla- tively-approved measures, such as minimum wage increases. “It was a good day yesterday,” said Roger Nyquist, chairman of the Linn County Board of Commissioners who spearheaded the legal challenge. Linn County Circuit Court Judge Daniel R. Murphy based his ruling on a 1996 amend- ment to the state Constitution that prohibits the state from forcing local governments to adopt new programs without providing fund- ing. The ruling does not relieve the private sector from the paid sick leave mandate. The state had argued that the constitu- tional amendment does not apply to wages and benefits. It’s unclear whether the Department of Justice will appeal the ruling. See SICK LEAVE, Page 7A Thriller nears the finish line By EVE MARX For The Daily Astorian S easide’s turn on the big screen comes closer as crew members put finish- ing touches on “Seaside,” the movie, which was shot in April “We are almost finished,” director Sam Zalutsky said, speaking from his home in New York City. Post-produc- tion — including color correction, sound editing and sound design are expected to reach completion in about a month. “The movie is a love letter to my home state,” he said. Zalutsky said he was drawn to do a film about Seaside after spending so much time here as a youth. “My parents have a home in Arch Cape and I’ve spent a lot of time there,” Zalutsky said. “The Oregon Coast landscape has so seldom been caught on film,” he added. “I knew I could do a visually dynamic film, and of course I had use of my par- ents’ beach house not just as a location, but as a place to live during the shooting.” While writing the script, Zalutsky incorporated locations like Funland, the Arcade and the Seaside Civic and See MOVIE, Page 7A Putting the pieces back together How to avoid lawyers when neighbors fight By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI EO Media Group Neighbors in the rural West find plenty of things to disagree about. Differing views on appropriate land uses are a common source of clashes, whether the conflicts pertain to straw-compressing facili- ties or the use of inflatable bouncy castles to entertain youthful visitors. Trespass is another common source of friction, be it roaming cattle or floodwaters. Even high-profile legal and legislative battles that impact farm policy and grab headlines often begin as simple disputes between neighbors. In some cases, conflicts reach the highest levels of the court system, setting important legal precedents for others but saddling both parties involved with mas- sive legal bills. Less visibly, disagreements can fester for years at the local level, with neighbors engaged in a prolonged battle that poisons their relationship. Submitted Photo See NEIGHBORS, Page 5A Ariana DeBose and Matt Shingledecker filming at Hug Point. Trolley conductor a former Portland radio host Miller uses his deep voice to entertain, inform I f one of the conductors on the Astoria Riverfront Trol- ley sounds as if he belongs on the radio, that’s because he was. Bob Miller, who joined the all-volunteer trolley team this year, worked in radio broad- casting for four decades. Before retiring in 2013, he was a pop- ular radio personality in Port- land, hosting ensemble news shows for a combined 33 years at AM stations KEX and KPAM. Miller won Billboard Maga- zine’s National Air Personality of the Year award for 1974 in the small market category. Now he uses his deep, jovial voice to tell the history of Asto- ria to trolley passengers shut- tling and sightseeing along the waterfront. When he started conducting, the gig felt like his early radio broadcasts: “It’s like, ‘Damn, this is fun!’” he said. “The people that I’ve met that work on the trolley — these people love that thing. I mean, it’s like their kid. They are so proud of it,” he said. Aboard the trolley, “you meet the most interesting peo- ple, and you meet a lot of locals,” he said. “The really fun days are the cruise ship days, because you’ve got people from all over the world coming in here.” “To me, it’s like a smorgas- bord of all kinds of great people to talk to,” he added. Since he was young, Miller — who once considered a career teaching English litera- ture — has loved entertaining and informing people. Erick Bengel/The Daily Astorian See MILLER, Page 7A Bob Miller, of Astoria, is a former Portland radio personality.
