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.