PROPERTY LINES REAL ESTATE GUIDE INSIDE
144TH YEAR, NO. 131
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2016
Judge Nelson steps down from the bench
Long-serving arbiter
lauded for service
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
For The Daily Astorian
The man pleaded “No contest” to
the charges against him. He stood up.
“Thank you, judge,” he said politely,
nodding his head at Clatsop County
District Court Judge Phil Nelson.
“Enjoy your retirement.”
As two deputies escorted the man out
of Courtroom 200 Thursday afternoon,
Nelson watched with a sort of bemused,
half-smile on his face. He leaned back in
the vast brown chair, a piece of furniture
that his judicial assistant Paula Hovden
estimates has comfortably supported one
judge or another for the last 40 years.
Then he moved on to the next case.
Judge Nelson offi cially retires on
Jan. 2 after 23 years on the bench, mak-
ing him one of the longest running
elected Clatsop County offi cials to date,
almost beating the 24-year-run of Asto-
ria’s former mayor Willis Van Dusen.
Judge Phillip
Nelson visits
with guests
during his re-
tirement party
on Thursday at
Clatsop County
Circuit Court in
Astoria.
Busy tenure
During his time as judge, Nelson
oversaw numerous cases and started a
successful drug court program that has
seen 192 graduates since 2001. In 2013,
Nelson was a deciding voice in a com-
plex and controversial liquefi ed natu-
ral gas project. He ruled in favor of a
Danny Miller
The Daily Astorian
See NELSON, Page 6A
SO LONG, 2016
THE NORTH COAST’S TOP STORIES OF THE YEAR
Hundreds gathered to remember
and honor fallen officer Jason Goodding
at Broadway Field on Feb . 7 in Seaside.
Joshua Bessex
The Daily Astorian
The Daily Astorian
T
oday we mark the closing of the year in
news. The stories and images that shaped our
lives run the gamut from Sgt. Jason Good-
ding’s tragic death to Oregon LNG’s demise to the
struggle for affordable housing. We have new lead-
ership, Walmart is breaking ground and the governor
is proposing closing the Oregon Youth Authority.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
A man battles weather conditions walking past storm
damage along Laneda Avenue after a tornado touched
down Oct. 14 in Manzanita.
READ ABOUT ALL THESE AND MORE
AND SEE THE TOP PHOTOS FROM THE
YEAR IN WEEKEND BREAK, 1C-5C
Midwife a nurturer by nature
New arrival is
former farmer
and activist
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
Ever since she was a little
girl, Corinne Almquist wanted
to be a midwife, a health care
provider who assists women
during childbirth.
But Almquist, who moved
to Astoria from Vermont in
November, got sidetracked by
OUR NEW
NEIGHBORS
HIGHLIGHTING PEOPLE WHO ARE NEW TO THE COMMUNITY
farming and environmental
activism, she said. After work-
ing as a doula — a childbirth
assistant — for a number of
years, helping with home and
hospital births, she decided to
return to school.
See ALMQUIST, Page 7A
Corinne Almquist, a certified nurse midwife at Columbia
Memorial Hospital, moved to Astoria in November.
Erick Bengel/The Daily Astorian
Danny Miller / The Daily Astorian
Confederate soldiers practice forming ranks before the start
of battle during the Fort Stevens annual Civil War Re-enact-
ment on Sept. 3 at Fort Stevens Historic Area in Warrenton.
A fi nal goodbye
Roll call of
some public
fi gures who
died in 2016
By BERNARD
MCGHEE
Associated Press
Death claimed transcen-
dent political fi gures in 2016,
including Cuba’s revolution-
ary leader and Thailand’s
longtime king, but also took
away royals of a different
sort: kings of pop music,
from Prince and David
Bowie to George Michael.
Embracing Soviet-style
communism, Fidel Castro,
who died in November, over-
came imprisonment and exile
to become leader of Cuba and
defy the power of the United
States at every turn during
his half-century rule. Per-
haps befi tting the controver-
sial leader, his death elicited
both tears and cheers across
the Western Hemisphere.
However, shock, grief
and nostalgia greeted the
deaths of several giants
of pop music. David
Bowie, who broke musical
See DEATHS, Page 7A