144TH YEAR, NO. 141
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2017
CRAB ON
THE HORIZON
Tiffany Boothe/Seaside Aquarium
The Dungeness crab season is officially underway. Crab boats light up the sky in this photo taken from Silver Point near Cannon Beach. Crabbers had gone on strike over
the price seafood processors had offered for the catch, but agreed to $2.87 per pound.
In a good place
No video lottery
games at former
Gearhart Grocery
“We need them simply to
make it exist,” Lowenberg
said. “If we can’t get through
this, we will end up having to
close the store.”
The Planning Commis-
sion, unconvinced, voted 5-2
to deny the permit request.
By R.J. MARX
Resident Dave Eilenberg
The Daily Astorian
spoke on behalf of the pro-
posal. “I don’t personally
GEARHART — Cit- gamble, but I think a lot of
ing losses, Terry Lowenberg people rely on them to keep
closed the Gearhart Grocery employees and jobs in the
in December after winning community,” he said.
city approvals for
Gearhart’s Wil-
a brew pub and
son Mark sug-
deli.
gested Lowenberg
Thursday night
didn’t need video
he went before the
lottery machines
Planning Commis-
but rather a suc-
sion seeking a per-
cessful business
mit to install video
plan. “The real-
lottery machines
ity is the last two
in the brew pub,
(grocery) owners
a move, he said,
struggled as well,”
Terry
essential
for
Mark said. “But
Lowenberg
the pub’s future
I believe you’re
profitability.
struggling a lot
Lowenberg said the more than they were. We
machines — four to start, don’t want video poker, and
with a maximum of six — we don’t need it. If you can’t
placed in an enclosed area make it without video poker,
next to the deli separated by maybe we don’t need you.
an 8-foot wall, would help We want a full-fledged gro-
the brew pub survive eco- cery store.”
nomic hardship in winter
months.
See LOTTERY, Page 7A
Owner says he
can’t make it
without video
gambling
Erick Bengel/The Daily Astorian
Michelle Hartman, of Warrenton, plays with her sons, Henri, 3, and Matteus, 10. Hartman is a Clatsop Community Col-
lege student and an alumnus of last year’s WINGS (Women Interested in Going to School) conference.
Warrenton mother of two sees WINGS
conference as crucial step in her journey
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
M
MORE INFO
ichelle Hartman, a 48-year-
old single mother living in
Warrenton, has been rebuild-
ing her life after she and her two young
children escaped domestic abuse less
than three years ago.
Her apartment on Southwest Willow
Drive is small, but lively and warm.
Colorful plastic children’s toys seem
always within reach. Hartman rules the
household and dotes on her boys with
the energy of a fiercely loving mama
bear.
She holds down two part-time
cleaning jobs — one at the Liberty The-
ater, the other at Warrenton Christian
For information on WINGS, visit
www.wings-clatsop.com, or contact
Pat Lehman at 503-717-1852 or
pklehman320@gmail.com.
Church — and has a work-study gig
at Clatsop Community College, where
she is earning an associate’s degree in
general studies and plans to work with
children who have suffered from abuse
and neglect.
After a period of distress and
uncertainty, Hartman is in a good
place.
See WINGS, Page 7A
‘If you don’t know
what you’re doing,
you don’t really
know where you’re
going, and you have
kids, and you want
to have a better
future, go back to
school — that’s it.’
Michelle Hartman
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
Clatsop Community College student and
alumnus of last year’s WINGS conference
The owner of the former Gearhart Grocery was denied in
his bid to install four lottery machines in a new brew pub.
Standoff in Seaside disrupts neighborhood
Few details emerge
about situation
By JACK HEFFERNAN
and R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Police blocked off Whispering
Pines Drive to all but residents
Thursday during the standoff.
SEASIDE — A standoff between
police and an armed individual on Whis-
pering Pines Drive that began with gun-
shots on Wednesday was still playing
out this morning.
“This is still an ongoing situation,”
said Jon Rahl, a spokesman for the city
of Seaside. “There will be continued
attempts at communication this morn-
ing, and we’ll have an update as soon as
we can get one.”
Rahl said there is still one individual
in the house and police outside.
Seaside Police have asked the public
for patience while they try to resolve the
situation peacefully.
“We believe there is no immedi-
ate threat to the public,” Seaside Police
Chief Dave Ham said in a statement
Thursday afternoon. “A peaceful end
to this situation for our officers and the
individual inside the home continue to
be the focal point of our efforts.”
Police went to the house on Wednes-
day afternoon after reports of gunshots.
The individual’s mother — unarmed
and uninjured — was released when
police arrived.
Jason Lambert, 38, who lives just
down the hill from the scene of the stand-
off, came home from work Wednesday
night to find emergency vehicles driving
up and down his block.
“I really wasn’t sure what was going
on at first, but my first instinct was that it
was a domestic dispute, since that seems
to happen a lot around here,” he said.
But when he heard that guns were
involved, he said he went for a drive
with his two daughters, 9 and 4 years
old. When he returned a few hours later,
he only saw one Seaside Police car out-
side his home.
Matthew Craton, 17, who lives a few
blocks south of Whispering Pines Drive,
said he heard gunshots Wednesday night
while he was lying in bed and playing
video games.
“I was kind of surprised. It was kind
of scary,” he said. “My friend picked
me up to go hang out at his house and
he wanted to drive toward Whispering
Pines, but I made him go the other way.”
Edward Stratton contributed to this
report.