DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2017
144TH YEAR, NO. 144
ONE DOLLAR
Port chooses to remain in timber lawsuit
Commissioners did not comment on
why they made the decision, which comes
a week after the Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners voted 3-2 to opt out.
Linn County fi led the $1.4 billion suit
last year against the state Department of
Forestry, claiming it breached a contract
to maximize timber revenue on more than
700,000 acres deeded to the state in the mid-
20th century. The suit was classifi ed by a
Linn County Circuit Court judge as a class
Commissioners did not
explain their reasons
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Port of Astoria Commission voted
unanimously Tuesday to stay in a class-ac-
tion timber lawsuit brought by Linn County
against the state.
action covering 15 counties and about 130
taxing districts statewide.
Clatsop County is the highest-profi le
defection so far. Counties and taxing dis-
tricts have until Jan. 25 to decide whether
to participate.
County Manager Cameron Moore pre-
viously said that of the 30 taxing districts
identifi ed in the county, fi ve under county
control were automatically opted out by
the board’s vote. Of the remaining 25, he
said, Clatsop Community College, Seaside
School District, Jewell School District, the
college and the Port were among the major
players.
The college will decide whether to
remain in the lawsuit at a special meeting
Tuesday. Seaside Superintendent Sheila
Roley said in an email Monday that the
school district will not opt out. Jewell
See TIMBER SUIT, Page 7A
Astoria to study
water main
resiliency
Page 7A
Held up Cannon
Beach hotel at
gunpoint in 2014
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Artistic director of
Liberty Theater to help
shape venue’s identity
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
B
See DIRECTOR, Page 7A
Fulton accuses
Mushen of
malfeasance
Page 3A
Serial
robber
gets 10
years
New York.
Chicago.
Los Angeles.
… Astoria.
ereniece Jones-Centeno, who was recently hired
as the Liberty Theater’s artistic director, has a
striking resume: a professional singer, teacher
and arts administrator with a background steeped
in fi ne arts and education. She’s lived in New York,
Chicago, Los Angeles and Europe.
So why did someone with her interests and creden-
tials choose to settle down in Astoria, a small commu-
nity with aspirations in the arts but is mostly known
for fi shing, logging and Goonies?
“First of all, it is rugged, gritty — but I love that
about this town,” she said.
Many folks who brave the coastal elements also
share those experiences in poetry and song — as
seen, for example, at the annual FisherPoets Gather-
ing. Cultured and working-class sensibilities coexist
in neighborhoods, households and individual hearts.
“You’ve got the (Columbia River) Bar Pilots who
have these incredible jobs, and there’s all of this
respect for what they do … and I love the fact that
some of these same people love going to watch an
opera,” she said.
As artistic director — the Liberty’s fi rst —
Jones-Centeno plans to organize concerts series, fi lm
festivals and other programs at the historic vaudevil-
lian theater, as well as develop educational programs
and engage with local schools. Her charge is to focus
on “lifelong learners, as well as the little bitty ones,”
she said.
Jones-Centeno — along with the new executive
director, Jennifer Crockett — will shaping the Lib-
erty’s identity in the coming years; their choices will
defi ne, in large measure, what the venue becomes
famous for.
“The world is our oyster because the Liberty hasn’t
had an artistic director,” Jones-Centeno said, adding:
“Whatever we can create, that’s all open to us right
now.”
MORE
INSIDE
Dwight Caswell/For The Daily Astorian
Bereniece Jones-Centeno is the artistic director of the Liberty Theater.
“… I love being in a place that really needs someone to help them grow,”
she says.
‘The world is our oyster
because the Liberty hasn’t
had an artistic director.
Whatever we can create,
that’s all open to us right now.’
Bereniece Jones-Centeno
Liberty Theater’s new artistic director
A serial robber who held up a
Cannon Beach hotel at gunpoint
was sentenced Tuesday to 10
years in prison.
Ernest Lee Dean, 44, pointed a
handgun at hotel clerk Orlo Bald-
win at the Stephanie Inn in Janu-
ary 2014 and forced him to hand
over almost $7,000 in cash.
After ordering Baldwin to lay
on his stomach, Dean zip-tied
Baldwin’s hands behind his back
and left him on the fl oor. Bald-
win, an elderly man, testifi ed
Tuesday in Clatsop County Cir-
cuit Court that he was scared for
his life, but that Dean gave him a
reassuring pat on the back before
leaving.
“The defendant, with great
humanity, patted me on the back
as if to say, ‘It’ll be OK old
man,’” Baldwin said. “I hold no
animosity toward him.”
Baldwin left the courtroom
soon after testifying, but Dean
said later — while not fully
admitting to the crime — that he
had “unconditional empathy” for
Baldwin.
Dean, who was arrested in
Portland in February 2014 after an
investigation that involved police
in Cannon Beach, was responsi-
ble for an armed robbery spree
at several hotels and is serving a
25-year prison sentence handed
down in Multnomah County.
Judge Paula Brownhill ruled
that Dean’s 10-year sentence for
the Cannon Beach robbery will be
added to the Multnomah County
penalty. Dean was convicted of
fi rst-degree robbery, second-de-
gree kidnapping and felon in pos-
session of a fi rearm.
“Based on the facts of the
case, it is clear the defendant’s
intent was to commit more than
one offense, and the defendant
created a risk of qualitatively dif-
ferent harm or injury to the vic-
tim,” Deputy District Attorney
Steve Chamberlin wrote in a sen-
tencing memorandum.
Razor clam closure cripples coast tourism
No new toxin since
September, but clams
slow to clear problem
By LUKE WHITTAKER
EO Media Group
LONG BEACH, Wash. — The fi nancial
fallout from the razor clam closure has racked
restaurants, retailers and small businesses
around the Long Beach Peninsula.
“This is my slowest winter since 2008,” Full
Circle Café owner Colleen Smith said. “Usually
I drop 33 percent in a normal year, this year I
dropped 50 percent.”
Smith believes the combination of clamming
closures, delays in the Dungeness crab sea-
son and unusually cold weather have deterred
visitors .
“Between no clamming, the crabbing season
and the weather — this is one of the best ski sea-
sons they’ve had in four or fi ve years, so that’s
what we’re competing against to draw any fam-
ilies or day trippers,” Smith said.
“‘Do I go skiing or do I go down and have
a family weekend and go clamming?’ Well
if clamming was their draw, we aren’t getting
them. That’s it in a nutshell.”
Financial fallout
The economic impact of the razor clam sea-
son is profound, particularly for the p eninsula,
which offers some of the most desirable clam-
ming destinations in the state.
An economic impact report by the Washing-
ton Department of Fish and Wildlife estimated
that diggers bring $22 million during an aver-
age season. On a single day, razor clam digs can
See CLOSURE, Page 7A
Luke Whittaker/EO Media Group
Sportmen’s Cannery in Seaview has seen a drastic drop
in revenue resulting from the razor clam closure. “The
difference between having clams and not having clams
is an 85 percent difference in our income from month to
month,” Sportsmen’s Cannery owner Tina Ward said.