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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 2017)
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2017 144TH YEAR, NO. 159 ONE DOLLAR Commission roils in Port’s ongoing strife Hires new legal counsel, spars back and forth Commissioner Stephen Fulton speaks during a Port of Astoria Commission meeting on Tuesday in Astoria. By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian The Port of Astoria Commission’s con- tinual 3-2 split was on display yet again Tuesday as commissioners hired new legal counsel. Commissioners Robert Mushen, John Danny Miller The Daily Astorian R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian Raichl and James Campbell voted to hire Eileen Eakins , a Portland attorney. Bill Hunsinger and Stephen Fulton voted for the law fi rm Jordan Ramis PC, the Port’s existing counsel. The Port has been whittling down and interviewing candidates for legal counsel since August. Putting Knight on notice Before the vote, Hunsinger unsuccess- fully tried to have a letter accusing Exec- utive Director Jim Knight of misconduct and making false and infl ammatory state- ments inserted into his personnel fi le. Warrior statue moves to downtown Warrenton See PORT, Page 7A Luke Wheat- ley, a Baldwin Construction employee, works to install the Warrenton War- rior statue on the s outhwest corner of Main Avenue and Harbor Drive on Tuesday in Warrenton. Photos by Danny Miller The Daily Astorian The owner of the former Gearhart Grocery was denied in his bid to install four lottery machines in a new brew pub. He is seek- ing to reverse that decision in an appeal. Is gambling ‘good for Gearhart’? Pub owner says lottery needed to succeed By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian GEARHART — The owner of a brew pub at the former Gearhart Grocery has accused the city of rejecting video lot- tery machines because of a bias against gambling. In an appeal delivered to the city Tues- day, Terry Lowenberg states the denial of a conditional use per- mit “does not appear to be based on any rel- evant fact, but rather on a prejudice against gaming and the peo- ple that participate in gaming.” Lowenberg states that city code does not exclude lottery machines, gambling Terry or gaming. Lowenberg Last year , Lowen- berg won approval for a brew pub and deli on Pacifi c Way, but at a Planning Com- mission hearing in January he told com- missioners he needed the lottery machines to survive economic hardship in winter months. The machines — four to start, with a maximum of six — would be placed in an enclosed area next to the deli separated by an 8-foot wall. Lowenberg closed his grocery store in November after citing competition from larger supermarkets in the region. ‘Simply exist’ In his January request, Lowenberg said he needed the lottery machines to “simply exist,” and if the permit was not granted, he would end up having to close the store . Mascot fi nds its journey’s end By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian ARRENTON — The Warrior has found a fi nal rest- ing place. The steel statue melded from hundreds of lit- tle cut-out Warriors, created by students and placed at War- renton High School in 1969, was installed Tuesday by a group of volunteers at the corner of Harbor Drive and Main Avenue. “I was afraid this thing was going to disappear,” said Roger Searle, who as a student helped fabricate the statue. W The Warrenton Warrior statue in the 1969 Warrenton High School yearbook. See GEARHART, Page 7A See STATUE, Page 7A Mix-up spares chiropractor more jail time Mistake gives Lopez credit for time served By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian A mistake by the court has spared a chiropractor con- victed of sexual abuse from more jail time. Adam Lopez was sentenced in December to a minimum of 80 days in jail for abusing four patients. But the Asto- ria man only spent a few days in jail before being released because he had credit for time served for harassing eight other patients. Chief Deputy District Attorney Ron Brown and Judge Philip Nelson did not catch the overlap in December. Brown tried to fi x the mistake at a hearing Tuesday, but the judge said there was no legal basis to go back and change the sentence. “I think it’s unfortu- nate because it wasn’t what I intended to do,” Judge Nelson said. Steven Sherlag, a Port- land attorney who represented Lopez, argued the court had no jurisdiction to modify the sen- tence once it had been exe- cuted. He said Lopez was sen- tenced and booked on Dec. 19, tence when he was arraigned in January 2015 for the sexual abuse of four more patients. Deputies at the County Jail cor- rectly calculated that Lopez had credit for time served after he was sentenced again Adam in December. The Lopez prosecutor or the judge should have clarifi ed that the new 80-day Second arraignment sentence was consecutive and Lopez, 61, who practiced in did not include credit for time Warrenton, received nearly one served. year in jail in 2014 for sexually Brown said the whole harassing eight patients. He point of the sentencing hear- was in custody serving his sen- ing in December was whether was in jail until Dec. 22, and was on elec- tronic monitoring until Jan. 25. “From our per- spective this is a prosecutor’s mis- take, not a scriven- er’s error, and the court’s thinking was, I think, quite clear and articulated well in the record,” Sherlag said. Lopez should get more time in jail. Lopez had asked the judge to spare him from going to jail again or at least allow him to remain free for the hol- idays. The judge declined and thought he was sending a hand- cuffed Lopez away for 80 days. Brown said it was a “com- plete travesty” that Lopez did not do more time for the four latest victims. After the judge’s ruling Tuesday, Brown apologized to the victims who had attended the hearing. He said he would research whether the state could ask the court to recon- sider or fi le an appeal. “It’s a victory of form over substance,” Brown said.
