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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017
Arsonist found liable
in $2.8 million verdict
By NATALIE ST. JOHN
EO Media Group
CATHLAMET, Wash. —
When convicted arsonist Sam
Valdez made an unprecedented
attempt to attend his trial Mon-
day from a payphone at the Clal-
lam Bay Corrections Center, it
created confusion in Wahkia-
kum County Superior Court.
Court staff had to figure out
a tedious payment system on
speakerphone while an audience
watched and 60 potential jurors
waited in the wings. Fellow
prisoners hounded the defen-
dant while he tried to get his
case dismissed, and a recorded
announcement kept interrupting
Judge Doug Goelz.
Valdez, 65, did not ask to be
brought to his trial, and he did
not get a reliable phone or video
connection before the start of
the trial. So when he ran out of
phone time, his trial proceeded
without him. At the end of the
day, the jury ordered the one-
time Altoona, Washington, resi-
dent to pay his former neighbors
Fred and Cathy Cantrell almost
$2.8 million in damages for the
raging July 2014 arson fire that
destroyed their home and prop-
erty, and killed both of their
dogs.
Arson, drug-dealing,
murder and fraud
In early 2016, Valdez was
convicted of drug manufac-
turing, murder conspiracy and
arson, after a confidential infor-
mant secretly recorded three
conversations in which he dis-
cussed his hash-oil business,
plans to hire a hitman to kill
his ex-wife and the fire at the
Cantrell home. He was sen-
tenced to about 20 years in
prison.
The fire occurred shortly
after the Cantrells briefly testi-
fied on behalf of his wife in the
divorce trial. Though police sus-
EO Media Group/File Photo
Former Altoona resident
Sam Valdez looked up
during his criminal trial in
Wahkiakum County Superi-
or Court in March 2016.
pected Valdez of setting the fire,
the Cantrells couldn’t sue Val-
dez and his sister Valerie Val-
dez until he was convicted. The
Cantrells’ Longview, Washing-
ton, attorney Duane Crandall
said Valerie Valdez didn’t have
anything to do with the fire, but
she may have helped her brother
conceal his assets after his
August 2015 arrest. The court
is now handling her alleged
involvement in a separate case
Trial-by-phone
Getting Valdez on the phone
took up the first hour of the
trial. Washington prisoners —
or their callers — must pay for
phone time. Calls automatically
end after 20 minutes. Goelz kept
his sense of humor as he tried to
connect the call.
Valdez immediately tried to
get the lawsuit dismissed, say-
ing his criminal case was still
under appeal and he couldn’t
adequately participate from
prison.
“To have a fair and impartial
trial, I believe I would need to be
present,” Valdez said. “I don’t
understand how anybody could
think I would have a fair trial.”
Other prisoners began pres-
suring Valdez to hang up, and
the din in the prison became
increasingly disruptive.
“I’m getting a lot of heat
here, just trying to use this
phone,” Valdez said.
In criminal cases, the state
must provide attorneys for
defendants who can’t afford
them and must transport pris-
oners to their trials. Crandall
pointed out that those rules don’t
apply to civil cases. When Val-
dez decided to be his own attor-
ney, Crandall said, he assumed
responsibility for making the
arrangements.
“It’s our second trial date.
We have 60 jurors, I understand,
cooling their heels for an hour
and a half now,” Crandall said,
and asked Goelz to proceed.
Goelz agreed.
“We’ve been on the phone
for 10 minutes,” a frustrated
Valdez said. “We have 10 min-
utes to go.” More time dwindled
away, because Valdez couldn’t
hear the judge and kept asking
him to repeat himself.
With only a couple of min-
utes left, Goelz urged Valdez to
call back and tried to launch into
jury selection. He didn’t get far,
because a recorded voice cut in
and chirped, “You have one min-
ute remaining.” Goelz laughed
and pressed on. The automated
voice interrupted again.
“You have 30 seconds
remaining!”
The line went dead. When
Valdez still hadn’t called back
10 minutes later, Goelz said the
trial would proceed without him.
Later, longtime Court Clerk
Kay Holland said it was the
first time in her career someone
had attempted to stand trial via
phone. Crandall, a veteran attor-
ney, said he’d never seen it done
either. Prosecutor Dan Bige-
low, who stopped in to watch
the action, called it a “once-in-a-
lifetime” event.
Water district will not seek
mediation with city over dam
By DERRICK
DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The
Skipanon Water Control
District will not pursue
mediation with Warrenton in
a dispute over control of the
Eighth Street Dam.
Last year, the two sides
discussed the possibility of
working with Portland State
University’s National Pol-
icy Consensus Center. Infor-
mal talks were planned for
December, but the water dis-
trict withdrew because board
members were not prepared
for substantive negotia-
tions given that the city had
renewed a threat to sue.
The water district voted
Wednesday to take no action
on mediation. One board
member, Robert Stricklin,
dissented.
“We’re not looking at
mediation now,” said Tessa
Scheller, the chairwoman of
the water district’s board.
Mayor Mark Kujala, who
initially questioned the value
of negotiations with the
water district, has said the
city is willing to consider
mediation. “We’re open for
mediation,” the mayor said.
The city declared an
emergency over the dam
in December and asked
the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers for guidance on
whether the dam should be
restored for flood control.
The city has argued that the
dam is an important compo-
nent of the city’s levee sys-
tem, which was built by the
Army Corps.
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The water district, which
removed tide gates on the
dam in 2015, believes the
structure is no longer useful
for flood control and should
be removed. The water dis-
trict maintains that the dam,
built in the 1960s by an
agency of the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture, is under
its jurisdiction.
Clatsop Post 12
Ham Dinner
with Mac-n-Cheese,
Veggie, Salad and
Garlic Bread
Friday
Mar. 3 rd
4 pm until gone
8. 00
$
6PM
“Karaoke Dave”
ASTORIA
AMERICAN LEGION
Clatsop Post 12
1132 Exchange Street
325-5771
N e w
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Regional lender Craft3 recently consolidated offices from Ilwaco, Washington, and
Pier 39 into the renovated first floor of the 114-year-old Fisher Bros. Building in As-
toria.
Craft3 consolidates in Astoria
Fisher Bros.
Building is
lender’s home
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Regional lender Craft3
has opened its Astoria office,
consolidating 20 staff from
Pier 39 and Ilwaco, Washing-
ton, inside the 114-year-old
Fisher Bros. Building.
Craft3, which announced
the move last year, hired
Palmberg Development &
Construction to renovate the
114-year-old structure. The
Fisher Bros. Co. occupied the
building from 1906 to 2006,
when its parent company,
Englund Marine & Indus-
trial Supply, consolidated into
a new location on Hamburg
Avenue at the Port of Astoria.
Craft3 occupies the entire
first floor of the Fisher Bros.
Building, with four apart-
ments upstairs renovated by
developer Chester Trabucco.
Palmberg tore out walls from
the former storefronts, creat-
ing a contiguous office space
filled with cubicles reclaimed
from a former warehouse on
Astoria’s Pier 3, held together
with fittings forged by Jacob’s
Hammer Custom Metal
Works in Chinook, Wash-
ington. The entire office was
wired for telecommunications
to connect the lender’s distant
locations around the Pacific
Northwest. Craft3 will also
have The Fisher Bros. Co. and
The Linen Thread Co. murals
on the outside walls of the
building refurbished, likely
next year.
Chief Operating Officer
Sonya Lynn said the consoli-
dated offices in Astoria might be
new, but not Craft3. “You can’t
throw a stone in Astoria where
we haven’t touched,” she said.
Local lending
Over its history, Craft3
has lent about $33 million in
Clatsop County and $20 mil-
lion in Pacific County. Carl
Seip, a spokesman for Craft3,
said that dollar-wise, about
three-quarters of the lender’s
business is commercial, with
another 25 percent focused on
consumer products.
Clatsop County enti-
ties receiving financing from
Craft3 include Clatsop Com-
munity College, Bridgewater
Bistro and Fort George Brew-
ery. Craft3 helped finance
improvements by developer
Floyd Holcom to Pier 39,
Congratulations Graduates!
February 24, 2017
= Graduated with Honors
Anfi lofi ev, Vasily
Offi ce Administration
Ashley, Miranda
Medical Assisting
Avalos, Adrian
Plastering
Bailey, Chance
Carpentry
Bernal, Paulino
Painting
McDaniel, Charles Blake
Carpentry
Cameron-Dominguez, Javier
Plastering
Carter, Lagenta
Certifi ed Medical Assisting
Arnulfo Miguel Cendejas Flores
Carpentry
Gonzalez, Ilse
Medical Assisting
Hastings, Jailyn
Building Construction Technology
Ives, Cecilia
Culinary
James, Kailyn
Culinary
Johnston, Kaylee
Painting
Lawson, Jazmine
Offi ce Administration
Marr, Eric Allen
Carpentry
McMaster, Brent
Electrical
Miller, Antoinette
Medical Assisting
Mills, Malia
Certifi ed Medical Assisting
Muff enbier, Jonas
Welding
Nash, Kyle
Computer Service Tech
Richmond, Kaytie
Medical Administrative Assistant
Ruiz, Toni
Painting
Salinas, Denise
Medical Assisting
Schlalos, Jasmine
Building Construction Technology
Schmale, Chelsey
Electrical
Tucker, Brianna
Culinary
Valdovinos, Nancy
Offi ce Administration
Winegarden, Beaubrier
Carpentry
Wooliscroft, Kristian
Painting
Full color,
scenic montage
postcards of Astoria
now available at the
Daily Astorian
office!
Thank you to
Lorenda Nakka
for being our
alumni speaker!
Tourists, visitors, family & friends will love sending these!
949 Exchange Street, Astoria • 503-325-3211
along with the purchase of
the Fisher Bros. Building by
Joe Barnes.
Seip said the majority
of Craft3’s consumer lend-
ing on the Lower Columbia
has been in Pacific County,
where a partnership with the
county government offers
clean water loans to help ren-
ovate a failing sewer system.
Craft3 recently expanded the
program statewide in Ore-
gon, through a partnership
with the state Department of
Environmental Quality, and
has helped finance more than
$340,000 in sewer system
upgrades.
Craft3 also helps finance
loans to cover the living
expenses of women attending
the Ada Developer’s Acad-
emy in Seattle, which helps
women trying to enter the
technology sector.
“We are pleased to have
found a great spot to con-
solidate our presence in the
lower Columbia” River,
Craft3 President and CEO
Adam Zimmerman said in a
release. “The mouth of the
river, both sides, has been
home for 22 years, and we
look forward to many more
decades of making invest-
ments in our friends and
neighbors around the region.”
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