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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 10, 2017)
BOTH SEASIDE GIRLS, BOYS TEAMS ADVANCE TO 4A BASKETBALL STATE SEMIFINALS | FULL COVERAGE IN SPORTS Bryre Babbitt WIN-WIN! Jackson Januik Check out our Facebook page for live coverage and updates. facebook.com/DailyAstorian WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2017 144TH YEAR, NO. 181 After trim, Pearl fi ghts for height Neighbors ‘not too enthusiastic’ about three-story hotel ONE DOLLAR TRAINING DAY DEPUTIES PUT UNDER STRESS TO PREPARE FOR REAL-LIFE ENCOUNTERS By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian SEASIDE — Antoine Simmons of Hay- stack Lodgings hopes to move forward with plans for a new three-story hotel, the Pearl Oceanfront Resort, on the site of the Inn at the Prom and a neighboring Beach Drive lot. First he’ll have to survive an appeal at the City Council Monday night that could set the plan back once again. Neighbors Susan and Dan Calef, owners of a duplex on Avenue A, said the proposed structure on 341 South Prom “will dwarf our house, invade our privacy by placing hotel balconies feet from our upstairs bedroom and generally diminish the value of our property.” T he Calefs object to the height of the building, possible fencing around their prop- erty and a loss of views. “In short, we are not too enthusiastic about it,” Dan Calef said. Because of an 8-foot grade difference See HOTEL, Page 7A Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Heather Senquiz, a Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office p arole and p robation o fficer, participates in confrontation-simulation train- ing at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds on Wednesday. The scenarios help build “muscle memory” in tense situations. Mortgage interest deductions get close look By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian T he scene was not real, but it looked close enough to rattle nerves: After a shootout at the county fairgrounds, Reyhan Higgins of Astoria emerged from a pickup truck, drew a gun, and ran toward a sheriff’s deputy. He fell to the ground within seconds. Fairness in light of housing crunch debated Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau SALEM — A policy that allows some homeowners to deduct mortgage interest from their taxable income has become a point of contention in the growing pressure on lawmakers to address Oregon’s housing crunch. Legislators heard public testimony Thurs- day on a bill limiting that tax break, referred to as the mortgage interest deduction. The deduction exists both on state and federal levels and applies to homeowners who itemize their deductions rather than tak- ing the standard deduction. House Bill 2006 would impose an income threshold for claiming the mortgage inter- est deduction, limit the amount of interest that can be deducted and eliminate the state income tax deduction for second homes. ABOVE: Nick Miller, a U.S. Coast Guard m aritime e nforce- ment s pecialist, remains on the ground after pulling a weapon on a law enforcement officer during confronta- tion-simulation training . BELOW: Sgt. Jason Hoover leads officers through confrontation-simulation training . Laughing, Higgins stood up. “You didn’t hit me!” he yelled at the deputy. The scenario was part of a four-day confrontation -simula- tion training held by the Clat- sop County S heriff’s O ffi ce for deputies. In four-hour sessions, deputies from the criminal, cor- rections and parole and proba- tion divisions participate in sim- ulations of confrontations they might encounter while on duty. Volunteer role players, such as Higgins, act either as victims, bystanders or suspects . Muscle memory The exercises are a culmina- tion of multiple trainings held by the S heriff’s O ffi ce each year that include clearing building s, defensive tactics, crisis interven- tion and shooting ranges. Sce- narios range from a routine traf- fi c stop and warrant arrest at 2 a.m. in Astoria’s downtown core See DEDUCTIONS, Page 6A Deputies work to ID body on the beach By NATALIE ST. JOHN EO Media Group CHINOOK, Wash. — Investigators are working to identify the body of a young woman who washed ashore. “Basically, we have a body that has washed up with no ID, so we are really backtracking to try to fi nd out who this is, and the circumstances surrounding the discovery,” Pacifi c County Sheriff’s Offi ce Chief Criminal Deputy Pat Mat- lock said. County emergency dispatchers received a call at about 7 p.m. Tues- day from a woman who said there were human remains on a small, rocky beach near the end of Third Street in Chinook. Ken Walters, the man who found the body, said that while walking his dog, he noticed something on the sand that looked a bit like a human form. At fi rst, he thought it might be a scarecrow or a mannequin. When he got closer, he realized that it appeared to be the par- tial remains of a young woman. Wal- ters said a brief prayer for her and went to ask a neighbor woman to help out. They returned to the beach, where she made the 911 call. Deputies responded a short time later and Deputy confi rmed that the Pat Matlock remains were those of a young adult female, who most likely washed up with the tide. Due to the state of deterioration, depu- ties believe the woman may have been in the water for an extended period of time. Given her location near the mouth of the Columbia River, she could have come from the ocean or from somewhere far- ther upriver, Matlock said. Walters said an unusually large amount of driftwood and other debris has recently washed up on the beach, possibly as a result of a series of strong winter storms. According to Matlock, sheriff’s inves- tigators quickly began working with the Pacifi c County Prosecutor’s Offi ce and contacts in other law enforcement agen- cies to identify the woman. “One of our main focuses is to check all of our border counties,” Matlock said. So far, the woman doesn’t appear to be a strong match for any of the missing persons cases along the Lower Colum- bia, but it’s early days yet. Deputies are still “ putting info out to try to elicit any response from agencies that are missing people,” he said. See BODY, Page 6A to an active -shooter situation in a dark building with unidentifi ed people running around. Sgt. Jason Hoover, an instruc- tor, said he still feels nervous before participating in a scenario due to the uncertainty. “Everyone has that desire to have that muscle memory,” he said. “Fifteen hundred cor- rect repetitions create the mus- cle memory. Proper safety tech- niques can avoid confrontation through words and actions.” Instructors look for man- nerisms and speech considered good practice. Techniques could be as small as keeping a door open and one leg out of the police car while looking up information on a possible sus- pect or telling bystanders to keep a proper distance before approaching a vehicle during a traffi c stop. See TRAINING, Page 6A SPRING FORWARD Daylight saving time starts on Sunday at 2 a.m. when clocks are turned to 3 a.m. Sunrise and sunset will be about one hour later than the day before, which means there will be more light in the evening.
