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7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MARCH 27, 2017 Warrenton: ‘The most important thing to do is to continue planning’ Couple: Two witnesses called during hearing Continued from Page 1A multiple times on the back and side of his head. The couple allegedly dumped his body off U.S. Highway 30 about 3 miles east of Asto- ria and stole his white 1993 Allegro Bay motor home with a dark maroon 1991 Lincoln Continental attached on a trailer. Days after aban- doning the trailer just east of Seaside on U.S. Highway 26, the couple was found travel- ing in the Lincoln in northern Arizona. Wilkins’ former employer had contacted police after the body was found to say the couple may have been involved in Vinge’s death. The Sheriff’s Office was able to use Vinge’s stolen cell- phone along with credit card purchases to track the couple as they traveled to Junction City, northwest Nevada and then south to Arizona. They are being charged with murder, second-degree abuse of a corpse and two counts of unauthorized use of a vehicle. Copell is also fac- ing a hindering prosecution charge. The District Attorney’s Office, represented by Dis- trict Attorney Josh Marquis and Deputy District Attor- ney Beau Peterson, called two witnesses during the hearing: Sheriff’s Office Detective Ryan Humphrey and Seaside Police Sgt. Guy Knight. They also played a roughly 10-min- ute recording of an interroga- tion between Copell and the two investigators shortly after the couple’s arrest. Copell indicated in the recording that Wilkins had beaten Vinge to death with a piece of beach wood follow- ing an argument on Sept. 27 while they were inside Vinge’s motor home. The couple had been homeless before Vinge “I will be totally honest with you: We are woefully behind,” Workman told the City Com- mission at a recent work session. No firm plan In 2010, more than three- fourths of city staff had com- pleted the required training, but a handful of employees who have since joined the city have not. ICS and NIMS courses are required — as is the use of the principles and command struc- tures that are taught in the courses — for any entities that want to receive federal fund- ing for training, response and recovery for disasters, Work- man said. “We gotta be up to date,” Workman told the commission, “because if you’re not, and you have an event, they could say, ‘No federal funding for you, because you’re not following what we asked you (to). These are rudimentary things that we want you to do,’” In addition, Warrenton does not have a firm plan to get the city’s basic services running again, including a clear proto- col for continuity of govern- ment if the mayor, city manager or other local leaders are away, injured or otherwise out of play. The mayor, for instance, normally declares a state of emergency. But, if he or she is unavailable, who steps in to per- form the task? City Commissioner Henry Balensifer said these measures are largely “staff-driven” rather than commission-driven. “The commission’s func- tion, in a severe natural disas- ter, is to communicate to the citizens, and to ensure that the government continues operat- ing, in terms of budget adjust- ments and emergency measures Submitted Photo Warrenton High School students carry a “victim” during the school’s end-of-year CERT exercise last year. The city warns residents that they need to be prepared. or laws,” he said. “But, for the most part, these plans are really related to staff.” ‘Element of risk’ Another question is where the city will set up an emer- gency operations center to stage recovery efforts. If City Hall is not a viable location — if it is underwater, say — the city will need a backup. The emergency operations plan suggests possible sites east of U.S. Highway 101. But as businesses have continued to crop up in the area — War- renton is, after all, the fastest growing community in Clat- sop County — options have dwindled. When Workman talks to res- idents about emergency pre- paredness, they tend to assume the responsibility lies with the city, he said. “They’re right, to a certain extent, but it’s them — it’s them — that have to be prepared,” he told the City Commission. Depending on the scale of the event, police and fire depart- ment personnel, and other emergency responders may be unable to rescue people for sev- eral days. After a megaquake, roads will likely be fractured and impassable. And the ground beneath the city, composed largely of sand, may liquefy. Workman has asked the Warrenton Community Emer- gency Response Team reach out more to the city’s vulnerable population. The elderly and dis- abled residents of Alder Creek Village in Hammond, west of Tansy Creek, for example, could become isolated if even a minor earthquake harmed the bridges. “There is an element of risk, living on the coast,” Balen- sifer said. “We want to make sure that we prepare for those risks as much as possible, to make sure that people are pre- pared for those risks as much as possible.” The Federal Emergency Management Agency has made it clear to North Coast jurisdic- tions that, after the “Big One,” they may not arrive for some time as the agency’s resources head to Portland and Seattle. “FEMA’s told us they’re not going to be here for two weeks, at least,” Balensifer said. “So individual responsibility for preparedness starts at home.” Balensifer said the commis- sion will continue working with Clatsop County Emergency Management. “The most important thing to do is to continue planning, so we can determine what invest- ments need to be made to be adequately prepared and miti- gate risk,” he said. Continued from Page 1A allowed them to live with him in the motor home for more than a month in exchange for work they performed for him. The couple apparently was concerned that Vinge would soon ask Copell to leave the motor home and find housing elsewhere. Copell said she was sit- ting in the driver’s seat of the motor home and Vinge was laying on a bench at the time of the alleged murder. “I had a little lamp light, and I didn’t think he was going to do it. Oh, god,” Copell, cry- ing, told investigators. Copell sobbed into her shirt Friday while the record- ing played. Meanwhile, Wilkins, who sat with his law- yer in a jury box, repeatedly glared at her with a confused look on his face. Copell then admitted in the recording to help- ing Wilkins clean the inside of the motor home follow- ing the incident. Witnesses also told the Sheriff’s Office that they saw Copell burning items that belonged to Vinge. The Sheriff’s Office was able to recover some of the burned items and also located blood spatter and human tissue in the motor home. The recording was the sec- ond of three statements from Copell that the District Attor- ney’s Office filed as evi- dence. In her initial statement, Copell said Vinge was still alive when they left him in the motor home. The third, an intercepted note from Copell to Wilkins while they were in jail, seemed to instruct Wilkins to tell investigators that both had killed Vinge out of self defense. Wilkins and his lawyers, meanwhile, did not make any statements during the hearing. Wilkins’ and Copell’s tri- als are scheduled for Novem- ber and December. Goldberg: Environmental issues were key elements of singer’s studies Continued from Page 1A Oxford University in England. As well as lending his bari- tone to Oxford’s Keble Col- lege choir, he was selected to perform with the Schola Cantorum. The widely traveled group, formed in 1960, has worked with notable musicians like Leonard Bernstein and violin- ist Yehudi Menuhin. Its name is Latin for a singing school for church choristers. “I had the good luck in that they needed my voice,” said Goldberg, surprised to learn he was one of 10 selected from 100 who auditioned. He said his semester at Oxford has been perfect to soak up culture and history, finding Britons welcoming and not at all “stodgy.” “Sometimes it feels like ‘Harry Potter,’” he said. (Hog- warts library and infirmary scenes were filmed there.) Intensive tutorials Intensive tutorials deepen his understanding of environ- mental geography, metaphysics and political philosophy. “I have spent most of my time reading and writing, and then weekends you can go out to the pub,” he said. “I didn’t expect to do as much singing, but I have been really improv- ing,” he said, delighting to per- Goldberg Family/Submitted Photo Tevan Goldberg appeared in “Fiddler on the Roof” at the Coaster Theatre in Can- non Beach shortly after his arrival in Astoria at the age of 9. He acted in several other shows before shifting his primary artistic focus to musical performance. form Renaissance music in “ancient Anglican churches with bullet holes from the English Civil War.” Goldberg, 20, is the only child of Bob Goldberg and Nancy Stevens. Bob Goldberg is a retired engineer, originally from New York, and Stevens is a longtime nurse. The fam- ily moved to Astoria from Seat- tle in 2005 when Tevan was 9, and have been active in the arts scene. While Goldberg competed for the Astoria High School swim team, he really developed his niche in the North Coast acting and music worlds. As well as singing, he plays piano and violin, is learning the harp- sichord, and wants to learn gui- tar and organ. Memorable act- ing experiences were at Astoria High School, at the Coaster Theatre in Cannon Beach — with his father, who portrayed the rabbi in “Fiddler on the Roof” — and the now-closed River Theatre in Astoria. Longtime Astoria High School drama teacher Jenni Newton recalled his teenage talents. “He especially liked to take on advanced material that challenges audiences. Tevan enjoyed joining casts of adults and seemed comfortable with mature topics and personalities. These interactions resulted in many strong relationships with local performing artists. “When Tevan was in mid- dle school and asked if he wanted to take an acting class once becoming a Fisherman, he shared that his community the- ater experience already taught him the basics and his skill level surpassed his peers. “With a coy smile, I wel- comed him to high school casts where he did learn a lot about ensemble-building practices and the team component of theater. I am certain he contin- ued to grow in this area as he has been part of several suc- cessful performance groups in his academic and professional lives.” “The Christmas Story” at The River in 2007, he reunited in the cast with his sixth-grade math teacher, Mark Erickson, now retired. “He was quite a perfec- tionist with remarkable memo- rization skills and high expec- tations of his fellow actors,” he noted, praising the way Gold- berg’s parents encouraged him. “He decided what he wanted to do at a pretty young age — and didn’t let anyone get in the way,” Erickson said. Astoria arts enthusiast Carol Newman recalls the young Goldberg’s acting perfor- mances with fondness and has watched him mature. “I was delighted and impressed with his piano play- ing, his interest in politics and writing for the school paper; the way he came home on vacation, picked up the score of whatever we were working on and joined us to sing with the North Coast Chorale,” she said. “I have appreciated that, as distracted as he might be by his full life, he was always respon- sive and interested, or at least willing to listen and talk intel- ligently,” she said. Auditioning with his own musical creation, he earned a place for his final two years of high school at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michi- gan, majoring in music compo- sition, while singing in choirs and playing jazz piano. Environment and politics Environmental issues, key elements of his studies at Middlebury, or politics, may become his focus after gradua- tion. Last summer, he interned in Washington, D.C., work- ing in the ocean acidifica- tion program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Goldberg said his travels have given him a deeper appre- ciation of Astoria, and the for- est-like ecology of his home on Irving Avenue. “You can’t get that anywhere else, and there are so many things going on for such a small town,” he said. In London, he was euphoric after the concert, which fea- tured works by Bach and French composer Francis Pou- lenc’s 1937 Mass in G. “It’s some of my favorite music,” he said, noting he developed a fondness for sacred music during his middle school years listening to the Oxford group’s online recordings. The director, James Burton, was enthused about the newly recruited voice standing tall with his bass singers. “It’s fantastic to have the best talent from across the world,” said Burton, whose next assignment will be as director of the Tanglewood Fes- tival Chorus and choral direc- tor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. “Tevan has been in the choir a very short time, but what a pleasure to have his voice and musicianship. It has been an absolute thrill that he could join us.” His parents were delighted to learn details. “We’re both very proud of Tevan’s musical, theatrical, writing, academic, and even athletic accomplishments so far, and excited about where he will take his talents in the future,” said his father. “At the same time, we are very appre- ciative of all the amazing peo- ple and institutions that have helped him along the way.” — Patrick Webb ‘Perfectionist’ Playing a cheeky child in P LACE Y OUR C OLORING C ONTEST Look in the April 7 th edition of for the E ASTER C OLORING C ONTEST . Mail or drop off entries by A DS N OW ! Our Packages Include: • Daily Astorian • Chinook Observer • Coast Weekend • TMC Marketplace • Seaside Signal • CB Gazette • and online! Jamie Call Today (503) 325-3211 ext 231 Visitors will be arriving soon - Make sure your staff is ready! W E G ET R ESULTS ! P.O. B OX 211 949 E XCHANGE S TREET A STORIA , OR 97103