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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2017)
COAST WEEKEND: ‘IT’S THE ART OF LIFE AND A LIFE OF ART’ INSIDE 144TH YEAR, NO. 205 DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2017 ONE DOLLAR Astoria parks to cut programs, start selling land Budget shortfall leads to tou gh choices By ERICK BENGEL The Daily Astorian T he Astoria Parks and Recreation Department will begin making large- scale cuts to programs next fi scal year, and may sell a park, because of a more than $100,000 budget shortfall. Angela Cosby, the department director, and City Manager Brett Estes delivered the sobering, but not unex- pected, news at a City Council work session Wednesday. The department’s resources, Scrutiny planned in Port squabble including general fund transfers, have shrunk over multiple years while staff obligations — sites maintained, facil- ities managed, programs offered and services delivered — have steadily increased. This has resulted in over- stretched employees, high staff turn- over and pockets of parkland kept in less-than-perfect condition. “Tough decisions have to be made,” Cosby said after the meeting, “but, when we look back, our subsidy is less than it was 17 years ago, and the department is currently receiving 7 percent of the general fund when it used to receive 12. We’ve been cutting and cutting and cutting away.” has considered selling, the one with the fewest deed restrictions is Birch Field and Park, a 0.96-acre site at Birch and 50th streets the department lists in poor condition with very low usage. Based on what the department believes will impact the fewest people Prime cuts Of four sites the parks department See PARKS, Page 7A SWAT TEAM Citizen panel to review fi nances By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian The Port of Astoria Budget Com- mittee, accused of overstepping its bounds, voted Wednesday to recom- mend the Port Commission create a separate c itizen fi nancial r eview c om- mittee to review the agency’s fi nances quarterly. State agencies are in the midst of developing budgets, which need to be publicly vetted and approved by the end of the fi scal year in June . At a Port Commission meeting last week, the Port’s attor- ney, Eileen Eakins, said the purpose of the budget com- mittee in state law is to hold public hear- ings, develop a balanced bud- get and send it to an agency’s Eileen governing body Eakins for approval. “The intent of that statute is once the budget committee is done with its obligations for the year, that it disbands and comes back the next year when it’s time to start plan- ning the next annual budget,” she said. The budget committee has become a fl ash point, with some con- cerned it is being used as a quasi -Port Commission. The Port’s budget committee has historically held quarterly meetings to review the Port’s fi nances. But Eak- ins said the budget committee is over- stepping its bounds and acting as a de facto review committee. Port Execu- tive Director Jim Knight has said her opinion is shared by the Port’s former attorney, Tim Ramis, and fi nancial auditor Jim Lanzarotta. Commissioners Bill Hunsinger and Stephen Fulton, often critics of the Port’s administration, dis- puted Eakins’ viewpoint. Hunsinger called for a budget committee meet- ing Wednesday without a specifi c reason. See PORT, Page 7A FATHER-SON DUO ATTACK MOSQUITOES AT FORT STEVENS Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Edward Horvath with Three Rivers Mosquito and Vector Control uses a blower to distribute a larvicide . By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian M osquitoes that plague campers at Fort Stevens State Park may have met their match: a father-son duo. The park hired a Klamath Falls-based mos- quito control company led by Edward Hor- vath, 44, following an increase of camper complaints last year . He and his son, Jacob, 16, will apply larvicide to smaller stand- ing -water sources around the park’s 530 camp sites through August. Campers — especially in May and June — sometimes would end their trips early because of the number of mosquitoes in the park. Heavy rainfall this past winter resulted in a high volume of small standing -water sources, natural mosquito breeding grounds. “Last year’s mosquito problem wasn’t fun for anybody,” Park Manager Justin Parker said. “We’re getting ahead of it this year so visitor and campers can enjoy the park with- out hearing the annoying mosquito buzz or swat the air to fend off the pests.” Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian See MOSQUITOES, Page 7A Jacob Horvath checks to see how many mosquito larvae are in the water . DEALS ON WHEELS Peninsula go-kart track closed after drug busts iff’s Offi ce started a joint investiga- tion last fall . “Merrill and Morris appeared to be making the sales,” Chief Criminal Deputy Pat Matlock of the Sheriff’s Offi ce said. Arrest reports show that a confi - dential informant allegedly helped investigators build a case by purchas- ing heroin from Merrill and Morris on fi ve occasions. For each deal, the informant used police-provided “buy money ” and immediately turned the alleged drugs over to police. Those alleged deals made it pos- sible for the investigators to secure a search warrant for Merrill’s busi- nesses and home, Matlock said. Couple arrested for heroin, meth By NATALIE ST. JOHN EO Media Group LONG BEACH, Wash. — Thou- sands of tourists have sought thrills at the Merrill family’s downtown complex of go-kart, bumper car and moped rental businesses. Now, owner Robert Anthony “Tony” Merrill, 51, and his live-in girlfriend, Doreen Marie Morris, 50, are in for a bumpy ride of their own. They are each facing multiple felony charges following a raid last week in which police seized sus- pected heroin, methamphet, prescrip- tion pills, almost $2,000 in cash and a vintage motorcycle that had been reported stolen. Merrill runs three businesses that occupy a city block at the intersection of Sid Snyder Boulevard and Pacifi c Avenue: Long Beach Go-Karts, Long Beach Mopeds and Long Beach Krazy Kars, a bumper car business Natalie St. John/EO Media Group Officer Casey Meling removed a generator from Long Beach Mopeds, one of three downtown businesses that were part of an April 4 drug- raid. City officials say the owner, Tony Merrill, ran the business on a generator after state and local officials cut off his utility connection. that has not been open regularly in recent years. The go-kart track and rental shop consistently draw crowds of tour- ists. Long Beach P olice suspected that Merrill was also attracting a local clientele by offering an entirely dif- ferent kind of thrill-ride: doses of heroin and methamphetamine. So, police and the Pacifi c County Sher- No bike rentals Law enforcement agencies served warrants at the downtown businesses at around 10 a.m. on April 4. They simultaneously served a warrant at the home Merrill and Morris share in the 1700 block of Ocean Beach Boulevard. See DRUG BUSTS, Page 7A