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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2017
Sheriff: Jones hopes the Gearhart: Ballot initiative
new info exonerates him is one of several challenges
Continued from Page 1A
Continued from Page 1A
he said. “But I don’t want the
story to be spun like I’m some
kind of vigilante killer, or that
there was some kind of cor-
ruption. Those officers, any
I’ve ever had dealings with,
they’ve done nothing but try to
help me.”
safety inspections and permit
fees.
“Ultimately, my interest,
and the interest of the city, is
that city electors have a ballot
title that allows them to make
an informed decision on the
potential initiative,” Gearhart
City Attorney Peter Watts
said Monday. “I think that the
ballot title that Judge McIn-
tosh wrote is clear and easy to
understand. I also believe that
it is substantially similar to
the ballot title that I drafted.”
‘No emotion’
Johnson was helping the
tow-truck driver impound a
minivan a little before 1 a.m.
on Feb. 13, 2010, when a man
approached and asked what
they were doing. The man
walked off. Johnson would
later describe him as appear-
ing extremely angry, while the
tow-truck driver, George Hill,
testified that he was “real neu-
tral, like no emotion at all.”
Moments later, the man
returned from behind and shot
the trooper in the head. The
.22-caliber bullet broke apart
and remains lodged near the
base of Johnson’s skull.
Feeling “like a crowbar had
hit me,” Johnson later testified,
he locked eyes with the man
and shot back twice.
Hill, who had known the
trooper for 27 years, described
the attacker as white but some-
how ethnic, possibly tan or
olive-skinned.
Suspicion fell on Jones,
the minivan’s owner. A tower
crane operator, he was home
in bed when his wife, Susan
Jones, was arrested for drunken
driving in the vehicle. He says
he stayed home all night.
The next morning he let
investigators search his house,
told them where to find his
three rifles, and agreed to stand
out front to see if a witness
would identify him.
Police rolled slowly by
in an unmarked car with Hill
inside.
At Jones’ 2011 trial, a State
Patrol detective, Matthew
Hughes, recalled the tow-truck
driver’s reaction: “No, that’s
not the guy. ... That’s Marty.”
Hill had given the Joneses
estimates for auto-body work.
That afternoon, Hill worked
with a sketch artist. Several
people told police the drawing
looked like Nick Boer.
Police found Boer and
his brother at their mom’s
mobile home. Nick denied
involvement.
Johnson, meanwhile, was
in a hospital bed. He saw the
sketch on the news and said it
didn’t look anything like the
shooter. He repeatedly asked
for a picture of the minivan’s
owner.
A corrections officer
showed him Jones’ driver’s
license photo, with Jones’
name underneath it.
That’s him, Johnson replied.
Johnson then worked with
the artist on a new sketch,
without mentioning he’d seen
a picture of Jones. Jones was
arrested that night, close to 48
hours after the shooting.
State’s theory
The state’s theory was that
Ballot title challenge
Bill Wagner/The Daily News
Martin Jones, left, listens to testimony in Tacoma, Wash.,
during his sentencing hearing in 2011 after Jones was con-
victed of shooting Scott Johnson in 2010 in Long Beach,
Wash., when Johnson was a Washington state trooper.
Jones’ attorney is seeking a new trial, saying another man
confessed to the shooting and that Johnson, who is now
Pacific County sheriff, deliberately misidentified Jones.
Jones — a grandfather with
no criminal history and with
close relatives in law enforce-
ment — got out of bed after
receiving a text from his wife
that she’d been pulled over.
He walked 1.3 miles, or pos-
sibly drove part of that dis-
tance, to her van. He saw
and spoke with a tow-truck
driver whom he knew, and
who could presumably iden-
tify him. He became enraged
and shot the trooper with
a handgun. The tow-truck
driver couldn’t identify Jones
because he didn’t get a good
enough look.
Investigators found in
Jones’ house a box of .22-cali-
ber ammunition. A state expert
testified that microscopic
markings on the shell found at
the scene forensically matched
the shells in the box — sug-
gesting the bullet that shot the
trooper came from the box in
Jones’ house.
But that type of analysis
has been discredited and has
no scientific foundation, Wil-
liam Tobin, a retired manager
of forensic metallurgy at the
FBI Laboratory in Washing-
ton, D.C., wrote last month
after reviewing the case for
Jones’ lawyer.
At trial, Johnson, by then
sheriff, identified Jones as the
shooter. He told the AP he still
has no doubt.
“I was just a couple feet
from the shooter, and I looked
him right in the eye,” Johnson
said.
Jones testified at length,
protesting his innocence, but
the jury convicted him.
Private investigator
The family eventually
hired a private investigator,
and the investigator learned
that in 2012, a Pacific County
fire commissioner named
Greg McLeod tried to contact
Jones’ lawyers. McLeod’s son,
Mike, had come forward after
the trial to say someone else
confessed.
Nick Boer.
On the night of the shoot-
ing, Peter Boer came to his
house with a backpack, Mike
McLeod said. Peter told him
his brother claimed to have
shot an officer and asked him
to get rid of some weapons.
The investigator inter-
viewed Peter Boer under oath
at a prison; he’s now serving
nearly five years for stolen
property. Peter said he would
talk partly because his mother,
who wanted to protect Nick,
had died.
In Peter Boer’s telling, he
was at his mother’s trailer
when Nick called from a house
two blocks from the shoot-
ing. An officer was shot, Nick
reported, and Peter should stay
put.
Nick then arrived, looking
at the floor when Peter asked
if he’d shot the trooper. They
went to a friend’s house, get-
ting high along the way, and
Nick “took credit,” Peter said.
“He was like, ‘Yeah, I do
— I shot him,’” Peter said. “So
he asked me to go out to the
car and grab a backpack and
go dump off some gun parts
we had.”
Peter said he stopped by
McLeod’s house and tossed
the gun parts in a spot where
the tide comes in.
A friend who supposedly
witnessed the confession told
the investigator he doesn’t
remember that night. Nick
Boer maintains he and his
brother never left their mom’s
trailer, and says his brother
may remain bitter over some
family disputes.
Hill, the tow-truck driver,
told the AP he couldn’t iden-
tify the shooter at the trial, and
he can’t now.
From the state penitentiary
in Walla Walla, Jones said
he and his wife always sup-
ported law enforcement and
even held a fundraiser for the
wife of a trooper slain in 1999.
He hopes the new information
exonerates him.
“I’m not the kind of person
who goes around committing
any crimes, let alone shooting
an officer of the law,” he said.
The city’s rules, enacted
last fall, regulate short-term
rental occupancy limits,
parking and property man-
agement contact information,
among other measures. Per-
mits are transferable only by
inheritance, not by the sale of
the property, according to the
ordinance.
In March, property own-
ers Joy Sigler, Brian Sigler
and Sarah Nebeker filed a
challenge to the city, seeking
a ballot initiative to Gearhart
voters that would repeal and
replace the ordinance. Titled
“Gearhart Vacation Rental
Ordinance,” their proposed
15-point ordinance seeks to
“assure that the interests of
vacation homeowners and
permanent residents remain
in a sustainable balance that
is good for the community,
More trails
Though the National Park
Meriwether Lewis and Wil-
liam Clark in the early 1800s
— the park has become more
of a hiking destination, Clat-
terbuck said. “I don’t think
we were necessarily looking
to increase visitor spending,
but we wanted to add to the
number of opportunities for
people.”
While five years of
smooth sailing financially
has created opportunities for
such projects, it is not entirely
clear how long the park’s eco-
nomic waters will remain
calm.
President Donald Trump
has proposed a 12 percent
decrease to the Department of
the Interior’s budget in 2018.
The proposed budget calls for
reduced spending on major
maintenance programs at
national parks.
Lewis and Clark, though,
will not be able to plan for
next year until Congress offi-
cially adopts a budget, Clat-
terbuck said. “We just don’t
know at this time.”
Land use appeal
The ballot initiative is one
of several challenges to Gear-
hart’s short-term rental rules,
which have subsequently
been merged to go before
the state Land Use Board of
Appeals.
Whittemore, among 14
Gearhart property owners,
brought an appeal to the state
in October. A second land
use appeal was subsequently
merged.
Coincidentally, the state
appeals board listened to
arguments on May 4, the
same day as the Clatsop
County Circuit Court hear-
ing. A decision from the state
has not yet been rendered.
A ballot measure could
go before voters in Novem-
ber if supporters can gather
175 validated signatures nec-
essary at least 90 days before
Election Day.
If there is a ruling on the
land use case at the state
level, the initiative petition
measure would nevertheless
proceed, Townsend said.
“From my understand-
ing of LUBA, (the state) will
send it back to City Coun-
cil to do all over again,”
Townsend said. “The City
Council has not expressed
any interest in sitting down
with us and arriving at a com-
promise measure.”
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As a result, 260 jobs were
added, leading to $8.6 million
in additional labor income.
Benefits for hotels, which
hauled in $5.3 million of the
park’s economic output, and
restaurants — $3.7 million —
have been particularly fruitful.
Economists
Catherine
Cullinane Thomas of the U.S.
Geological Survey and Lynne
Koontz of the National Park
Service completed the peer-re-
viewed report. It illustrates a
gradual rise in economic con-
tributions from national parks
by multiple measurements the
past five years.
Nationally, parks contrib-
uted $34.9 billion, 331 mil-
lion visitors spent more than
$18 billion dollars and an
additional 318,000 jobs were
added. National parks return
more than $10 for every $1
invested, Burpee said.
Service’s centennial celebra-
tion helped boost the num-
ber of visitors last year, Lewis
and Clark park’s emphasis on
adding and maintaining hik-
ing trails has also been a fac-
tor the past few years, Chief
of Resources Chris Clat-
terbuck said. Park staff has
added 7 miles of trails since
2011.
Because Lewis and Clark
collects usage fees, it is
required by law to reinvest
that money into projects that
benefit park visitors, Clatter-
buck said. Recent statistics
have revealed trail mainte-
nance has been a key draw for
visitors, he said.
For instance, the park will
conduct maintenance late this
summer on the Fort to Sea
trail, placing a fresh layer of
gravel to combat mud issues,
along with rerouting the
boardwalk near Fort Clatsop
National Memorial.
Known primarily for its
replica of Fort Clatsop — the
winter home for explorers
week. “They should be the
same for everybody.”
Your generous support of The Daily Astorian Newspapers in Education
Park: National parks return more
than $10 for every $1 invested
Continued from Page 1A
that every property owner’s
rights are fairly protected and
that no property owner is eco-
nomically harmed by exces-
sive rules and regulations.”
The ordinance offers rules
for short-term vacation rent-
als, including owner contact
details, transferability, occu-
pancy and health and safety
details, among others.
Property owners sub-
mitted that document to the
city, which then summa-
rized it by caption, question
and summary, as specified by
state election law. Upon its
release on the city’s blog in
early April, Gearhart home-
owner Jim Whittemore said
the city’s ballot title summary
was prepared without input
or review by those who wrote
it and did not reflect the pur-
pose and intent of the initia-
tive petition.
The summary prepared
by the city only specified
what would be eliminated,
not what the measure would
actually provide, the Siglers
and Nebeker wrote in their
April petition to challenge the
ballot title.
They requested new lan-
guage to ensure that voters
understood that their revised
rules would require compli-
ance with city ordinances that
“apply generally to all resi-
dential dwelling units.”
“We’re willing to abide by
the rules that everybody else
does,” Townsend said this
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