MOTHER ELK MENACES GEARHART BEACHGOERS PAGE 3A
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 12
ONE DOLLAR
Hotel tax hike will help fi nance Astoria parks
Aquatic Center,
sports programs
spared for now
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
The Astoria Aquatic Center and
youth and adult athletic programs
are off the chopping block after the
City Council agreed Monday night to
increase the lodging tax to help pay
for parks.
City staff had said the cash-
strapped Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment required a minimum of $425,004
to keep it afl oat. If the City C oun-
cil didn’t approve two recommended
funding options — a $3 parks and rec-
reation fee on water customers and an
increase in the lodging tax from 9 per-
cent to 11 percent — the city said it
would have to consider closing the
pools and eliminating the sports pro-
grams by the end of August.
The City Council tabled the parks
fee, instead embracing voluntary
donations and an increase to the lodg-
ing tax to fund parks. Donations can
be made immediately, while the lodg-
ing tax increase will not take effect
until January.
The tax increase alone will raise
an estimated $410,000 in revenue,
enough to keep the pools open and
Astoria City
Councilor Tom
Brownson prep s
for a meeting
Monday at City
Hall that included
discussions of a
proposed new fee
and tax increase
to fund park
operations.
Colin Murphey
The Daily Astorian
See PARKS, Page 4A
SWAPPING
NEEDLES
Big bucks
go toward
maritime
sciences
Win for the college in
the state Legislature
COUNTY WILL LAUNCH
PILOT PROGRAM IN
ASTORIA, KNAPPA
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Clatsop Community College has secured
$8.1 million in state bonds to renovate and
expand its maritime -science program.
State Senate Bill 5505 provided $1.3 bil-
lion in general obligation and revenue bonds
for capital construction projects around the
state. The college’s bonds will help add
a second story and new infrastructure to
the main building at the
Marine and Environmental
Research and Training Sta-
tion, which houses the mar-
itime -science program.
College President Chris-
topher Breitmeyer, who tes-
tifi ed on behalf of the bill in
May, said the college had
Chris
initially been left off the Breitmeyer
capital construction proj-
ects list , but fought hard to
make sure the project was included.
“It’s going to allow us to upgrade a lot of
our infrastructure for the courses we have,”
Breitmeyer said.
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
A
needle -exchange program com-
ing to Clatsop County later this
summer is being lauded by public
health offi cials concerned about the spread
of disease, but some in law enforcement are
wary.
The six-month program, funded by a
$50,000 donation from Friends of Columbia
Community Health,
will begin in August.
Specifi c times and
locations have not
yet been released, but
nurses with the Clat-
sop County Public
Health
Department
will establish one sta-
tion in downtown
Astoria and another in
Michael McNickle the Knappa area. The
nurses will hand out a
clean syringe for every used one they collect.
The Public Health Department will
review the number of needles collected once
the pilot program is complete to determine
the viability of a permanent version. Clatsop
County would become the ninth out of Ore-
gon’s 36 counties with a needle -exchange
program and the fi rst on the North Coast,
Public Health Director Michael McNickle
said.
Maritime science
The college offers one-year certifi cates
and two-year degrees in vessel operations,
See COLLEGE, Page 9A
See NEEDLES, Page 4A
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
A needle -exchange program coming to
Clatsop County in August is concerning
law enforcement but is being lauded by
public health officials.
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
Bill Ham, a maritime-sciences instructor,
shows the Electronic Chart Display and
Information System computer-based
navigation system simulator at Clatsop
Community College, which received
more than $8 million in state bonds to
help expand and modernize the program.
JUSTICE REINVESTMENT
Oregon takes new steps to reduce prison use
Grant money,
sentencing
reforms OK’d
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Oregon will invest another
$40 million over the next two
years on incentives to counties
to reduce prison use for drug
and property crimes.
Along with the local grants,
the state will also lessen the
presumptive prison sentences
for people convicted of theft
and identity theft and expand
short-term transitional leave so
inmates can get out of prison
sooner. The fi rst-time penalty
for possession of heroin, meth-
amphetamine and other illegal
drugs will drop from a felony
to a misdemeanor.
The grant money and the
sentencing reforms are ele-
ments of justice reinvestment
— an initiative to contain the
growth of prison spending
and lower the number of con-
victs who commit new crimes
after they are released. Coun-
ties are encouraged to super-
vise more offenders locally,
Josh
Marquis
Tawna
Sanchez
through probation, parole
and county jails, and identify
the ones who need treatment
for drug and alcohol abuse or
counseling for mental health
problems.
Clatsop County has had
among the highest rates of
prison use for drug and prop-
erty crimes per capita since
justice reinvestment began in
2013. District Attorney Josh
Marquis, one of the initiative’s
most persistent critics, said he
might join a legal challenge
against the latest round of sen-
tencing changes.
Oregon will spend more
than $1.7 billion on prisons in
the two-year budget cycle, an
expense that has convinced
many state policy experts that
prison should be reserved for
violent criminals.
See PRISON USE, Page 4A
JUSTICE
REINVESTMENT
Oregon has directed grants to
counties to reduce prison use.
2017-19: $40.1 million
Clatsop County: $486,302
2015-17: $38.7 million
Clatsop County: $414,410
2013-15: $15 million
Clatsop County: $188,853
*Source: Oregon Criminal
Justice Commission