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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 2017)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 RV park: Many aspects of plan will be guided by ecological, geological surveys Continued from Page 1A Mike Manzulli, the pres- ident of the Oregon Coast Alliance and a member of the Ecola Watershed Coun- cil, said these kind of vio- lations not only disregard the planning process, but the survival of the marbled murrelet, which only lives in increasingly rare, old- growth, coastal forests. While surveys have yet to be conducted to show whether Smejkal’s prop- erty is directly home to these birds, the Department of For- estry identified the property as immediately adjacent to a marbled murrelet manage- ment area in 2009. “Given the time frame, and Mr. Smejkal’s disregard of our local ordinances, it is in the best interest of the threatened marbled mur- relet and people that care about the birds’ dwindling critical habitat to try and purchase this land now,” Manzulli said. Smejkal said no one has come forward with any kind of an offer, but said “any- thing is for sale.” Next steps Caplinger said many of the aspects of the plan, like water and sewer infra- structure, will be guided by ecological and geological surveys. Because the property is in a resource zone, anyone 300 feet from Smejkal’s prop- erty line will receive a notice from the county after his plan is submitted for the oppor- tunity to participate in a public comment period and hearing. Both the county and the Oregon Coast Alliance said they are keeping a close eye on development to make sure local ordinances are fol- lowed. But until more sur- veys are completed, a time- line for when this could be completed is not clear. “It’s going to be awhile,” Caplinger said. Craig Bailey/Florida Today A SpaceX unmanned Falcon rocket launches from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center today. SpaceX launches Air Force’s super-secret minishuttle By MARCIA DUNN Associated Press CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched the Air Force’s super-secret space shuttle today, a technology tes- ter capable of spending years in orbit. The unmanned Falcon rocket blasted off from Flor- ida’s Kennedy Space Cen- ter, as schools and businesses boarded up for Hurricane Irma. It’s the fifth flight for one of these crewless minishuttles, known as the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. The two Air Force space planes have already logged a combined 5 ½ years in orbit. But officials won’t say what the spacecraft are doing up there. The last mission lasted almost two years and ended with a May touchdown at the runway formerly used by NASA’s space shuttles. The first one launched in 2010. As has become custom- ary, SpaceX landed its leftover booster back at Cape Canav- eral for eventual reuse. This was the first time SpaceX has provided a lift for the experimental minishut- tle. The previous missions relied on United Launch Alli- ance’s Atlas V rockets. Air Force officials said they want to use a variety of rockets for the X-37B program, to launch quickly if warranted. The Boeing-built mini- shuttle is 29 feet long, with a 14-foot wingspan. By com- parison, NASA’s retired space shuttles were 122 feet long, with a 78-foot wingspan. SpaceX stopped provid- ing details about the X-37B’s climb to orbit, a few minutes after liftoff at the Air Force’s request. The booster’s return to SpaceX’s landing zone at Cape Canaveral Air Force Sta- tion, however, was broadcast live. “The Falcon has safely landed,” a SpaceX launch controller announced. Cheers erupted at SpaceX headquar- ters in Hawthorne, California. It was SpaceX’s 16th suc- cessful return of a first-stage booster. Booster rockets are normally discarded at sea. Warming center: Appeals process could delay opening Continued from Page 1A Submitted Photo Blue lines on this county aerial indicate approximately 17.5-acre parcel owned by James Smejkal across from Arcadia Beach. Hangar: Commission agreed to bring issue up at its next meeting Continued from Page 1A getting the equal treatment in return.” FAA permission Life Flight applied for the state grant with the under- standing that the Port was going to cover the cost of installing infrastructure and utilities to the preferred site, Travers said. Since the bond failed, he said, Life Flight has received permis- sion from the Federal Avia- tion Administration to start a review of its current site for the new hangar. Life Flight needs to final- ize a location for the hangar by the end of September or seek a second extension on its Con- nectOregon grant, in which it originally committed to choosing a location by the end of June. Travers asked the Port to either secure the funding for infrastructure as promised or OK the current location. Port Executive Director Jim Knight remained com- mitted to the preferred site to the south and said he took exception to some of Tra- vers’ characterizations of past conversations. “At no time did I make a promise that I would com- mit the Port’s resources,” Knight said. “I don’t have the authority to commit the Port’s resources to fund the infrastructure costs. I did say I would do everything in my power to find those funds.” The Port did not have the money to develop the infra- structure to the preferred site, and asked voters to fund the expansion. It was Life Flight that had asked the Port to find a different location at the air- port for its hangar, Knight said. Dalstra denied ever hav- ing said Life Flight wanted to move from its current location. “If we were allowed to build at our current location, it wouldn’t cost the Port any- thing, zero dollars,” Dalstra said. “It wouldn’t cost the tax- payers any dollars. We would take on all the costs of build- ing right where we’re at.” Life Flight would pay for any costs to mitigate any issues at the current site, but doesn’t want to wait for the Port to find infrastructure funding while its aircraft are subjected to corrosion from being left outside, Dalstra said. “We sent an aircraft out on a truck,” he said. “We couldn’t even fly it because of corrosion, because the aircraft was sitting outside. We’re not going to go through that again. We are on a time crunch to get this built.” Discussions between Life Flight and the Port have reached an impasse, necessi- tating a quick decision by the Port Commission separate from the airport committee, Travers said. ‘One more shot’ Port Commission Presi- dent Frank Spence called for a vote on the preferred loca- tion, but Commissioner Bill Hunsinger said he wanted more information. Commis- sioner James Campbell said the current location is not safe. New commissioners Dirk Rohne and Robert Ste- vens called for more negoti- ations between the Port and Life Flight to find a solution. “I’d like to see everyone try one more shot at it, before we vote on it, and if we can’t get there … I would support building where they are if we can’t figure out how to pay for where we want them,” Rohne said. The Port Commission agreed to bring the issue up again at its next meeting later this month. First United Methodist Church on Franklin Avenue and 11th Street where the center oper- ates each winter and the Asto- ria Downtown Historic Dis- trict Association. “This is difficult work, creating a document like this, and I was very pleased to see the results of this,” Pearson said. He supported approval of the center’s permit “100 percent.” The agreement — now referred to as a good-neigh- bor commitment — details how the center’s board, staff and volunteers plan to address neighborhood con- cerns and issues with how the center operated in the past. It also explains what the cen- ter will require of the home- less who come to eat a meal and spend the night at the cen- ter when low temperatures or expected rainfall hit estab- lished thresholds. Parkison said he was “very pleased that a majority (of the Planning Commission) saw the need in Astoria and saw that our mission is import- ant to not only the people we serve but to all the citizens of Astoria.” He added that the city deserves credit for the good-neighbor commitment; the document and last week’s meetings overseen by a medi- ator were first suggested by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Volunteers Steve Swenson, left, and Rory Gerard, center, help check people into the warming center at First United Methodist Church in 2015. city staff and City Manager Brett Estes. “You could just see all the different groups com- ing together because it really was a collaborative effort of everybody trying to reach an understanding of the other person’s needs and the other person’s rights and what they wanted,” Parkison said. “It would not have happened without the city’s mediation effort. We started off just too far apart.” Planning Commissioner Sean Fitzpatrick, a vocal opponent of the center’s location though not its mis- sion, did not attend Wednes- day night’s meeting. He had recused himself from consid- ering the application in July. As an owner of the Illahee Apartments across the street from First United Method- ist Church, he participated in the community meetings last week. Commissioners Kent Easom and Daryl Moore voted against approving the warming center’s permit, say- ing they were still concerned about impacts on the neigh- borhood. Moore explained that since Planning Commis- sion members could not attend the community meetings last week and the city did not record who attended, he has no evidence that the neigh- bors actually approved of the good-neighbor commitment. The commitment “didn’t alleviate my concerns that the impacts will be addressed,” he said, but added, “I hope they are and I hope (the warming center) is run great and the neighborhood is fine. I certainly hope that they help people and I appreci- ate the work that you do, but my role is to protect our gov- erning documents. The doc- uments that I reviewed and researched say that my role in this was to protect the neigh- borhood from uses that don’t belong in the neighborhood. It’s never been about the peo- ple that need help.” He said he wished the cen- ter the best. The Planning Com- mission’s decision can be appealed to the City Coun- cil by anyone with standing — people who testified or submitted testimony during the public hearing — within the next 15 days. If the mat- ter does go to the City Coun- cil, whatever the councilors decide can also be appealed. The warming center is allowed to open beginning Nov. 15, but the appeals pro- cess could delay these plans. Parkison said the board will need to hold off on secur- ing their food donor network, fulfilling landscaping and other requirements outlined in the permit, hiring addi- tional staff and contacting volunteers until the chance for appeals has passed. Jury law: Oregon’s law was passed by voters in 1934 Continued from Page 3A Lambert was convicted of second-degree murder by a 10-2 guilty verdict in connec- tion with the fatal shooting of a man in Louisiana’s Orleans Parish on March 22, 2013. His lawyers supported their petition to the Supreme Court with research by profes- sor Aliza Kaplan and law stu- dent Amy Saack of Portland’s Lewis & Clark Law School. Louisiana’s majority ver- dict system was introduced in the 1898 Constitution as part of measures designed to “establish the supremacy of the white race,” according to the researchers’ February arti- cle in the Oregon Law Review. Likewise, Oregon’s law, passed by voters in 1934, was an anti-Semitic reaction to one juror holding out on convicting a Jewish man of first-degree murder in the death of Jimmy Walker, a Protestant white man, in 1933, the research- ers assert. Instead, the Jewish A case appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court could impact Oregon law allowing 10-2 convictions. man, Jacob Silverman, was convicted of manslaughter and spared a death sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Oregon and Louisi- ana’s jury laws in 1972, but since then, the understand- ing of the detrimental effect of non-unanimous jury verdicts, especially on people of color, has increased, said Kaplan, director of the Criminal Jus- tice Reform Clinic at Lewis & Clark. “All of the social science points to why unanimous juries work out better and more fair and demonstrate why all voices need to be heard,” she said. Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis dis- missed the researchers’ asser- tion that Oregon’s law is based on racism. The law offers benefits that criminal justice reformers overlook, such as fewer hung juries, he said. “The issue is that as a result of a popular referendum in 1934 that guaranteed the right to a non-jury trial, Oregon vot- ers decided that a verdict of 10 to 2 is needed to either con- vict or acquit in criminal cases, except murder, where a unan- imous verdict is required for guilty, but it can be 10-2 for not guilty,” he said in an email. “The result is not more convictions, just fewer hung juries.” The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider whether it will take the case Sept. 25. The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group.