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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 2017)
IT’S GOOD! ASTORIA EDGES GLADSTONE ON LAST-SECOND FIELD GOAL SPORTS • PAGE 10A DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2017 145TH YEAR, NO. 51 ONE DOLLAR No charges in Warrenton investigation STRENGTH AND HONOR Two offi cers have left the police force By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian honor Spurgeon D. Keeth, 92, an Army veteran who survived the Japanese attack WARRENTON — Two former Warrenton Police offi cers who left the force while they were under investigation will not face charges. The Clatsop County District Attorney’s Offi ce asked the state Department of Justice to investigate the police offi cers last year over behavioral and workplace issues. District Attorney Josh Marquis said no charges will be fi led at this time. “My offi ce has expressed concerns over the last couple years about some of the staffi ng lev- els and a couple individual offi cers at Warrenton Police Department,” he said in an email. “The district attor- ney is not the boss of the police and we have no direct Mathew authority over them. Workman “That said our offi ce has always enjoyed an excellent working relationship with the seven county police agencies.” Chief Deputy District Attorney Ron Brown met with City Manager Linda Eng- bretson, Marquis said, and “expressed some of our long-standing concerns.” Warrenton has made “needed changes,” the district attorney said, citing the departure of two police offi cers and the promotion of retired Oregon State Police trooper Jim Pierce to sergeant. The Daily Astorian reported last October that two Warrenton Police offi cers were under investigation. Police Chief Mathew Workman said at the time that the offi cers — who have on Pearl Harbor during World War II. Keeth shared a few words with his Army brothers and sisters See PROBE, Page 7A Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian A member of the Army stationed at Camp Rilea shakes the hand of Spurgeon D. Keeth on Saturday during an event to recognize his service in the armed forces during World War II. The Daily Astorian W ARRENTON — Sometimes, the small gestures matter most. A staffer at the Port Light Cafe at Camp Rilea organized an informal lunch on Saturday afternoon to two days before today’s anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. Ground set for Walmart Warrenton supercenter slated to open in spring By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian LEFT: Spurgeon D. Keeth, left, cracks jokes with Army personnel at Camp Rilea on Saturday during a lunch event attended by about 20 people to recognize his service in the military. Keeth was stationed on the island of Oahu during the Pearl Harbor attacks by Japanese forces . RIGHT: Keeth, right, an Army veteran and survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, speaks with service members stationed at Camp Rilea. Local colonel moving up to the Pentagon Col. Perez has led training command By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian Camp Rilea’s fi rst local com- mander is changing work addresses to t he Pentagon. Col. Dean Perez, who has led the Oregon Training Com- mand headquartered at Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Center for four years, will begin his new post in October . Lt. Col. Noel Hoback took over for Perez during a change of command ceremony Sunday morning in Salem. Perez, who served two tours in Afghanistan, became Camp Rilea’s commander in 2012 before earn- ing a promotion under a new sys- tem designed to more effi ciently utilize manpower and resources at four Oregon National Guard train- ing centers. See COL. PEREZ, Page 7A Col. Dean Perez WARRENTON — The new Walmart , now rising at the corner of Ensign Lane and U.S. Highway 101, took more than $10 mil- lion in ground work and the better part of a year to get ready . Warrenton dignitaries on Friday cele- brated the store, which is expected to open in the spring and bring about 300 new jobs to the region. Walmart s pokeswoman Deborah Her- ron said the new store will start hiring in the winter. At the ceremonial groundbreaking, Walmart donated $5,000 to Clatsop Com- munity Action’s North Coast Regional Food Bank and $2,000 to Warrenton High School. “I want to thank Walmart for their per- sistence,” said Warrenton Mayor Henry Bal- ensifer in a nod to the trials and tribulations the national retailer has faced in trying to open a North Coast location. See WALMART, Page 7A Landscape architect plants roots in Astoria Henri serves on the Planning Commission By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian he night of her fi rst Asto- ria Planning Commission meeting, Brookley Henri’s heart was beating fast, but she wasn’t nervous. The meeting would last for nearly three hours, involve emotional, complex testimony and require commissioners to be nimble in upholding and interpreting city development T code. The room, uncomfort- ably warm at the end of a hot July day, was packed. People spilled into the hallway and adjoining conference rooms, straining to hear. If anyone thought Henri would spend this fi rst meet- ing sitting quietly or struggling to keep up, they were wrong. The newly appointed commis- sioner jumped right in. Appointed by Mayor Arline LaMear to fi ll a seat left vacant when former C ommissioner Frank Spence was elected to the Port of Astoria C ommis- sion, Henri is a landscape architect and familiar with the language and expectations of documents like the develop- ment code. Henri and her family moved to Astoria from Port- land a year and half ago after her husband, Troy, took a job as Clatsop Community Col- lege’s recruitment coordinator in student services. She kept her long time job with a Port- land environmental engineer- ing and consulting fi rm and works primarily out of a home Submitted Photo See HENRI, Page 7A Brookley Henri, a landscape architect, serves on the Asto- ria Planning Commission.