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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 2017)
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2017 145TH YEAR, NO. 67 ONE DOLLAR Woman in fatal Seaside crash charged with manslaughter to injured persons and driv- ing under the influence of intoxicants. Officials also publicly By JACK HEFFERNAN identified two victims of the The Daily Astorian crash. Robert Miles, 42, of Hammond, died at the scene. A Seaside woman is fac- Abdirisak Mohamed, 41, of Longview, Washing- ing manslaughter ton, was critically and several other fel- ony charges in con- injured. Mohamed is being treated at a nection with a fatal Portland hospital. crash Saturday night Prior to the crash, in which an SUV hit Seaside Police a bus stop shelter. responded to a report Corrissa Barnett, of a female being 38, was arraigned in Corrissa assaulted at a res- Circuit Court Mon- Barnett idence. Barnett day afternoon on allegedly assaulted charges of first-de- gree manslaughter, sec- the woman in front of her child ond-degree assault, third-de- as well as Barnett’s child, lead- gree assault, strangulation, ing to the strangulation charge. two counts of failure to per- form the duties of a driver See BARNETT, Page 4A Man killed at bus stop shelter Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Signs in regards to Measure 4-188 dot U.S. Highway 101 in Gearhart. Gearhart’s vacation rental rules headed to voters Sharp divide over new regulations By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian Erick Bengel/The Daily Astorian One person was killed after a Dodge Durango drove into a bus stop shelter in Seaside Saturday night. LAS VEGAS MASSACRE ‘I’ve never felt fear like that’ Astoria couple in Las Vegas during horror By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian A former Medix para- medic and volunteer fire- fighter in Astoria and Olney-Walluski, Norm Stutznegger knows what an emergency sounds like. He even downloaded a smart- phone app that allows him to listen to police scanners. Stutznegger found him- self listening to the scanner once again late Sunday night in his hotel room at the Excal- ibur Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. He heard the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history unfold a block away. A gunman on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino was MORE INSIDE Shooter had interest in guns, video poker, real estate Page 9A unloading hundreds of rounds of ammunition from auto- matic rifles into a crowd of 22,000 people at a country music concert below. At least 59 people were killed and more than 500 wounded. “It was quite a surreal experience after growing up in Astoria my whole life,” Stutznegger said. “I’ve never felt fear like that.” Stutznegger and his wife, Catherine, both 48, flew down to Las Vegas for a two-day get- away. The trip was his fifth to Sin City. The couple spent their time seeing shows and simply people-watching as they strolled along the strip. They had to decide between two entertainment G EARHART — Just whose rights are at issue in Gearhart as voters consider repealing vacation rental rules in November? Supporters of Measure 4-188 want to repeal and replace rules enacted last fall related to off-street parking, appearance, garbage ser- vice, septic inspections and cesspool prohibitions. The measure would require home inspections and make owners responsible for self-report- ing issues. More than 200 voters signed a petition in support of the measure, short-term rental owner Jim Whitte- more said. Meanwhile, Gearhart is heavily dotted with “Vote No” lawn signs in a campaign led by a coalition of res- idents, including Mayor Matt Brown and former Mayor Dianne Widdop. A “no” vote will continue a bal- anced and responsible cap on rental properties, Brown said, and safety inspections keep visitors safe. “I was elected to protect our cit- izens’ rights,” Brown said. “Our quality of life shouldn’t be compro- mised for the sake of profit.” Septic regulations will “protect neighbors from high commercial use,” he added. Both sides say property rights are at risk. Whittemore said the flaw in the current law “is that it takes away property rights from all homeowners.” Measure opponent Jeanne Mark said “common-sense” caps to short- term rentals and safety rules protect residential private property rights. Unintended consequences According to the ballot summary by David Townsend, Brian and Joy Sigler and County Commissioner Sarah Nebeker, the measure would repeal special regulations on vaca- tion rentals not required of other residents. Nebeker, a Gearhart resident, spoke in opposition to the city’s short-term rental ordinance in April, when she said the ordinance was too harsh and with modifications could be made more equitable. “Ordinances and laws are only as good as the ability to enforce them,” measure supporter Katherine Schro- eder said in a letter to The Daily Astorian. The city has failed to regularly and consistently enforce ordinances which already regulate garbage, sep- tic, parking and appearance of prop- erties, she said. According to Schroeder, an overly restrictive vacation rental ordinance will force rental home- owners underground. “A likely unintended conse- quence of the City Council’s ordi- nance is just this: unpermitted, unin- spected and possibly unsafe homes,” she wrote. As of the end of September, 81 vacation rental dwelling permits have been issued, 57 of which are complete and processed, six pend- ing parking plans, 15 working on upgrades after inspection and three awaiting initial inspection, City Administrator Chad Sweet said. Whittemore said in addition to lodging taxes and fees, short-term rental homeowners pay more than $300,000 per year in property taxes. “That is a total of a half-million dollars per year paid by 84 home- owners in the vacation rental pro- gram … all to local government.” See GEARHART, Page 4A Supporters of Measure 4-188 want to repeal and replace rules enacted last fall in Gearhart that regulate short-term rental properties. See COUPLE, Page 4A Maritime museum deputy leaves for World of Speed Pearson also served on Planning Commission By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian After 22 years with the Columbia River Mar- itime Museum, Deputy Director Dave Pearson is leaving later this month to take over as exec- utive director at World of Speed, a motor sports museum in Wilsonville. “One of my great honors here has been working with the people who work here, the team,” Pearson said of the maritime museum. “I think they really are exceptional.” Pearson joined the maritime museum in 1995 as a collections manager in the curatorial department, shortly after finishing a master’s in historic preservation and conservation from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Geor- gia. He became the museum’s curator in 2000 and served as acting director of the museum in 2008 after Jerry Ostermiller’s retirement and before Sam Johnson took over. From 2009, Pearson was the museum’s deputy director. Pearson served 16 years on the Astoria His- toric Landmarks Commission until 2012, when he joined the Planning Commission. He has been president of the Planning Commission since 2015. Mayor Arline LaMear will appoint his replacement. “While we will miss Dave extraordinarily, we wish him the best in his new venture,” John- son said. “He has been a mainstay of this insti- tution. We know that he will do an exceptional job in his new venue.” Johnson said the museum will analyze Pear- son’s duties before deciding whether to replace his position or outsource to other managers. See PEARSON, Page 4A The Daily Astorian Dave Pearson, the deputy director of the Columbia River Maritime Museum, has been hired as executive director of the motor sports museum World of Speed in Wilsonville.
