FOOTBALL: SEASIDE BEATS TILLAMOOK, BANKS BLANKS ASTORIA SPORTS • PAGE 8A
145TH YEAR, NO. 75
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2017
Port slapped with $4 million verdict
Portland hotelier had deal on Riverwalk Inn
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
A jury has awarded $4 million in
damages to Param Hotel Corp. in a
breach of contract lawsuit against the
Port of Astoria over the lease at the
Astoria Riverwalk Inn.
“The jury’s verdict affirms the fun-
damental concept that a deal is a deal,”
said Colin Hunter, Param’s attorney.
“We sincerely thank the jury for their
diligent service on this hard-fought
case.”
The jury found that the Port had
breached a contract by failing to assign
the remaining seven years of heavily
indebted former operator Brad Smi-
thart’s lease to Param after the Port
Commission voted to do so in 2015,
with damages of $202,430. The jury
also found that the Port made false rep-
resentations to Param, with damages
of nearly $3.8 million. An individual
fraud claim against Port Executive
Director Jim Knight was dismissed.
The Port’s attorney, Luke Reese,
said the claims of fraud are subject to
caps under the Oregon Tort Claims
Act. The cap at the time of Param’s
failed deal with the Port was more than
$660,000.
See PORT, Page 7A
KNIGHT CANCER COLLABORATIVE
A PLACE TO HEAL
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
From left, Shary and Chris Schauer-
mann recently acquired Astoria Granite
Works, turning over daily operations to
General Manager Isaac Bentson.
Former pastor
now running
granite works
in Astoria
Left local church to
take over business
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Attendees at the opening ceremony of the Knight Cancer Collaborative in Astoria on Thursday were encouraged by one
of the speakers to take time to admire a mural on the outside of the building.
H
undreds of people
turned out Thurs-
day evening to
celebrate the grand open-
ing of the new Columbia
Memorial Hospital-Or-
egon Health & Science
University Knight Cancer
Collaborative.
The project took seven
years of development,
planning and construc-
tion before opening for
patients earlier this week.
Public open houses are
scheduled 1-3 p.m. Satur-
day and 2-4 p.m. Sunday.
See a special section
inside The Daily Asto-
rian today.
LEFT: Hundreds of people crowd into a tent to celebrate the opening of the CMH-OHSU
Knight Cancer Collaborative on Thursday in Astoria. RIGHT: People file in past just one of
many decorative features in the lobby of the Knight Cancer Collaborative in Astoria to take
a tour of the new facility. See more photos online at DailyAstorian.com
Chris Schauermann and his wife Shary,
who renovate and flip houses, had been buy-
ing stone from Russ Warr’s Astoria Gran-
ite Works for years and storing it at his
warehouse.
In April, Warr called Schauermann and
asked him to come get his stuff because he
was closing the business down.
“I said, ‘Well, do you want to sell some
of your hand tools?’” Schauermann said.
“And he said, ‘How about buying my whole
business?’”
A pastor for the past 25 years at Gateway
Community Church in Hammond, Schauer-
mann recently left the ministry and took over
the business.
Warr retired from operating the Asto-
ria Sears, Roebuck & Co. in 1993, when
Sears bought the store back from him. After
three or four months, he realized retirement
wasn’t for him. Dick and Denny Thompson
approached him about buying Astoria Gran-
ite Works, which their father Paul Thompson
had started in 1917.
After interning with the brothers for sev-
eral months, Warr purchased the business
in 1994. In 1998, he started doing stone
countertops, the primary interest of the
Schauermanns.
Warr also served for 12 years on the Asto-
ria City Council before deciding not to run
for re-election last year.
“I’m 75 years old, and I’ve been consid-
ering retiring for several years,” he said.
When he started trying to sell his business
and building, Warr said, he fell ill.
“The medical issues made it very import-
ant for me to sell the business,” he said.
See PASTOR, Page 7A
Cannon Beach library celebrates 90 years
Private library
supported by
80 volunteers
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH —
The original Cannon Beach
Library had 54 books sitting
on three shelves at what used
to be a grocery store on Hem-
lock Street.
Ninety years later, the
library now fills its own build-
ing with more than 14,000
books. It has seen a number of
location changes and techno-
logical advances since 1927.
Submitted Photo
The old Cannon Beach Library.
But for nine decades its leg-
acy as a private, almost solely
volunteer-driven library has
remained.
The Cannon Beach Library
board is hosting its 90th birth-
day party Oct. 21 as a way
to thank the community for
decades of support. People are
invited to dress as their favor-
ite literary character and enjoy
a buffet of snacks from 10 a.m.
to 4 p.m. at the library.
“(The library) has been a
community effort from the
beginning, starting with com-
munity dances and chicken
dinner fundraisers,” said
Phyllis Bernt, co-president
of the library board. “We are
here to serve the needs of the
community.”
Humble beginnings
Unlike most libraries,
Cannon Beach has never been
Submitted Photo
See LIBRARY, Page 7A
A volunteer moves books into the new library in 1976.