7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017
Port: Spence levelled
most blame at former
commissioner Fulton
Missing texts
Continued from Page 1A
“Obviously, I’m disap-
pointed, and I’m going to call
an executive session to meet
with our attorneys and see
what our next steps will be. ”
Other Port commission-
ers either did not respond
to requests for comment or
declined to speak about the
verdict, citing instructions
from Port counsel.
Param Hotel Corp. sued
the Port after failed attempts
to acquire the remaining
seven years on the lease of
indebted former hotel oper-
ator Brad Smithart. A jury
ruled Thursday that the Port
breached a contract with
Param and made false rep-
resentations to the Portland
company. A separate fraud
claim against Knight was
dismissed.
Spence levelled the most
blame at former Port Com-
missioner Stephen Fulton .
After the Port voted in June
2015 to have staff transfer
Smithart’s lease to Param,
Fulton was called by Ches-
ter Trabucco, a local devel-
oper interested in taking on
the Riverwalk Inn lease. Tra-
bucco and William Orr, Ful-
ton’s brother-in-law, were
among several suitors for
the hotel after the Port termi-
nated Smithart’s lease in July
2015.
Their company, Asto-
ria Hospitality Ventures,
was chosen several months
later by the Port Commis-
sion to operate the hotel on
a short-term basis. Hospital-
ity Ventures later received a
two-year contract to October
2018. Clatsop County Circuit
Court Judge Dawn McIntosh
has yet to rule on a claim by
Param for specifi c perfor-
mance of a contract, a legal
remedy that could award
Param the lease the company
had sought on the Riverwalk
Inn.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
People dressed as witches attend an annual Halloween party in Cannon Beach on Saturday.
Bewitched: Witches are a universal symbol
Continued from Page 1A
“It kind of just fed on itself.
Everyone who ever saw a
witch would bring them to
me,” Feldmeier laughed.
There’s not a specifi c rea-
son as to why she loves
witches more than other Hal-
loween staples , other than see-
ing them as “funny” with a
“sense of mystique.”
Universal symbol
To Feldmeier, witches are a
universal symbol representing
years of travel and memories.
“The concept (of witches)
is universal. Most countries
have some form of witch,”
she said. “I will travel to other
countries and try to explain
what I’m looking for, and in
different languages they usu-
ally get the idea after I describe
the broomstick.”
Her guests are as diverse as
the witches themselves. About
75 family members, neighbors
and old friends fl y in on their
broomsticks each year from
all over for Feldmeier’s party
— some as close as her next-
door neighbors, others as far
away as Australia.
Ruthie Leonelli, a Cannon
Beach local, remembers back
in 2000 when Feldmeier fi rst
One partygoer in Cannon Beach on Saturday arrived dressed
as Glinda the Good Witch from the ‘The Wizard of Oz.’
knocked on her door to invite
her to a witch party, and has
been coming every year since.
“She’s different. She’s out-
going. She brings out the best
witch in all of us,” Leonelli
said.
There’s some sadness in
the fact this will be last big
witch party with all 365 pres-
ent, but Leonelli said what
makes these events special is
far from ending.
The witch party isn’t the
only way Feldmeier brings the
neighborhood together. Her
other local claim to fame is as
the head of Cannon Beach’s
“chair brigade,” a mainstay in
the Fourth of July parade.
“There is more to this than
the witches,” Leonelli said.
“Sure, we fi rst got together
for the witches, but we’ve
all grown to have very spe-
cial relationships because
of Helen. She makes the
neighborhood.”
Bittersweet
As party goers started tak-
ing the witches one by one,
Feldmeier said the feeling was
bittersweet.
“You know, I’ll tell you the
real reason I chose to do it this
way,” Feldmeier said, refer-
encing her choice to give them
away to family and friends.
She twisted a knob on the back
of one of her witches, who
started to sing the song “Ding
Dong! The Witch Is Dead.”
“I remember visiting Sal-
ishan with one of my favorite
cousins, and my cousin’s wife
called me over and said listen
to this — you know, the song.
She said ‘We could play this
at your funeral,’” Feldmeier
said. “I guess I got to thinking
I shouldn’t wait to have every-
one take a witch at my funeral.
Instead they can take them
now.” Anne Ryan, Feldmeier’s
daughter, has seen the import-
ant role the witches have
played in her mom’s life. She
has contributed many witches
herself to the collection, which
represent moments the two
shared together.
While Ryan said she also
has developed an intense love
for Halloween and witches,
she was not ready to take on
the responsibility of housing a
whole coven.
“She knows every story,
every name of each witch,”
Ryan said. “These witches
are her history. That’s why
she couldn’t just give it away
to someone who didn’t care
about it. They are such a large
part of who she is.”
Fulton publicly recused
himself during Port Commis-
sion discussions on the Riv-
erwalk Inn. But during the
trial, Colin Hunter, Param’s
attorney, pointed out text
messages between Ful-
ton and Trabucco, some of
which had been deleted from
one of Fulton’s phones. Ful-
ton claimed he had changed
phones, and that some of the
text messages he was ordered
to turn over in the lawsuit
might have been deleted by a
software glitch.
“What was brought out
was the actions of Steve
Fulton continuously work-
ing behind the scenes, even
after he had recused himself
from offi cial meetings, to try
and get Chester Trabucco
and William Orr the con-
tract,” Spence said, adding
he doesn’t think Knight fully
understood what was going
on behind the scenes.
Fulton, who lost re-elec-
tion in May, did not respond
to a request for comment.
Spence has added an
agenda item to Tuesday’s
Port Commission meet-
ing about an extension for
Knight, whose contract will
soon expire. A divided Port
Commission voted 3-2 in
December to grant Knight
a 2.5 percent pay increase.
Fulton and Commissioner
Bill Hunsinger, both fre-
quent critics of Knight, voted
against the raise.
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OCTOBER 25
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Invitation
TO OUR FELLOW CITIZENS OF CLATSOP COUNTY
Whereas the Baha’is of Astoria, Seaside and Warrenton have been an
integral part of the citizenry of Clatsop County, embracing members from
all races, nationalities and cultural backgrounds since the early 1930’s, and
Whereas, October 22, 2017, marks the two hundredth anniversary of the
birth of the Founder of the Baha’i Faith, Baha’u’llah, and
Whereas, the Baha’i communities of Clatsop County work to eliminate all
forms of prejudice, to develop and enhance the spiritual life of the human
family and to demonstrate the value and necessity of unity in diversity in
neighobrhoods across the county, and
Whereas, Baha’i gatherings held throughout the County and open to all
provide a social space for reflection and consultation to find the many
points of unity, and
Whereas, the men and women of the Baha’i communities have worked
diligently towards the equality of men and women, and to end the scourge
of racism, classism and other divisiveness, and
Whereas, the Baha’is of Clatsop County, their families, friends, neighbors
and colleagues are commemorating this bicentenary along with Baha’is
around the world,
We invite you to join us in the pursuit of these goals for the benefit of all
humanity and to join us in the celebration of the life and teachings of
Baha’u’llah in the coming week.
Warmest regards,
The Baha’i Communities of Astoria, Seaside and Warrenton
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