DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 77
ONE DOLLAR
Changes in
the works
at Liberty
Theatre
Venue celebrated as
‘Astoria’s living room’
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Nathan Evans and Courtney Bonzer admire the view from atop the Astoria Column on Sunday. The landmark is bathed
in pink light for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Column chips in on cancer fight
Goal to raise $2,000 by the end of October
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
T
he Astoria Column is glowing in a
pink light again for the fifth consec-
utive year in support of Breast Can-
cer Awareness Month. But this year, con-
tributions to the cancer fight have been
more than aesthetic.
Visitors can make donations this
month to the Knight Cancer Collabora-
tive. For every $5 dropped off at the gift
shop, the Friends of the Astoria Column’s
board of directors will make a matching
contribution.
“The Column is an appropriate sym-
bol for the climb to health, and this jour-
ney has been made much easier thanks to
the opening of the new treatment center,”
said Penny Cowden, executive direc-
tor of the Columbia Memorial Hospital
Foundation.
Park host Fred Pynes, site
manager Lyndsay Vigil and board mem-
bers came up with the idea at a weekly
meeting.
“We were just sitting around, kind
of brainstorming for ways to have more
community involvement,” Pynes said.
“It all kind of fell into place with the
October lighting and the opening of the
center.”
Vigil has spearheaded the efforts the
past few weeks by collecting donations
at the gift shop and handing out flyers to
local businesses.
“Everyone’s been really on board
when we let them know what we’re
doing,” she said.
The column has collected $900 from
See COLUMN, Page 4A
After operating at a deficit for the last
three years, the Liberty Theatre is on track to
break even this year and there are big plans
on the horizon.
In a presentation Monday night to the
Astoria City Council, Jennifer Crockett, the
theater’s director, told councilors she wants
the Liberty to live up to its tagline as “Asto-
ria’s living room.”
She and the board have introduced a vari-
ety of new shows and programs, and hired an
artistic director, but they are “on the cusp” of
overloading their three-person team, while
at the same time struggling to pay for oper-
ations, Crockett said. Crockett, hired last
September, remains the only full-time staff
member.
“So we’re kind of on that tightrope right
now. Money is coming in, but we ended in
a deficit last year and have for the last three
years. We’re on track to do better this year, but
we’re not able to hire yet,” she said.
Still, they were able to offset last fiscal
year’s deficit through donations. Though the
theater is only about a quarter into its fiscal
year, Crockett said, “With our fundraising and
our ticketed events we’re tracking with right
where we should be this year to break even.”
See THEATRE, Page 4A
Bloomfield
was a leader
in the arts
A life of humility
and adventure
By STEVE FORRESTER
The Daily Astorian
Marge Bloomfield, a leader in Astoria’s
arts and culture renaissance, died Friday at
her home in Surf Pines with members of her
family present. She was 92.
Bloomfield and her husband, Ted, retired
to Clatsop County in 1990
following his extensive
career as an orchestra con-
ductor in Portland, Roches-
ter and Europe.
In 1998, Marge Bloom-
field became a board mem-
ber of Liberty Restoration
Marge
Inc. She was named chair-
woman of the theater’s con- Bloomfield
struction committee. Fol-
lowing the purchase of the Liberty Theatre
in 2000, the construction committee met on a
weekly basis with Rickenbach Construction
as the theater’s restoration began in earnest.
Former Bank of Astoria President Cheri
Folk recollects her own growing estimation of
Bloomfield.
The Astoria Column glows pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month as the sun sets over the historic monument on Sunday.
See BLOOMFIELD, Page 4A
Last call for Port of Call
Owner fell
behind on rent
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Port of Call Bistro &
Bar has been ordered out of
its location at the corner of
Ninth and Commercial streets
in Astoria by the end of the
month.
Circuit Court Judge Dawn
McIntosh signed off on an
agreement for Marvin James
Sawyer, the bar’s owner, to
pay Luottamus Partners, the
owner of the building, $11,250
and vacate in “broom-clean
condition” by 11:59 p.m. Oct.
31.
Luottamus Partners filed
suit against Sawyer and Port
of Call last month, claiming he
had fallen behind by more than
$36,000 in rent and breached
several portions of his lease.
In his defense, Saw-
yer argued Port of Call had
already agreed to a sepa-
rate repayment plan. He also
claimed that Luottamus Part-
ners had no authority to pur-
sue the case, because the per-
son directing the company to
bring the lawsuit was not from
the partnership.
Real estate broker Peter
Tadei said the Port of Call and
adjacent Astoria Event Center
— all part of one building —
is listed for sale for $595,000,
including the equipment.
“It’s basically a turnkey for
the new buyer,” he said.
Sawyer, who did not
respond to a request for com-
ment, opened the Port of Call
in 2014, later taking on Anne
Probst as a partner. The estab-
lishment came under scrutiny
earlier this year when statis-
tics from the Oregon Liquor
Control Commission gathered
from police reports showed a
significant number of drunk-
en-driving arrests of the bar’s
See LAST CALL, Page 4A
The Daily Astorian
Marvin James Sawyer, who opened the Port of Call Bis-
tro & Bar in 2014 at the corner of Ninth and Commercial
streets, must vacate by the end of the month.