ASTORIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AT THE LIBERTY THEATRE
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 79
WINDSWEPT
Roof collapses at old Astoria Ford after high winds
COAST WEEKEND
INSIDE
ONE DOLLAR
An uncertain
future ahead
for food carts
near City Hall
Vendors leave after
questions about property
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
H
igh winds whipped across the North
Coast on Wednesday, toppling tree limbs,
power lines and fences and causing the
roof of a building that used to house Astoria Ford
to collapse.
Reports of the collapse along state Highway 202
off Youngs Bay came in just after 5 p.m. The front
wall of the old portion of the building fell down and
caused the roof to collapse. No one was injured.
“My guess is just that the winds got in there,
whipped around and caused the roof to collapse,”
Astoria Police Sgt. Brian Aydt said.
A power line stretching over the road in front
of the building also came down. Police and fi re
personnel redirected traffi c until 6:15 p.m. as they
waited for Pacifi c Power to remove the line.
Brandon Golightly, 35, works at J&S Appliance
and Home Furnishings and is the younger brother
of Lewis and Clark Fire Chief Jeff Golightly. When
he arrived home from work at roughly 4:45 p.m.
just across the street from the old Astoria Ford, he
noticed that the front wall of the building was shak-
ing. A few minutes later, he ran outside after hear-
ing the commotion.
Golightly initially helped divert traffi c away
from the downed power line. Helping him was
Matt Hansen, 22, and Trey Brown, 19, both off-
duty Port of Astoria offi cers.
Hansen was driving along the road with Brown
in the passenger seat as the two headed to the beach
to clam dig. Suddenly, though, they heard a com-
motion, looked over and saw the roof collapse.
“It came down fast,” Hansen said.
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
ABOVE: Damage to the roof of the former Astoria Ford dealership
off Youngs Bay can be seen in the background behind an emergen-
cy responder on Wednesday. BELOW: Visitors enjoy the view on an
observation platform in Fort Stevens State Park amid strong winds.
Some f ood cart vendors across from Asto-
ria City Hall are looking for new locations
as questions about the future of the property
have put them on shaky ground.
The property on the corner of Duane and
11th streets includes buildings that house
a makeup store as well as a parking lot
where the food carts Good Bowl, DJ’s Vinyl
Vegan and Snackle Box have been located
for the p ast two years. About eight months
ago, Nourish Juice Bar joined the lineup.
Unknown to most of the food cart
vendors , the property was in the middle of
a tax foreclosure process with Clatsop
County.
The foreclosure, set in motion by four
years of unpaid taxes, was scheduled to go
through earlier this month , but came to an
abrupt halt when 1101 Pacifi c Avenue LLC
paid thousands of dollars of taxes owed by
property owner Frederick Smith.
According to county records and Clat-
sop County Assessment and Taxation Direc-
tor Suzanne Johnson, Smith still owns the
property but other parties now own the mort-
gage and Smith’s debt. Smith could not be
reached for comment.
See FOOD CARTS, Page 4A
See WINDSWEPT, Page 4A
A community
responds after
a death on deck
At an observation platform in Fort Stevens State Park, visitors strug-
gle to hold on in the face of what the National Weather Service pre-
dicted could be sustained winds on the North Coast up to 45 mph.
Chinook benefi t for
fi sherman’s family
By AMY NILE
EO Media Group
CHINOOK, Wash. — Juan Albelo Mar-
tinez was learning the ropes as a deckhand
during his fi rst fi shing season at sea.
The 38-year-old apparently lost his foot-
ing and fell overboard while trying to untan-
gle a line and died in early September , a few
days shy of heading home after months of
fi shing for albacore.
Richard “Pat” Patana hired Albelo Marti-
nez as a deckhand on his 54-foot fi shing ves-
sel. He started in June, pulling fi sh from the
water and hanging or stacking them in the
boat’s blast freezer.
See CHINOOK, Page 4A
A Halloween Night Run, for those who dare
Spooky tales and candy
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For The Daily Astorian
The setting: the Astoria Riverfront Trolley.
The time: 6:30 p.m. Halloween.
Dressed in cobwebs and inhabited by ghosts,
bats and skeletons, the trolley will take off near
17th Street — loaded with passengers and a
conductor and driver in costume — and travel
along the Astoria Riverwalk. Those who dare
can join the thrilling one-hour night ride and
hear spooky tales while indulging on candy.
“We just have a blast with it,” said Paul Win-
iarz, a member of the trolley operations board.
Originally, the complimentary Hallow-
een Night Run was part of a larger tradition
that included a Halloween bash at the Astoria
Armory and a night of spooky movies, activi-
ties and food for families at Rogue Ales Pub-
lic House. The trolley ride took place between
festivities.
When the Rogue discontinued the event,
however, the trolley ride was already “such a
ritual, we decided we would carry on,” Winiarz
said.
‘Time to get theatrical’
One of the trolley operators, who had a
knack for telling ghost stories, introduced sto-
rytelling into the Halloween Night Run. For the
past two years, North Coast children’s author
Melissa Eskue Ousley — who uses locations
in and around Clatsop County as the back-
drop for some of her work — took on the job
of entertaining passengers as they traveled from
17th Street, near the Columbia River Maritime
Museum, to 39th Street, then to the Astoria Riv-
erwalk Inn and back.
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
See HALLOWEEN, Page 4A
Costumed riders of all ages fill the Astoria Riverfront Trol-
ley during the Halloween Night Run in 2015.
Are you a member of Coast Community Radio?
If so, Thank You! We hope to see you SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4 TH ! If not, please join us and become a member!
Join today!
Coast Community Radio Annual Complimentary Breakfast and Board Member Election
A chance to nosh, mingle and vote with other members!
Coast Community Radio:
KMUN /KTCB /KCPB
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4 TH , 9 AM
FELLOWSHIP HALL OF GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
1545 FRANKLIN ST, ASTORIA
Join Saturda
y!
P.O. Box 269 · Astoria, OR 97103
503.325.0010 · CoastRadio.org