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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 2017)
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2017 145TH YEAR, NO. 93 ONE DOLLAR ELECTION 2017 Gearhart voters reject repeal Warrenton voters of city’s vacation rental rules back library levy Vote capped months of debate By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian GEARHART — After months of debate and nearly five years of discussion, voters on Tuesday decisively rejected a ballot measure that would have repealed Gearhart’s vaca- tion rental rules. The measure was failing 77 percent to 23 percent with most votes counted. “I am just ecstatic,” Jeanne Mark, an opponent of the mea- sure, said. “This definitely The library’s future hinged on ballot measure MEASURE 4-188 Shall Gearhart’s vacation rental dwellings ordinance be repealed and replaced? By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian Yes/23% (178) No/77% (592) tells me where the town is and what they want. We made it happen.” Mark, along with more than 100 other residents who cam- paigned against the repeal, filled a room at McMenam- ins Gearhart Hotel and shared their moment of victory. See GEARHART, Page 7A Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Gearhart Mayor Matt Brown reads election results Tuesday night at a watch party at McMenamins Gearhart Hotel. See more photos online at DailyAstorian.com WARRENTON — Vot- ers endorsed a local option tax Tuesday that will sustain the Warrenton Community Library. The levy was passing 55 percent to 45 percent. This summer, the War- renton City Commission and the library board proposed an increase to the operational levy from 9 cents per $1,000 MEASURE 4-189 Shall Warrenton levy $0.330 per $1,000 as- sessed value for library operations for five years beginning in July? Yes/55% (656) No/45% (527) of assessed property value to 33 cents, the first such increase in 15 years. The levy will raise an estimated $933,773 over the next five years. The levy has only increased once before, from 6 cents to the present 9 cents. See LIBRARY, Page 7A MORE RESULTS INSIDE: NATIONAL ELECTION STORIES ON PAGES 5A AND 7A ON THE RIVER Culver man leads police on car chase along Highway 101 Driver faces drug, identity theft charges By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian A perilous high-speed chase that began in Sea- side early Monday morning ended with a Culver man’s arrest on drug and identity theft charges in Astoria. Seaside police received a traffic complaint of a car driving swiftly and errati- cally on U.S. Highway 26 at roughly 4:30 a.m. Officers spotted it on the 1800 block of S. Roosevelt Drive. They pursued it for more than a mile north before abandon- ing the chase due to the car’s speed and road wetness, according to a release from the Clatsop County District Attorney’s Office. Warrenton police and Clatsop County sheriff’s deputies continued the chase north on U.S. Highway 101 as the driver exceeded speeds of 130 mph and drove in the wrong direction on the two- lane road. Maintaining blazing speeds, the driver plowed into the Roundabout on the east side of the New Youngs Bay Bridge and lost the car’s right front tire, but managed to continue east in the wrong lane on Marine Drive. After the collision, the car sprayed sparks as it bolted along and Garrett Luke Pruitt-Rexroad nearly slammed head-on into an oncoming vehicle. The car then hit spike strips placed by Astoria police on the road near Pig ’N Pancake. It kept going but finally lost control near Eighth Street and Marine Drive, nearly striking Plaza Jalisco Mexican Restaurant. The driver — identified as Garrett Luke Pruitt-Rexroad, 27 — then exited the car and ran two blocks on Marine Drive before he was arrested near Commercial Street. Officers found a wallet belonging to someone else, a purse with nearly 50 sto- len credit cards and a gun in the car. They also found what appeared to be methamphet- amine in Pruitt-Rexroad’s front pocket. Pruitt-Rexroad was sweating heavily and exuded signs of impairment from a stimulant, according to a Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian ABOVE: Bruce Faling pilots the historic Tourist No. 2 ferry along with Jacquelyn Harris and about 15 other passengers during a brief outing on the Columbia River on Tuesday. BELOW LEFT: Christian Lint makes a few minor adjustments in the engine room. BELOW RIGHT: The crew keeps busy on board the Tourist No. 2. See more photos online at DailyAstorian.com See CHASE, Page 7A Business Oregon pushes Port to think strategically State may not loan money until plan updated By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian The Port of Astoria’s strategic plan emphasizes log exports. Business Oregon has lent the Port of Astoria about $20 million to expand and repair its aging infrastructure since the 2000s. Chris Cummings, the deputy director of the state’s economic development agency, told the Port Com- mission on Tuesday that the agency might not loan any more money until the Port’s strategic plan is updated. Cummings visited the Port with Business Oregon’s Ports Manager Dave Harlan and Regional Development Officer Melanie Olson, along with Mary McArthur of the Columbia-Pacific Economic Development District, to speak with the Port Commis- sion about the need for strate- gic planning. The Port is in the beginning stages of developing a new strategic plan, with the help of McArthur. The last update was in 2010. Staff have said a new one is recommended every five years. Cummings suggested continual updates to the plan each year, rather than wholesale remakes every sev- eral years. The Port’s strategic plan in 2001 focused on developing a seafood processing cluster on Pier 2 and boatyard services on Pier 3 that drew several large tenants onto Port property, including Englund Marine & Industrial Supply Co. and Bornstein Seafoods. But the idea for a robust boatyard sector largely went by the wayside by 2010, when the Port was approached by Westerlund Log Handlers and created a new strategic plan emphasizing log exports on Pier 3. See PORT, Page 7A