DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 97
ONE DOLLAR
Fatal crash
results in
manslaughter,
DUII charges
Astoria woman was killed in a
single-car wreck on Saturday
to Columbia Memorial Hos-
pital, treated and released.
Martin was then arrested
An Astoria woman was and has been charged with
manslaugh-
killed in a single-car crash first-degree
Saturday afternoon on Lief ter, driving under the influ-
ence of intoxicants,
Erikson Drive near
reckless driving and
the Crest Motel.
first-degree animal
Shannon Inniss,
abuse. He appeared
44, was a passen-
ger in a 1989 Ford
via video, sitting in a
Bronco driven by
wheelchair, during a
Monday court hear-
Jason Martin, 39, of
ing. Circuit Court
Astoria, police said.
Shannon
Judge Dawn McIn-
He allegedly drove
Inniss
tosh set bail at
over an embank-
ment on the north-
$250,000.
bound side of the highway
Martin faces up to 23 years
and struck a tree about 1:50 in prison if convicted of all
p.m.
the crimes. He is scheduled
Inniss died at the scene, to be arraigned next week if
along with one of two dogs indicted. He has no previous
in the car. Martin was taken criminal history in Oregon.
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Al Aya looks over equipment in a room on Monday at the Cannon Beach Fire-Rescue Main Station that
controls the tsunami warning system.
THE MAN
BEHIND THE ‘MOO’
Thirty years of tsunami awareness
and preparedness in Cannon Beach
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
C
ANNON BEACH – There was a
time when the man behind Cannon
Beach’s iconic “mooing” sirens
was skeptical about the need for a tsunami
warning system.
The system that alerts residents of an
impending tsunami threat is about to turn
30 years old. But in 1985, whether those
sirens should exist was up for debate at a
Cannon Beach Fire District board meeting.
Al Aya had just retired and moved to
Cannon Beach, where an old high school
friend convinced him to apply for an open-
ing on the board.
At his first meeting, he voted to redirect
funding for the sirens to more “immedi-
ately pressing needs.”
See AYA, Page 7A
Negligence suit
against Columbia
Memorial settled
Lawyer says
settlement is
confidential
By DERRICK
DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
A siren tower sits near the intersection of Washington Street
and Ocean Avenue in Cannon Beach.
Erick Bengel
The Daily Astorian
A medical malprac-
tice lawsuit against Colum-
bia Memorial Hospital and
a prominent radiologist has
been settled.
John Pierce Christie, who
owned the Mallternative
music shop in Astoria, sued
the hospital and Dr. William
Armington of Pacific Coast
Imaging in March for negli-
gence. He alleged the doctor
missed signs of a stroke in an
MRI and magnetic resonance
angiography in August 2016.
The lawsuit originally
asked for $9.4 million in
damages. The claim was later
revised downward to $4.6
million. A trial date had been
set for January.
“It’s a confidential settle-
ment,” said James Huegli, a
Portland attorney who repre-
sented Christie.
Penny Cowden, a spokes-
woman for the hospital,
declined to comment.
“We can’t comment on
anything like that,” she said.
“We’re bound by patient
confidentiality.”
File Photo
John Pierce Christie, center, with his daughter, Heather
Christie, and friend Terry Erickson.
Power outage disrupts a blustery afternoon
Thousands were
left in the dark
By JACK HEFFERNAN
and KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Thousands of North Coast
residents lost power for about
45 minutes Monday afternoon
due to a transmission issue in the
Lewis and Clark area.
Pacific Power estimated that
about 28,000 customers were
without electricity after the
power went out just before 3:30
p.m. Stormy weather or downed
trees likely caused the problem.
The National Weather Ser-
vice had issued a high wind
warning for the North Coast.
Officials expected winds of up
to 45 mph with gusts of up to
75 mph from late Sunday night
through 6 p.m. Monday.
During the outage, the Asto-
ria Fire Department responded
to the Park Medical office on
Exchange Street to assist two
people who were stuck in an
elevator.
Diane Jackson of Luminari
Arts, on Commercial Street in
Astoria, waited nearly half an
hour before deciding to close the
store Monday afternoon.
“No sense sitting around a
dark shop,” she said.
In restaurants downtown,
servers sat at tables in the dark
or used cameras on their phones
to navigate.
At the Astoria Library,
employees went through the
operations manual in the dark
building while patrons milled
around in the main room, the
only place where the light was
murky gray and it was possible
to see anything.
Police and fire also responded
to numerous reports of downed
tree limbs and power lines,
sometimes requiring officers to
conduct traffic control.
A high wind watch issued this
morning warned of similar con-
ditions from 4 p.m. through 4
a.m. Wednesday.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Customers at the Silver Salmon Grille in Astoria wait
for the power to come back on Monday afternoon af-
ter a power outage left thousands in the dark.