TAGGART LEAVES OREGON TO COACH FLORIDA ST. SPORTS • PAGE 10A
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 113
ONE DOLLAR
Warrenton
will boost
career tech
Grant will be coupled
with Measure 98 money
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
THEFT WAVE
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Vehicle thefts in the area are most likely committed at night as crimes of opportunity, authorities say.
String of thefts
leaves Warrenton
residents on edge
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
B
en Redburn dropped by to
visit a friend at a Birch Avenue
home in Warrenton a few weeks
ago. Leaving his car door unlocked, he
knocked on the front door about 7 p.m.,
well after sunset.
“I popped in to see how my friend was
doing,” Redburn said. “I didn’t even plan
to go in.”
But Redburn’s friend invited him
inside. When the visit ended around 7:45
p.m., he returned to his car to find his
visor down, items scattered about and
the glove box open. The thief stole two
pocket knives to boot.
Redburn’s case was one of about 100
reported to Warrenton police this fall. In
what appears to have been a coordinated
effort to steal items from cars, the recent
spree began a few weeks into October
and peaked in the middle of November.
The theft wave crashed a few weeks ago
after an arrest, and police are working
toward potential charges.
Warrenton Police Chief Mathew
Workman, who has led the department
since 2008, said he’s seen theft outbreaks
that are similar in nature, but not in scale.
“I think this one, by comparison, is a
little bit larger,” Workman said. “We’re
not even sure we have the full scope of
the number of cars and number of peo-
ple affected.”
Scope
Adding to the uncertainty, not every
unlawful entry case has been reported.
People often alert police only when
items of a certain value have been sto-
len, Workman said.
The department heard anecdotally
about other cases where items of lesser
value were stolen or a car had obvi-
ously been unlawfully entered, but res-
idents did not respond when contacted
by police.
Tony Murray
This image captured by a security camera shows someone leaving the scene
after attempting to open the door of a vehicle they were not authorized to enter.
The Warrenton-Hammond School Dis-
trict has received $436,286 in state grants
to kick-start the construction of a center at
Warrenton High School offering students
automotive, welding and other technology
programs.
The Bureau of Labor and Industries and
state Department of Education awarded
$10.3 million in career and technical Educa-
tion revitalization grants to 101 middle and
high schools statewide. Warrenton was tied
for the highest award, along with a proposal
for new career-technical pathways helping
underrepresented minorities in Madras and
Warm Springs.
Josh Jannusch has been with the school
district 15 years as a science and technol-
ogy teacher and recently became a vice
principal at Warrenton High School. He
applied for the state grant to build what
he calls the Warrenton Technology Center
as an on-campus home for automotive and
welding programs, along with technology
courses he has helped develop over the past
several years.
“Obviously, our space has been our No. 1
issue, facilities-wise, just being able to find
the space to offer these kinds of classes,”
Jannusch said.
The school district lacks career-tech-
nical educational options beyond sending
students several miles to Clatsop Commu-
nity College’s Marine and Environmen-
tal Research and Training Station campus
east of Astoria, a tough fit with class sched-
ules. The district also participates in a health
occupations class at Columbia Memorial
Hospital and nursing assistant courses at the
college.
See GRANT, Page 7A
‘I THINK THIS ONE, BY COMPARISON,
IS A LITTLE BIT LARGER. WE’RE
NOT EVEN SURE WE HAVE THE FULL
SCOPE OF THE NUMBER OF CARS AND
NUMBER OF PEOPLE AFFECTED.’
Mathew Workman | Warrenton police chief
Warrenton police upped patrols in
November to address the break-ins,
which typically took place at night or in
the early morning inside unlocked cars.
An officer spotted someone rummag-
ing through a car early in the morning
Nov. 7 near Warrenton City Park. After
chasing the suspect on foot and estab-
lishing a perimeter for nearly an hour,
police lost sight of the person.
Less than a week later, Tony Murray
received a call from his wife, Shelly. As
she was driving to work, Shelly noticed
that the glove box in her car had been
opened and an expensive flashlight was
missing.
He reviewed security footage from
the eight cameras attached to their home
on Cedar Avenue. The couple bought the
cameras after someone entered Shelly’s
car five years ago.
The video showed a man in a
light-colored sweatshirt with his hood
up approach the driveway. He tried to
open the door of Murray’s son’s truck
before making his way to Shelly’s car,
which was unlocked. As he paced away
from the scene 30 seconds later, the man
tried to open the door of another car
parked on the street before disappearing
from view.
Murray called police later in the day
and found out they already had a poten-
tial suspect in custody. He had been
arrested on parole violation warrants,
though he denies connection to the thefts
and charges have not been filed. Police
are searching for more evidence and pur-
suing leads to others who may have been
involved.
Tongue Point
throws one
last headache
toward Port
Fishing boat abandoned
several years ago
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Before the Port of Astoria can get out of
North Tongue Point, the agency will have to
pay more than $20,000 to clean and demol-
ish an abandoned fishing boat left behind.
One of the Port’s last pieces of property at
North Tongue Point is the run-down 74-foot
wooden fishing boat Recruit. The boat has
languished the past several years on a col-
lection of wooden blocks supported by boat
stands outside on the tarmac.
See THEFT WAVE, Page 7A
See PORT, Page 7A
Marijuana retailers get green light in Cannon Beach
Attorney finds
no conflicts with
comprehensive plan
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH – After months of
controversy, Cannon Beach found there
are no conflicts between the comprehen-
sive plan and retail marijuana shops.
The city’s land use attorney, Bill
Kabeiseman, gave a report to the City
Council Tuesday that asserts having
marijuana shops downtown is fully con-
sistent with the plan, which acts as the
city’s constitution for development.
A discussion about the comprehen-
sive plan and how it relates to mari-
juana retailers was prompted by David
Frei, the acting spokesman of the Ecola
Square Homeowners Association, who
for months has objected to the mari-
juana retailer Five Zero Trees moving in
across the street at 140 S. Hemlock.
At previous City Council meetings,
Frei has argued allowing Five Zero
Trees so close to a residential area would
be detrimental to “the unique character
of downtown” and out of step with the
plan’s goal to provide its residents “the
quality of life that they desire.” He also
claimed the crime he believes is associ-
ated with marijuana retailers would be
in conflict with plan’s goal to preserve
“a sense of safety.”
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
See MARIJUANA, Page 7A
Chris Hess works at the Five Zero Trees store in Cannon Beach in October.