2A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2017
Judge rules Schnitzer is not sole legal parent of boy
Sause start to build a relation-
ship with the boy.
Schnitzer has allowed Sause
to see the boy once — on the
day he was born in an Albany
hospital in December 2015. He
has barred her from the boy’s
life since.
Sause contended it had
always been the plan for
Schnitzer to have custody,
while she would spend time
with him and let him know he
had a mother. Her attorneys
have argued that Schnitzer was
retaliating against her because
she broke off their romantic
relationship and refused his
proposals to marry him.
Schnitzer, however, con-
tended that Sause had donated
her eggs and relinquished all
parental rights by signing a set
of legal documents and was
only to carry out the role of
mother if the two had a long-
term commitment or were
married.
The trial began in Septem-
ber. It was spread out over nine
days since.
Child has a
mother, too
By AIMEE GREEN
The Oregonian
A Portland judge dealt
a crushing blow to one of
Portland’s most prominent
real-estate developers, Jor-
dan Schnitzer, by denying his
attempt to keep his former girl-
friend from seeing the baby
they created using his sperm,
her egg and a surrogate.
Multnomah County Circuit
Judge Amy Holmes Hehn on
Tuesday declared Cory Sause
the legal mother of their nearly
2-year-old son. That means
Sause could get to see the tod-
dler, Samuel, by January at the
latest.
The judge must first meet
with the lawyers to decide on a
plan for parenting time.
“I get to be a mom,” said a
beaming Sause, 39, moments
after leaving the courtroom.
“I’m just speechless. After two
years. I just want to see my
son.”
Schnitzer, 66, briefly shook
his head as the judge announced
her ruling. A representative told
The Oregonian that Schnitzer
would not issue any statements
Tuesday.
Schnitzer’s attorneys told
the judge they plan to ask the
Oregon Supreme Court to inter-
vene immediately to prevent
Sause from seeing the boy. That
would create time to appeal the
judge’s decision without letting
‘Credible’
Holmes Hehn sided with
Sause, saying she found
Sause’s testimony to be “cred-
ible.” While the judge didn’t
directly critique Schnitzer’s
testimony, she said she believes
that all along — through the in
vitro fertilization process and
surrogate’s pregnancy — the
father had agreed Sause would
be the boy’s mother.
The judge said it was only
immediately after the birth that
‘I get to be a mom. I’m
just speechless. After two
years.’
Cory Sause,
moments after leaving the courtroom
Schnitzer changed his mind —
prompted by a set of “highly
offensive” texts Sause sent him.
Sause testified she was upset
with Schnitzer’s plan to send
the baby to live with the surro-
gate for the first weeks of his life
instead of taking the boy home
to introduce him to Schnitzer’s
two teenage daughters.
Sause believed Schnitzer
was buying time because he
hadn’t told his daughters he’d
hired a surrogate to have a son.
“You are sending him to
(expletive) Siberia to live with
the Clampetts,” Sause wrote in
one of the texts, in a reference
to family in the 1960s and early
’70s TV show “The Beverly
Hillbillies.”
“It was this moment and
not before that Schnitzer made
the decision to cut Samuel out
of Sause’s life,” Holmes Hehn
said.
Sause later said she was
deeply sorry.
But by then, the relation-
ship with Sause and her fam-
ily had clearly deteriorated. The
judge found credibility in the
testimony of Sause’s parents,
who said that days after the boy
was born, Schnitzer told them
in a phone call they were not
FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA
TONIGHT
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
56
34
35
Clear to partly cloudy
55
38
Partly sunny
TUESDAY
54
36
Partly sunny
51
36
Brilliant sunshine
Mostly sunny
the boy’s grandparents and he
was still trying to decide how
to refer to them. Schnitzer was
considering the option of call-
ing them “godparents,” they
said.
Within days — unbe-
knownst to Sause — Schnitzer
also successfully asked a judge
to declare him the boy’s sole,
legal parent.
Sause learned that the next
month. She also found out her
name wasn’t on the boy’s birth
certificate. Shortly after, she
filed legal action.
The judge determined legal
forms Sause had signed set
forth contradictory statements
about Sause’s rights — or non-
existent rights — as a parent.
Verbal agreement
The judge found the verbal
agreement between the cou-
ple told the real story: That
Schnitzer had intended Sause
to be the boy’s mother.
The judge referred to var-
ious texts, including one in
which Schnitzer referred to
their future child as “our baby.”
In another text, Schnitzer told
Sause’s mother that they should
raise the child together, the
judge said.
Although Schnitzer had
wanted to keep his plan to
expand his family quiet, it
became public after Sause filed
legal action to secure her paren-
tal rights.
That’s in part because
Schnitzer only wanted boys. He
instructed medical profession-
als to select only male embryos
for implantation into a surro-
gate. Schnitzer later explained
that although he loves his two
daughters, he wanted to bal-
ance his family out with boys.
Since the birth of Samuel in
December 2015, he’s become a
father to a second son, who was
born by surrogate in June 2017.
Sause said she’s spent about
$600,000 in attorneys fees
and other costs fighting for
the right to see her son. She
says Schnitzer has spent far,
far more. Under Oregon law,
she can ask the judge to order
Schnitzer to pay a large portion
of her legal expenses.
“It was David fighting Goli-
ath,” Sause said.
Sause comes from a prom-
inent and well-to-do Oregon
family. Today she works as a
vice president at Sause Bros.,
her family’s fourth-generation
tugboat and barge business,
with operations up and down
the West Coast. But Sause
said the costs of trial have
wiped out her savings, and her
resources pale in comparison to
Schnitzer’s.
Affluent family
Schnitzer comes from
one of Oregon’s most afflu-
ent and philanthropic families.
His father, Harold Schnitzer,
branched off from his fami-
ly’s steel empire in 1950 to
found his own booming real
estate business, the one Jor-
dan Schnitzer now leads.
His father died in 2011. His
mother, an avid arts philan-
thropist, is the namesake of the
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
in downtown Portland.
Jordan Schnitzer has grown
the real-estate empire to now
span six states. He has a pri-
vate jet and at least four homes
worth at least $15 million. He
also has been generous by giv-
ing away millions — espe-
cially to Oregon’s arts commu-
nity. An art museum bears his
name. He is a major benefactor
of the Astoria Column.
Schnitzer and his attorneys
had previously told The Ore-
gonian that they believed his
fight to remain Samuel’s only
parent was about the sanctity
of egg donor contracts, mod-
ern families and the rights of a
single man to be a father if he
chooses.
On Tuesday, Holmes Hehn,
however, said Sause never
knowingly and unambiguously
relinquished her parental rights.
The judge said Sause
“seems to me to be a delightful
person and a kind and loving
human being.” The judge said
she thought both Sause and
Schnitzer have “tremendous”
things to offer Samuel.
“The court wishes them and
Samuel all the best,” the judge
said.
Astoria’s Rollin’ Thunder BBQ will
close its doors at Pier 11 this month
The Daily Astorian
ALMANAC
REGIONAL WEATHER
Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs.
ASTORIA
35/56
Astoria through Thursday.
Temperatures
High/low ....................................... 56°/37°
Normal high/low ........................... 49°/37°
Record high ............................ 63° in 1939
Record low ............................. 10° in 1972
Tillamook
36/57
Precipitation
Thursday .......................................... 0.00"
Month to date ................................... 0.93"
Normal month to date ....................... 2.45"
Year to date .................................... 77.24"
Normal year to date ........................ 59.82"
Salem
27/46
Newport
41/58
Sunset tonight ........................... 4:30 p.m.
Sunrise Saturday ........................ 7:46 a.m.
Moonrise today ........................ 10:42 p.m.
Moonset today ......................... 12:02 p.m.
New
Dec 9
First
Dec 17
Coos Bay
37/60
Full
Dec 26
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
TOMORROW'S TIDES
Astoria / Port Docks
Time
11:59 a.m.
none
Low
2.8 ft.
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Denver
Des Moines
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Honolulu
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Memphis
Miami
Nashville
New Orleans
New York
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington, DC
Hi
37
42
35
56
39
35
49
26
83
36
42
64
78
42
86
41
44
42
49
42
41
38
63
46
43
Ontario
18/30
Burns
5/34
Klamath Falls
16/46
Lakeview
14/48
Ashland
33/55
REGIONAL CITIES
City
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Eugene
Ilwaco
Klamath Falls
Medford
Newberg
Newport
North Bend
Hi
39
45
61
45
52
46
50
47
56
59
Today
Lo
7
20
44
26
38
16
28
29
41
38
W
s
s
pc
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
Hi
36
47
63
44
54
46
50
47
58
62
Sat.
Lo
9
21
43
24
38
14
28
31
40
38
W
c
c
s
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
pc
pc
City
Olympia
Pendleton
Portland
Roseburg
Salem
Seaside
Spokane
Springfi eld
Vancouver
Yakima
Hi
46
33
48
51
46
54
33
48
48
38
Today
Lo
27
21
33
34
27
35
21
27
28
23
W
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
Hi
49
34
49
52
46
56
34
49
48
37
Sat.
Lo
26
20
30
33
27
34
20
27
29
21
W
pc
c
pc
pc
pc
pc
c
pc
pc
c
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Bruce McBride has operated Rollin’ Thunder BBQ in Pier
11 since 2006.
ated from college and is work-
ing full time. I had my good
times here, 20 years of what I
would consider paradise, and
it’s time to go home and take
care of business.”
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Knappa School Board, 5:30
p.m., Knappa High School
library, 41535 Old U.S. Highway
30.
Youngs River Lewis & Clark
Water District Board, 6 p.m.,
34583 U.S. Highway 101 Busi-
ness.
Cannon Beach Rural Fire
Department Board, 6 p.m.,
Fire-Rescue Main Station, 188
Sunset Ave.
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m.,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
Thursday’s Lucky Lines: 03-
06-09-14-17-23-25-32
Estimated jackpot: $17,000
5-2-5
Thursday’s Keno: 02-10-11-
13-14-20-29-38-39-42-45-47-
48-54-64-66-67-74-79-80
Thursday’s Match 4: 07-17-
19-20
TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Lo
31
31
25
29
23
25
29
12
66
23
25
41
50
26
74
23
32
34
26
35
28
21
47
33
34
Baker
7/36
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017
UNDER THE SKY
High
8.5 ft.
7.9 ft.
La Grande
21/40
Roseburg
34/52
Brookings
44/65
Jan 1
John Day
23/48
Bend
20/47
Medford
28/50
Tonight's Sky: The Summer Triangle is high west
with Vega in the northwest, and Altair shines farther
to Vega's left.
Time
6:08 a.m.
5:41 p.m.
Prineville
18/46
Lebanon
27/49
Eugene
26/44
SUN AND MOON
Last
Pendleton
21/34
The Dalles
27/37
Portland
33/49
After more than a decade
outlasting a rotating cast of
businesses in Astoria’s Pier 11,
the one-man operation Rollin’
Thunder BBQ is closing Dec.
22 as owner Bruce McBride
returns to California.
McBride started in April
2006 after relocating to the
North Coast from California’s
Sierra Nevada mountains. The
business has helped facilitate
various clubs, including the
North Coast Ukulele Strum-
mers, motorcycling groups
and a chess club.
“It’s just a time in my life
when I need to make a change,”
McBride said. “My daughter’s
been shouldering the burden of
caring for my folks. Now it’s
just my dad left. She’s gradu-
W
sn
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
s
c
pc
s
pc
s
pc
pc
pc
c
r
pc
s
c
s
s
pc
s
c
Hi
44
36
32
60
33
34
56
19
83
35
40
65
81
46
77
43
52
35
53
36
37
40
64
48
37
Sat.
Lo
25
30
19
30
21
19
29
14
69
18
22
41
57
24
49
22
37
30
27
28
21
21
48
34
30
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
W
s
sn
sf
s
pc
sn
s
pc
pc
sn
s
s
pc
pc
r
c
s
sn
s
sn
pc
s
s
pc
sn
LOTTERIES
OREGON
Thursday’s Pick 4:
1 p.m.: 1-3-4-1
4 p.m.: 1-1-9-1
7 p.m.: 9-4-2-0
10 p.m.: 2-2-4-6
WASHINGTON
Thursday’s Daily Game:
OBITUARY POLICY
The Daily Astorian publishes paid obituaries. The obituary can include a small photo and,
for veterans, a flag symbol at no charge. The deadline for all obituaries is 9 a.m. the business
day prior.
Obituaries may be edited for spelling, proper punctuation and style. Death notices and
upcoming services will be published at no charge. Notices must be submitted by 9 a.m. the
day of publication.
Obituaries and notices may be submitted online at www.dailyastorian.com/forms/obits, by
email at ewilson@dailyastorian.com, placed via the funeral home or in person at The Daily
Astorian office, 949 Exchange St. in Astoria. For more information, call 503-325-3211, ext.
257.
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy,
sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries,
sn-snow, i-ice.
$25 (M EN S & LADIES )
W a lk, w ork a n d
pla y on sn ow
a n d ice
Follow us on
Facebook!
The Daily Astorian
Established July 1, 1873
(USPS 035-000)
Published daily, except Saturday and Sunday, by EO Media Group,
949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Telephone 503-
325-3211, 800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573. POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to The Daily Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria,
OR 97103-0210
www.dailyastorian.com
MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Follow us on
The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for
republication of all the local news printed in this newspaper.
SUBSCRIBER TO THE NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
ASTORIA: 239 14th Street • (503) 325-3972 • www.gimresshoesastoria.com
MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF CIRCULATIONS, INC.
Go to Facebook.com/DailyAstorian,
and visit us at DailyAstorian.com to
subscribe online!
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Effective July 1, 2015
HOME DELIVERY
MAIL
EZpay (per month) ................$11.25
EZpay (per month) ............... $16.60
13 weeks in advance ........... $36.79
13 weeks in advance ........... $51.98
26 weeks in advance ........... $70.82
26 weeks in advance ......... $102.63
52 weeks in advance ......... $135.05
52 weeks in advance ......... $199.90
Circulation phone number: 503-325-3211
Periodicals postage paid at Astoria, OR
ADVERTISING OWNERSHIP
All advertising copy and illustrations prepared by The Daily Astorian become
the property of The Daily Astorian and may not be reproduced for any use
without explicit prior approval.
COPYRIGHT ©
Entire contents © Copyright, 2017 by The Daily Astorian.
Printed on recycled paper