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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 2017)
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2017 145TH YEAR, NO. 122 ONE DOLLAR UPHEAVAL • AT LEAST 3 PEOPLE DEAD • MORE THAN 70 INJURED • WRECK HAPPENED ON TRAIN’S INAUGURAL RUN WITH 85 PASSENGERS AND CREW MEMBERS Bettina Hansen/The Seattle Times Cars from an Amtrak train that derailed spilled onto Interstate 5 Monday in DuPont, Wash. Astoria man injured in train derailment Train was speeding 50 mph over limit DeSart still in the hospital with internal injuries Derailed along a curve of track By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian By RACHEL LA CORTE, GILLIAN FLACCUS and MICHAEL SISAK Associated Press Del DeSart S oon after Amtrak Train 501 headed south toward Portland, Del DeSart — sit- ting in the third car — decided to catch a bit of sleep. He awoke as the train began to rattle violently and clutched the arm rests. While waiting for the shaking to end, he was knocked uncon- scious by the crash. See DESART, Page 4A Meagan DeSart Meagan DeSart with her hus- band, Del, in the hospital after Del was injured in Monday’s train derailment near Tacoma, Wash. DUPONT, Wash. — The Amtrak train that plunged off an overpass south of Tacoma, kill- ing at least three people, was hurtling 50 mph over the speed limit when it jumped the track, federal investigators say. Bella Dinh-Zarr, a National By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian People always ask who is buried in the tiny park behind Rose River Inn Bed and Breakfast. The answer is no one. But there is a plaque in the ground and the place does look a little haunted, joke inn owners Pam and David Armstrong, eying the grounds of Post Office Park while their Chihuahua sniffs at a pile of deer droppings almost as big as she is. The park, a flash of green on 15th Street and Franklin Avenue, commemorates the site of the first post office west of the Rockies. It features the plaque, an obelisk and a loose border of bushes in dire need of a trim. On Monday, the Armstrongs finalized an agree- ment with the city to take over maintenance. See PARKS, Page 4A See TRAIN, Page 4A Commodore goes up for sale Park adoptions Astoria invites residents to advocate for green spaces Transportation Safety Board member, said that the data recorder in the rear locomotive showed the train was going 80 mph in a 30 mph zone when it derailed along a curve, spilling some of its cars onto an inter- state highway below. Dinh-Zarr said it is not yet known what caused the train to run off the rails and too early to say why it was going so fast. She said investigators will talk to the engineer and other crew members. In previous wrecks, The historic building listed for $2.3M By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian David Armstrong surveys Post Office Park, a tiny park lo- cated behind the bed-and-breakfast he and his wife run on 15th and Franklin. The couple plans to take over main- tenance of the park to make it more attractive. Scandinavian monument set for downtown Astoria The Lewis Building in downtown Astoria, home of the Commodore Hotel and Street 14 Coffee, has been listed for sale at $2.3 million. The building was pur- chased for $565,000 in 2007 by Paul Caruana, Brian Faherty and Lance Marrs. The partners spent $1.5 mil- lion restoring the building and in 2009 reopened the 18-room Commodore Hotel, shuttered since in 1964. Shortly after, Street 14 Cof- fee opened at the corner of 14th and Commercial streets. The Lewis Building, on the National Register of His- toric Places, was designed by locally famed Astoria architect John E. Wicks and built in 1925 after a fire gut- ted much of downtown three years earlier. The hotel orig- inally opened as the Bar- ton Inn in 1925 and changed to the Commodore Hotel in 1928. Caruana and Faherty received a Dr. Edward Harvey Historic Preser- vation Award in 2009 for the restoration, along with recognition from the Ore- gon Heritage Commission. They have also restored the eight-story John Jacob Astor See HOTEL, Page 4A MORE INSIDE City, heritage Astoria balks at ban on used association gun sales at pawn shops. reach agreement Page 3A By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian Scandinavians may finally get their monument. The Astoria City Coun- cil gave permission Monday night to the Astoria Scandina- vian Heritage Association to design a monument at Peoples Park downtown. The monu- ment has been in the works for the past few years, but city concerns about maintenance costs slowed the project. The heritage association will get help from the Asto- ria Rotary Club to maintain the park, limiting the city’s expense to about $4,500 a year. The final design of the monument will be reviewed by the Historic Landmarks See COUNCIL, Page 4A A Scandinavian monument is planned at Peoples Park downtown. The Daily Astorian The Lewis Building, home to the Commodore Hotel and Street 14 Coffee, is up for sale.