WEEKEND
ASTORIA AUTHOR SALUTES WOMEN OF THE WEST COAST
INSIDE
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018
145TH YEAR, NO. 173
ONE DOLLAR
Walmart
kicks off
hiring,
will open
in June
A long-awaited debut
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Joan Herman works her way around a
sidewalk on her way to Coast Community Radio.
CURB APPEAL
NEARLY EVERY CURB RAMP ON STATE ROADS FAILS
TO MEET FEDERAL ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The Walmart Supercen-
ter will open in Warrenton on June 13.
Representatives from the store attended the
Clatsop County Job and Career Fair on Wednes-
day as they begin to hire about 300 employees.
A hiring center will open
Monday in the former Port of
Astoria offices at 422 Gateway
Ave. in Astoria. The center will
operate from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Monday through Friday, and
applications will also be taken
online.
Kimberly
Overseeing interviews will
Smith
be Kimberly Smith, the store
manager, who started with the
company in 2006 as an apparel sales associ-
ate and was selected earlier this year to head
the new location. She has worked at several
Walmart locations in the Seattle metro area and
came to Warrenton from a supercenter in Yelm.
“I’m just really excited to get the team
built,” Smith said.
Walmart aims to hire at least 80 percent of
its employees locally, with a goal of 95 per-
cent local workers. The company announced
last month a nationwide starting wage of $11 an
hour and averages $14.44 an hour for full-time
employees in Oregon. The retailer employs
N
early all of Clatsop
County’s more than 500
curb ramps on state roads
do not comply with the Americans
with Disabilities Act. But after an
important legal settlement, the
state Department of Transportation
has committed to repairing all of
them — and others across Oregon
— in the next 15 years.
Disability Rights Oregon, a
Portland nonprofit, filed the federal
lawsuit on behalf of people with
disabilities and finalized a settle-
ment with the state last year. Since
1990, federal law has mandated
that states must ensure all new or
improved infrastructure — includ-
ing areas where pedestrians enter
sidewalks — be accessible to the
disabled.
As part of the agreement, the
state was required to update its
inventory of curb ramps that meet
federal requirements. More than 20
percent of curbs on state roads in
Clatsop County lack ramps. Others
have deficiencies, such as ramps
with angles too steep for wheel-
chairs, partially blocked access or
lack of bumps for vision-impaired
pedestrians.
The state agreed to fix 30 per-
cent of the ramps by 2022, 75 per-
See WALMART, Page 4A
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Joan Herman navigates streets in Astoria on the way to work.
cent by 2027 and all of them by
2032. The state has budgeted more
than $18 million over the next
three years to implement the agree-
ment. The settlement also includes
repairs to crossing signals, though
a timeline for that has yet to be
negotiated.
The state is still working on
specific timelines, but it does not
have plans to repair curb ramps in
Clatsop County this year or next,
Department of Transportation
spokesman Lou Torres said.
Joan Herman began using a
wheelchair full time about 3 1/2
years ago as her multiple scle-
rosis worsened. She is a mem-
ber of the Astoria Planning Com-
mission, a frequent city meeting
attendee, serves on Coast Commu-
nity Radio’s Tillicum Foundation
Board of Directors and runs two
radio programs for the station.
Worried that cars zipping by
will not see her along busy road-
ways and driveways, she avoids
them as much as possible.
See CURBS, Page 7A
Homeless man
faces charges
for leak, fire at
Comfort Suites
Burke allegedly removed
a plug from a gas meter
outside the hotel
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
A homeless man has been indicted in con-
nection with a gas leak and fire at the Comfort
Suites in Astoria last September.
Matthew Jay Burke, 26, allegedly removed
a plug from a gas meter near the hotel. Natu-
ral gas eventually leaked into and outside of the
building on Lief Erikson Drive, causing a spark
outside.
See CHARGES, Page 4A
Hammond fisherman allegedly bribed, threatened sex-abuse victim
Sturgell may
return to jail
before court
case is resolved
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
A Hammond fisherman
who allegedly committed sex
crimes against a young woman
may be ordered to return to jail
during court proceedings after
prosecutors claimed he bribed
and threatened the victim.
Dennis Lee Sturgell Sr.,
65, is accused of committing
several sex crimes against the
woman while she was inca-
pacitated one day in August
2015. James Herbert Cunning-
ham, 46, of Astoria, was also
allegedly involved and com-
mitted similar crimes.
Sturgell was arrested and
indicted in November on
sex abuse charges, includ-
ing first-degree sodomy and
first-degree unlawful sex-
ual penetration. Cunningham,
who was also charged with
rape, was already serving time
in prison for a separate case.
Both have pleaded not guilty.
Oregon Assistant Attor-
ney General Erin Green-
awald is prosecuting the case,
along with Clatsop County
Deputy District Attorney
Dennis
Sturgell Sr.
Paul Angelo
Leitch
Dawn Buzzard.
Prosecutors presented evi-
dence Wednesday to Circuit
Court Judge Paula Brownhill
claiming Sturgell made indi-
rect contact with the victim
through a meeting with her
father.
Two days after his arrest,
Sturgell posted $50,000 bail
and was released from jail. As
part of the release agreement,
he agreed not to make contact
with the alleged victim.
The same day Sturgell was
released from jail in Novem-
ber, he contacted Paul Angelo
Leitch, also known in the
Warrenton area as “Sturgeon
Paul.” Prosecutors presented
phone records showing that
Leitch then contacted the vic-
tim’s father, who rented a stor-
age unit from “Sturgeon Paul.”
Leitch eventually con-
vinced the father, who had pre-
viously confronted Sturgell
shortly after the alleged sex
crimes, to go to Sturgell’s
home and meet with him, pros-
ecutors said.
The meeting was likely
about the ongoing court case,
prosecutors said.
“He said that he assumed
that was the only reason that
he would go,” said Jodi Shi-
manek, a special agent with the
state Department of Justice.
In a taped interview with
Shimanek played Wednesday
during the hearing, the father
said Sturgell offered $5,000
to “make the case go away.”
Sturgell also allegedly threat-
ened to hire a “dream team of
attorneys” that would “dig up
dirt” on the victim and anyone
else involved in the case.
“He didn’t want to go to
jail,” the father said.
See STURGELL, Page 4A