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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2018
Astoria man pleads not guilty
to attempted murder in fray
Stabbing at
rescue mission
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Vinson Brothers Construction is logging about 250,000
board feet of timber for the Knappa School District
along the north side of U.S. Highway 30.
Knappa schools
log campus annex
Logging off
Highway 30
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
KNAPPA — The Knappa
School District could soon
have an extra $80,000 to
$100,000 in its coffers.
Vinson Brothers Con-
struction
are
logging
approximately
250,000
board feet of timber on a
plot of land the school dis-
trict owns across U.S. High-
way 30 from its campus.
The school district has
long been looking at how to
use the land, about 13 acres
that is mostly undevelop-
able because of a ravine
running through the middle.
The land was left to Knappa
after it split with neighbor-
ing Clatskanie School Dis-
trict in the late 1990s.
The Knappa School
Board recently decided to
log the land before deciding
how to dispose of it. A pre-
vious bid of around $35,000
had been rejected as too low.
“I think they will want
to seek community and staff
input around the needs of
the district and how best
they can utilize the funds
for all students,” said Pau-
lette Johnson, the superin-
tendent of Knappa, about
how the school board will
use the money from the tim-
ber sale.
Bud Henderson, a retired
local forester who worked
with Hampton Affiliates,
was contracted to help the
school district prepare for
the timber sale. Cascade
Hardwoods in Chehalis,
Washington, bought the tim-
ber, he said, and will send it
for processing to regional
mills in Warrenton, Clats-
kanie and Tillamook.
The school district spent
$1,900 to purchase about
120 nearby trees from the
state Department of Trans-
portation and will sell them
for a similar value.
The work is scheduled to
be finished before the start
of school next year, John-
son said. If the land is sold
later on, it will probably be
as one parcel, she said.
A man who allegedly
stabbed an Astoria Rescue
Mission worker pleaded not
guilty Wednesday to attempted
murder.
Stephen George Foxon, 52,
of Astoria, allegedly stabbed
William Eckstein, 56, of Asto-
ria, in the stomach earlier this
month. He was indicted last
week on charges of attempted
murder, first-degree assault,
fourth-degree assault and five
counts of unlawful use of a
weapon.
Rescue mission staffers
told residents the day of the
incident that they were going
to search the house for mar-
ijuana, according to court
records. They had suspected
a resident was in possession
of the drug, which is against
house rules. Foxon allegedly
objected to the search, and
staff asked him to collect his
belongings
and
causing the attack
leave immediately.
to stop. Foxon then
F o x o n
waited for Astoria
allegedly
then
police to arrive.
stood
up,
Eckstein, who
approached Eck-
has since been
stein, who was
released
from
leading the search,
Columbia Memo-
rial
Hospital,
and punched him
underwent surgery
out of a chair and
for his injuries.
onto the ground.
Stephen George
Foxon was also
While on the
Foxon
taken to the hos-
ground,
Foxon
pital for a minor
allegedly
con-
tinued the attack, eventually injury. At the hospital, he
pulling out a knife and stab- admitted to police that he was
bing Eckstein. The worker’s upset about the search and
arm was also slashed during punched Eckstein, according
the encounter.
to court records.
Foxon was then pulled
He also allegedly said he
away from Eckstein by other remembered fighting Eck-
staffers and residents, who stein, putting his hand in his
were able to keep him away pocket and feeling a knife. He
from Eckstein before escort- did not recall the alleged stab-
ing the worker outside. Foxon bing but did say he heard Eck-
allegedly continued trying stein tell another staffer that
to attack Eckstein once he Foxon had stabbed him.
Bail has been set at
learned he was outside and
punched and kicked staffers $250,000. Foxon is scheduled
as he tried to approach him for an early resolution confer-
ence in September.
again.
Foxon pleaded no con-
Someone hit Foxon over
the head with a heavy broom, test to second-degree arson
in 2015 and was placed on 18
months probation after he set
his car on fire with his clothes
inside. He was upset at a land-
lord for putting a Miles Cross-
ing house his ex-wife was
renting up for sale.
Since the car was his
property, Kris Kaino — his
court-appointed attorney —
argued he hadn’t done any-
thing illegal. The fire was,
however, 5 feet from the
house and near people. Foxon
and the Clatsop County Dis-
trict Attorney’s Office ended
up agreeing to the plea deal
that included probation.
Deputy District Attorney
Dawn Buzzard said at the
time she was concerned about
whether Foxon, who had vio-
lated probation from a pre-
vious theft conviction, could
stay out of trouble.
“This is a scary incident
and the defendant showed
absolutely no remorse,” Buz-
zard said. “I have no faith that
he is going to be successful.
I’m worried he is going to hurt
someone or burn something
down.”
Backers drop initiative
regulating gun storage
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Citing time
constraints, supporters of an
initiative petition to impose
new storage requirements on
gun owners say they won’t try
to put the issue before voters
this year after all.
Supporters of Initiative
Petition 44 are withdrawing
the petition, they announced
Wednesday. They plan to refile
for the 2020 ballot and lobby
the Legislature to pass the
measure next year.
Supporters of the petition
said they didn’t have enough
time to collect the 88,184 sig-
natures required to get the
measure on the ballot by the
July 6 deadline.
“We are not discouraged and
look forward to working with
legislators to pass this important
measure in the 2019 session,”
Henry Wessinger, one of the
chief petitioners on the measure,
said in a prepared statement.
Another petition that would
place restrictions on what
types of firearms Oregonians
can own — Initiative Petition
43 — faces the same deadline.
Its ballot title is still caught
up in the courts, so the petition
can’t be circulated for signa-
tures yet.
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