DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2018
146TH YEAR, NO. 18
ONE DOLLAR
Man shot by Seaside police
Initial disturbance was
reportedly over a dog
By BRENNA VISSER and
JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Brenna Visser/The Daily Astorian
Witnesses heard gunshots near an RV park and the
Mazatlan Mexican Restaurant.
SEASIDE — Police are investigating a
fatal officer-involved shooting Tuesday after-
noon at the Seasider RV Park.
Officers responded to a 911 call of an
armed individual about 1:40 p.m. After a con-
frontation and gunfire, a man was shot and
killed. No police were injured.
Authorities have not released the name of
the man who was killed because his next of
kin has not been reached.
Warming
center gets
approval for
another season
The police officer involved in the shooting
has been placed on leave, which is standard
procedure. “This is not a reflection of what he
did,” District Attorney Josh Marquis said.
Jenessa Edwards, who lives at the RV
park, said she heard the initial disturbance
was prompted by a dispute between neigh-
bors over a dog. Marquis confirmed that the
conflict was over a dog bite. “A dog allegedly
bit somebody, people got upset and the police
got called,” he said.
Edwards described the dead man as “a
very good person. He has issues, but we all
do. No one deserves this.”
Ken Johnson, who lives at the RV park,
said the man was a “friendly guy ... But he
could get hyped up. He was easily agitated,”
he said.
Gerardo Ramirez, the RV park manager,
who also manages the nearby Mazatlan Mex-
ican Restaurant, said the man had lived at the
RV park for about eight months and had not
caused any issues as a tenant.
“I’m very shocked and concerned this hap-
pened,” he said.
Dustin Billings, who was about eight
blocks away from the scene, was planning to
take his 3-year-old son, Samuel, to his birth-
day party when he heard gunshots.
“It was just, ‘pop, pop, pop,’” Billings
said.
Moments later, he noticed police cars
whizzing down Holladay Drive at high speed.
The Oregon State Police is leading the
investigation. Chief Deputy District Attorney
Ron Brown has also been assigned to the case.
MOVIE NIGHT
City requires annual
permit extension
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
An emergency shelter for the homeless landed
city approval to operate for another season.
The Astoria Planning Commission voted unan-
imously Tuesday night in favor of extending the
Astoria Warming Center’s permit.
Sean Fitzpatrick, the commission’s president,
voted to approve the permit extension, but had
recused himself from discussions and voting when
the warming center pursued a conditional use per-
mit last year. While he said he supported the warm-
ing center’s mission to provide a meal and a bed
for people on the coldest nights of the year, he
spoke against the center’s location at the time,
citing issues from garbage to public safety con-
cerns. Those issues were resolved last year, he said
Tuesday.
Nothing about the warming center’s operations
will change, said city staff and warming center
board members.
It will continue to use the basement of the First
United Methodist Church on the corner of Frank-
lin Avenue and 11th Street. A good-neighbor agree-
ment developed during lengthy meetings last year
will remain in place. The agreement outlines the
warming center’s responsibilities and promises to
residents of the neighborhood around the church.
In order for the warming center to get the permit
extension, the city required center staff and board
members to look at and evaluate alternative sites.
Board President Dan Parkison said board mem-
bers looked at buildings for sale and for rent and
met with Clatsop Community College, Columbia
Memorial Hospital, the Astoria Armory and other
organizations in search of another location. They
found nothing that suited the warming center’s par-
ticular needs and budget.
No other churches had space that was available
or met the warming center’s requirements, Park-
ison said.
The warming center’s season runs from
mid-November through mid-March, but the center
can only be open for a total of 90 days on nights
when temperatures and other weather factors hit
established thresholds.
The Planning Commission’s approval is a huge
victory, Parkison said.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Young people choose a perch high above McClure Park for a showing of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ as part of the
‘Parks After Dark’ program.
Family movie showings back in Astoria after budget cuts
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
t will cost $1,300 to make you cry in
public when the Astoria Parks and
Recreation Department projects the
movie “Coco” on an inflatable silver
screen in August.
The showing of “Coco” — an ani-
mated tearjerker about a young boy in
rural Mexico with dreams of becoming
a musician — comes courtesy of Recol-
ogy Western Oregon. Arbor Care, a local
tree service company, is sponsoring “A
Wrinkle in Time” earlier in the month.
Clatsop Power Equipment, Gimre’s
Shoe Store, Aquafina and the Mini Mart
have also chipped in for a third movie.
The private sponsorships are the only
I
way the free summer movie program at
Fred Lindstrom Memorial Park is possi-
ble right now.
Two years ago, the Parks and Rec-
reation Department cut all free family
and community events due to budget
constraints — a situation that also led
to other cuts, shifts and changes as the
department struggled to match the true
costs of operations with revenue.
The summer movie showings at Fred
Lindstrom Park, as well as events like
the Easter egg hunt or the popular Mon-
ster Bash, fell under the umbrella of free
family and community events. “And
that entire category was eliminated,”
said Angela Cosby, parks and recreation
director.
To show one movie cost the city
$1,300 in movie rights fees, equipment
and staff time. Though a single movie
might draw 200 to 400 people, there
was no way for the department to recoup
costs and still keep the showing free.
Initially, there wasn’t a huge commu-
nity outcry when the free events were
cut, Cosby said. The events are a huge
draw for families with young children —
people who have many priorities other
than keeping up with the park’s bud-
get news, she said. Many of them didn’t
realize the particular event they planned
to attend had been hit by the budget ax
until the usual time for the event rolled
around without any of the usual posters,
notifications or community chatter.
See MOVIES, Page 7A
See WARMING CENTER, Page 7A
South
Bay Wild
Seafood
Market &
Restau-
rant is
located in
the Mary
& Nellie
Building
on Ninth
Street in
downtown
Astoria.
Edward
Stratton
The Daily
Astorian
Fishing family opens
Astoria seafood market
New restaurant
celebrates a
maritime vibe
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
While fishing for the Cal-
ifornia Groundfish Collective
in Morro Bay, California, Rob
and Tiffani Seitz founded South
Bay Wild, an effort to verti-
cally integrate their business
to include catching, processing
and selling seafood directly to
customers.
A year after relocating to
Astoria with their three chil-
dren and trawler, South Bay,
the family opened the next evo-
lution of their business, South
Bay Wild Seafood Market &
Restaurant, in the Mary & Nel-
lie Building on Ninth Street
downtown.
“There’s a lot of inconsis-
tency in the fishing industry,
and also there isn’t a retirement
in the fishing industry,” Tif-
fani Seitz said. “We kind of did
this for one thing to educate the
public, and to help on the finan-
cial side.”
The market sources seafood
from Rob Seitz’s trawler and
from other boats and proces-
sors. They offer fresh, smoked
and mixed seafood out of a dis-
play case in the back of their
storefront. The restaurant in
front offers fried fish special-
ties, chowders and other dishes.
An upstairs bar has beer, wine
and nautically themed cocktails.
See MARKET, Page 7A