7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2018
Shooting: ‘I can’t believe the cops killed him’
Continued from Page 1A
Case was prohibited from
owning firearms because of
felony convictions, the district
attorney’s office said, includ-
ing a 2012 drug conviction in
Idaho, where Case used to live.
Rick Derby told KOIN that
Case intervened after he was
attacked by dogs.
“They mauled me, they
mauled me,” Derby told the
television station. “I made it
to the gate and the trailer and
I couldn’t get away. I stand up
as best as I could and (Case)
comes across and drags me
by my clothes out the gate and
they are still trying to bite me
and holds me up on the truck.”
Derby, who was treated at a
Portland hospital for his inju-
ries, told KOIN that Case saved
him. “He saved my life,” he
said. “I can’t believe the cops
killed him. That’s insane.”
Joanne Polaschek, the
mother of Derby’s ex-girl-
friend, told The Daily Astorian
that it was amazing Case would
try to pull the dogs off Derby.
Polaschek said Derby had
lost his home in Gearhart a few
months ago and was living in
a tent in the RV park. She said
the aftermath of the dog attack
and shooting has affected more
people than Case and Derby.
“A lot of people will be and
are damaged by this,” she said.
Polaschek asked people not
to “draw conclusions” before
all the facts are known.
Jeff Walker, who said he
worked with Case at Gorilla
Gas in Seaside, described Case
as hardworking. He said Case
liked to play rock ‘n’ roll on
the radio. “He was ‘Wayne’s
World,’ party time. He was
bombastic and he was loud,”
he said. “His stature made him
seem intimidating, but he’d
risk himself for somebody else.
And he’s going to be missed.”
But Walker also said
Case “had his quirks. He was
hot-tempered.”
Two Seaside police officers
involved in the shooting have
been placed on leave with pay,
which is standard procedure.
The Oregon State Police is
leading the investigation.
Cashus Dean Case, who
was shot and killed by po-
lice Tuesday, worked at Go-
rilla Gas in Seaside.
Tax: ‘Our percentages
are getting close to the big
cities like Los Angeles’
Continued from Page 1A
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Will Berezay, a Clatsop Works intern from Astoria, loads waste lumber into a wood chipper at Hampton Lumber’s War-
renton mill.
Clatsop Works: Looking for more funding sources
Continued from Page 1A
Hampton employs more
than 140 people, with an aver-
age wage of above $22 an hour.
The mill interviewed several
candidates and settled on Will
Berezay, a senior at Astoria
High School who started late
last month working 7 a.m. to
3:30 p.m. shifts on the mill’s
cleanup crew, where most
employees get their start.
“I knew I would be shov-
eling sawdust,” Berezay said.
“I wasn’t expecting much. I
was just ready to get my hands
dirty.”
Mentoring Berezay is Jama
Evans, who after decades in
day care took a job on the mill’s
cleanup and planing crews.
Evans teaches Berezay proper
work and safety habits at the
mill, a maze of wood, metal,
concrete and heavy machin-
ery. The two make visits to
Hampton Lumber’s export
docks, corporate offices and
tree farms, learning all aspects
of the business from trees to
lumber.
Skyler Archibald, executive
director of Sunset Empire, said
the agency created a marketing
position just for Sprengeler,
who has experience in graphic
design and photography, and to
bolster the recreation district’s
public presence. Sprengeler
receives relative autonomy to
cover the district’s programs
and create a newsletter, and
will also help design a new
website.
“She’s a member of our
management team,” Archibald
said. “She sits in when we’re
discussing policies. It’s just
holding her to a standard we
hold all our employees to,
about punctuality and respon-
sibility and those sorts of
things.”
Employers agree that the
internship program isn’t about
finding a pool of new employ-
ees so much as exposing the
area’s youth to local oppor-
tunities and how to be a good
employee.
A native of Seaside,
Archibald said he hadn’t
desired coming back to the
area because low wages, a
high cost of living and the sea-
sonal nature of business made
living locally a challenge. But
the region has developed new
career opportunities with edu-
cation, health care and local
government he wanted to share
with young people.
Stamper had about five
weeks to arrange the work sites
for students. With more time
next year, she hopes to expand
the pool of government, educa-
tion, fisheries, manufacturing
and other major local indus-
tries taking part.
“Some of the businesses
could afford it, but they
couldn’t dedicate a mentor,”
Stamper said. “They need to
have the ability to do the train-
ing and put them into a position
they can learn and grow from.”
She is also looking for more
funding sources to help low-in-
come students take part.
Kevin Leahy, the director
of Clatsop Economic Devel-
opment Resources, who over-
sees Stamper, said the goal is to
expand the internship program
next summer to 24 students.
Similar internship programs in
Washington County have more
than 100 participants.
The Northwest Regional
Education Service District,
which oversees a hub focused
on expanding career-techni-
cal learning opportunities, is
also looking to export Clatsop
Works’ model to Columbia and
Tillamook counties in the next
couple of years, Stamper said.
“To have this momentum in
our first year is really promis-
ing,” Leahy said.
Warrenton: ‘An island of underutilized property’
Continued from Page 1A
“We’re not in a hurry on
this and I’d rather get it right,”
Commissioner Mark Baldwin
agreed.
The city-initiated zone
change applies to a wedge
of land between Highway
101 and Spur 104 near the
Ocean Crest car dealership.
Ken Yuill, one of the property
owners and a city planning
commissioner, has champi-
oned the zone change, which
would switch the area from
lower density residential zon-
ing to mixed commercial use.
The change would open
the land to housing devel-
opment like row houses
and workforce housing and
affordable housing units, as
well as diversify what kind
of businesses could move
in, said City Planner Kevin
Cronin. A maximum of
400 housing units could be
developed there.
“From a planning stand-
point, from my professional
perspective, it seems like a
very strategic zone change,”
said Mike Morgan, a planning
consultant for the city.
“The surrounding area is
rapidly developing, as I don’t
have to remind anybody,” he
told commissioners. “This is
kind of an island of underuti-
lized property.”
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Warrenton, he said. It is one
of the city’s rare sites with no
wetlands except for a small
parcel owned by the Depart-
ment of Transportation. It is
out of the tsunami zone and
has no geologic hazards.
“If you compare it to the
statewide goals and guide-
lines, it’s really kind of a
unique parcel that could sat-
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the commission chairman,
and Commissioners Sarah
Nebeker and Lisa Clem-
ent voted yes, while Com-
missioner Lianne Thompson
was the lone “no” vote. Com-
missioner Kathleen Sullivan,
who works for the Cannery
Pier Hotel, recused herself.
Sheriff Tom Bergin has
argued that the tax is justified
because an estimated 27 per-
cent of jail inmates come from
outside the county. During
testimony Wednesday, he
referenced several high-pro-
file crimes that have involved
hotel guests.
“I’ve taken multiple meth
labs out of hotels in Gearhart,
Seaside, Cannon Beach and
Astoria,” he said.
Bergin argued that the
tax is necessary regardless of
whether the jail bond passes,
because the county has a need
to rent jail beds. He estimated
between $800,000 and $1
million a year to rent 30 addi-
tional jail beds.
The sheriff thinks the lodg-
ing tax is a good option to
augment the budget.
“Minimally, this is not
affecting their bottom line,”
Bergin said of the lodging
industry. “I’ve talked to some
other individuals who are
more on board, and they’re
more concerned about how
that money is going to be
transferred to the cities. That’s
not really my fight.”
Lodging and tourism
leaders, filling much of the
meeting room at the Judge
Guy Boyington Building on
Wednesday, vociferously dis-
agreed with Bergin, arguing
the tax would dampen revenue
and unfairly targets a single
industry that doesn’t capture
all visitors. They called on the
county to hold off on the tax
until after the November bond
measure and continue a dia-
logue with the lodging indus-
try about alternatives.
David Reid, director of
the Astoria-Warrenton Area
Chamber of Commerce, said
tourism is a $500 million
industry in Clatsop County
and cautioned against vilify-
ing guests.
“You cannot simply take
$1.4 million from guests and
expect them to book quite
as many hotel rooms, spend
quite as much money on
meals, visit quite as many
attractions and have as much
money left to spend at retail-
ers,” he said. “Their money
can only stretch so far.”
Jason Brandt, CEO of the
Oregon Restaurant & Lodg-
ing Association, said lodg-
ing taxes suppress the ability
to attract tourists. He called it
irresponsible for the county to
pass a lodging tax meant to
support tourism without any
industry support.
The lodging association
sued Bend over the city’s use
of tourism tax money for road
repairs. A judge sided with the
association, but the city has
appealed the decision.
Loretta Maxwell, owner of
the Grandview Bed & Break-
fast, questioned how many of
the out-of-town jail inmates
referenced by Bergin stay in
rented rooms, calling for an
analysis.
“I think that you’re flog-
ging a dead horse,” Maxwell
said of taxes on the lodging
industry. “Our percentages
are getting close to the big cit-
ies like Los Angeles and New
York, and we’re not them.”
The argument of waiting
until after the November vote
on the jail bond was compel-
ling to Thompson, who said
the county should continue
the conversation about alter-
natives and look at taxing
other segments of the tour-
ism industry, such as food and
beverages, in order to capture
the impact of visitors not rent-
ing rooms.
County Manager Cameron
Moore said the commission
could reconsider after the vote
because the tax will not take
effect until January.
“It gives you the option to
rethink this if the jail bond is
unsuccessful,” he said.
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Signs of protest against a 1 percent lodging tax ap-
proved Wednesday by the Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners.