Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 10, 2018)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 2018 Ilwaco sued after denying vacation rental Gearhart man may sentenced in child Lawsuit be moved to pornography case federal court nous in my view,” Brown said. A detective in Oklahoma notified Oregon State Police By JACK HEFFERNAN of an investigation into The Daily Astorian Polan’s contact with a child there, prompting the local A Gearhart man was sen- probe. Polan likely will face tenced Thursday to nearly six additional charges in Okla- years in prison for child por- homa and possibly Michigan nography crimes. and North Carolina, Brown Samuel Roy Polan, 39, said. compelled at least two chil- Polan has two prior sex dren under 12 years old to crime convictions, includ- photograph or record sexu- ing for third-degree rape — ally explicit activity. After involving sex with a teenage being indicted in February on girl — in Clatsop County in 10 counts, including 2010. He also was some that alleged convicted in a 2004 he attempted to sell case involving sex- ual contact with a the material, Polan minor relative in pleaded no contest Texas. in July to two counts “He obviously of using a child in has a very serious a display of sexu- ally explicit con- Samuel Roy problem with attrac- tion to children,” duct as part of a plea Polan Brown said. deal with the Clatsop Polan was sexually abused County District Attorney’s by his father as a young child Office. Each count carries a and later bounced from fos- mandatory minimum sen- ter home to foster home, said tence of nearly six years in James von Boeckmann, his prison. As part of the plea court-appointed attorney. His deal, Polan agreed to have 2004 conviction came after an open sentencing hearing he had reunited with mem- and let a judge determine bers of his family. “It is not a problem of his whether to run the minimum sentences concurrently or own devise,” von Boeck- mann said. consecutively. Judge Richard Baldwin — Polan apologized Thurs- a former Oregon Supreme day for his actions. “I don’t know what caused Court justice who spent Thursday filling in for Circuit me to do it, and I’ll look for Court Judge Paula Brown- the help I need,” he said. hill — sentenced Polan con- Baldwin pointed out that currently, saying it was a “very Polan has had opportunities long” time considering the cir- in the past to seek treatment cumstances of the case. in prison. Polan used Tango, a “You can’t just say you messaging app, to compel want it if you don’t engage the children to take sexu- and make your best effort to ally explicit photos. If they get something out of treat- refused, Polan made threats ment,” the judge said. “With such as contacting their par- your record, you’re going ents, Chief Deputy District to be in for the rest of your Attorney Ron Brown said. life the next conviction, I’m “He used various tactics sure, if the judge has that that were particularly hei- opportunity.” Polan gets nearly six years By ALYSSA EVANS Chinook Observer ILWACO, Wash. — A cou- ple has filed a lawsuit against Ilwaco after being denied a vacation rental permit. In March, Lindsay and Shelley Yamane applied for a conditional use permit for a house on Reservoir Road, which is near their home on the same block in the city’s Sahalee subdivision above Baker Bay. The City Coun- cil unanimously rejected the application in May. The council denied the application because it found the Yamanes did not prove the vacation rental wouldn’t cause problems for neighbors. City Planner Sam Rubin Pacific County A couple has sued Ilwaco after their proposed vacation rental was denied. and the Planning Commission had recommended approval of the permit. The lawsuit alleges the city did not adhere to city code and that the council violated the couple’s right to due process. The proposed vaca- tion rental prompted a range of reactions from neigh- bors and others in the com- munity. Some were vocally opposed, while others signed statements of support for the permit. Among other things, oppo- nents worried that the vaca- tion rental might cause a shortage of parking spaces, or lead to a slew of new rentals in the area. Among those opposing the permit are residents of Ilwa- co’s Discovery Heights gated subdivision, which borders Sahalee to the south. Dis- covery Heights was devel- oped by a partnership that includes Marshall’s brother, Rich. Owners of individual homes in Discovery Heights have expressed concern about vacationers wander- ing through the subdivision to access the nearby Beards Hol- low portion of Cape Disap- pointment State Park. The lawsuit states that some of the individuals who spoke against the vacation rental live outside the imme- diate vicinity. It also notes that only the Yamanes and their neighbor can park on their property, so no one else would be affected by guests parking there. The couple and the city are in the process of determining whether the lawsuit should proceed in Pacific County Superior Court, or the federal court in Tacoma. Audit: 80 percent of Portland short-term rentals illegal Associated Press PORTLAND — Four out of five short-term rental prop- erties in Portland are operat- ing illegally and there is not much the city can do about them yet since it doesn’t have complete information, accord- ing to a recent report by city officials. Portland requires hosts of Airbnb-style bookings to apply for a permit, be the pri- mary resident of the rental, live in the home nine months out of the year and limit each booking to a maximum of 30 days, The Oregonian reported. It’s hard enforce these rules since companies like Airbnb or Vacasa don’t regu- larly share rental information about each listing, their hosts and frequency of rentals with the city, citing privacy rea- sons, auditors said in a report released Wednesday. Public data on Airbnb’s website showed it had more than 4,600 listings in Portland last October, according to the audit. At that time, the city had only issued 1,638 permits. One possible reason why hosts may not be applying for a permit is the cost. The permit fee for hosts renting one or two bedrooms is $178. If hosts ad- vertise three to five bedrooms, the cost goes up to $5,000 and requires a land use review. However, most short- term rental hosts do pay the required city taxes on each night’s stay, the auditors found. The city hopes to final- ize data sharing agreements with booking companies, said Mayor Ted Wheeler and Com- missioner Chloe Eudaly in a response letter to auditors. They are confident the data will help the city better regu- late these types of rentals. Medication given to sick killer whale Associated Press Brian Gisborne/Fisheries and Oceans Canada Southern resident killer whale J50 and her mother, J16, swim off the coast of Vancouver Island near Port Renfrew, British Columbia. SEATTLE — A team of whale experts has injected an ailing killer whale with antibiotics in a rare effort to save her. NOAA Fisheries says the interna- tional team reached 3½-year-old orca known as J50 Thursday in the waters near Washington state’s San Juan Island. A veterinarian examined the orca. Experts gave her antibiotics through a dart and took a breath sample to help assess whether she has an infection. NOAA says that the team will decide whether to feed the free-swimming whale live salmon from a boat. The whale could then be given live salmon dosed with medication. The orca is thin and in poor body condition. Another orca in the critically endan- gered group of killer whales has pushed her dead calf for more than two weeks, raising concerns about her health. Foss Maritime closes its shipyard in Rainier in surprise move By KATIE FAIRBANKS The Daily News In what came as a surprise news for many, Foss Maritime has closed its Rainier shipyard. Foss spokesman Loren Skaggs said the shipyard closed July 24, impacting 10 people. Skaggs said the decision to close the shipyard was part of a thoughtful process. While the company liked being in that market, Skaggs said the closure was based on a busi- ness decision, but couldn’t give more details. The Columbia River ship- yard was primarily used as a repair yard for the Foss Mar- itime fleet and also built new tugboats. Just last December, Foss was working to finalize negotiations with a Nether- lands-based company to build at least 10 tugboats at the Rain- ier shipyard. ‘We’re not here to try to harm them; we want to help them. We want to make them prosperous. It only helps the community.’ Rainier Mayor Jerry Cole Rainier Mayor Jerry Cole said the closure is a definite loss for the community. “Anytime we lose business, it’s a negative impact,” Cole said. Cole said the company did not give any indication it was planning on closing the site. The longtime mayor said he wished Foss would have reached out to the city to see what could be done to keep the shipyard open. “We’re not here to try to harm them; we want to help them,” Cole said. “We want to make them prosperous. It only helps the community.” Cole also said both the Columbia County Economic Team and the state had been in contact with Foss about the closure. Chuck Daughtry, execu- tive director for the economic group, said the company had previously discussed consoli- dating its operations to Seattle. He said the closure in Rain- ier is a hard hit in terms of lost jobs. At times, the shipyard employed as many as 40 peo- ple and offered a significant number of high-paying posi- tions, he added. “I’m hopeful we can pre- serve the industrial site and find another tenant for it,” Daughtry said. Daughtry said the county, city and other partners will now have to reevaluate Rain- ier’s A Street railroad project, which includes the Foss ship- yard location. Cole said the city had made Foss’ needs a priority for the project. The county will want to ensure the site is preserved for the next tenant that comes, Daughtry said, adding the area has a wealth of skilled workers The Clatsop Care Center Auxiliary and the residents of Clatsop Care would like to offer their sincere thanks and appreciation to Matthew, Ryan, Kira, Lorence, Elliott, Craig, Rebecca & Destiny from the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station for their hard work at our recent car wash. WANTED a lderbrook Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 and is confident the shipyard site will get a new owner. “It’s pretty valuable,” Daughtry said. “We have so many talented people in the area, which is a big attraction to industry.” 12:30 PM Picnic & Potluck Violet LaPlante Park Questions? S un a ugu d S a t y 12 th Contact Barbara 503-468-8219 Please Adopt a Pet! 5:00 pm Downtown Astoria Every month, year ‘round! GLOCK & LUCK Y Every day will be A treat with these Sweet senior bonded Pals, so ready to Enjoy life’s mellow pleasures. See more on Petfinder.com CLATSOP COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER • 861-PETS 1315 SE 19th St. • Warrenton | Tues-Sat 12-4pm www.dogsncats.org THIS SPACE SPONSORED BY BAY BREEZE BOARDING Aug 11 th Visit Downtown Astoria on the 2nd Saturday of every month for art, music, and general merriment! Presented by the Astoria Downtown Historic District Association astoriadowntown.com facebook/astoriadowntown.com Starting August 16th Thru August 19th 2018, Cross Stitchers from all over the world will descend on a small Oregon town, Seaside, for the 3rd Annual Heaven and Earth Designs Convention, or HAEDcon, as it’s known in the Cross Stitching world. A Stitching Convention for cross stitching you say? Well things have changed. Gone are the days of cute teddy bears and flowers. HAEDCon is a convention sponsored by the locally owned company, Heaven and Earth Designs. Attendees come to see finished stitched pieces, socialize, and shop! Cross stitchers from all over the world—Iceland, Australia, the United Kingdom—are just days away from meeting new friends, meeting old friends, and meeting the artists behind the work they stitch. Everyone has great ideas about spending four days stitching, but from past experience the amount of talking, laughter, ‘Stitchtalk’, and adding to one’s stash is a must for any attendee. A loyal following quickly came to Michele and Bob Sayetta, who packed up six years ago and moved from Minnesota to a small coastal town in Oregon. Starting in 2002, the Husband and Wife team changed how people viewed cross stitch. They began by creating the most stunning hand dyed fabric to be used for stitching. Michele’s talent for color came naturally to the Californian-born computer programmer. This was the beginning of Heaven and Earth Designs. They then moved onto converting famous artwork into cross stitch charts by artists all over the world. Adding to these works of art, Michele and Bob also hand craft many coveted stitching tools. As well, they also feature beautiful linens and cloths from well-known manufacturers such as ZWEIGART, as well as stitching floss from DMC, direct from France. Heaven and Earth Designs has a small dedicated team that send out hundreds of the now famous “purple package” to fulfill orders that range from a chart to fabric, floss and tools. The Heaven and Earth Designs Convention also features artists whose stunning pieces have been transformed into cross stitching charts. Returning for her third year, artist Aimee Stewart says, “If a unicorn wearing roller skates and juggling polka dot lemurs streaked by just now singing the Macarena at the top of its lungs... it STILL wouldn’t be as fun as HAEDCon!” Also joining Aimee this year are returning artists - Hannah Lynn Disney, Rob and Jean Carlos, Jeff Haynie, and, for the first time, we welcome artists Randal Spangler and Joan Marie. Stitchers are enthusiastic to arrive, with one stitcher saying they, “Feel like they are attending the ‘Oscars’ of Cross Stitching. The Countdown to HAEDcon is on. Heaven and Earth Designs Convention 16 - 19th August 2018 • Seaside Convention Center Visitors Welcome • Day Passes for Artists and Product Once registration is over for registered customers entrance will only be permitted for walk ins by calling 503-440-0924 to be met at the front desk www.heavenandearthdesigns.com
