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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 2018)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 Brownsmead Peeing in public a crime? Not man sentenced under state law, appeals court says for sexually Conduct is abusing teenager prohibited in Astoria destroyed me,” he said. “My chest looks like an overused cutting board, and right now I’m actually so anxious I can’t even feel my toes.” Several students have By JACK HEFFERNAN approached him at school to The Daily Astorian ask about the incident, the boy said. Some thanked him, A Brownsmead man was saying they were sexually sentenced Thursday to more abused by Smith, as well. than six years in prison for “I’m not the first, but I sexually abusing a teenage really do hope I’m the last,” boy in 2017. he said. “I hope you die in Greg Howard Smith, 52, there.” was sentenced after plead- The victim’s mother also ing guilty to first-degree sex spoke, saying the sentence abuse. He origi- “does not come nally faced three anywhere near” to counts of first-de- being fair. gree sodomy, “You, Greg first-degree sexual Smith, are the type penetration with of person I have a foreign object, taught my chil- dren not to be. On luring a minor, numerous occa- delivery of a con- trolled substance Greg Howard sions, you, Greg Smith to a minor and fur- Smith, have chosen nishing alcohol to to do wrong toward a person under 21 before others, especially innocent reaching a plea deal with children,” she said. “This the Clatsop County District time, the child you hurt was Attorney’s Office. my son.” The victim had long She added that, since the been friends with Smith’s incident, she has repeatedly son. Eventually, he also blamed herself. “But I know befriended Smith, often in this situation I was not talking about drugs with him to blame. You, Greg Smith, on Facebook. were the one who did wrong The teen was given whis- and no one else. In the end, key, marijuana and anxi- I want you to know that you ety medication one night did not break us.” when he was visiting Smith Smith was sentenced on Fish Lane, Chief Dep- to six years in prison in uty District Attorney Ron Columbia County in 2006 Brown said. He also con- after being convicted of sumed methamphetamine, first-degree sex abuse and which the boy confused with second-degree sodomy. A a lesser drug. third-degree rape charge in Smith, also known as Clatsop County that same Greg Tyrone Jesus, then sex- year was dismissed. ually abused the boy in a In his first court appear- camp trailer on the property. ance in the recent case, When the boy returned home Smith used a profanity to a full day after the incident, liken the charges against the boy’s mother took him him to bull feces. Smith to Columbia Memorial Hos- declined to give a statement pital in Astoria after she Thursday. noticed that he was highly After issuing the sen- intoxicated. When talking tence, Judge Dawn McIn- to police at the hospital, the tosh called Smith a preda- boy, who had panic attacks tor. “I think you are likely throughout the day, said he to do this again if given the regretted putting himself in opportunity. My goal will be to make sure you don’t have that situation. “He basically spent the that opportunity,” McIn- whole next day freaking out tosh said. “I could sit here over the whole thing but and give you a long lecture, having no means of trans- but I’ve spent a lot of years portation so as to be rescued dealing with people like until he eventually got home you, and the reality is the 24 hours after it happened,” chances of anything chang- ing who you are or your Brown said. Investigators found behavior are slim to none. Smith’s DNA on the boy. He The best thing we can do is was arrested the day after lock you up for a while and the boy was taken to the then watch you real closely hospital. when you’re out on post- At Thursday’s hearing in prison supervision.” Circuit Court, the boy said The judge then turned Smith approached him the toward the victim. night of the incident with “I will tell you, it was an a grenade and asked if he incredibly brave thing you wanted him to pull it. The did following through with boy said he almost gave this,” McIntosh said. “You the nod, adding he has tried stood up for what was right, to kill himself on several and you stood up in a man- ner that probably has saved occasions. “What Greg did to me, it some other children.” Smith gets more than six years in prison By AIMEE GREEN The Oregonian The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday threw out the misdemeanor convic- tion of a man caught peeing next to a building in downtown Portland, saying he was prose- cuted under a frequently used state law that shouldn’t apply to public urination. The ruling could have a sweeping effect by prevent- ing district attorney’s offices across the state from using Oregon’s offensive littering law to charge people who uri- nate in public spaces. It appears people now can legally relieve themselves where they want — unless they step foot into the city lim- its of municipalities that out- law public urination with their own local ordinances. Portland has several laws that could apply but they weren’t used in the case reviewed by the appeals court. Public urination is a wide- spread livability issue no mat- ter the size of the city. In 2016, Newport police put out a warn- ing on Facebook, reminding people: “It is illegal to empty your bladder in an area that is not specifically designated for such activity.” The post sug- gests that people “invest in adult diapers” if they don’t think they can abide by the rules. In 2011, the Portland Water Bureau drained 7.8 million gallons from a Mount Tabor reservoir after a 21-year-old man urinated into it. Wednesday’s ruling was based on an appeal by 36-year- old Ryan Charles Corcilius, who had just pulled into down- town Portland after driving up from California in 2015 as part of a cross-country road trip, according to the appeals court summary of the case. “By the time he got to Port- land and parked, it was already an ‘emergency’ for him to use a restroom,” the appeals court wrote. Corcilius asked a gas sta- tion attendant to use the bath- room but was told it wasn’t open to the public. He then went into a Subway sandwich shop and was told the restroom was for paying customers only and he’d have to wait in a long line to make a purchase first, the summary states. “He began to panic because of the intense pressure of hav- ing to urinate,” the appeals court wrote. “He found a spot that he believed was secluded and urinated on the side of a building.” A private security guard hired by local businesses to enforce livability laws spotted Corcilius and called police, who cited Corcilius for mis- demeanor offensive littering. Corcilius couldn’t be reached for comment. Defense attorney Joseph DeBin argued that Corci- lius couldn’t be convicted of offensive littering because it outlaws “discarding or depos- iting any rubbish, trash, gar- bage, debris or other refuse” on public property or other people’s properties, but it doesn’t specifically outlaw urine. Legislators would have written “urine” into the law if they had wanted to include it, DeBin said. Multnomah County Cir- cuit Judge Stephen Bushong disagreed and declined to dis- miss the case before trial. A jury found Corcilius guilty. The appeals court reversed his conviction. In a majority opinion, the court wrote that urine isn’t specifically men- tioned in the state’s offensive littering law. What’s more, it’s not “discarded” or “depos- ited” from the body, the rul- ing said. “One discharges urine, rather than discarding it,” it said. Brent Weisberg, a spokes- man for the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Cannon Beach selects a new community development director Adams to replace Barnes By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian CANNON BEACH — Cannon Beach has a new com- munity development director. Jeffrey Adams, of Bryan County, Georgia, will fill the shoes of City Planner Mark Barnes, who plans to retire by the end of October after five years with the city. While the title is new, the position remains largely the same, which is to oversee develop- ment and code enforcement. He will start by Oct. 15. Adams has about 20 years of planning experience, most recently working as planning and zoning direc- Jeffrey tor for Bryan Adams County and as a community development director of St. Marys, Geor- gia. In these positions, he led the city’s first comprehensive planning project and served as project manager for the disas- ter recovery efforts through Hurricane Matthew and Hurri- cane Irma. He started his career as a research assistant for the U.S Army Corps of Engineers before moving to work as a planner for Flint Hills, Kansas, and Blaine County, Idaho. Adams holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in land- scape architecture from the University of Georgia and the University of Illinois. He also holds a doctorate in philoso- phy and social theory from the University of London. Adams was chosen out of five candidates, City Manager Bruce St. Denis said. “We found Jeff to be bright and that he has an excellent grasp of planning principles,” St. Denis said. “He was per- sonable, loved the town and is excited about moving here.” Feds close off wilderness after cougar kills hiker Associated Press SANDY — The U.S. For- est Service has closed a vast swath of the Oregon wilder- ness to the public as authori- ties search rugged terrain for a cougar that killed a hiker. KGW-TV reported Thurs- day that nearly 47 square miles and 14 trails in the Hunchback Mountain area could remain closed for at least 30 days. There was no sign of the cougar in the first full day of searching Thursday. Diana Bober is the first per- son known to have been killed by a cougar in the wild in Ore- gon, and the second in the Pacific Northwest this year. The 55-year-old avid hiker WANTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA from Gresham was reported missing on Sept. 7. Bober’s sister says she had defensive wounds and fought the cougar with a stick, repel- lant and a sharp object. Office, said his office knows of no other state law they could use to prosecute urinat- ing in public. The Legislature could take action to expand the offensive littering law by adding that it applies to public urination. In a survey of the state’s larger cities, many have ordi- nances that prohibit public urination to some extent — including Portland, Gresham, Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Bend, Eugene and Salem. Many don’t criminalize the act, but do impose fines. In Astoria, public urination is prohibited as offensive pub- lic conduct. Under Portland city code, people who urinate in public could conceivably be prose- cuted for misdemeanor inde- cent exposure — if members of the opposite sex could see their genitalia at the time. Otherwise, city code for- bids urinating in any park or “pedestrian plaza” — pun- ishable with a fine but no criminal conviction. But it’s unclear if a “pedestrian plaza” covers all sidewalks, parking lots and other areas visible to the public within the city. A three-judge panel made the appeals ruling. Judges Darleen Ortega and David Schuman formed the major- ity and Judge Erika Hadlock dissented. SUB-BIDS REQUESTED Seaside School District New Middle/High Schools Seaside, Oregon Bid Package: #4 All Other Work Pre-Bid Meeting: Sept 18 th , 2018 1:00 pm in Seaside Bids Due: Oct 4 th , 2018 2:00 pm Bid Documents: www.hoffmancorp.com/ subcontractors 805 SW Broadway, Suite 2100 Portland, OR 97205 Phone (503) 221-8811 Bid Fax (503) 221-8888 BIDS@hoffmancorp.com Hoffman is an equal opportunity employer and requests sub-bids from all interested firms including disadvantaged, minority, women, disabled veterans and emerging small-business enterprises OR CCB#28417/LIC HOFFMCC164NC Fre e Est Fast ima tes Call me ti Any Jeff Hale Painting • • • • Residential Commercial Cedar Roof Treatments Exterior Repaint Specialist Over 25 years local experience Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 503-440-2169 Olney Grange OPEN HOUSE BEEF BAR-B-QUE Jeff Hale, Contractor LICENSED BONDED INSURED CCB#179131 Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018 • 12:30 - 5:00 p.m. Adults $ 14 00 • Children under 10 $ 8 00 Beef $ 8.50/lb. Highway 202, Astoria • Public Welcome Please Adopt a Pet! We warmly invite all in the community to the OPEN HOUSE of our newly renovated Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses at 1760 7th St., Astoria, Oregon, being held on Saturday, September 15th, between 10:00am ad 4:00pm. BELLE Is a senior medium hair blue-grey female. Softly beautiful, kindly and affectionate, this lovely creature is the sum of all comforts. 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 Thank you for excellent customer service: Steve Ackley, Builder Trask Bergerson, Bergerson Tile BanJoe Corder, Corder Drywall •From The Bruces The building was recently renovated with all volunteer labor and donations. Most of the volunteers came from other Kingdom Halls throughout the northwest, but some even traveled across the country to help get the project completed. There are no meetings scheduled during this open house, but we invite you to tour our new place of worship. There will be refreshments provided. We also invite you to visit our website: www.jw.org. In doing so, you will find that the Jehovah’s Witnesses long for a time when all of mankind’s troubles will be a thing of the past and we can live together in unity!
