STORMY
WEATHER
IN THE HARVEST
TIME OF LIFE
INSIDE
WEEKEND BREAK • 1C
146TH YEAR, NO. 80
ONE DOLLAR
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2018
Riverfront hotel planned near downtown
Buoy Beer and
Adrift Hotels
partner on project
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Developers behind Buoy Beer Co.
and the Adrift Hotel want to open a
hotel in a former seafood process-
ing plant on the Columbia River near
downtown Astoria.
The partnership has applied for a
conditional use permit from the city
and the project could go before the
Planning Commission as early as
December. If approved, the hotel may
open sometime late next year.
The project comes at a time when
some residents and political candi-
dates have spoken out against more
hotels along the river. The city is also
Housing,
growth shape
Warrenton
mayor’s race
in the process of drafting land use
standards for the Urban Core between
Second Street and 16th Street, the
final section of the Riverfront Vision
Plan that guides development on the
river.
The hotel — described as a bou-
tique hotel with luxury amenities —
would occupy a long building on
the river next to Buoy Beer between
Developers
are planning
to turn a build-
ing near Buoy
Beer Co. into a
hotel.
Colin Murphey
The Daily Astorian
See HOTEL, Page 6A
‘HE’S GOING TO KILL ME’
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS FACE BARRIERS TO RECOVERY
Balensifer challenged
by Washington
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — Housing, managing
future growth in Warrenton and development
in Hammond top the list for the mayoral can-
didates in Warrenton.
Mayor Henry Balensifer, communica-
tions manager for Lektro Inc., faces chal-
lenger John Washington, a retired automo-
tive technician and commercial truck driver,
in the November election.
Balensifer has served
on both the Planning Com-
mission and the City Com-
mission. He was appointed
as mayor last year to serve
out what remained in former Mayor Mark
Kujala’s term after Kujala stepped down.
Washington is a political newcomer who
was inspired to run by what he believes is a
lack of transparency in city leadership.
Housing has dominated political debates
leading up to the November election, with
many candidates linking an apparent rise in
homelessness with a lack of affordable and
workforce-priced housing.
In Warrenton, preliminary results from
a countywide housing study suggest there
is not a lack of apartments in the city, said
See WARRENTON, Page 6A
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Warrenton Mayor Henry Balensifer, left,
and John Washington take part in a
candidate forum at Astoria High School
in early October.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
A tattoo on Brooke Lilley’s arm has special significance to her as a survivor of domestic violence.
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
CRISIS LINE
S
itting in the driver’s seat of her car,
Brooke Lilley was in a daze as her
2-year-old daughter cried in the back
and an emergency dispatcher repeatedly
asked “Hello?” through her cellphone.
Lilley had pulled off U.S. Highway 101
near Camp Rilea and stopped on Patriot
Lane, upset after her husband called her
yet another derogatory word. After he
was told to get out and walk home, the
man pulled the keys from the ignition and
stepped out as Lilley phoned for help. She
contacted dispatchers as the man reached
through the window, grabbed her neck,
pushed her head against the headrest and
threatened to rip off her face.
“I remember thinking, like, ‘OK, like,
it’s over,’” Lilley said. “‘He’s going to kill
me.’”
• Free 24-hour domestic violence crisis
line: 503-325-5735
Brooke Lilley stretches with the soc-
cer team she coaches in Warrenton.
“It takes a lot of work to get there. It
takes a lot of community support to get
there,” said Ben Bradshaw, the victim’s
services coordinator with the district attor-
ney’s office. “Domestic violence is its own
sticky wicket.”
Fear
Lilley said the 2013 attack was the cli-
max of 2 1/2 years of domestic abuse.
While exact data does not exist, roughly
5 percent of Clatsop County residents seek
domestic violence services each year.
Victims, who are often reluctant to
report abuse, often must clear hurdles to
recovery years after the violence stops.
The average domestic violence victim
is assaulted several times before the abuse
is brought to light.
Fear of retaliation, self-blame, family
pressures and a wariness toward the crim-
inal justice system can all be factors that
See DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, Page 7A
Mayor Barber withdraws from Seaside debate
Decision is
‘ridiculous,’
opponent says
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Mayor Jay
Barber has dropped out of a
debate with his opponent, John
Chapman, that was scheduled
a week before the November
election.
Barber said he accepted
an invitation from the Seaside
Public Safety Association for
a debate at the Bob Chisholm
Community Center on Oct.
Jay
Barber
John
Chapman
29 conditionally upon the
co-sponsorship of the Seaside
Chamber of Commerce. When
the mayor learned that the
chamber pulled out, he decided
not to participate.
Barber sent an email last
week to the public safety asso-
ciation withdrawing from the
event.
A debate puts incumbents in
a “defensive mode,” the mayor
wrote. “Coming just a few days
before the election, most peo-
ple will have already voted
and voters have already had a
good opportunity to contrast
our styles and our leadership. I
don’t need to defend my record
of service on the council and
my two years as mayor. But
that is clearly what the debate
would be.”
Chapman called Barber’s
email “ridiculous.”
“What’s he want to do?”
Chapman asked. “Only accept
accolades? What is he going to
do under pressure? Is he going
to crumble and go hide? That’s
not what a leader of a city does.
If he’s better than me, beat me
in the public view. Prove that
you’re a better leader.”
Barber called Chapman’s
remarks “comments from
somebody who is desperate to
win this role. He doesn’t have
the beginning knowledge of
what it takes to be the mayor of
the city.”
Det. William Barnes, presi-
dent of the public safety asso-
ciation, planned the may-
oral debate earlier this month,
intending to co-sponsor the
event with the chamber.
He and Brian Owen, the
chamber president, “con-
nected and got the ball rolling,”
Barnes said.
Owen set up the debate time
in conjunction with Skyler
Archibald, executive director
of the Sunset Empire Park and
Recreation District, who had
already planned an Oct. 29 pre-
sentation on the rec district’s
bond for a new aquatic facility.
See SEASIDE, Page 6A