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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 2018)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2018 Scammers: Elderly people are the most vulnerable to scams Planners: Opinions mixed about establishing a limitation zone in Astoria’s Urban Core Continued from Page 1A With consultant Matt Hastie providing ideas and suggestions, Tuesday’s work session focused on form: What the city wants to allow in terms of the size and scale of new development versus what is allowed now. A work session in November will focus on what’s inside of the buildings. A third work session will begin to establish what these build- ings look like — the skin, said City Manager Brett Estes. In general, the majority of plan- ning commissioners were in favor of shorter buildings, greater space between new buildings and the Astoria Riverwalk, new buildings that feature setbacks and stepbacks to open up views, as well as pub- lic piers alongside new buildings to give people access to the river. There were mixed opinions about whether the city should estab- lish a limitation zone in the Urban Core. The zone would prohibit any kind of development over the water in lots that are already free, or mostly free, of development. Com- missioner Daryl Moore was not in favor of this proposal, saying he would instead support a uniform set of codes to manage development of the over-water lots. Several of the commission- ers said they would prefer no new development over the water, but were not opposed to denser devel- opment on shore. The Planning Commission found it to be tricky work as they juggled comments from the com- munity with the guidance already laid out in the Riverfront Vision Plan. “You have latitude,” Estes said. “Actually, right now, you have the most latitude of any group. Ulti- mately the City Council is going to make the decision, but the City Council relies on you as the appointed representatives to do the heavy lifting and to do the inter- pretation, to make the connections. That, if there are areas you feel Continued from Page 1A ‘Head game’ In December, a caller told an Astoria doctor that Circuit Court Judge Paula Brown- hill had issued two warrants for his arrest after suppos- edly missing jury duty. To get rid of the warrants, the caller told the man to go to Rite Aid and put $1,200 on two Green Dot cards. The doctor said the scam- mer was convincing and seemed to know what he was talking about, according to a police report. The scammer, for example, provided the correct address to the sher- iff’s office in Warrenton, when the doctor thought the office was still in Astoria. The doctor initially said he would find a way to trans- fer the money. “When you get a pan- icked phone call from some- body whose credentials appear to match up with a so-called law enforce- ment agency, next thing you know they’ve got you in a panic and you’re, maybe, not thinking as clearly as you would if you’re not in an emotional state,” Dersham said. Meanwhile, the scam- mer demanded that the doc- tor keep in contact every five to seven minutes. “They don’t want you having a conversation with somebody outside of that phone party because that’s going to give an opportunity for clarity,” Dersham said. “It’s all a head game.” When calling back, the doctor asked the scammer to identify the county sher- iff. The man gave the wrong name and hung up as the doc- tor questioned him further. Minutes later, the scam- mer called back to identify Sheriff Tom Bergin, claim- ing that he was momentar- ily confused during the doc- tor’s questioning. A sheriff’s deputy later confirmed to the doctor that the calls were a fraud. should have reduced heights, that you make the connection and you state why.” Residents who spoke at the meeting continued to urge the Plan- ning Commission to preserve the city’s river views with careful, thoughtful development. The Riverfront Vision Plan gives the commissioners some really con- flicting guidelines, said Commis- sioner Jennifer Cameron-Lattek, who was in favor of a limitation zone and denser development on shore. “It also, I think, gives us a real- istic impression of what it is like to try to figure out what we want our city to be,” she added. “We do have conflicting issues. We don’t want things to change, but we want jobs and we want the kind of jobs we used to have, but we don’t want the environmental impacts that come with that. “I think it is realistic and it also gives us opportunities to make compromises.” The Urban Core in Astoria includes the riverfront from Second Street to 16th Street. Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Kitzhaber: ‘Gillnets ... snare and kill the wild endangered salmon’ Continued from Page 1A feature people like Larry Cas- sidy, who has been president of the Northwest Steelheaders, a sport fishing group. He has tes- tified in favor of the Kitzhaber plan to replace gillnets with seine nets and he questioned the results of studies on seine nets that concluded mortal- ity rates were far higher than expected with the gear. The website declares, “Gill- nets are nonselective killers. Keep gillnets off the lower Columbia,” with the words superimposed over a video loop showing salmon being fished with gillnets, suspended in nets, swimming freely and leaping up waterfalls. “It’s very important for Ore- gon and Washington to main- tain this compromise that pro- tects the wild salmon runs in the main stem of the Columbia River, while still allowing the use of gillnets in off-channel areas to harvest hatchery fish,” Kitzhaber said in a statement. “Gillnets are an indiscrimi- nate tool for harvesting fish — they snare and kill the wild and endangered salmon we are try- ing to protect, as well as other river wildlife.” Jim Wells, a gillnetter and president of the commer- cial fishing advocacy group, Salmon For All, isn’t buying it. Washington state has not managed to open a select area for gillnet fishermen or find a suitable alternative to gillnets. Overall, the commercial fish- ery saw a decrease in what fishermen got for their catch, noted a document prepared by staff to assist the Washington fish and wildlife commission- ers in evaluating the policy at a meeting this month. The expected large eco- nomic benefits from the pol- icy shift have not materialized for commercial or recreational fishing. In fact, the recreational fisheries have only seen “mar- ginal benefits” with changes to the percentage of salmon runs they are allocated. “The expec- tations in the development of the policy were not met,” staff concluded. Oregon and Washington agreed to begin the reform pol- icy in 2013, but have diverged at times in the years since the plan was adopted. Last year, Oregon considered allowing gillnetters time on the river, a direction contrary to the orig- inal plan to phase gillnets off the main stem by 2017. Under pressure from Brown, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission backed down. However, when the commission met in Clatsop County earlier this year, com- missioners spoke in support of gillnetters. Last year, Oregon fishery staff reported similar findings about the economic success of the policy as Wash- ington’s fishery staff. “We could see (the pol- icy) wasn’t performing as it was originally intended,” said Tucker Jones, ocean salmon Columbia River program man- ager for the Oregon Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife. In response, the commis- sion approved additional smolt releases to increase production in certain commercial fishing areas in the long term, among other measures. The summary from Wash- ington’s fishery managers says Shelters: ‘If we had the people power to continue it we would’ Continued from Page 1A When the shelter program ran all week, people were more likely to utilize the help because they wouldn’t need to worry about losing a space outdoors or their belongings, said Pastor Dawna Svaren, the chairwoman for the non- profit. Often, people brought everything they owned to the shelters. The shelter program took multiple volunteers to coordi- nate and to handle overnight shifts. Finding volunteers will- ing and able to make the time commitment was a challenge. “We’re trying to decide how can we use that volunteer power to help a greater popula- tion here,” Svaren said. “If we had the people power to con- tinue it we would.” About 17 percent of Pacific County’s population lives below the poverty line, accord- ing to the Pacific County Eco- nomic Development Council. Peninsula Poverty Response is working on cre- ating a complete document of local resources by Novem- ber. The nonprofit is also in the process of starting a newsletter titled “Hand in Hand.” “We’ve appreciated those who have offered their time, talent and financial support,” Svaren said. “We hope to con- tinue as partners with them to serve those experiencing homelessness and unstable liv- ing conditions.” “the plan’s not working,” Wells said. “It’s not working for the sport fishermen, it’s not work- ing for the commercial guys. … The select (areas) aren’t working, target gears aren’t working. “With all that,” Wells con- cluded, “Kitzhaber can say what he wants.” Kitzhaber’s stance on gill- netting came with a politi- cal price in Clatsop County. Kitzhaber had won the county in his three previous cam- paigns for governor, but nar- rowly lost during his re-elec- tion campaign in 2014. Kitzhaber resigned in 2015 amid an ethics scandal involving his fiancee. He was replaced by Brown, who chose to continue with the reform policy. Elderly are vulnerable Typically, elderly people are the most vulnerable to scams. “If you grew up in an age where computers were a part of your world from the beginning, you’re going to be much less suscepti- ble to this kind of stuff,” Dersham said. “They came from a generation where if somebody told you some- thing, there was often a rea- son to believe it, and now we find ourselves in a much more skeptical culture out of necessity.” One of the more danger- ous crimes to surface lately is online dating scams. Between December and July, victims lost more than $300,000 on this hoax alone, Dersham said. Scammers often pose as people looking for roman- tic relationships and build up trust with victims over a long period of time before inevi- tably “needing” large sums of money for specific rea- sons such as an arrest. “The scary ones are the ones where, once they’ve developed a relationship or a rapport with their victim and they’re able to string it out over a number of months,” Dersham said. “They believe it and they’re not willing to give up on the dream, and they’re losing money while doing it.” Investigating scams is becoming even more tricky as technological develop- ments allow scammers to conceal their identities. Software can be used to emit a fake phone number with a local area code — even with a local govern- ment agency’s phone num- ber. It allows scammers to call from anywhere in the world. “Depending on when it is or where it is, it can be dif- ficult to investigate,” Asto- ria Police Deputy Chief Eric Halverson said. “Some of that stuff is happening out- side the county, and dealing with that is difficult.” Scammers tend to guide victims toward prepaid debit cards found in grocery stores, such as Green Dot cards, for payment because informa- tion can be swiftly and easily erased once a money transfer is complete. “This is becoming the currency of the criminal ele- ment,” Dersham said. “It makes tracing the money extremely difficult.” Embarrassment Due to embarrassment, victims can also be shy about reporting times they’ve been shammed. “It’s to the point that, when people call in, I take note of what scam was attempted,” Dersham said. “I’ve triaged my cases to work on those with an actual financial loss or with trace- able information.” Some scammers have been caught. Police arrested Kesha Ivett Mena, 32, earlier this year in Florida after she allegedly stole tens of thou- sands of dollars from an elderly man in Clatsop County. Mark Raymond Oman, 33, of Long Beach, Washington, was indicted by the U.S. Department of Jus- tice this year for his alleged role in a Costa Rica-based telemarketing scheme. Even then, though, fac- tors like witness memory and lack of concrete evidence can hamper prosecution. “By the time you get to where you have a suspect in this and you have followed the money and you have pulled it out, it gets really complicated really fast,” Dersham said. If someone suspects they are being scammed, it’s best to call the sheriff’s office or police department before handing over money, Der- sham said. Otherwise, “by the time it gets to my desk, it’s too late.” j oan h erman for astoria city council ward 3 T ell m e y our C onCerns & i deas october Tuesdays @ Blue Scorcher 1493 Duane 2-3pm Thursdays (11th, 25th) @ Peter Pan Market 712 Niagara 5-6pm Saturday 27th @ Street 14 Cafe 1410 Commercial 2-3pm november november new date Saturday 3rd @ Street Cafe Friday 2nd @ Street 14 14 Cafe 1410 Commercial Commercial 2-3pm 2-3pm 1410 P reserve H istoric A storia u S upport L ocal B usiness u A dvocate for A ffordable H ousing v alues v ision v itality u Joan for City Council, PO Box 946, Astoria 97103 u joan4ward3@gmail.com u
