DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2019
146TH YEAR, NO. 136
ONE DOLLAR
Hammond
fisherman
sentenced
for sex abuse
Sturgell gets more than
13 years of prison time
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The new mayor of Astoria, Bruce Jones, shakes hands with former Mayor Arline LaMear after taking the oath of office.
NEW CITY COUNCIL
TAKES OVER IN ASTORIA
Jones sworn in as mayor; West appointed
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
s newly sworn-in Astoria
Mayor Bruce Jones handed
former Mayor Arline LaMear
the bronze nameplate that used to
mark her central seat at City Hall, he
paused and set it back in front of his
own name.
“It’s not too late,” Jones joked.
“Oh yes it is,” LaMear said. “I am
now sleeping through the night.”
LaMear administered the oath
of office to Jones and two new city
councilors on Monday night. Roger
Rocka, a former Astoria-Warrenton
Area Chamber of Commerce director,
replaces Zetty Nemlowill in the south
side’s Ward 1, while Joan Herman, a
radio programmer and former Plan-
ning Commissioner, replaces Cindy
Price in downtown’s Ward 3.
Several hours later, the new coun-
cil unanimously appointed Jessamyn
Grace West, the executive director of
the nonprofit Astoria Arts and Move-
ment Center in the historic Odd Fel-
lows building downtown, to fill Jones’
vacated east side Ward 4 seat.
City councilors had considered four
applicants, including Kevin Leahy, the
executive director of Clatsop Eco-
nomic Development Resources.
West, 42, is part of a demographic
that rarely gets represented on the
City Council, Councilor Tom Brown-
son said: People in their 30s and 40s,
working in the city.
Councilors noted her involvement
in the arts community, her relative
youth, her work with nonprofits and
A
Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian
Jessamyn Grace West, left, is sworn in
as city councilor by Mayor Bruce Jones.
‘NOT TO PICK
ON YOU GUYS,
BUT I SEE FOUR
GUYS WITH
GRAY BEARDS.
… I THINK THERE
NEEDS TO BE
A WOMAN,
ANOTHER WOMAN
ON THE COUNCIL.’
Chris Farrar | Ward 4 resident
her connections with the Hispanic and
LGBTQ communities.
And, as Ward 4 resident Chris Far-
rar noted, “Not to pick on you guys,
but I see four guys with gray beards.
… I think there needs to be a woman,
another woman on the council.”
LaMear, Nemlowill and Price
formed the first female majority on
the City Council in Astoria’s history.
But they opted not to run for re-elec-
tion last year. Price announced a bid
for mayor but withdrew from the race
for family reasons.
Jones had favored Leahy for the
appointment in Ward 4, saying Leahy
was poised to address issues like hous-
ing and job growth. But he decided to
vote with the majority and welcome
West.
Though both Leahy and West
received vocal support from people
across the city, a handful of Ward 4
residents specifically spoke in favor of
West.
“It still seems like a dream right
now,” West said. “I’m just excited.
I’m ready to get to work. … I think the
people that spoke on my behalf, they
know if I do something, I give it 100
percent.”
Clifford Hunter-Gammon, a soft-
ware support manager, and Pamela
Mattson McDonald, a writer and
researcher, also applied for the seat.
“I think we have a clear win-
ner tonight,” Planning Commis-
sioner Daryl Moore told city council-
ors before West’s appointment. “And
that’s Ward 4 and the city of Astoria.”
A well-known Hammond fisherman
was sentenced Monday to more than 13
years in prison for sex abuse against a
young woman in 2015 and later bribing
and threatening her.
Dennis Lee Sturgell, 66, was con-
victed in November of
four counts of first-de-
gree sodomy, two counts
of first-degree unlawful
sexual penetration and
one count of second-de-
gree sex abuse after jurors
found that the woman did
Dennis Lee
not or was unable to give
Sturgell
consent.
Sturgell and the woman
drank together at a Warrenton bar before
the crimes took place. Described as “black-
out drunk,” the woman left the bar and got
into Sturgell’s truck.
Sturgell drove her across the Astoria
Bridge to his wooded property in Naselle,
Washington, and provided her with
cocaine. Sturgell engaged in sex acts with
the woman at the property and, later in the
night, an Astoria hotel room.
In a statement in Circuit Court on Mon-
day, the woman said Sturgell is a predator
and psychopath.
“The term ‘monster’ doesn’t seem to do
you justice,” she said.
See Sturgell, Page A5
Tensions
flare over
hotel project
Committee member
confronted by mayor
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
A member of the Design Review
Committee who twice voted against a
waterfront hotel project in Astoria refuted
claims Monday that she acted unprofes-
sionally when she testified against the
project at a hearing last month.
Sarah Jane Bardy said she received a
closed-door reprimand from new Mayor
Bruce Jones for her public comments
against the Marriott-brand Fairfield Inn
and Suites. The project, a four-story,
60-plus room hotel at the base of Second
Street, faced community pushback, but
overcame multiple denials by city boards
to win a City Council appeal.
Jones replied that he wanted to con-
front Bardy face to face about behavior
he believes was unacceptable for a repre-
sentative of the city.
Bardy, who had applied for an open
position on the Planning Commission,
assumed Jones wanted to talk to her
See Council, Page A7
See Hotel, Page A5
Port of Astoria approached about air taxi service
Like Uber, but
at the airport
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Port of Astoria has
been approached about an
air taxi service at the Asto-
ria Regional Airport.
The Oregon Aviation
Industries Cluster Group, an
association focused on avia-
tion-based economic devel-
opment, is applying for a
grant to explore air taxi ser-
vice around the state. The
association is trying to part-
ner with airports in Astoria,
John Day and Newport to
start the service.
The concept would
involve planes ready to
fly people upon request.
The model has been used
in other regions, such as
Blackbird Air’s on-demand
flights throughout Southern
California.
Gale Jacobs, director of
the association, admits air
taxi service is a new con-
cept without much traction
or demand. “But if smaller
airplanes can be subsidized
to fly people like Uber,
there may be something
workable,” he said.
Rides would be subsi-
dized by a 2 cents per gallon
aviation fuel tax approved
by the state Legislature in
2015, a quarter of which is
targeted for air service in
rural Oregon. The associ-
ation’s grant request to the
Oregon Department of Avi-
ation’s Rural Oregon Air-
port Relief Program can ask
for up to $500,000 at a time,
Jacobs said.
Only Portland, Eugene,
Redmond and Medford
have scheduled air service.
Pendleton has a commuter
connection to Portland.
See Port, Page A7
EO Media Group
Passengers board a SeaPort Airlines flight to Portland in 2014
at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton. SeaPort
Airlines operated a passenger service at Astoria Regional
Airport, but left when state subsidies dried up.