DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019
146TH YEAR, NO. 147
NEW DISTRICT ATTORNEY TAKES OVER
Brown looks to
improve, not change
ONE DOLLAR
Lektro
sold to
Chicago
company
Purchased by JBT Corp.
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — Lektro Inc., the
local electric airplane tug manufacturer,
will be acquired by Chicago-based food
processing and airport equipment com-
pany JBT Corp.
The transaction is expected to close
during the fi rst quarter of this year. The
purchase price will be $48 million before
customary post-closing adjustments,
according to JBT.
“We are excited to be
part of JBT,” Eric Paul-
son, the owner of Lektro,
said in a news release.
“Together our companies
will provide customers a
global sales and support Eric Paulson
presence, a much broader
portfolio of products and services, and
deeper engineering capabilities for future
product development.”
Paulson, who will remain as general
manager after the acquisition is fi nalized,
is a second-generation owner of Lektro.
See Lektro, Page A7
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Clatsop County District Attorney Ron Brown prepares for court.
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
R
on Brown, Clatsop C ounty’s
fi rst new d istrict a ttorney in 25
years , doesn’t plan on chang-
ing much.
Brown, who served as the chief
deputy for 15 years, won election in
May and was sworn in earlier this
month. He replaces Josh Marquis,
who retired .
Brown said he has confi dence in
his s taff and local law enforcement .
He’s comfortable with the direction
of the offi ce because, as chief deputy ,
he played an integral role in shaping
policies and procedures.
“I’m not trying to change anything
Josh was doing,” he said. “Just do a lit-
tle better.”
His goals largely align with his
predecessor, as the two have similar
views on how to prosecute crime and
work with victims.
The biggest differences , Brown
said, will mostly come down to per-
sonality and presentation.
“We’re totally different people.
People were kind of surprised we got
along as well as we did for 15 years
because we’re night and day,” he said.
Marquis was known for his vocal
role on state and national issues, espe-
cially his advocacy for the death pen-
alty and for Measure 11, the state ballot
measure that set mandatory minimum
prison sentences for violent crime .
Astoria waives
water, sewer
fees during
shutdown
A break for federal
government workers
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
District Attorney Ron Brown looks over documents during an arraignment.
‘WE’RE TOTALLY DIFFERENT
PEOPLE. PEOPLE WERE KIND OF
SURPRISED WE GOT ALONG AS WELL
AS WE DID FOR 15 YEARS BECAUSE
WE’RE NIGHT AND DAY.’
Ron Brown | Clatsop County district attorney,
speaking about his predecessor Josh Marquis
See Brown, Page A7
Federal workers who live in Astoria
and are not receiving paychecks during
the government shutdown will get a break
on their water and sewer bills.
The Astoria City Council voted unan-
imously Tuesday to offer a temporary
waiver . The program waives penalties,
fees and deferred payments during the
shutdown.
“This is an easy decision for us to
make,” City Councilor Joan Herman said.
“It relieves a stress on families who are
not receiving paychecks right now.”
People will need to contact the city to
make sure they are eligible and to receive
payment deferral documentation. They
must provide a current bill, identifi cation,
and proof they are employed by the fed-
eral government.
Anyone who receives a waiver will
have to pay the outstanding balance of their
water and sewer bill when the government
shutdown ends.
See Shutdown, Page A7
KKK fl yers pop up downtown
Messages pasted
on storefronts
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Police are investigating a
spate of fl yers recruiting for
the Ku Klux Klan that were
anonymously posted around
downtown Astoria late last
week.
Reports started coming
in Friday of fl yers pasted on
the sides of buildings. They
depict a klansman in full rega-
lia and the message, “The
KKK Wants You!” Along the
bottom are pull tabs with a
hyperlink to a server page
on Discord, a voice and text
chat website and mobile
application.
The server page is called
North West Realm. One of its
administrators,
“ashjoe13,”
wrote on a message board that
“I might be attracted to the
Klan, but I am not looking to
start a chapter of the Klan.”
“We might be racist, but we
are not violent in the least,”
he wrote. “Our goal is to help
the common American man,
and for that, we need him on
our side. We don’t accomplish
this by either killing blacks, or
like antifa, rioting and block-
ing streets.”
The user also criticizes
alternative lifestyles and the
“gay lobby.”
See KKK, Page A7
Flyers with the message ‘The KKK Wants You!’ were found around downtown Astoria.