A7
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019
Brown: Sees
education as
a central goal
of his offi ce
Continued from Page A1
Lektro
Lektro’s electric, towbarless airplane tugs are manufactured in Warrenton and used in more than 90 countries around the world.
Lektro: Is expected to add annual
revenue of around $35 million
Continued from Page A1
The company was founded
by his father, Wilt, as Wil-
lamette Aircraft and Engine
Co. in Beaverton in 1945.
The company moved into
a converted airplane han-
gar at the Astoria Regional
Airport in Warrenton in
1948. It has grown from
manufacturing a variety of
electric vehicles to special-
izing in electric, towbarless
airplane tugs used in more
than 90 countries.
“Lektro’s
reputation
and corporate culture will
mesh well with JBT’s,”
Paulson said in the release.
“We both put the customer
fi rst and we both build
great equipment. With
the leadership at Lektro
remaining unchanged, our
focus on offering great
products and great service
will continue under JBT
ownership.”
JBT Corp. is a publicly
traded company manufac-
turing food processing and
aviation support equip-
ment. Lektro is expected
to add annual revenue of
approximately $35 million.
Shutdown: ‘This is about supporting our community’
Continued from Page A1
The partial shutdown,
now in its 33rd day, has
affected a number of Clat-
sop
County
residents,
including the large contin-
gent of Coast Guard per-
sonnel who live in Asto-
ria and Warrenton. A food
pantry that opened up over
the weekend at the Astoria
Masonic Lodge served more
than 1,300 federal employ-
ees and their families.
The community support
has been overwhelming,
government workers say.
Others in the community
have hosted their own food
drives, while restaurants
and other businesses have
offered discounts or deals.
The Astoria
Parks,
Recreation and Commu-
nity Foundation and the
Parks Department is offer-
ing scholarships to fed-
eral employees for family
fi tness passes, swim les-
sons and other recreational
programs. The passes will
be available on a month-
to-month basis during the
shutdown.
“This is about support-
ing our community,” said
newly hired Parks Director
Tim Williams.
“Part of our mission is to
provide ways to inspire and
bring neighbors and vis-
itors together. This is the
right thing to do for those
that serve our community
and our country by allow-
ing them to de-stress in a
healthy way, and provide
opportunities to enjoy rec-
reational activities with
their family during such a
diffi cult time.”
Federal employees inter-
ested in receiving a schol-
arship can talk with staff at
the Astoria Recreation Cen-
ter or at the Astoria Aquatic
Center. They must fi ll out an
application and show proof
of employment.
KKK: ‘Racism is still alive and well in America’
Continued from Page A1
Eric Halverson, deputy
chief of the Astoria Police
Department, said police are
trying to fi gure out who
posted the messages. B ut
he said that the only crime
committed so far is a vio-
lation of a city ordinance
requiring property owner
permission to post fl yers.
Police spoke with the
Clatsop County District
Attorney’s Offi ce about pos-
sible fi rst- or second-degree
intimidation charges related
to a hate crime, but the fl y-
ers don’t meet the standard,
Halverson said.
“It’s one of these things
that can be a freedom of
speech issue, depending on
what it leads to,” he said.
David McAfee, co-owner
of A Gypsy’s Whimsy
Herbal Apothecary, found
one of the fl yers posted on
his storefront. A child of the
1960s, the fl yer reminded
McAfee of the racism he
witnessed growing up .
“It’s obvious that it’s
still alive,” he said. “Rac-
ism is still alive and well in
America.”
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An estimated 9,600 fed-
eral employees in Oregon
are furloughed or work-
ing without pay. Shutdowns
have happened before, but
this one marks the longest
in U.S. history.
Brown, a self-de-
scribed introvert and lover
of small-town life, intends
to keep his focus local.
“I’m interested in
national issues, but I’m
not really interested in
getting myself involved
with them on a national
level,” Brown said. “It’s
just not my character.”
But the public will see
continuity . Brown, for
example, plans to con-
tinue the offi ce’s com-
mitment
to prosecuting
long-term sex abuse cases
involving children.
While outside the lime-
light, Brown hopes to con-
tinue the offi ce’s legacy of
supporting the death pen-
alty and mandatory min-
imum sentences, issues
he will be monitoring as
changes will likely be dis-
cussed in Salem .
In a lot of ways, Brown
boils his job down to being
“the county hard-ass.”
“We always have to
look at it from the most
conservative position ...
and we’re not necessar-
ily going to stay with the
most conservative posi-
tion,” he said. “We don’t
have to try to get the
death penalty on every-
one who is charged with
an offense that may qual-
ify for the death penalty ...
But we have to take a law
enforcement approach to
things.”
Brown also sees edu-
cation as a central goal
of his offi ce. He hopes to
invest more in preventa-
tive education, whether
that means talking to high
school students about the
consequences of sexting,
making mental health
resources better known,
or informing people about
the signs of a possible
predator.
One issue Brown
believes needs more
attention is the large num-
ber of car crashes in the
county. A recent report
in The Oregonian found
that Clatsop County had
the most drunken-driving
crashes per capita in Ore-
gon from 2013 to 2017 .
Brown believes the
cause is a mixture of high
alcohol abuse rates, nar-
row and winding coastal
roads and overall impa-
tience by drivers . One
of his goals is to create a
major crash team, simi-
lar to the county’s major
crime team, that would
help investigate and
respond to crashes that
involve multiple driv-
ers and shut down the
highway.
At 64 years old,
Brown doesn’t expect an
extended stay as district
attorney . But he hopes to
make things better while
he’s in charge .
“One term in this
offi ce may do me just fi ne
depending on my health
and just how well the
voters like having me be
DA,” he said. “I’m not
trying to create any kind
of big thing here of my
own … (I) just want to
improve upon what we
already have here.”