WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2019
146TH YEAR, NO. 159
ONE DOLLAR
BARELY BREATHING
Phillips
resigns from
Seaside
school board
Couple paid settlement
over Miss Oregon
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Steve Phillips, the president of the Sea-
side School District’s board, resigned at a
special board meeting Thursday night.
Phillips stepped down in the aftermath
of a settlement with the Oregon Depart-
ment of Justice over the roles of he and
his wife, Dana, with the Miss Oregon
pageant.
The state alleged the couple engaged
in unlawful trade practices in conjunction
with the Miss Oregon Scholarship Pro-
gram and Oregon Scholarship Founda-
tion. They agreed to pay $150,000 to the
Oregon Community Foundation for the
Tiffany Phillips Memorial Scholarship
Fund, named for the couple’s 17-year-old
daughter, who died in a 1998 car accident.
Steve Phillips’ resignation was effec-
tive Monday.
See Phillips, Page A7
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Warrenton police officer Robert Wirt on patrol with his dog during a Fourth of July parade in 2017.
Warrenton police use overdose kit to revive man
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
W
ARRENTON — When War-
renton police officer Robert
Wirt responded to a possible
drug overdose outside the Mini Mart
in late January, he saw a man laying on
the ground, with the only sign of life his
slow and shallow breaths.
If this had happened a little over a
year ago, Wirt would have had to wait
for a medic or firefighter to apply Nar-
can, a nasal spray that can reverse opi-
oid overdoses.
But Wirt was able to grab his over-
dose kit and administer it himself. Two
doses later, the 35-year-old man was
revived.
The intervention marked the first use
of Narcan by a Warrenton police offi-
cer since the department started carry-
ing the medication.
At the time, Wirt wasn’t thinking
about being the first of anything.
“To me, honestly, I was thinking this
could be someone’s son, somebody’s
Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian
See Kit, Page A7
Warrenton Police Chief Mathew Workman displays the Narcan spray officers use in
overdose cases.
Sen. Wyden
reintroduces
craft alcohol
support bill
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
‘TO ME, HONESTLY, I WAS THINKING THIS COULD BE SOMEONE’S SON, SOME-
BODY’S DAD, SOMEBODY’S BROTHER. AND THEN THE TRAINING JUST KICKED IN.’
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Sen.
Roy Blunt have reintroduced legislation
to cut taxes and regulatory hurdles for
craft brewers, cider makers, vintners and
distillers.
The Craft Beverage Modernization
and Tax Reform Act was first introduced
in 2015 and again in 2017. Many of its
provisions were included in the Tax Cuts
and Jobs Act of 2017, but are set to expire
at the end of the year.
“People around the world enjoy Ore-
gon wine, craft beer, cider and spirits—
providing not only a serious source of
home state pride but also a huge boon to
our state’s economy,” Wyden, an Oregon
Democrat, said in a news release. “By
modernizing burdensome rules and taxes
for craft beverage producers, this legisla-
tion will level the playing field and allow
these innovators to further grow and
thrive.”
For brewers and cider makers that pro-
duce less than 2 million barrels annually,
Robert Wirt, Warrenton police officer
See Wyden, Page A7
Vintage market to open in Astoria
A remodeled
space downtown
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The former Sears in
downtown Astoria will open
next month as Reclamation
Marketplace, a collection of
artisans, antique dealers and
vintage restorers.
Michelle Liotta, who
with her husband, Marcus,
has been fixing up the for-
mer Mary and Nelly Fla-
vel Building at Ninth and
Exchange streets since buy-
ing it in 2016, has already
assembled 18 vendors to
populate the space, opening
March 1.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Michelle Liotta, left, speaks with a new tenant, Jenny Tovold,
as she was moving into the new space.
Reclamation
Market-
place adds to a growing list
of indoor mall-like shop-
ping experiences downtown,
including Phog Bounders
Antique Mall and Astoria
Court in the former Abeco
Office Systems building. As
Liotta sees it, the more the
merrier.
“Once you go to one,
you want to go to more,
and they all have different
things,” she said. “And the
fact that we filled up quite
quickly and have a wait-
list just proves that there is
a place for this. Everyone’s
going to get vendors, I think.
I feel like there’s a want for
this type of thing.”
Since losing Sears, the
large storefront at 936 Com-
mercial St. had sat vacant
and in increasing disre-
pair. The space was marked
by historical photos of the
mothball fleet at North
Tongue Point posted on
MULTI؏STATE
CONCEALED CARRY
PERMIT CLASS
windows as a decoration to
passers-by.
After purchasing the
building, the Liottas sta-
bilized
the
foundation
with anchors drilled into
the ground, restored the
brick veneer and terra cotta
facade, replaced broken sec-
tions of sidewalk in front
and uncovered the original
transom windows.
Inside, Liotta cleaned out
the detritus of the former
department store and fin-
ished the space with foggy
field green walls, eggshell
white pillars and the restored
original wood floors. On a
mezzanine overlooking the
space, light-bulbed marquee
See Market, Page A7
2/18/19 | 6pm
Best Western
555 Hamburg Ave
Astoria
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