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WASHINGTON GOV. INSLEE JOINS DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL FIELD • PAGE A2 WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2019 146TH YEAR, NO. 174 ONE DOLLAR Hammond man convicted of rape Paiz also guilty of other sex crimes By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian Corrine Bird, left, and Carla Cole count elk during a survey of the herds around the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. ELK TRACKING Unraveling the local herds By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian T here are several ways to track elk in Clatsop County, offi cial and unoffi cial. Combined, these efforts reveal just how much — and how little — North Coast residents know about animals they may see almost every day. But the answers, and questions, have gained a new urgency as city leaders struggle to address public safety and property dam- age tied to urban elk populations in Gear- hart and Warrenton. Offi cial efforts include things like annual helicopter surveys state wildlife biologists just completed of herds in the larger Saddle Mountain management unit. Or the driving surveys park staff and vol- unteers at Lewis and Clark National His- torical Park conducted last week on pub- lic roads around the park’s borders. Unoffi cial efforts look like a Facebook group former Warrenton resident Lena Weil created in 2014 with traffi c safety in mind. Though the group — Clatsop County Elk sightings! — has since mor- phed into more of a celebration of local elk, Weil believes it gives the community a sense of when elk are on the move or near roads. But despite all the eyes focused on elk, many questions remain, and under- standing the movements of the Clatsop Plains elk in particular presents a unique challenge. Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian Photographer and naturalist Neal Maine watches a group of elk graze in the dunes near Gearhart and consults a map he has used to mark their movements in past months. Driving surveys Early one morning in late February, Carla Cole and Corinne Bird pointed their binoculars at a herd of elk grazing on a hill on the other side of Alternate U.S. High- way 101 Business, not far from the turn- off to Lewis and Clark National Histori- cal Park, where Cole works as the natural resources project manager and Bird vol- unteers. They tallied the number of bulls, cows and calves they saw and recorded the herd’s location. The information is just another data point to show where elk have been seen around the park over the last 10 years. For now, the park employs two See Elk, Page A6 DESPITE ALL THE EYES FOCUSED ON ELK, MANY QUESTIONS REMAIN, AND UNDERSTANDING THE MOVEMENTS OF THE CLATSOP PLAINS ELK IN PARTICULAR PRESENTS A UNIQUE CHALLENGE. A Hammond man was convicted Thursday of fi rst-degree rape and other sex crimes . Mark Paiz Jr., 63, faced more than a dozen sex crime charges in connection with raping one woman in 2017 and sexu- Mark Paiz Jr. ally abus- ing another woman in 2016, who, due to her mental condition, was not able to consent. In a three-day trial, a jury found Paiz guilty of one count each of fi rst-degree rape, fi rst-degree sodomy, fi rst-degree sex abuse and fi rst-degree unlawful sexual penetration . The jury — eight women and four men – included 10 people that found Paiz guilty of all charges. Oregon is the only state to still allow ver- dicts in felony trials, with the exception of murder, that are not unanimous. Paiz will be sentenced later this month. “I know that (the vic- tims) will be appreciative of the verdict,” said Chief Dep- uty District Attorney Dawn Buzzard, who prosecuted the case. Paiz met his fi rst victim, who has dementia, in Asto- ria in the fall of 2016 while she was reported missing to the police. Paiz invited her over to his home for a meal. He invited her to stay the night and then sexually abused her in his room, according to trial testimony. The victim was found three days after her disap- pearance on Paiz’s porch by an off-duty police offi - cer . S he was brought to Columbia Memorial Hospi- tal in Astoria and was evalu- ated for dehydration and for symptoms of a diabetic cri- sis, since she had been with- out insulin for three days. At the hospital, however, staff were alarmed at what appeared to be hickies on her neck and by the fact that she mentioned some form of sexual activity with her hus- band — whom she had not seen in three days — and decided to alert the police. Paiz, who represented himself in court, denied the allegations. “I’m the type of a per- son who likes to respect oth- ers, especially those like her See Rape, Page A7 Astoria Co-op pursues rooftop solar array Feature of new store in Mill Pond By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian The Astoria Co-op Gro- cery is securing fund- ing for a solar array atop its new store in Mill Pond that could provide 57 kilowatts of renewable energy. The project would make the c o-op the first retailer in the region to add a solar array, said Matt Stan- ley, the store’s general manager. “It really aligns with our sustainability mission as a co-op,” he said. “I think it can really differ- entiate us.” The c o-op’s project was announced as a recip- ient of Pacific Power’s Blue Sky Block renew- able energy program. The program would provide $48,385, about 35 percent of the project cost, if the c o-op can raise the rest of the funding and install the solar panels by the end of the year. The c o-op hopes to open its new store at 23rd Street and Marine Drive by Thanksgiving. The c o-op is also apply- ing for a grant from the U.S. Department of Agri- culture to fund a large por- tion of the project and is hopeful the Pacific Power award will make its appli- cation stronger, Stanley said. The Astoria Co-op was one of 13 solar projects across Oregon, Washing- ton state and California to receive a total of $1.2 million from the Blue Sky See Solar, Page A7 Astoria Co-op Grocery Astoria Co-op Grocery hopes to put a solar array on the roof of its new store under construction at the corner of Marine Drive and 23rd Street.