GUNMAN KILLS 49 IN NEW ZEALAND MOSQUE ATTACKS PAGE A6
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019
146TH YEAR, NO. 184
ONE DOLLAR
Fine forgiveness program could
help homeless climb out of debt
Port
prepares
for $300
harbor fee
Commission will discuss
the idea on Tuesday
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Kenny Hansen, homeless liaison officer with the Astoria Police Department, has been helping homeless people access resources or
begin to tackle issues like court fines.
An experiment in
Municipal Court
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
I
t only took a few minutes in front
of a judge in February and sud-
denly Chris Crone had an option
for dealing with thousands of dol-
lars in unpaid fines.
The fines had piled up over the years
and, along with other bills and debts,
threatened to overwhelm him.
Crone, 49, has been homeless on and
off for most of his life. Though he hasn’t
had any new tickets from police in sev-
eral years, he avoided dealing with out-
standing charges, allowing fines for
small-time nuisance offenses like litter-
ing or trespassing to accumulate.
Crone had long worried about this
exact moment — the moment he finally
showed up for court and would be vul-
nerable in front of a judge.
After a brief consultation with Crone
and Astoria Police Officer Kenny Han-
sen, who attended to represent and sup-
port Crone, Municipal Court Judge Kris
Kaino agreed to accept 40 hours of vol-
unteer work at local nonprofits in lieu
of the roughly $3,000 in fines Crone
owed.
“The city of Astoria doesn’t neces-
sarily have an interest in getting rich off
the poor people of Astoria,” Kaino told
Crone.
If the work satisfies Astoria police,
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Chris Crone, left, and Sam McDaniel share a laugh at McDaniel’s market.
Kaino said, it satisfies the court.
“Not bad,” Crone said as he stood
outside City Hall later. “That went a lot
better than I thought it would.”
Fine forgiveness
Crone is a bit of anomaly, said Police
Chief Geoff Spalding, but his situation
prompted Mayor Bruce Jones’ home-
lessness solutions task force earlier this
year to begin developing a fine forgive-
ness program.
The task force hopes to help home-
less people who struggle to pay fines for
small-time offenses and whose debts
compound when they don’t show up for
court.
While certain problem behaviors
need to be addressed, Spalding has said
officers aren’t interested in ticketing the
homeless for every infraction. Tickets
don’t solve the underlying problems, he
said, and only put more stress on people
in difficult situations.
Mental health and other issues may
make it hard for some people to show
up for a court hearing, but, more often,
they don’t show up because they know
See Fine, Page A6
The Port of Astoria Commission
will likely decide Tuesday whether
to charge oceangoing commercial
ships over 250 feet passing along
the Columbia River a $300 fee to
help maintain Pier 1.
“Pier 1 provides the only avail-
able critical emergency berth for
distressed vessels at the mouth of
the Columbia River, and serves as
a land-based platform for provid-
ing emergency services including
shipboard firefighting,” a resolu-
tion on the fee states.
Pier 1 hosts vessels ordered in
for repairs.The Liberian-flagged
bulk carrier Leon Oetker, for
example, was ordered into the Port
in November for repairs to its radar
and steering.
The Port sees the harbor use
fee as a way to capture badly
needed revenue and maintain its
main cash-generating piece of
infrastructure.
Jim Knight, the Port’s execu-
tive director, said the $300 fee is
based on the $482,000 the agency
spent over the last year in staff and
dredging to maintain Pier 1.
The Port estimates an average
of 1,500 oceangoing commercial
ships come into the river each year.
The fee, which would take effect in
June, would not apply to govern-
ment vessels, tugboats or pleasure
craft.
“We’re so firm in our authority
and the need to do this that we do
not anticipate a negative response
or legal challenge,” Knight said.
The proposed fee has faced crit-
icism from the Columbia River
Steamship Operators’ Associa-
tion, which has cautioned the Port
against any action that would raise
costs.
Kate Mickelson, the group’s
executive director, has cited a U.S.
Supreme Court ruling that shot
down a property tax imposed on oil
tankers by Valdez, Alaska, because
the Constitution bars states from
enacting tonnage fees without an
act of Congress.
But Michael Haglund, a mari-
time attorney hired by the Port to
review the legality of the harbor
use fee, said the agency has broad
authority to charge fees within
its jurisdiction, which extends to
the Washington state side of the
Columbia River.
The Port has referenced a U.S.
Supreme Court ruling that the Ala-
bama State Docks Commission
could charge vessels entering the
harbor in Mobile a policing fee.
“As long as (the fee) applies to
everybody, and everybody is ben-
efitting from a pier that is there
for emergencies whenever one of
these big ships needs it, it’s legit-
imate,” Haglund said at a recent
Port meeting.
Warrenton struggles
with homelessness
Some residents see
a growing problem
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — Plans
by police to develop a con-
sistent strategy for dealing
with a more visible home-
less population are on hold
for now.
With two retirements and
a new opening to fill this
summer, the police depart-
ment needs to focus on hir-
ing officers, Police Chief
Mathew Workman said. Due
to training requirements,
it could be another year or
more before the department
is fully staffed.
But some city leaders
are concerned about what
they see as a major change
when it comes to the home-
less. They are noticing more
camps around town and an
increase in suspicious activ-
ity along river trails, Plan-
ning Commissioner Ryan
Lampi and Commissioner
Christine Bridgens said at
the end of a commission
meeting Thursday.
Lampi has compassion
for people who are home-
less, but it is a new situa-
tion for the city to navigate,
he said.
While Astoria has seen
an increase in its year-round
homeless population, War-
renton typically only sees
transient groups during the
summer months. Few peo-
ple have seemed to stay
Christine Bridgens
See Warrenton, Page A6
The Port of Astoria recently cleaned up a homeless camp on
property the Port owns off Harbor Drive in Warrenton.