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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019
Hazardous waste facility
expected to open in May
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
A hazardous waste
facility is expected to
open this May.
Earlier this week,
Clatsop C ounty broke
ground on the 1,600
square-foot facility next
to the Astoria Transfer
Station on Williamsport
Road.
The facility will let
residents and some small
businesses drop off haz-
ardous waste . The proj-
ect, which has been in
the works since 2009,
was originally prompted
by the fact there are few
options on the coast for
people to dispose of dan-
gerous materials.
The county will con-
tract with Clean Har-
bors, a company which
specializes in handling
and removing hazard-
ous waste, to staff the
operation.
The facility is required
to be open at least
eight times a year, said
Michael McNickle, the
county’s public health
director , but will likely
be open more frequently .
“There’s a pent-up
need here,” McNickle
said. “We haven’t had
any hazardous waste
events for at least four
years.”
The project has taken
a while due in part to the
time it takes to acquire
special permits through
the state Department of
Environmental Quality
to run a hazardous waste
facility, McNickle said.
Engineering a special
system to capture meth-
ane gas from a former
landfill at the site also
had to be considered.
The project will cost
more than $1.1 million ,
which is mostly being
supported by loans and
a grant. A $1.50 per
ton fee increase at the
transfer station , which
is expected to generate
about $175,000 a year,
will also help pay for
operations.
Campaign fi nance could be on
the ballot in Oregon in 2020
Push comes after
record spending
By SARAH
ZIMMERMAN
Associated Press
SALEM — Months
after a governor’s race that
shattered state fundrais-
ing records, Oregon law-
makers want to rein in ram-
pant spending from large
donors and political action
committees.
But fi rst they have to
change the constitution.
Oregon is one of fi ve
states to have no limits on
campaign contributions, and
lawmakers have long com-
plained that they have to
raise exorbitant amounts of
money to remain competi-
tive in campaigns.
“There are no rules in
Oregon,” said state Sen.
Mark Hass, D-Beaverton.
“This is the Wild West.”
Although legislators have
tried to implement campaign
fi nance reform, they’ve run
into legal complications
The Associated Press
Nike co-founder Phil Knight donated a record $1.5 million to
former state Rep. Knute Buehler’s Republican campaign for
governor last year.
thanks to the Oregon Con-
stitution’s free speech pro-
vision. The state’s Supreme
Court ruled in 1997 that
campaign donations are
a form of free speech and
can’t be limited.
The high-priced gover-
nor’s race last year rekin-
dled the debate over spend-
ing limits and has prompted
lawmakers to pursue a ballot
measure amending the con-
stitution that would explic-
itly give them the authority
to enact campaign fi nance
reform.
Gov. Kate Brown secured
re-election over former
Republican Rep. Knute Bue-
hler in a race that broke
fundraising records when
candidates raised a com-
bined total of $30 million.
Buehler received a $1.5 mil-
lion donation from Nike
co-founder Phil Knight, the
largest donation by an indi-
vidual to a candidate in Ore-
gon history.
Brown, who received a
$500,000 donation from the
D.C.-based nonprofi t EMI-
LY’s List, has made politi-
cal spending limits a prior-
ity and expressed support for
the constitutional change.
She told reporters on Thurs-
day that individual donors
shouldn’t be able “to buy a
megaphone so loud that it
drowns out the other voices.”
A constitutional amend-
ment would have to be
approved by the voters in the
2020 election.
Voters have previously
sent mixed messages about
campaign fi nance reform.
Oregonians shot down the
idea of a constitutional
amendment before, reject-
ing a 2006 ballot measure
that would have empow-
ered lawmakers to set polit-
ical spending limits. But
the same year, they passed
a companion measure that
set in law contribution and
spending rules.
The latter law was not
implemented, as it was con-
tingent on voters approving
the constitutional change.
Man sentenced
to prison for
chainsaw attack
Knapp pleaded
no contest to
attempted murder
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
Loren Shaun
Knapp
A Fern Hill man was
sentenced to 7 1/2 years
in prison on Thursday for
attempting to murder a
Westport woman in her
house with a chainsaw .
Loren Shaun Knapp,
57, was charged with
attempted
murder,
attempted
fi rst-degree
assault, fi rst-degree bur-
glary and other charges
related to the attack last
May.
Earlier this month ,
Knapp pleaded no contest
to attempted murder, and,
in exchange, had the rest
of his charges dismissed.
Knapp apparently drove
to the Westport home in
search of a man who he
believed stole his rifl e,
Deputy District Attor-
ney Beau Peterson said.
He entered the home and
began chasing the woman
inside with the chainsaw.
The woman, who
spoke during the sentenc-
ing hearing, said she had
never met Knapp before
in her life. She remembers
Knapp calmly telling her
he was going to kill her,
and feeling petrifi ed as he
sawed through the bed-
room door she was stand-
ing against.
“I could feel my hair
blowing,” the woman said.
“I was just frozen ... I don’t
know why, but I couldn’t
move.”
When Knapp’s chain-
saw got stuck in a jacket
hanging off the door, the
woman had a chance to
escape, she said.
He left the house and
began confronting the
man outside before decid-
ing to leave , Peterson said
during the
hearing.
S h e r i f f ’s
deputies
arrested
K n a p p
near the
h o m e
shortly
after.
Almost a year later, the
woman still feels fear and
confusion. The attack feels
surreal, she said, as if it
were a scene out of a hor-
ror fi lm.
“Displaced anger is one
thing, but to plan to carry a
chainsaw down and attack
somebody that’s not even
the person they’re angry
at ... I mean, I don’t even
know this man,” she said.
Knapp confi rmed she
was not who he was orig-
inally looking for, but
chose not to say anything
else at the hearing.
Attempted murder is a
Measure 11 crime that car-
ries a mandatory minimum
sentence of 7 1/2 years in
prison.
Knapp also was sen-
tenced to two years in
prison on Thursday for
an unrelated crime, where
he cut down more than
$5,000 worth of trees on
state land with a chainsaw.
“I hope you feel some
shame, I hope you feel
some regret, and I hope
you feel some sorrow ...
and I’m not sure if you do
or not,” said visiting Judge
Ronald Stone. “But the
reason I went along with
this ... is you’re accept-
ing responsibility for this,
and that means something
to me, rather than put her
through a four or fi ve day
trial.”
Knapp has been arrested
in Clatsop County more
than 25 times, including
for charges of burglary,
criminal mischief, menac-
ing, assault, animal abuse
and stalking.
Courtney apologizes for sexual harassment at Capitol
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WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
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Courtney said. “I must do
better. And that is why I
made sure today I was com-
ing here to vote ‘yes’ on
this.”
Courtney has Graves’ dis-
ease, an autoimmune disor-
der affecting the eyes, and
went on medical leave last
week due to a fl are-up of
that condition, according to
his offi ce.
He was scheduled to
return full time to his Senate
duties on Monday.
In late 2017, Gelser fi led
a complaint against then-
la
VOLUNTEER
byist, who was harassed at
the Capitol and was told by
a lawmaker that he didn’t
want her work contact infor-
mation because he didn’t
want to “get ‘#MeToo’d,’”
or accused of harassment.
Gelser noted that survi-
vors of harassment hadn’t
received an apology from
the Legislature.
Speaking from the dais,
Courtney then apologized to
“any and all survivors” who
have experienced any form
of harassment at the Capitol.
“We must do better,”
ies Au xi
issue of sexual harassment at
the Capitol, which became
public as the #MeToo move-
ment unfolded nationwide in
2017.
Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Cor-
vallis, who carried the mea-
sure, spoke movingly on
the Senate fl oor about her
experience reporting sexual
harassment, and the chal-
lenges women at the Capitol
still face now that the issue
of sexual harassment is bet-
ter known.
She said some women
stopped working in the Cap-
itol because they didn’t feel
safe, or didn’t want to accept
unwanted touching as a con-
dition of employment.
Legislative
leaders
recently agreed to pay $1
million to nine victims who
claimed harassment while
on the job at the Capitol.
“And yet, every person
in power still has their job,”
Gelser said.
She also read testimony
from an anonymous lob-
sidering whether or not I
even want to continue being
a member of this body.”
People who experienced
sexual harassment and vio-
lence wrote the resolution,
Gelser said, and the focus
should be on supporting
them.
“It’s not about a bill,”
Gelser said. “It’s not about
voting ‘yes’ on a resolution.
It’s about what we do every
day.”
The Oregon Capital
Bureau is a collaboration
between EO Media Group,
Pamplin Media Group and
Salem Reporter.
Lad
SALEM — More than a
year after sexual harassment
at the Capitol came into pub-
lic view, state Senate Pres-
ident Peter Courtney pub-
licly apologized to victims
in an emotional fl oor session
Thursday.
Courtney, a Salem Dem-
ocrat who has presided over
the Senate since 2003, broke
his medical leave to return
for the unexpected speech.
He wanted to support sur-
vivors of sexual violence
through a resolution before
the Senate, according to his
offi ce.
Senators
unanimously
passed the resolution, spon-
sored by 15 senators, in
which they “support and
believe” victims of sex-
ual violence and pledged
to “work toward creat-
ing an Oregon that is safe
for all survivors of sexual
violence.”
Courtney has made few
public statements about the
Peter Courtney, state Senate president
Sen. Jeff Kruse, a Repub-
lican from Roseburg, more
than a year after initially
raising her concerns with
leadership and administra-
tive staff about unwanted
touching by him.
“It’s been three years
since the fi rst time that I went
to leadership to ask for help
with that situation,” Gelser
said on the fl oor. “Despite
that, my perpetrator was able
to hurt other people in much
more signifi cant ways. We’ve
had a lot of fractured relation-
ships over this issue, we have
had diffi cult conversations. I
have spent a lot of time con-
er
A m ic a n
‘I MUST DO BETTER. AND THAT IS WHY
I MADE SURE TODAY I WAS COMING
HERE TO VOTE ‘YES’ ON THIS.’
y
Senate president
was criticized for
his response
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