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WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2019
146TH YEAR, NO. 228
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Former Port operations chief blasts Knight
A damaging assessment
of agency’s leadership
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
The former second-in-command
at the Port of Astoria described Jim
Knight, the Port’s executive direc-
tor, as incompetent, dishonest and
incapable of managing the agency .
Matt McGrath, who worked at
the Port for fi ve years before resign-
Jim Knight
Matt McGrath
ing as director of operations in April,
shared a letter with his observations
about Knight and other documents
with the Port Commission after his
departure.
McGrath painted a picture of
Knight as an unresponsive, disin-
terested leader with a bad memory
who undermines his staff’s attempts
to repair the Port’s operations and
reputation. He claimed to have
brought his concerns to Knight mul-
tiple times over his tenure, but to no
avail.
“The executive director’s dis-
regard, disrespect, dishonesty and
incompetence have destroyed much
of what staff and I have been build-
ing and rebuilding,” he wrote in the
letter. “As my name and reputation
are important to me, I ultimately felt
compelled to leave a position with
good pay and benefi ts so that I could
not only maintain my good name
and reputation but also do what was
best for the Port.”
Knight declined to comment on
McGrath’s accusations .
Knight denied a public records
request by The Astorian for the let-
ter and documents. The newspaper
appealed to District Attorney Ron
Brown, who ruled the correspon-
dence should be publicly released
by June 3, when Knight is expected
to be presented with the accusations
in executive session.
The Astorian, in the mean-
time, obtained the letter and docu-
ments from a source who requested
confi dentiality.
Frank Spence, the president of
the Port Commission, also declined
to comment, claiming the material is
confi dential.
See Port, Page A8
AT THE NET
Pickleball players
compete at Clatsop
Community College,
one of many open
court sports available.
SEE A PHOTO GALLERY ON A5.
Colin Murphey/The Astorian
Jury fi nds Copell guilty in
Newport man’s murder
Pamela
Wev
Kevin
Campbell
One candidate turned down offer
Commissioner
chides executive
over respite center
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Astorian
A county commissioner
chided the CEO of Greater Ore-
gon Behavioral Health Inc. for
putting the crisis respite cen-
ter in Warrenton up for sale and
withdrawing from a board that
governs the facility.
“Recently, GOBHI has kind
of pulled the rug out from that
enterprise,”
Commissioner
Pamela Wev said during a pre-
sentation Wednesday night from
competing coordinated care
organizations. “Why should we
trust you now?”
“Well, we didn’t pull the
rug out of that enterprise,”
Kevin Campbell, GOBHI’s
See Center, Page A7
Tony Bogh
Astoria restarts search
for new community
development director
Colin Murphey/The Astorian
Adeena Copell, right, reacts as the verdict is read during her murder trial.
Copell and her boyfriend
involved in the crime
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
A jury on Thursday unanimously found
Adeena Copell guilty of the 2016 murder
of a Newport man by aiding and abetting
her boyfriend, Christian Wilkins, with the
crime.
The jury also found Copell guilty of
second-degree abuse of a corpse and
two counts of unlawful use of a vehicle.
Wilkins pleaded guilty earlier this month
to the same charges.
The 12-person jury began deliberations
Wednesday morning and returned a verdict
late Thursday afternoon in front of Clat-
sop County Circuit Court Judge Cindee
Matyas.
Owner 503.325.5000
CCB#188326
See Trial, Page A7
Despite having two
candidates lined up for
community development
director and an offer
on the table, Astoria is
once again searching for
someone to fi ll the job .
Kirsten Sackett, the
community
develop-
ment director for Ellens-
burg, Washington, and
Portland architect Stuart
Emmons participated in
a public meet-and-greet
event for the post in early
May.
City Manager Brett
Estes offered the job to
one of the candidates, but
would not specify who.
The offer was accepted,
but later declined for per-
sonal reasons, Estes said .
Emmons confi rmed
the job offer went to
Sackett.
While Emmons was
disappointed not to be
selected or considered
after Sackett declined
the offer, he still plans to
move to Astoria.
“(Astoria’s) got a lot
of good things and a lot
of challenges and I want
to be a part of it,” he said.
“I think I’ll be fi ne.”
The
community
development
director
post has been vacant for
more than a year and a
half. There have been
three extensive recruit-
ment pushes to fi nd a
new director since Kevin
Cronin left in September
2017, according to Estes.
The city worked with
a recruitment agency,
The Prothman Co. , to
fi nd Sackett and Emmons
and will now reopen the
process to draw on a new
pool of candidates.
T he city is diving back
into the search with an
increased salary range in
hand.
On Monday, t he
City Council approved
an update to the posi-
tion’s salary schedule,
See Astoria, Page A8
Honoring and Remembering those
that gave all for our Country