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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2019)
WEEKEND BREAK: LOCAL WRITER RECOUNTS FATHER’S EXPERIENCE WORKING ON APOLLO 11 147TH YEAR, NO. 9 DailyAstorian.com // SATURDAY, JULY 20, 2019 $1.50 ICE detains man at courthouse Spray used in building By NICOLE BALES The Astorian Federal immigration agents detained a man at the Clatsop County Courthouse in Astoria on Thursday after spraying peo- ple who were trying to escort him away. Fabian Alberto Zamora-Rodri- guez appeared in Circuit Court for a hearing related to felony charges that he encouraged child sexual abuse. Aware U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were outside the second-fl oor courtroom, immigrant rights’ advocates and the man’s mother and partner tightly surrounded him as he tried to leave. A video of the encounter, shared with The Astorian by a bystander, Maria Senaida Perez, shows immi- gration agents confronting the peo- MORE INSIDE ICE thumbs nose at local judge. OPINION • A4 ple in the hallway and releasing what appears to be pepper spray before grabbing Zamora-Rodri- guez and taking him into custody. Tanya Roman, a spokeswoman for ICE, said she was unable to comment on Zamora-Rodriguez’s immigration status or the legal reason for his detention due to pri- vacy concerns. “It is actually often due to the implementation of unreasonable ‘sanctuary city’ policies that pre- vent ICE from being notifi ed of the presence of criminal aliens in jails or prisons, which then neces- sitates that we utilize options like enforcement actions at court- houses to accomplish our law Writer believes his Astoria tale inspired ‘Goonies’ movie enforcement mission,” she said in an email. “U.S. Immigration and Cus- toms Enforcement has every legal right to carry out its mission on courthouse grounds if the circum- stances of an enforcement action require it.” Sheriff Tom Bergin said he was notifi ed by ICE before the immi- gration agents took local action. See ICE, Page A7 County commission weighs in on timber sale State plans a 70-acre clearcut By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Astorian Reyzart George Knight Clark sits at his laptop in his trailer in Gold Beach. Screenplay mirrors popular ’80s fl ick By ERICK BENGEL For The Astorian A gang of plucky kids in Astoria stumbles upon an old treasure map and sets out to fi nd hidden gold, an adventure fi lled with danger, chases and goofy villains. “The Goonies”? No — “Golden Ventures,” a screen- play written by George Knight Clark when he was working as a school bus driver in Portland. A Navy veteran and sailor familiar with Astoria, Clark has spent much of his own life seeking gold, living at sea, having adventures. Before “Golden Ventures,” he had penned a few short plays and hoped his fi rst full-length effort would help him break into Hollywood. The way Clark tells it, in mid-1981 he mailed copies of the script, along with photos he’d taken of Astoria sites and scenery, to about two dozen pro- duction companies, including Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. In the following months, Clark received rejection letters and several returned copies. No one contacted him about turning his story into a movie . Then, in 1984, he learned that Spielberg was producing a fi lm being shot in Astoria. Clark said he drove to the North Coast to learn more, but he encountered a closed set and went home. On June 7, 1985, “The Goonies” — a movie with the same setting and similar story elements as “Golden Ventures” — hit theaters, produced by Amblin and distributed by War- ner Bros. The fi lm, described as being based on an idea by Spielberg, grossed more than $61 million worldwide. The beloved blockbuster has become a cult phenomenon. “The Goonies” put Astoria on the map for the fi lm’s devoted fans, and showed that the historic port town could be a picturesque backdrop for big-league productions. After “The Goonies” came “Kindergarten Cop,” “Free Willy” and other major movies. The Astoria-Warrenton Area Cham- ber of Commerce celebrates Goonies Day on the anniversary of the fi lm’s release, and thousands of people visit the North Coast each year to see the places where the movie was fi lmed. Clark has always suspected — but has never been able to prove — that the fi lm sprang from his idea. The Clatsop County Board of Com- missioners has asked the state to delay a controversial timber sale near Arch Cape. In a letter sent to Astoria District For- ester Dan Goody on Thursday afternoon, commissioners cite ongoing concerns about how harvest operations on more than 70 acres of state land on the east side of U.S Highway 101 between Arcadia Beach and Hug Point might impact drink- ing water, among other issues. The commissioners ask for a chance to meet with representatives from the Ore- gon Department of Forestry “to discuss possible alternative options for this sale in an effort to address the concerns of the constituents such as notifi cation, impacts to drinking water, landslides, habitat and view considerations.” The letter follows outcry from envi- ronmental groups, concerned South County residents and people who live and own property in a neighborhood below the proposed Norriston Heights timber sale. Earlier this month , more than 60 people gathered at Hug Point to rally against the sale. The state expects to net just under $1 million from the sale, the bulk of which would go to local services, including pub- lic transit in Seaside and rural fi re protec- tion in Cannon Beach. The sale was proposed in the Depart- ment of Forestry’s annual operations plan and was available for public comment earlier this year, but will not go out to bid until October. It could be several years before any trees are cut. Offi cials from the Department of For- estry have said it is unlikely the state would change its harvest plans at this juncture. Roger Neugebauer, who draws his water from creeks that fl ow down from the state’s land, told commissioners at a meeting this month that he did not receive any notice from the state about the tim- ber sale. See Writer, Page A6 See Timber, Page A7 Downtown walk centers on safety Issues tied to homelessness By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Astorian After hearing concerns about people feeling unsafe downtown , a handful of city leaders and business owners braved the rain Wednesday night to take a walk together and show people there’s nothing to be afraid of on city streets or the Asto- ria Riverwalk. “This is not a march. T his is not a protest,” said David Reid, the exec- utive director of the Astoria-War- renton Area Chamber of Com- merce, who organized the walk. “This is simply a bunch of people taking a walk at the same time. “We’re out there to say, ‘Hi,’ to people and just enjoy ourselves.” Complaints about feeling unsafe have coincided with a more vis- ible homeless population . Reid, however, did not draw a direct line between the homeless and what he has heard recently from residents and visitors about safety. He believes the unease comes from a variety of reasons and from “a general sense that there are fewer people walking around downtown than one would think this time of year.” Compared to the bustle in Can- non Beach on a summer night, he said, Astoria can feel like a ghost town . “Remember this is not an attempt to change bad behavior, nor is it an indictment of anyone living on our streets,” Reid wrote in an e mail to around two dozen people who had expressed interest in join- ing him on the walk. “This is sim- ply an attempt to show the good cit- izens of Astoria that it’s safe and pleasant to walk downtown in the evenings.” But the presence of homeless- ness — and the discomfort people feel when faced with it — is at the root of conversations Police Chief Geoff Spalding has had in recent years with people who claim to feel unsafe downtown. See Walk, Page A7 Katie Frankowicz/The Astorian Astoria City Councilor Roger Rocka, left, and Councilor Joan Herman, center, join a group walking on the Astoria Riverwalk and through downtown Wednesday evening in an eff ort to encourage others to feel safe downtown.
