A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2019
Gorgeous Coast
IN BRIEF
Former District Attorney Marquis
sworn in as pro tem judge
Former Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Mar-
quis was sworn in Wednesday as a volunteer pro tem
judge.
He was approved by the Oregon Supreme Court.
Marquis will not sit on criminal cases or juvenile
delinquency hearings.
Gearhart wins state grant
for parks master plan
GEARHART — The city is poised to develop a parks
and recreation master plan after the state awarded a
$15,000 grant for the project.
The award is part of the local government grant pro-
gram from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.
The state’s contribution will be met with an additional
$4,000 from the city toward the project’s cost.
“Hopefully we are able to follow the same strategy as
our transportation plan a while back,” Mayor Matt Brown
said in announcing the grant at a City Council meeting on
Wednesday. “We’ve got a lot of great ideas. We’ve talked
about pickleball, improving our parks, ways to connect
them, and to have recreational options for our citizens.”
Gearhart fi refi ghters celebrate
federal safety grant
GEARHART — Last year, the Gearhart Fire Depart-
ment’s annual fundraiser sought to raise money to replace
aging fi refi ghter safety apparatus. This September, they
did better than that.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency
approved a $145,000 grant for operations and safety.
Grant money will be matched by the city with an
additional $7,250 raised from donations, and will bring
self-contained breathing apparatus to fi refi ghters.
The equipment will be “a big help to emergency pre-
paredness,” City Administrator Chad Sweet said.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
Oct. 6, 2019
MALONEY, William
C., 80, of Grays River,
Washington, formerly
of Astoria, died in Asto-
ria. Ocean View Funeral
& Cremation Service of
Astoria is in charge of
the arrangements.
Oct. 5, 2019
DAWSON,
Bev-
erly, 94, of Asto-
ria, died in Astoria.
Hughes-Ransom Mor-
tuary is in charge of the
arrangements.
POE, Floyd Alfred,
84, of Ocean Park,
Washington, died in
Ocean Park. Caldwell’s
Luce-Layton Mortuary
of Astoria is in charge of
the arrangements.
Oct. 2, 2019
MITTS, Steven A., 80,
of Astoria, died in Asto-
ria.
Hughes-Ransom
Mortuary is in charge of
the arrangements.
Sept. 11, 2019
REID, Edward L.
“Ed” Reid, 87, of Bak-
ersville, North Carolina,
formerly of Warren-
ton and Seaside, died in
Johnson City, Tennessee.
An online obituary is at
bit.ly/EdReid
MEMORIAL
Saturday, Oct. 12
BUTLER, Robert G. — Celebration of life service
from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Warrenton United Methodist
Church, 679 S. Main Ave. in Warrenton.
ON THE RECORD
DUII
• Nicholas Gardner,
41, was arrested Sunday
on U.S. Highway 26 for
driving under the infl u-
ence of intoxicants. His
blood content was 0.17%.
Disorderly conduct
• Brian Quaschnick,
48, was arrested Saturday
for disorderly conduct
on E. Harbor Drive near
the Warrenton Moor-
ing Basin. Police said he
was disrupting the fl ow
of traffi c by throwing his
bike into traffi c and mak-
ing threats to kill people.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Clatsop County Planning
Commission, 10 a.m.,
Judge Guy Boyington
Building, 857 Commercial
St., Astoria.
Warrenton City Commis-
sion, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S.
Main Ave.
WEDNESDAY
Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners, 6 p.m.,
Judge Guy Boyington
Building, 857 Commercial
St., Astoria.
Wickiup Water District
Board, 6:30 p.m., 92648
Svensen Market Road,
Svensen.
THURSDAY
Clatsop County, Astoria,
Warrenton, Gearhart,
Seaside, Cannon Beach
joint work session, 5 p.m.,
Judge Guy Boyington
Building, 857 Commercial
St., Astoria.
Seaside Convention Cen-
ter Commission, 5 p.m.,
Seaside Civic and Conven-
tion Center, 415 First Ave.
Gearhart Planning Com-
mission, 6 p.m., City Hall,
698 Pacifi c Way.
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Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Runners took off early Sunday morning from the Astoria Column, heading for Cannon Beach as part of the third-annual
Gorgeous Coast relay. Fifty-three teams and four solo runners traversed the 48 miles through Clatsop County.
Brown to choose between
diverse candidates for judge
Appointee will
replace Brownhill
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
Gov. Kate Brown will
choose from six diverse
candidates to fi ll a vacancy
on the Clatsop County Cir-
cuit Court.
The
appointee
will
replace Judge Paula Brown-
hill, who plans to retire in
November after 25 years on
the bench.
The position will be up
for election next May.
Clatsop County Dep-
uty District Attorney Beau
Peterson, criminal defense
attorney James von Boeck-
mann, criminal defense
attorney Kirk Wintermute,
civil attorneys Arthur Saito
and Kelly Stearns and attor-
ney and judge Diana Taylor
have applied.
Here is a look at the
candidates:
Beau Peterson: Peterson
was born and raised in Port-
land and grew up helping
his father with their family
business, Peterson’s Carpet
and Furniture Cleaning.
While attending law
school at the University
of Oregon, Peterson vol-
unteered as a law clerk
for Judge Brownhill, and
during that summer decided
he wanted to live and prac-
tice in Clatsop County.
Peterson graduated law
school in 2006 and began
his career as a prosecutor at
the Clatsop County District
Attorney’s Offi ce in 2007.
Over the p ast 12 1/2
years, he has handled
almost every kind of case
that comes through the
offi ce, including vehicular
manslaughter, assault, elder
fi nancial abuse, embez-
zlement, drunken driving,
thefts and burglaries.
Most recently, he was
the lead counsel in the
murder prosecution of
Adeena Copell and Chris-
tian Wilkins, who were sen-
tenced in May. He has also
spent the last several years
working as the d eputy d is-
trict a ttorney assigned to
Judge Cindee Matyas’ t reat-
ment c ourt.
Peterson believes his
experience as a trial lawyer
and his time in the trades
with his father will give him
good insight into the people
and cases that would come
before him.
Kirk
Wintermute:
Prior to his legal experi-
ence, Wintermute had many
jobs, including working in
the service industry, a home
improvement store and a
warehouse.
He moved to Astoria
when he was 5 years old
and attended p ublic s chools
and graduated from Astoria
The Astorian
Six candidates have applied for a judicial vacancy.
High School. His father was
a fi re chief, and his mother
worked for the U.S. Postal
Service.
He graduated from the
University of Oregon with
a b achelor’s in h istory and
p olitical s cience and later
graduated from the Univer-
sity of Oregon School of
Law.
Most of his family still
lives in Astoria, including
his mother and brother, who
is a commercial fi sherman.
He works as a crimi-
nal defense attorney, along
with side work as a pro tem
judge for Astoria Municipal
Court and teaching a class
at Clatsop Community Col-
lege in the c riminal j ustice
program.
He is primarily a
court-appointed
defense
attorney . He has handled
everything from driving
with a suspended license to
manslaughter.
T hrough his work, he
said he has been able to get
to know the community bet-
ter and help some of the
most unfortunate people .
He said he has been most
affected by people who suf-
fer from mental illness, as
well as drug addiction, and
the hopelessness they often
encounter. This led him to
join the m ental h ealth t reat-
ment c ourt as the defense
counsel representative.
He also has volunteer
roles with the c ounty’s Pub-
lic Safety Coordinating
Council, the college’s Crim-
inal Justice Regional Advi-
sory Committee and the
local chapter of the National
Alliance on Mental Illness.
He said his interest in the
position is a continuation of
his long-term belief in pub-
lic service and his hope to
give back to the community
where he grew up .
James von Boeckmann:
Von Boeckmann’s father
was an offi cer in the U.S Air
Force. As a result, he moved
around the U.S. and Europe
until his father got stationed
in Illinois and von Boeck-
mann started high school.
After graduating from
Southern Illinois University
at Carbondale in 1987, he
began working for Michael
Madigan, then-s peaker of
the Illinois House of Rep-
resentatives. He joined U.S.
Sen. Paul Simon’s Demo-
cratic campaign for pres-
ident in 1988 until Simon
withdrew his candidacy.
After that, he moved to
Maine and did migrant work
— planting trees and rak-
ing blueberries. He started
a family and began working
as a carpenter for 10 years.
He traveled until decid-
ing to do something bet-
ter-suited to his intellect and
disposition, so he returned
to graduate school and got
an master’s in p olitical t he-
ory and then went to law
school.
He moved to Eugene
and passed the bar in 2003,
becoming a solo practi-
tioner. Criminal defense and
immigration law made up
the bulk of his caseload , but
he also worked in federal
court, did civil disputes, a
few dissolution cases, busi-
ness formation and consul-
tation, wills and estates and
juvenile law.
He has lived and worked
in Clatsop County since
2013. H is legal work con-
sists almost entirely of crim-
inal defense, juvenile delin-
quency and dependency and
mental commitments.
Von Boeckmann said
he was encouraged by col-
leagues and people in the
community to apply for the
position .
He believes he has the
temperament for the job and
the desire to serve the com-
munity. He also believes
everyone should come away
from the court system feel-
ing like they’ve been treated
with respect and have been
heard.
Arthur Saito: Saito
manages the Stahancyk,
Kent & Hook Astoria offi ce
and focuses on domestic
relations, adoption, limited
estate planning and guard-
ianship proceedings.
He graduated from Wil-
lamette University College
of Law.
He has been volunteer-
ing for the Clatsop County
Circuit Court since 2017,
offering court-appointed,
pro bono representation for
children in high-confl ict
domestic relations cases.
He is the co-founder and
board member of a non-
profi t, Dark to Light, which
provides input to assist chil-
dren in custody and par-
enting time disputes . He is
also a member of the Clat-
sop County Family Law
Advisory Committee, pro-
viding input on issues
related to court practice and
procedure .
Kelly Stearns: Stearns
graduated from the Uni-
versity of California, Davis
School of Law in 2000.
She has a practice in
Astoria and focuses on real
estate matters, estate plan-
ning and probate.
She is not a heavy litiga-
tor, although she does occa-
sionally litigate for land-
lord-tenant law and probate .
She said she applied for
the position because she
was concerned there would
not be enough candidates
for the g overnor to choose
from.
She thinks a judge should
be level-headed, view both
sides of an issue and be able
to reach compromise.
Diana
Shera
Tay-
lor: Taylor has 17 years of
experience on the bench
— 15 years on the Munic-
ipal Court for Clatskanie,
Columbia City, St. Helens
and Scappoose, as well as
two years as the j ustice of
the p eace for the Columbia
County Justice Court.
In Columbia County,
she is the chair of the Local
Family Law Advisory Com-
mittee, and c hair of the
Guardianship Subcommit-
tee, and a member of the
Juvenile Court Improve-
ment Project Committee.
She was previously chair of
the Columbia County Men-
tal Health Advisory Board,
c hair of Columbia County
Legal Aid Board, and b oard
m ember for the local wom-
en’s shelter.
She has also been a medi-
ator and arbitrator since
1997. She has been medi-
ating in Clatsop County for
the past three years . She is a
member of the Local Fam-
ily Law Advisory Commit-
tee and c hair of the Domes-
tic Violence Subcommittee
for Clatsop County.
While on the bench in St.
Helens, Taylor had a b ehav-
ioral h ealth c ourt and y oung
p ersons c ourt for proba-
tioners who needed extra
assistance to help them
succeed .
As an attorney, Tay-
lor practiced in the areas
of banking, consumer, con-
struction defect, contract,
employment, elder, juve-
nile dependency and delin-
quency and criminal law.
She has been a prosecu-
tor and a criminal defense
attorney.