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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 2020)
»INSIDE 147TH YEAR, NO. 94 DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2020 $1.50 DUII bill responds to court ruling Senate President Courtney behind the new measure By JAKE THOMAS Oregon Capital Bureau The March 2007 landslide around the area of First and Commercial streets followed the path of one in 1954 that destroyed 23 homes. The city avoided any destroyed homes in 2007 by buying the slide property and not allowing development. Astoria tries to keep development on solid ground City is prone to landslides By EDWARD STRATTON The Astorian M ore than half of Astoria is prone to shallow landslides, and more than one-third to deep landslides. At least 120 slides have hit the city , including more than 80 in the past 150 years. The city’s Community Develop- ment Department, supported by its engineering and public works staff and new state guidelines, is creating a geological hazard ordinance to help keep residents on stable footing. State geology and land use agen- cies recently partnered on a set of guidelines to help governments plan for landslide hazards. Jeff Har- rington, the city’s public works direc- tor, said cities across the state will be creating similar ordinances. The point “is to bring cohesiveness to the various references throughout other pieces of our code,” City Engi- neer Nathan Crater said. “But then at the same time kind of help us manage and detail risk associated with devel- opment in these areas.” People are sometimes surprised after acquiring one of the few pieces of vacant land in Astoria whether they can build or not. The outcome of the ordinance could result in a frame- See DUII bill, Page A7 Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian The Irving Avenue Bridge spans a landslide-prone area in Astoria. work and some limitations making sure developers have clear expecta- tions, Crater said. “We want to make sure on the city side and the public side people are protected, but then also for develop- ers, homeowners, that they under- stand there are certain things they do that create risk that they might not know about,” he said. “Your average Joe homeowner might not realize that cutting that fl ower bed in at the toe of the hill, even though it might be a 3- or 4-foot cut, could actually be pretty substantial.” Alarm bells rose in 2013 after the state Department of Geology and Mineral Industries released a map showing most of the city’s hills in a landslide zone. The lidar — light detection and ranging — surveys uncovered more than 120 landslides throughout the city, 83 of them in the last 150 years. It showed 55% of the city highly susceptible to shal- low landslides 9.5 feet or shallower and 37% susceptible to deep land- slides digging 15 feet or farther into the ground. Much of the damage expected See Landslides, Page A6 Suzanne Weber Republican fi eld forms for House By EDWARD STRATTON The Astorian Fresh start after drug abuse Tillamook Mayor Suzanne Weber has joined Vineeta Lower, an educator from Seaside, in the Republican primary in May for a chance to potentially face state Rep. Tiffi ny Mitchell in House District 32. The district covers Clatsop, Tillamook and parts of Washington counties. Mitch- ell, D-Astoria, in 2018 replaced Deborah Boone, D-Cannon Beach, who held the seat for 14 years. Weber, a former elementary school teacher and small business owner in Til- lamook, served on the Tillamook City Council before being elected mayor in 2010. Lower, a fi rst-time candidate who narrowly lost to Mitchell in the 2018 elec- tion, announced another run in December on her campaign’s Facebook page. By NICOLE BALES The Astorian elissa Faber moved to Seaside in 2016 for a fresh start. After spending years in and out of jail, she was ready to create a life of sobriety, but things got worse before they got better. Faber moved in with a friend and stopped using drugs, but spiraled again, spending the next year and a half using drugs and living homeless. “It was the hardest time of my life,” Faber, 28, said. “There were nights where I was walking around with nowhere to go and nowhere to sleep with it pour- ing rain,” she said. She said it felt humiliating. “There’s a point where the drugs wear off and you’re still high and it’s like, ‘OK , I’m doing this for what now,’” Faber said. “I started all this with just wanting to be numb from Vineeta Lower Two emerge in GOP primary Seaside woman creates new life M SALEM — Drivers who have at least 0.08% blood alcohol content two hours after getting behind the wheel would still face driving under the infl uence charges under a bill introduced by state Senate President Peter Courtney . Courtney, D-Salem, said that he intro- duced the legislation, Senate Bill 1503, in response to an Oregon Supreme Court decision from November. The case concerned John Hedgpeth, who was arrested and charged with driving under the infl uence in Coos County in 2014. Prosecutors relied on B reathalyzer results showing his blood alco- hol content at 0.09% two hours after he was pulled over for riding his motor- Peter Courtney cycle without a helmet. He challenged his conviction, arguing that the breathalyzer results weren’t proof that he was drunk at the time he was rid- ing his motorcycle because police waited nearly two hours before testing his blood alcohol content level. During that time, he argued, his body had time to absorb any alcohol he consumed, pushing his alcohol content level past the legal limit. The court noted in its decision that other states, such as Colorado and Washington, have laws that make it illegal to have a blood alcohol level of 0.08% at the time of driving or two hours after. The court fur- ther noted that it was up to the Legislature to put a similar law on the books in Oregon. everything and now I don’t have anything to even feel.” After another arrest, the judge gave her a choice — d rug c ourt or prison. She chose d rug c ourt, a national program that takes a pub- lic health approach to help defen- dants who are addicted achieve long- term recovery. People who complete the program are statistically signifi - cantly less likely to be arrested again compared to people sentenced to prison. Faber, who has been sober for nearly two years, graduated from the program in January . While in treat- ment, she met her husband and they had a baby last year. See Primary, Page A7 Melissa and Cody Faber See Faber, Page A6 Melissa and Cody Faber met in treatment.
