»INSIDE
149TH YEAR, NO. 65
WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2021
$1.50
Trooper’s
killer
denied
parole
Board raised concerns
about sobriety
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
A Pacifi ck Distillers bottle sits on a table at the distillery in Astoria.
Fishhawk Fisheries owner works
to open distillery along riverfront
New plans for a
historic building
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
S
teve Fick, the owner of Fishhawk
Fisheries, has been involved in
the seafood industry for about
four decades.
But as a self-proclaimed man of
many interests, he is always looking
to expand his business ventures. This
winter, Fick hopes to bring a new dis-
tillery to Astoria.
Pacifi ck Distillers will be located
on the riverfront , next door to Fish-
hawk Fisheries between 3rd and 4th
s treets, in a vacant building owned
by Fick. He will distill vodka, gin and
whiskey. D own the road, he hopes to
add moonshine to the mix.
He plans to distribute the spirits
in Oregon, but eventually work into
other states like Alaska, where Fish-
hawk Fisheries has another location.
“I never had a particular passion for
it. Some guys love distilling or love
brewing. M ine is more about develop-
ing a business, but I’ve really enjoyed
learning a lot about it and we have
some really good products,” Fick said.
The distillery will have a bar with
tasting room privileges and serve a
variety of seafood-based meals.
The location for the distillery,
known as the Astoria Wharf and Ware-
house Co. building, is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. It
The killer of Oregon State Police Sgt.
James D. Shepherd will spend at least four
more years in prison.
Last week, Michael Edward Sture, who
gunned down the state trooper in Knappa
in 1980, said he was fi t for parole. His pro-
jected release date was in May.
T he state Board of Parole and Post-
Prison Supervision interviewed Sture to
determine if he could safely be released 42
years after he murdered Shepherd.
The board decided Sture, who has
chronically abused drugs during his time
in prison , needed more years of sobriety
to prove he wouldn’t relapse and commit
more crimes.
The board postponed Sture’s parole date
to May 2026, with another review slated
for November 2025.
“I think that’s an excellent decision,”
said Virginia Shepherd, James Shepherd’s
widow. “But I hate going through this every
few years. It’s awful hard on my family.”
Clatsop County District Attorney Ron
Brown said his offi ce is “quite pleased.” At
the parole hearing, Brown had pushed for
Sture to remain in prison at least another
two years.
On May 22, 1980, Sture used two guns
to kill Shepherd, who was off duty and
See Sture, Page A3
The distillery will include a bar and tasting room and plans to serve a variety of
seafood-based meals.
was constructed in the late 1800s and
has been used for a number of pur-
poses over the years, but often just for
storage, Fick said.
Fick had contemplated how to uti-
lize the unique space . He considered
a number of possibilities, including a
hotel, but none of them felt right.
“I’ve seen things go sideways on
people,” he said. “I want to just have a
humble, successful small business that
identifi es with Astoria, too.”
Former City Manager Paul Benoit,
who always had appreciation for the
building, invited Fick down to check
out a distillery in Alameda, California,
where Benoit was d eputy c ity m anager
at the time, Fick said. Benoit thought
he could capitalize on the waterfront
location and start a distillery of his
own.
In addition to being an intriguing
business opportunity, Fick thought it
would be a good chance to keep his
workers busy around the year.
“If we have a slow period in sea-
food, like if crab season is over and we
don’t have something going on, well,
maybe that’s the time we’ll do more
bottling,” he said. “I am trying to diver-
sify the overall company so that I can
give some more stability to my crew.”
See Distillery, Page A2
‘WE WANT TO IDENTIFY THE PAST, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE
ASPECTS OF WHAT ASTORIA IS ABOUT, PARTICULARLY IN THE SEAFOOD
INDUSTRY. ... WE HOPE TO GET A FEW PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH
THERE, ENJOYING THE SEAFOOD, AND UNDERSTANDING THE
DISTILLING PROCESS AND OUR COMMUNITY AND WHAT WE’RE ABOUT.’
Steve Fick | owner of Fishhawk Fisheries
Hammond
fi sherman gets
new trial in
sex abuse case
Judge determines
attorney was ineff ective
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
A Hammond fi sherman sentenced in
2019 to more than 13 years in prison for
sex crimes will get a new trial .
A judge in Marion County, where Den-
nis Lee Sturgell Sr., 69, was imprisoned at
the Oregon State Correctional Institution
in Salem, determined he received ineff ec-
tive counsel from his original attorney.
Sturgell was sentenced in Janu-
ary 2019 for various counts involving
fi rst-degree sodomy, fi rst-degree unlaw-
ful sexual penetration, second-degree
sex abuse, bribing a witness and witness
tampering.
In September, Judge Claudia Bur-
ton vacated the verdicts . The case has
been sent back to Clatsop County Circuit
Court, and Sturgell is back in the county
jail.
See New trial, Page A2
Riverfront hotel project moves forward
Planning Commission
approves variances
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
A new riverfront hotel project in
Uniontown landed two key approv-
als on Tuesday night.
The Astoria Planning Commis-
sion unanimously approved two
variances to road setback require-
ments and window design stan-
dards. The variances , City Plan-
ner Alex Murphy said, unlock the
doors for the project to continue.
Ganesh Sonpatki, the owner of
Param Hotel Corp ., which oper-
ates the Astoria Riverwalk Inn at
the West Mooring Basin, hopes to
develop a 39-room hotel at the for-
mer NW Natural property next to
the Astoria Bridge.
The project makes use of the
former Paragon Packing building
designed by famed Astoria archi-
tects John E. Wicks and his daugh-
ter, Ebba Wicks Brown.
The proposed hotel, designed by
Astoria architect Stuart Emmons,
seeks to preserve the building and
create a new three-story addition at
the back.
But Tuesday’s hearings put
some of the city’s newest develop-
ment rules to the test.
In 2019, the city approved codes
for the Bridge Vista o verlay zone that
placed height and other restrictions on
new construction in a stretch of riv-
erfront near the Astoria Bridge. The
codes were an eff ort to preserve river
views and public access to the river.
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
See Hotel, Page A2
A three-story, 39-room hotel is planned near Uniontown.