A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2021
IN BRIEF
Cyclist killed after being hit by
motorist on Highway 101 near Seaside
A bicyclist was struck and killed Saturday night on
U.S. Highway 101 south of Seaside.
Zane Belshe, 59, of Seaside, was riding on the
northbound shoulder just after 6 p.m. when he was hit
by a gray Nissan Frontier driven by a Seaside man,
Oregon State Police said. Police said the driver failed
to drive within his lane.
Belshe was pronounced dead at the scene.
The incident is under investigation.
Police said the highway was closed for 4 1/2 hours
after the crash.
Boone seeks to fi ll vacated Senate seat
Deborah Boone, a Democrat with a political history
stretching from her days as a Clatsop County commis-
sioner to the Oregon Legislature, says she wants to
fi ll the state Senate District 16 seat vacated by Betsy
Johnson.
Johnson resigned last week to focus on her cam-
paign for governor as an independent.
Boone, who is from Hamlet, represented House
District 32 as a state representative from 2004 to 2019.
Boone told Pamplin Media Group she is interested
in returning to Salem as an appointed senator, serving
out the rest of Johnson’s unexpired term.
Boone said she would not run for the Senate seat in
next year’s election.
“I’m only interested in running for the interim, to
fi ll out the rest of that term,” she said.
— Pamplin Media Group
Housing authority seeks to fi ll seat
The Northwest Oregon Housing Authority is seek-
ing applicants to fi ll an open seat on its board.
The person chosen will represent Clatsop County
for a four-year term and meet once a month with fel-
low commissioners in Clatsop, Tillamook or Colum-
bia county.
The agency oversees federal programs that help
people in need of housing assistance in the three
counties.
Application forms can be found on the coun-
ty’s website or at the county manager’s offi ce at 800
Exchange St., Suite 410, in Astoria.
Applications should be submitted to the county
manager’s offi ce.
County seeks to fi ll vacancies
on budget committees
Clatsop County is looking to fi ll vacancies on sev-
eral budget committees.
Positions are available on the budget committee
that makes spending recommendations to the county
Board of Commissioners. Other slots are open on road
district, Westport sewer and 4-H budget committees.
More information is available on the county’s web-
site and through the county manager’s offi ce. The
deadline to apply is Feb. 10.
County commissioners will make the appointments.
— The Astorian
DEATH
Dec. 17, 2021
OWENS, Julie Lynn, 59, of Seaside, died in Sea-
side. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary of Astoria is
in charge of the arrangements.
In Brief
Death
MEMORIAL
Wednesday, Dec. 22
Memorial
HAYWARD, Joseph Orlo — Viewing from 1
to 4 p.m., Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary, 1165
Franklin Ave. A celebration of life is planned for the
spring; details to follow on the Ocean Crest Chevrolet
Buick GMC Cadillac Facebook page.
ON THE RECORD
Unlawful use of a weapon was arrested on Sunday
On
• John the
Milton Record
Ewen, at Exchange and 14th
Jr., 65, of Astoria, was
indicted last week for
unlawful use of a weapon,
two counts of menacing
and recklessly endanger-
ing another person.
DUII
• Rene Elizabeth Don-
nelly, 44, of Astoria,
streets in Astoria for driv-
ing under the infl uence of
intoxicants.
• Miguel Gutierrez
Blanco, 37, of Salem, was
arrested on Saturday on
U.S. Highway 101 near
milepost 9 for DUII and
reckless driving.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., workshop, (electronic
meeting).
Cannon Beach Planning Commission, 6 p.m., (electronic
meeting).
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Judge refuses to declare state forest
logging unlawfully harms coho salmon
Expert testimony
expected next year
By MATEUSZ
PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
PORTLAND — A fed-
eral judge has refused to
declare that logging activities
in the Clatsop and Tillamook
state forests have unlaw-
fully harmed threatened coho
salmon.
Though U.S. District
Judge Michael Mosman has
rejected a motion by envi-
ronmental groups to declare
that timber sales in those state
forests violate the Endan-
gered Species Act, his rul-
ing doesn’t put an end to the
litigation.
The Center for Biologi-
cal Diversity, Cascadia Wild-
lands and the Native Fish
Society have a strong case
they’ll succeed on the mer-
its, but at this point, their evi-
dence of illegal take isn’t
beyond dispute, Mosman
said.
The plaintiff s must prove
that logging road construction
caused landslides that harmed
streams enough to kill or
injure coho salmon, he said.
“You just can’t get there
from here without something
Rick Swart/Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Coho salmon swim in an Oregon creek.
more,” Mosman said at the
conclusion of oral arguments
on Thursday .
However, the judge has
agreed to revisit the issue
after hearing expert testi-
mony next year from the
environmental
nonprofi ts
and the s tate , as well as Tilla-
mook County and the Oregon
Forest & Industries Council,
which have intervened in the
lawsuit.
Amy Atwood, an attorney
for the environmental non-
profi ts, argued that fi ndings
from the National Marine
Fisheries Service, numerous
studies and documentary evi-
dence all prove that landslides
from logging roads adversely
Jail: Will be a more rehabilitative environment
Continued from Page A1
use because of coronavirus
restrictions — and a long
history of overcrowding .
The new jail, designed to
have 148 beds, will allow
the county to house inmates
who normally wouldn’t
qualify for the county’s pre-
trial release program but
who still get sent back into
the community shortly after
they’re booked .
“This will certainly put
us in a position to where we
won’t have to make forced
releases,” Phillips said.
The Astoria jail has one
exam room. “It literally used
to be a closet,” Phillips said.
The new one will have a
medical suite with two exam
rooms, as well as a mental
health interview room.
At the current jail, vis-
itors talk to inmates from
a tight row of stools. The
upgrade will include private
booths for visitors.
The new jail will also
have a kitchen where staff
can prepare and serve break-
fast, lunch and dinner on
site. Inmates now eat from
pre made meal trays.
Among the most signif-
icant upgrades: The wing
that used to house the juve-
nile detention center will
become an intake unit where
jail staff can hold inmates in
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Counterweights are lifted by a crane behind a wall mural from the former Oregon Youth
Authority juvenile detention facility.
one-person cells when they
fi rst enter the premises .
At intake, they can be
monitored, their condition
assessed. Deputies can see
if the person is ill or detox-
ing from drugs or alcohol,
or has drugs that need to be
removed.
“If someone is going
through withdrawal, it’s
pretty awkward to be laying
in a day room or in a dorm
with a bunch of people who
DIGITAL
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are feeling well,” Phillips
said.
The new jail will be a
more rehabilitative environ-
ment for inmates , he said.
“People have to remem-
ber that every person that
comes into this jail is some-
one’s family member —
mother, brother, sister, son,
daughter — and that most
of the people that come
into the jail are members of
our community,” Phillips
said. “And oftentimes, it
could be the person check-
ing your groceries, pumping
your gas, it’s the person that
built your house, that cycles
through the jail.”
The facility, he said, will
give law enforcement bet-
ter tools to take care of these
community members. “And
hopefully to get them to a
place where they don’t have
to come back and visit us, ”
he said.
Coach: The trial had been reset for March
Continued from Page A1
In a court fi ling, Samuel-
son argued that the woman’s
claims were a response to the
fact that he had expressed
concerns with the school dis-
trict superintendent about her
behavior toward a parent. The
fi ling also said the woman
had “problematic” boundar-
ies with a high school student.
Samuelson once served
on the Jewell School District
Board.
The evidence that was
destroyed was body camera
footage of interviews Clat-
sop County Sheriff ’s Offi ce
personnel had conducted
with witnesses. P rosecutors
prematurely signed off on a
form that allowed the sher-
iff ’s offi ce to dispose of the
footage.
“I’m embarrassed by it,”
District Attorney Ron Brown
said, adding, “It was not an
intentional, sinister thing
where, ‘Oh yeah, we’re going
to tube this.’ We thought we
had a strong case.”
Paul Charas, the deputy
district attorney handling the
case, said, “Any evidence is
crucial.”
“Obviously some (evi-
dence) helps more than oth-
ers, but a video recording …
there’s little left up to inter-
pretation,” Charas said.
If the state destroys poten-
tially exculpatory evidence,
the case can be dismissed,
Brown said. When the lost
footage became known ear-
lier this month, Charas fi led
a motion to dismiss, writing
that “it is in the best interest
of justice.”
“Part of the job of a prose-
cutor is to ensure that all par-
ties get a fair trial,” Charas
said.
In the lead-up to a trial
that was expected to start in
November , the d istrict a ttor-
ney’s offi ce produced evi-
dence — copies of text mes-
sages — that had not been
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aff ect coho salmon.
“It’s apparent from our
photography that sediment
was delivered,” Atwood said.
“Our contention is that fi ne
sediment is always harmful.”
If the environmental non-
profi ts convince the judge
that the Oregon Department
of Forestry’s management
resulted in unlawful take,
it could have implications
beyond state forestland. Sim-
ilar logging activities on pri-
vate forestland could then
also be vulnerable to lawsuits.
Attorneys for the defen-
dants and intervenors coun-
tered that the environ-
mental plaintiff s have not
established a suffi cient causal
link between the Department
of Forestry’s logging authori-
zations and the alleged take of
coho salmon.
“They just haven’t done
the who, what, where, when
and how,” said Jay Waldron,
Tillamook County’s attor-
ney. “Landslides occur in Til-
lamook County every day. It
doesn’t automatically result in
take or habitat modifi cation.”
The fact that sediment
has entered streams alone
isn’t enough to prove that
coho salmon were killed or
injured in violation of the
Endangered Species Act , said
Deanna Chang, an attorney
for the state government.
“They have not estab-
lished that landslide occurred
due to any activities of ODF,”
she said. “Not all steep slopes
are prone to landslides. Not
all areas to be harvested are
on steep slopes.”
Chang said the court briefs
fi led by the plaintiff s are not
suffi cient for the judge to rule
that Department of Forestry
violated the law. To make
such a conclusion, he must
consider expert testimony
from both sides, she said.
“It’s not just the introduc-
tion of sediment to a stream,”
Chang said. “It has to have
an adverse impact on listed
species.”
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entered during discovery.
Charas argued that the evi-
dence wasn’t new — the mes-
sages are referenced in the
discovery materials — but
copies of the texts themselves
had only recently surfaced.
As a result, Richard
Cohen, Samuelson’s Port-
land-based attorney, said he
would need to change his
defense strategy. The trial had
been reset for March .
Cohen and Samuelson
could not be reached for com-
ment on the dismissal of the
charges.
“We’re just sick about
it, is really the way to put
it,” Brown said. “And I feel
bad for the victim, and,” he
sighed, “it’s very frustrating.”
Courtney Ann
Guenther
Aug. 21, 1982 - Dec. 22, 2001
“Don’t worry about the future,
He’s got it under control”.
~
I love you. I miss you. Love
always forever and ever and ever
~ Dadio