»INSIDE
WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022
149TH YEAR, NO. 103
$1.50
Oregon
will drop
indoor mask
mandate
Hospitalizations have
sharply declined
By GARY WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
Oregon will drop an indoor mask
mandate in public places on March 19
and end the two-year COVID-19 state of
emergency on April 1, Gov. Kate Brown
announced Thursday.
Brown said the moves were possible
because of a steep decline in new virus
cases and hospitalizations from the lat-
est wave caused by the highly contagious
omicron variant.
“We can now protect ourselves, our
friends and our families without invok-
ing the extraordinary emergency author-
ities that were necessary at the begin-
ning of the pandemic,” Brown said in a
statement.
Hospitalizations of people with
COVID-19 are on pace to drop under 400
per day, the bench mark Brown set to lift
an indoor mask mandate that was revived
over the summer during a previous surge
of infections across the state .
Earlier this month, Brown had said the
indoor mask mandate would be lifted by
March 31, but could come earlier if hospi-
talizations dropped below the threshold.
COVID-19 hospitalizations were at
528 on Thursday , having fallen by more
than half since late January.
Brown will also lift the state of emer-
gency she put in place in March 2020
after the fi rst virus cases were reported in
Oregon .
Brown tweeted “the pandemic is not
over” and followed up with a full state-
ment released from her offi ce.
“COVID-19 is still present in Oregon,
and we must remain vigilant,” the gover-
nor said . “We must continue to get vac-
cinated and boosted, wear masks when
necessary, and stay home when sick.
That is the only way we can achieve our
shared goals of saving lives and keeping
our schools, businesses and communities
open.”
In a videotaped message released
Thursday, Colt Gill, the director of the
state Department of Education, said
schools would be included in the move
to lift the indoor mask mandate based on
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
The Merwyn Apartments opened last year next to City Hall.
For the Merwyn Apartments,
a challenging fi rst year
Lower-income housing
next to City Hall
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
T
he Merwyn has had a challenging
fi rst year off ering lower-income
apartments next to City Hall ,
but city and nonprofi t leaders remain
encouraged that the housing is serving
an important need in the community.
Innovative Housing Inc., a Portland
nonprofi t, renovated the historic hotel
building on Duane Street and opened
to tenants last spring. The project cre-
ated 40 aff ordable and workforce hous-
ing units in a housing market that has
become increasingly out of reach for
many.
Most of the units are studio apart-
ments that serve lower-income workers
and people who were previously home-
less or in unstable living conditions .
Four units are priced at market rate.
Behavioral issues, tenant turnover
viding good management, and I think
they’ve shown that since the beginning,
even though there was a rocky start.
“I think, really, that’s a huge accom-
plishment and a huge gift for the
community.”
MORE INSIDE
State lawmakers unveil
$400 million housing plan • A2
and management diffi culties have con-
tributed to concerns about adding more
lower-income housing downtown .
Innovative Housing and city leaders are
optimistic, however, that the early chal-
lenges are normal growing pains that
are expected to resolve over time.
The Merwyn is being used as an
example by both advocates and critics
of a workforce housing project proposed
across the street at Heritage Square.
City Councilor Joan Herman, who
represents the downtown ward, said it is
important to keep perspective. T he old
hotel building was long seen as a blight
just steps away from City Hall .
“We’ve got 40 housing units that
weren’t there before, as well as a beau-
tifully restored building,” Herman said.
“The company is committed to pro-
‘An aff ordable housing crisis’
Innovative Housing purchased the
vacant and neglected building, also
known as the Waldorf Hotel , from a
demolition contractor. The nonprofi t
was able to restore the space and many
historic characteristics. The fi nal touch
was completed earlier this year, with the
re-creation of the canopy that covered
the front entrance .
“We do have an aff ordable housing
crisis in the Pacifi c Northwest, espe-
cially in towns like Astoria that have a
lot of business in tourism,” said Julie
Garver, the housing development direc-
tor for Innovative Housing. “It’s great to
be able to add to the housing stock and
add in an income range that isn’t well
See Merwyn, Page A6
See Masks, Page A6
A decadelong saga
after Astoria shooting
ends with a plea deal
Savinskiy convicted
of attempted murder
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
A decade ago, Yevgeniy Pav-
lovich Savinskiy threatened
two police offi cers at an Asto-
ria motel, led law enforcement
on a high-speed pursuit, and
tried while in jail to arrange for
adversaries in his criminal case
to be killed or crippled.
The case, which saw multi-
ple appeals and a lengthy sen-
tence reversed as Oregon law
changed, arrived at a resolution
on Thursday.
Savinskiy, 47, was convicted
on two counts of attempted
fi rst-degree murder, attempt to
elude police, two counts of con-
spiracy to commit fi rst-degree
murder and one count of con-
spiracy to commit fi rst-degree
assault.
He was sentenced by Judge
Henry Kantor to more than 11
years in prison. With credit for
time served, Savinskiy will be
out in less than two years.
As part of a plea deal that
includes no contact with the
victims, Savinskiy, formerly of
Washougal, Washington, agreed
to renounce his U.S. citizenship
and return to his home coun-
try of Ukraine. If he violates
his probation, such as by trying
to reenter the U.S. illegally, he
will serve more than 10 years in
prison.
On Feb. 12, 2012, Astoria
p olice offi cers Joe Symonds,
Christopher McNeary and a
third offi cer were called to the
Lamplighter Motel — now the
Atomic Motel — on Marine
Drive to detain a guest that
police suspected of illegally
possessing a silencer and using
false identifi cation. Symonds
approached the door, while
McNeary and the other offi cer
went around the back.
When Savinskiy answered,
his suspicious behavior —
opening the door a few inches,
putting weight on it to keep the
offi cers out, seeming to stall —
alarmed Symonds, according to
District Attorney Ron Brown,
who recounted the events at the
sentencing.
Symonds saw Savinskiy’s
eyes dilate. “He thought some-
thing was going to happen,”
Sturgell pleads
no contest to
sex crimes
Hammond fi sherman
placed on probation
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
hart and Seaside. In the Can-
non Beach area, Savinskiy
reversed course to get on to U.S.
Highway 26, where the van
was spike-stripped. He drove
another few miles on the rims,
Brown said, before he spun onto
the roadside.
“We’re lucky somebody
wasn’t killed just by virtue of
that chase,” Brown said.
Even as offi cers surrounded
him, Savinskiy was seen
going for his gun before he
surrendered.
Dennis Lee Sturgell Sr., the Hammond
fi sherman whose convictions for sex
abuse crimes were vacated last year, will
not have a new trial.
On Thursday , Sturgell, 69, pleaded no
contest in Clatsop County Circuit Court
to fi rst-degree attempted sodomy and
fi rst-degree attempted unlawful sexual
penetration .
In August 2015, Sturgell met a young
woman at a Warrenton bar and, plying her
with drinks and cocaine, had sex with her
at his Naselle, Washington, property and
later in an Astoria hotel. At his trial, the
state argued, and the jury found, that the
woman was too intoxicated to consent.
Sturgell also pleaded no contest to
bribing a witness. Through an interme-
diary, he tried to give the victim’s father
$5,000 if the victim agreed to drop the
case. Sturgell also threatened to under-
mine the woman’s reputation.
Sturgell’s new sentence is fi ve years
of probation. He will have to register as
a sex off ender, submit to drug and alco-
hol treatment and have no contact with
the victim or her family. The victim will
get $15,000 out of Sturgell’s posted bail.
See Shooting, Page A6
See Sturgell, Page A6
The Astorian
Crime scene investigators took down notes and photographed the
parking lot area of the Lamplighter Motel after gunfi re broke out
between Astoria police and a guest in 2012.
MORE INSIDE
Appeals court upholds convictions in murder of Newport man • A6
Brown said, “and it did.”
Savinskiy withdrew into the
room and raised a handgun as
Symonds pushed the door open.
Symonds and McNeary opened
fi re. Savinskiy, who was shot
through the left wrist and in his
right shoulder, managed to exit
the room, climb into his rented
van with the gun, speed over the
New Youngs Bay Bridge, turn
into the Premarq Center, then
drive over concrete barriers to
get back onto U.S. Highway 101
southbound.
The midday car chase contin-
ued through Warrenton, Gear-