A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2022
IN BRIEF
Rezoning proposed at former
Gearhart Elementary School
GEARHART — The owner of the former Gearhart
Elementary School wants to rezone the property and
build up to 24 residential units.
While environmental consultants will not fi nish mon-
itoring groundwater test pits until the end of April, pre-
liminary reports from the consultants about the sep-
tic carrying capacity on-site led the owners to seek city
approval to rezone the entire 8.5 acres to residential
medium density, or R-2.
“Information drives conclusions, and new informa-
tion can change initial plans,” Bob Morey, of Scofi Gear-
hart LLC, said.
Scofi ’s initial thought was that the septic capacity of
the property might only accommodate a few residential
units.
Providence Seaside partners
with nonprofi t on housing
SEASIDE — Providence Seaside Hospital is partner-
ing with the nonprofi t Home Share Oregon to implement
a program that could help alleviate the housing crisis in
the region.
“We saw this as a great opportunity to take this con-
cept and this service and expand it into the community,”
Cherilyn Frei, the chief mission offi cer at Providence
Seaside, said.
Home Share Oregon brings the community tradition
of home-sharing into the modern age utilizing technol-
ogy to match renters to homeowners, and vice versa,
based on compatibility.
Tess Fields, Home Share Oregon’s executive director,
launched the program two years ago as part of a larger
nonprofi t organization. It experienced rapid success and
expansion, leading Fields to establish her own separate
nonprofi t entity in mid-2021.
Individuals and families can use Home Share Ore-
gon’s digital app to create a profi le — whether they’re
looking to rent a room or have one to off er. Powered by
Silvernest technology, the program helps facilitate back-
ground checks, rental agreements and access to media-
tion services, which all make the home-sharing process
more secure and comfortable for both homeowners and
renters.
Astoria Library to close on Thursday
The Astoria Library will close Thursday while staff
attend the Public Library Association conference in
Portland.
During the conference, staff will review the latest
trends in libraries.
— The Astorian
Businesses challenge Oregon’s
new climate program in court
A coalition of businesses wants a court to block Ore-
gon’s new Climate Protection Program administrative rules.
The rules, passed by the Oregon Environmental Qual-
ity Commission in December, target a 90% reduction in
greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuels and
natural gas by 2050.
In a petition for judicial review fi led Friday, 12 indus-
try trade groups say the rules “hold fuel suppliers directly
accountable” for the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The groups represent farming, ranching, fossil fuel,
logging, manufacturing and retail businesses.
Mary Anne Cooper, of the Oregon Farm Bureau, in a
statement said the Oregon Department of Environmental
Quality “overstepped its authority.”
“Oregonians should not stand for a state agency writ-
ing policies that it does not have the authority to write,
and it sets a dangerous precedent for the future,” Coo-
per wrote.
For years, Oregon Democratic lawmakers have tried
to launch an economywide cap-and-trade program to
reduce the carbon emissions that contribute to climate
change. When they failed to get enough votes, Gov.
Kate Brown last year ordered the Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality to develop administrative rules that
would cap greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels
and reduce them over time.
The resulting Climate Protection Program does just
that: it caps emissions from gasoline, diesel, propane,
kerosene and natural gas and makes the cap more restric-
tive over time. The program, which launched this month,
will distribute a declining number of emission credits to
fuel suppliers and allow them to buy and sell those cred-
its as the cap comes down. It also creates a fund that
allows companies to pay for emission reductions in
communities that are most impacted by climate change.
— Oregon Public Broadcasting
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Clatsop County Planning Commission and Countywide
Advisory Committee, 9 a.m., (virtual meeting).
Warrenton City Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main
Ave.
WEDNESDAY
Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, 6 p.m., (virtual
meeting).
THURSDAY
Sunset Empire Transportation District Board, 9 a.m.,
(virtual meeting).
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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MURAL
AT RISK?
Patrick Webb/Chinook Observer
A mural by former Ilwaco resident Dorothy Danielson, now of Svensen, was created at the Ilwaco Timberland Library branch
when her earlier artwork was discovered to be damaged during a 2008-09 remodel. The regional library network’s plan for a
$150,000 remodel this spring has been delayed following community uproar over fears of the potential loss of the mural.
State budget patch will
shore up legal defense
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
Now that lawmak-
ers have approved what is
essentially a $13 million
patch, Oregon leaders have
several more months to
chart a new course for how
indigent criminal defen-
dants get legal representa-
tion in court.
The chairman of the
state Public Defense Ser-
vices Commission, which
oversees the system , has
even suggested that the
state take over the web of
public defender offi ces,
nonprofi t law fi rms, con-
sortiums of individual law-
yers and private law fi rms
and sometimes lawyers
themselves.
Per Ramfjord made the
comment at a meeting a
week after the Legisla-
ture approved $12.8 mil-
lion within a larger budget
bill to pay for up to 36 new
lawyers, plus support staff
and investigations. The
new positions — half now
and the other half in July
— would cover more pop-
ulous counties in which an
estimated 100 defendants
have lacked legal repre-
sentation, such as Mult-
nomah and Washington
counties, which are served
by the Metropolitan Public
Defender. Others are Lane
and Marion counties .
The Legislature already
had withheld about $100
million from the Offi ce of
Public Defense Services’
two-year budget, allow-
ing the legislative Emer-
gency Board to release
it. State House Speaker
Dan Rayfi eld, a Demo-
crat from Corvallis whose
most recent position was
as House co-leader of the
joint budget committee,
said such withholding is
not unusual — but also not
common — for an agency
facing diffi culties.
“We were trying to fi g-
ure out those next steps
we can do,” Rayfi eld told
reporters when the Legisla-
ture closed its 2022 session.
“You can’t throw a bunch
of money at an agency and
expect that you will get
results. They need to be
methodical and thoughtful
to achieve what you are try-
ing to accomplish.
The state Legislature approved an extra $12.8 million for public defense services.
‘THIS IS AN AREA I AM EMBARRASSED ABOUT. I
DIDN’T REALIZE THE MAGNITUDE OF THIS MESS
UNTIL THIS SESSION. I’M GLAD WE HAVE AN
ANNUAL SESSION, BECAUSE WE REALLY MADE A
RUN AT IT TO TRY TO GET IT UNDER CONTROL.’
Senate President Peter Courtney | a Democrat from Salem
“We sure could have
thrown hundreds of mil-
lions at the Public Defense
Services Commission in an
eff ort to try to make things
look good. But we wouldn’t
be good stewards of public
dollars.”
‘I am embarrassed’
“This is an area I am
embarrassed about,” Senate
President Peter Courtney, a
Democrat from Salem, told
reporters. “I didn’t realize
the magnitude of this mess
until this session. I’m glad
we have an annual session,
because we really made
a run at it to try to get it
under control.”
The U.S. Supreme Court
established in a 1963 case
that criminal defendants
are entitled to legal counsel
in state and federal courts.
Oregon’s Robert Thornton
was among the state attor-
neys general who fi led their
support for Clarence Earl
Gideon, the petitioner in
Gideon v. Wainwright.
“This is something the
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media need to ride us on,
because if you can’t get the
right to counsel, you can
talk all you want about a
civilized society, but you’re
not there,” Courtney said.
“I don’t know if we
threw money at it or not.
Nobody seems to want to
take it on.”
The cost and availabil-
ity of lawyers for indi-
gent legal defense have
been issues almost since
the Legislature approved
the state takeover of trial
courts in Oregon’s 36 coun-
ties back in 1981. The take-
over took eff ect in January
1983. Before then, judges
were considered state offi -
cials, but counties provided
the staffi ng — and counties
still provide the buildings
and security, although there
is a 50-50 fund for court-
house construction. Some
counties, faced with rising
costs for indigent defense,
backed the state takeover.
Twenty years later, in
2003, the Public Defense
Services Commission was
created to oversee the net-
work of contractors that
provide indigent defense.
But a 2019 report by the
Sixth Amendment Center
concluded that the evolv-
ing system resulted in
problems.
“In doing so, the state
has created a complex
bureaucracy that collects a
signifi cant amount of indi-
gent defense data, yet does
not provide suffi cient over-
sight or fi nancial account-
ability. In some instances,
the complex bureaucracy is
itself a hindrance to eff ec-
tive assistance of counsel,”
the report concluded.
“Moreover, the report
concludes that this com-
plex bureaucracy obscures
an attorney compensation
plan that is at root a fi xed
fee contract system that pits
appointed lawyers’ fi nan-
cial self-interest against the
due process rights of their
clients, and is prohibited
by national public defense
standards.”
Bar association report
A January report by the
American Bar Associa-
tion concluded that Oregon
should have 1,888 lawyers
to provide adequate repre-
sentation for indigent crim-
inal defendants, but has just
592.
“I believe that with the
resources of the Emergency
Board, we can tackle it with
a Band-Aid,” Gov. Kate
Brown said. “The chal-
lenge is in hiring lawyers.”
Two Democrats voted
against the end-of-session
budget bill — House Bill
5202 — that contained the
extra $12.8 million for pub-
lic defense services. They
were Rep. Janelle Bynum,
of Clackamas, who leads
the House Judiciary Com-
mittee, and Rep. Marty
Wilde, of Eugene, a lawyer.
Both said the amount was
insuffi cient.
The Oregon Capital
Bureau is a collaboration
between EO Media Group
and Pamplin Media Group.