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DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2022
150TH YEAR, NO. 14
$1.50
Warrenton
selects
new city
manager
Moberg serves as the
library director in Seaside
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
WARRENTON — T he city has found
its next city manager.
Following an executive session on Fri-
day, the City Commission
voted unanimously in a
special session to off er
the position to Esther
Moberg, the library direc-
tor and public informa-
tion offi cer in Seaside.
The off er is pending con-
Esther Moberg tract negotiations.
“I am so excited for
the opportunity to be a part of Warren-
ton and I am looking forward to getting
to know the staff , community and build-
ing a future together,” Moberg said.
Moberg has held a number of library
posts on the North Coast, totaling nine
years of local government management
experience.
See Warrenton, Page A6
Former
real estate
association
offi cer indicted
Morrow faces theft charges
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
A former executive offi cer of the Clat-
sop Association of Realtors has been
indicted for identity theft, forgery and
aggravated theft.
Deborah Lee Morrow, 61, allegedly
used the identifi cation of the realty asso-
ciation and one of its leaders more than a
dozen times, according to the grand jury
indictment.
She also allegedly forged checks more
than a dozen times.
In addition, she allegedly stole money
and other unauthorized expenses that
belonged to the realty association, the
indictment said.
The crimes are alleged to have
occurred between August 2019 and
December 2020.
See Indicted, Page A6
Photos by Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Garbage has piled up and the state noted a rodent infestation at Beacon RV Park.
Washington state intervenes
in dispute at RV park in Ilwaco
New owners
allegedly used
intimidation to
evict tenants
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
KMUN
I
LWACO, Wash. — The new own-
ers of an RV park have violated
multiple provisions of Washing-
ton’s landlord-tenant laws, according
to the state.
In a cease-and-desist order and a
notice of violation issued in July , the
Attorney General’s Manufactured
Housing Dispute Resolution Program
found that Michael and Denise Wer-
ner used improper notices and intim-
idation to try to evict tenants of Bea-
con RV P ark. The couple retaliated
after tenants fi led complaints with the
a ttorney g eneral’s offi ce by decreasing
park services, failed to off er tenants
written rental agreements and have
not given people a way to pay rent,
and violated local rules around main-
taining the RV park, the state found,
among other issues.
The state ordered the Werners to
stop all actions that were against the
law, including attempts to evict tenants
without proper 12-month notice. The
Werners were also instructed to pro-
vide $2,000 in relocation assistance or
actual relocation costs — whichever
was greater — to tenants who left after
Feb. 25.
Now the state is investigating the
demolition of several trailers at the
park in July as possible violations of
Beacon RV Park in Ilwaco.
STATE IS LOOKING
INTO THE DEMOLITION
OF SEVERAL TRAILERS
AT THE PARK IN JULY AS
POSSIBLE VIOLATIONS
OF THE ORDER AND
NOTICE.
the order and notice.
Violation or no violation, for the
few remaining Beacon RV Park ten-
ants, the destruction of the trailers feels
like another attempt by the Werners to
intimidate them into leaving or, failing
that, to make the space unlivable.
Susan Gill, a longtime resident
at Beacon RV P ark, said the demo-
lition crews severed or did not prop-
erly cap septic lines when they broke
down several trailers, leaving behind
an unsanitary mess.
Some of the trailers were no longer
being used, but it isn’t clear if this was
true of all of the trailers.
Other tenants were afraid to leave
for their jobs, worried their homes
would be destroyed in their absence.
Garbage has piled up and the state
noted a rodent infestation.
To Gill, it feels like being under
attack.
“You could describe it like living in
Germany and having the Nazis com-
ing and knock on your door,” she said.
The Werners and their representa-
tives have said there are various elec-
trical issues and other maintenance
and safety concerns at the RV park and
people need to leave. But the state says
See RV park, Page A6
New Astoria golf pro feels ‘very lucky to be here’
Lambert made his
debut in April
ASTORIA GOLF
PROFESSIONALS
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
ead golf professional,
Astoria Golf & Coun-
try Club.
It’s a prestigious, highly
sought-after job, with not a
lot of turnover. From 1961
to 2022, only four people
held the title.
And of the previous two
Astoria golf professionals,
one was just inducted into
the Pacifi c Northwest Golf
Hall of Fame; the other was
named the Golf Profes-
sional of the Year in 2018
for the Oregon c hapter of
H
Jared Lambert is the new golf pro at the Astoria Golf & Country Club.
the PGA.
Since 1989, Mike Gove,
John Kawasoe and now
Jared Lambert are the only
three men to serve as the
head golf professionals at
the Astoria Golf & Coun-
try Club.
After 20 years at Asto-
ria, Kawasoe was named
the golf pro at Pumpkin
Ridge Golf Course in North
Plains last spring, and
Lambert made his Asto-
ria debut in April. E ven
though he has big shoes to
• Howard Bonar, 1936-1950
• Ron Caperna, 1950-1957
• Ed Oldfi eld, 1958-1960
• Marlow Quick, 1961-1971
• Bob Gasper, 1971-1989
• Mike Gove, 1989-2002
• John Kawasoe, 2002-2022
MORE INSIDE
Titles for Mack, Moir in
Oregon Coast Invitational • A5
fi ll, the 29-year-old native
Oregonian, is ready to fol-
low in the footsteps of his
predecessors.
It was basically a move
up U.S. Highway 101 for
Lambert, who was the golf
pro at Salishan Golf Links
near Lincoln City. Before
that, he was an assistant
pro at Avondale Golf Club
in Palm Desert, California
— the city where Gove was
working before he came to
Astoria in 1989.
Currently the golf pro
at Inglewood Golf Club
in Kenmore, Washington,
Gove was Astoria’s golf
pro until 2002. Kawasoe
held that title for the last 20
years, and now the baton
has been passed to Lambert.
See Lambert, Page A6