A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2022
IN BRIEF
Fire causes property damage
in Gearhart
GEARHART — A shop and storefront along
U.S. Highway 101 and G Street caught fi re early
Sunday morning.
The Gearhart Volunteer Fire Department
responded to a report of a brush fi re close to two
buildings before 4:30 a.m. No one was hurt and the
building was unoccupied, Fire Chief Josh Como
said.
The new owners of the property had been clean-
ing out the lower shop and piling and sorting
items, Como said. During the night, the pile caught
fi re.
Because of the close proximity of the structures
and the pile that caught fi re, it set the lower shop on
fi re as well as the storefront alongside the highway.
Firefi ghters were able to stop the fi re in the store-
front structure and save 90% of that structure and its
contents, Como said.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
In Brief
Deaths
July 29, 2022
DeHART,
Sharon
Lanei, 83, of Warren-
ton, died in Warrenton.
Caldwell’s
Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
July 23, 2022
KOCH, Ruth Marie,
94, of Seaside, died in
Warrenton. Hughes-Ran-
som Mortuary is in charge
of the arrangements.
MEMORIALS
Memorials
Friday, Aug. 5
SETALA,
Kenneth
(Kenny) William — Cel-
ebration of life at 1 p.m.,
Rosburg Hall, 28 Rosburg
Community Hall Road
in Rosburg, Washington.
Bring a dish to share if you
wish.
Saturday, Aug. 6
HARPER,
William
“Bill” Morris Jr. — Cel-
ebration of life at 3 p.m.,
Pier 39 event room in
Astoria. Harper, 72, of
Astoria, died Sunday,
July 17, 2022, in Asto-
ria. Hughes-Ransom Mor-
tuary is in charge of the
arrangements.
McCLINTOCK, Ron-
ald James — Celebration
of life from 2 to 4:30 p.m.,
Wickiup Grange Hall,
92683 Svensen Market
Road in Svensen.
MENDENHALL, Joel
Eric — Graveside service
at 1 p.m., Ocean View
Cemetery, 575 S.W. 18th
St. in Warrenton.
SIMMONS,
Paula
Mary Gaston — Cele-
bration of life from 12 to
4 p.m., 940 First Ave. in
Seaside.
ON THE RECORD
Assault
constituting
On
the
• Samuel
Joe Record
John- violence.
son, 32, of Astoria, was
arrested on Saturday on
two counts of fourth-de-
gree assault and one
count of second-degree
disorderly conduct, fol-
lowed by two counts of
assaulting a public safety
offi cer and one count of
resisting arrest. Johnson
allegedly attacked two
people at 39th Street and
the Astoria Riverwalk on
Friday.
• Ryan David Sau-
vageau, 44, of Asto-
ria, was arrested at 32st
Street and the Astoria
Riverwalk on Friday for
fourth-degree assault and
harassment.
• Jamie Louise Scire,
41, of Astoria, was
indicted on July 19 for
fourth-degree
assault
domestic
Aggravated
harassment
• Nathan Yesudas
Sathya, 41, of Warren-
ton, was indicted last
week on two counts of
aggravated harassment.
The crime is alleged to
have occurred earlier in
July.
Theft
• Steven Michael
Schrudder, 54, was
arrested on Friday for
an alleged second-de-
gree theft that occurred
at Costco earlier that day.
DUII
• Joseph D. Westfall,
of Astoria, was arrested
on Wednesday at Seventh
Street and Nehalem Ave-
nue for driving under the
infl uence of intoxicants
and reckless driving.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Seaside Community Center Commission, 10 a.m., Bob
Chisholm Community Center, 1225 Avenue A.
Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., 10 Pier 1, Suite 209.
Seaside Library Board, 4:30 p.m, 1131 Broadway.
Cannon Beach City Council, 6 p.m., City Hall, 163 E.
Gower Ave.
Seaside Planning Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989
Broadway.
Seaside Airport Advisory Committee, 6:15 p.m., Seaside
Airport, 2797 U.S. Highway 101.
WEDNESDAY
Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, 10 a.m., work
session, (electronic meeting).
Seaside Improvement Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989
Broadway.
Gearhart City Council, 7 p.m., (electronic meeting).
THURSDAY
Seaside Parks Advisory Committee, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989
Broadway.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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THE
OATH
Erick Bengel/The Astorian
Kirk Wintermute, right, an Astoria defense attorney, was sworn in Friday as a Clatsop County Circuit Court judge. He is fi lling the
vacancy left by Judge Cindee Matyas, left, who retired after more than 15 years on the bench.
Candidates for governor take stage
Event sponsored
by newspaper
publishers
By COREY BUCHANAN
Oregon Capital Bureau
WELCHES — During the
fi rst general election debate
in a race for who will become
the next governor of Oregon,
the three candidates empa-
thized with many Oregonians
dissatisfi ed with where the
state is headed.
Each of the three women,
however, off ered diff ering
solutions to the state’s myr-
iad issues during a 90-min-
ute forum that underscored
the chasms among their polit-
ical philosophies and leader-
ship styles.
Republican
nominee
Christine Drazan, Demo-
cratic nominee Tina Kotek
and independent Betsy John-
son — who are running neck-
and-neck in recent polls
— shared the stage Friday
afternoon in an event hosted
by Pamplin Media Group
and sponsored by the Oregon
Newspaper Publishers Asso-
ciation at the Mt. Hood Ore-
gon Resort .
The debate was moder-
ated by Mark Garber, the
president of Pamplin Media
Group, and included ques-
tions from local journalists,
as well as the opportunity
for the candidates to confront
each other with their own
inquiries.
Drazan, a Canby resi-
dent and former state House
minority leader , made clear
that she views her opponents
as leaders of an establish-
ment that has brought Ore-
gon to where it is today . She
believes the state needs new
solutions to chronic prob-
lems such as homelessness,
a lack of housing and mental
health services and economic
insecurity.
“It’s a little bit ironic to
me to constantly hear my
opponents on the stage be
(aghast) on how horrible Ore-
gon is on this and that and
the other — ‘We’re 50th (in
the country) on this and we
have to work on that,’” Dra-
zan said. “They’ve been in
charge. We got here because
of their voices. There are not
two other people in the state
with more power than them
besides the governor her-
self and maybe the Senate
president.”
Johnson, a Scappoose res-
ident who was a Democratic
state senator before resigning
to run as a unaffi liated can-
didate, emphasized that she
represents a middle ground
between what she described
as extremes on her political
right and left, noting Dra-
zan’s stance against abortion
rights and positing that Kotek
Christine Drazan, the Republican candidate for governor, Betsy Johnson, the unaffi liated
candidate, and Tina Kotek, the Democratic candidate, held their fi rst debate.
is a part of a progressive left
that is responsible for mount-
ing problems.
“Oregonians are distrust-
ful of the radical right and
they are terrifi ed of the pro-
gressive left. … What could
be more diff erent and impact-
ful than a governor with an
allegiance only to Oregonians
and not to a party agenda or
special interests?” she said.
Kotek, a Portlander who
was the House speaker for
nine years , framed herself
as a candidate who seeks
solutions rather than simply
rejecting the status quo.
“No matter what the other
candidates say today, there
are no quick fi xes. There are
no miracle cures to take on
these large challenges. Only
hard work is going to allow
us to ensure that every part of
our state can thrive,” she said.
On the issues, Drazan clar-
ifi ed that she considers Joe
Biden to be the fairly elected
president of the United States
— despite eff orts from mem-
bers of her party to sow dis-
trust in the 2020 election
results — while also stat-
ing that she would maintain
the current gun and abor-
tion laws in place in Oregon
and expressing opposition to
Gov. Kate Brown’s executive
order directing state agencies
to reduce carbon emissions.
Regarding her and her
colleagues’ decision in 2020
to walk out of the Capitol to
combat Democrats’ cap-and-
trade proposal while she was
the House minority leader,
Drazan said she may have
supported some form of pol-
icy incentivizing businesses
to reduce emissions — but
not in the form proposed by
Democrats.
“The need to lead a Repub-
lican eff ort to deny quorum
on this was simply because of
the intensity of single-party
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majority control,” she said.
Drazan also said she felt
the state was focusing too
much on housing to address
the homelessness crisis, and
not enough on other issues,
like treating addiction and
mental health.
Kotek described the walk-
out as a decision to throw
in the towel on the issue of
addressing climate change
and expressed support for the
governor’s executive order.
Further, she was the only
candidate to fi rmly say she
would direct public resources
to helping people living in
states where abortion is ille-
gal to access that service
here. Johnson also empha-
sized her staunch stance
in favor of abortion rights,
but felt organizations like
Planned Parenthood could
support people arriving from
other states without govern-
mental funding.
“We are in too big of a
moment in our country to
say ‘no’ to women who need
access to care,” Kotek said.
“And I’m the only person
in this race who is a cham-
pion on this issue, who has
believed in access to health
care — and that is what abor-
tion is — and that’s why
I’m backed by Planned Par-
enthood and Pro-Choice
Oregon.”
Drazan, meanwhile, said
she is pro-life but that her
responsibility as governor
would be to uphold the laws
in place.
Unlike Drazan and John-
son, Kotek said she supports
a ballot measure that would
require background checks
for purchasing fi rearms, pro-
hibit the sale of large-capac-
ity magazines except for mil-
itary and law enforcement
— and established herself as
the candidate in support of
gun control measures. She
clarifi ed that she’s not inter-
ested in “taking people’s guns
away,” however, after a quip
from Johnson suggesting that
intention.
Johnson, meanwhile, cas-
tigated Brown and state lead-
ership for Intel’s decision to
build a new chip manufac-
turing facility in Ohio rather
than Oregon, saying that she
had talked with Intel execu-
tives who said state leader-
ship was not receptive to their
needs and that she would
make sure she consulted reg-
ularly with major industry
players.
Further,
Johnson
addressed her decision to
vote for the corporate activ-
ity tax to add school fund-
ing even though she now is
against it, saying that she felt
schools needed more money
at the time but now believes
the tax is too big of a bur-
den on businesses and should
be altered. Similar to Dra-
zan, Johnson felt that Kotek’s
leadership has led to ”tent cit-
ies all over Portland.”
“This is a humanitar-
ian crisis and we must never
lose sight of the fact that it’s
inexorably tied to drugs and
mental illness in our streets,”
Johnson said.
In closing remarks, Dra-
zan commented on what she
felt was a divisive attitude
exuded by Johnson, saying
she was tired of being yelled
at and adding that she felt
Johnson left the Democratic
Party when it was politically
convenient to do so.
Johnson said choosing
Drazan would be moving
from one extreme to the other
and told voters she does not
care whether you voted for
Biden or Donald Trump for
president.
“I want to recapture the
maverick spirit and get us
back on track,” Johnson said.
Kotek, in her fi nal
remarks, talked about how
she fell in love with Ore-
gon when she moved here 35
years ago and that she views
it as a state of possibility
toward what it could become.
“I am sure I know how to
work with people and solve
problems because I have a
track record to show that,”
she added.
The Oregon Capital
Bureau is a collaboration
between EO Media Group
and Pamplin Media Group.