WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2022
150TH YEAR, NO. 22
$1.50
County hires
emergency
management
director
Gibbs served in Multnomah County
often collaborating with
local jurisdictions and orga-
nizations, such as cities,
Clatsop County has schools and fi re districts.
hired an emergency man-
During the coronavirus
agement director .
pandemic, emergency man-
Justin Gibbs recently agement helped distribute
served as interim division personal protective equip-
chief of planning at Mult- ment and played a role in
nomah County’s
setting up mass
Emergency Man-
vaccination clinics,
agement Planning
the county said.
Section .
The department
At Clatsop County,
also prepares the
he will be respon-
region for the loom-
sible for leading
ing Cascadia Sub-
emergency man-
duction Zone earth-
agement — a new Justin Gibbs quake and tsunami.
county department
“My focus will
that until recently was a be to develop strong rela-
county offi ce.
tionships with the cities
Earlier this year, the to ensure they are sup-
county said the director ported across all phases
position would be funded of emergency manage-
by money shifted from an ment, as well as concur-
emergency management rently making sure that
coordinator role, a long-va- Clatsop County is opera-
cant job.
tionally ready to respond
Housed at Camp Rilea to disasters that will inev-
Armed Forces Train- itably impact unincorpo-
ing Center, the county’s rated areas of the juris-
emergency management diction,” Gibbs said in a
responds to fl oods, fi res, statement.
windstorms and other nat-
See Director, Page A6
ural hazards and disasters,
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
Dog owner loses
appeal over city
euthanasia order
Pit bull killed
a cat in June
‘RAIN’
ABOVE: A reading and reception
for Rain Magazine was held
Wednesday night at Clatsop
Community College. The event
marked the 52nd edition of the
literary and arts publication.
LEFT: Author Robert Michael
Pyle reads a passage from one of
his four poetry contributions to
this year’s edition.
See more photos online
at DailyAstorian.com
Photos by Lissa Brewer/The Astorian
ABOVE: Author James Dott reads
from a poem. RIGHT: Lauren
Mallett, a poet and teacher, reads
from “Hardly The Bridge,” a poem
featured in the magazine.
Gray sees state House campaign as path to a third party
By ALEXIS WEISEND
The Astorian
A C ircuit C ourt judge
has upheld the city’s eutha-
nasia order of a pit bull
who killed a cat in June.
James Mayer, the dog’s
owner, still hopes the city
will somehow spare Layla
and allow him to take his
pet back to Multnomah
County, where Mayer
lives.
“This was not a mali-
cious act akin to murder
that deserves punishment,”
he said in a statement to
The Astorian. “Capital
punishment for something
like this is too extreme and
not based in logic.”
Judge Beau Peterson
sided in favor of the city
on Wednesday after Mayer
READING
Layla, a pit bull, was
impounded by the city after
killing a cat.
appealed a Municipal
Court ruling that upheld
the city’s euthanasia order.
In June, Layla, who
was staying in Astoria
with Mayer’s girlfriend
while she was working at
Columbia Memorial Hos-
pital, got loose and killed a
cat named Jack. Layla was
chasing another cat before
being caught and taken to
Clatsop County Animal
Shelter.
See Dog, Page A6
Motivated to address risks
from climate change
Tillamook Republican, chose not to run
for reelection so she could campaign
for state Senate District 16. Betsy John-
son, a former Democrat, resigned from
By ERICK BENGEL
the Senate seat last year to focus on her
The Astorian
campaign for governor as a nonaffi liated
candidate.
A Cannon Beach resident running for
Originally from Virginia, Gray served
state House District 32 hopes
as secretary of the
that — win or lose — his cam-
commonwealth from
paign shows that a viable third
1978 to 1981. He has
political party is possible.
a law degree from the
In July, Frederick “‘Rick” T.
University of Virginia,
Gray Jr. successfully petitioned
taught history in the
his way onto the November bal-
state’s high schools
lot as a nonaffi liated candidate.
over the decades,
‘Rick Gray
He is running against two
toured as a profes-
Tillamook residents: Democrat
sional actor and wrote a hyperlo-
Logan Laity, a community organizer, and cal newspaper column.
Republican Cyrus Javadi, a dentist.
Gray calls himself a “progressive con-
The North Coast district is open servative” — a coinage of former Brit-
because state Rep. Suzanne Weber, a ish Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli .
He has campaigned for candidates from
both major political parties and wants to
begin building a third party for people
who do not identify with, or feel repre-
sented by, either one.
“I probably would have kept waiting
for somebody else to do it except for two
things: climate change and the condition
of our democracy … Some-
body has to take action now,”
he said. “And if it’s in a little
corner of Oregon and it’s me,
well, there it is.”
He chose not to run as a
Democrat, he said, because
he didn’t want to be beholden
to, or co-opted by, the party’s
machinery. He questions the Democrats’
leadership abilities and believes the party
is too focused on the politics of identity
See Gray, Page A6
For Kit’s Apothecary, a new look downtown
Businesses move to
former Abeco building
By ABBEY McDONALD
The Astorian
Abbey McDonald/The Astorian
Kristen Norgaard has moved Kit’s Apothecary into the former Abeco
building on Commercial Street.
Kristen Norgaard says stained
glass is her love language.
When the artist walked into the
old Abeco Offi ce Systems build-
ing on Commercial Street, that’s
what she saw fi rst. Paired with
a working stone fountain in the
middle of the room and check-
erboard tile fl oor, she knew it
was the right place to move her
businesses.
Norgaard said she had been on
the hunt for a new location for
Kit’s Apothecary, Witches Brew
Coff ee and Foragers due to fl ood-
ing issues in her previous 10th
S treet location.
She connected with the Abeco
building owner, William Hicks,
for a tour of the space. He had
been renovating it for the past fi ve
years. S he liked what she saw.
“And then he brought me into
a back room that’s fl oor to ceil-
ing vintage Rexall drug cabinets,”
she said. “And I just looked at
him and I was like, ‘Y ou made my
apothecary workroom. What?’”
Behind a labyrinth of clutter
still being cleared out, the cabi-
nets have an abundance of small
drawers to home Norgaard’s
ingredients for crafting skin care,
supplements and CBD products.
She’s especially looking forward
to putting a labelmaker to use.
While emptying one of the
cabinets a few weeks ago, she
jammed her thumb on something
heavy in the back.
See Apothecary, Page A6