The Columbia Press
1
Clatsop County’s Independent Weekly
www.thecolumbiapress.com
50 ¢
Vol. 5, Issue 38
September 17, 2021
New Medix headquarters wins initial city approval Man arrested
Highway 101 and adjacent to the industrial development.
The Columbia Press
after break-in,
new Warrenton Middle School.
“The Medix facility is a unique fa-
Medix Ambulance’s plans for a Medix’s current building is just cility and development,” said Will
new headquarters on Dolphin Av- 2,976-square feet.
Caplinger, Warrenton’s interim rape attempt
enue received initial approval from
Warrenton’s Planning Commission
on Sept. 9.
The 13,607-square-foot building
would replace the existing ambu-
lance dispatch center just east of
“Medix has been a great part of
our community for a long time and
I’m excited to see them go into a fa-
cility that will enhance their opera-
tion,” Commissioner Ken Yuill said.
The property is zoned for general
planning director. “It’s not specifi-
cally listed as a permitted use, but
it’s a similar use. … This is, basical-
ly, an extension of an existing use.”
Medix provides advanced life
See ‘Medix’ on Page 6
City leaders struggle to get along
By Cindy Yingst
The Columbia Press
Like stress cracks in a dam, ten-
sion on the Warrenton City Com-
mission reached a bursting point
Tuesday night.
Commissioner Rick Newton asked
the panel to consider whether fellow
Commissioner Mark Baldwin had
violated rules of conduct in the ways
the two men have interacted.
“I am very tired of his continual
crap attitude toward me,” Newton
wrote in an Aug. 28 email to Mayor
Henry Balensifer.
Newton, a rental property owner
and retired businessman, claims
Baldwin, a construction contractor,
has a bad attitude toward him that
originates from an arrangement
Newton made with Baldwin’s land-
lord over use of an alley that runs
between his tenant, Arnie’s Café,
and Baldwin’s shop.
The tension intensified in March
after commissioners ignored New-
ton’s advice about how to configure
a food pod in the gravel lot next to
City Hall.
Two months later, Newton walked
out of an Urban Renewal Agency
meeting about the food pod court
saying, “Even though I’ve got 40
years of retail, hundreds of hours
Commissioner Rick Newton
of training, recognized
five times nationally by
NAPA for excellence of
service, you guys decide
I didn’t do anything, …
so I’m excusing myself
from this. I’m gonna go
home.”
Poe
At a June 4 meeting of
the county’s Public Safety Coordi-
nating Council, a law enforcement
board on which Newton serves, he
told members he nearly stepped
down from his position at the city
“because of the unintelligence of
the business people that I sit on
the commission with in Warren-
ton. I’m the only one that knows
anything about business and they
wouldn’t listen to me.”
Commissioner Mark Baldwin
Balensifer
Dyer
Later that month, city commis-
sioners met in executive session
to consider taking action against
Newton, including asking him to
step down. But the closed-door
meeting turned into more of a
counseling session that included
Newton apologizing in open ses-
sion.
But since then, Baldwin has
See ‘Leaders’ on Page 4
The Columbia Press
A Warrenton man, the subject of many
disturbances in a neighborhood near War-
renton High School, has been arrested on
suspicion of attempted sexual assault and
other charges.
A woman reported she’d
woken at 4:30 a.m. Sept. 9
and found a man standing
in her kitchen, according to
a press release. The man told
her he was being chased by
people and needed a place to
hide.
Wolf
The woman walked past
him to open a door, but he
prevented her and closed the door, accord-
ing to police. Then he “pushed her against
the door and, by his actions, she believed he
was attempting to sexually assault her.”
She elbowed the man and screamed for
her husband, who was asleep in the bed-
room, according to the press release. “The
husband ran out and was loading a shotgun
when the male subject fled the house and
disappeared in the neighborhood.”
Police canvassed the neighborhood near
Southeast 15th Street, South Main Avenue,
and Alternate Highway 101, but didn’t find
the man. The couple was out of town for sev-
eral days, but when they returned on Sept.
12, the victim identify the man through a
photo lineup.
Steven Michael Wolf, 44, of Warren-
ton was booked at Clatsop County Jail for
first-degree burglary, first-degree kidnap-
ping, attempted rape in the first degree, and
violating a restraining order.
Wolf also had been arrested for a burglary
on South Main Avenue the day before the
break-in and attack.
During the past five years, police have re-
sponded to many calls on Alternate High-
way 101, where he has been accused of
breaking into a relative’s home, creating a
disturbance, or violating a restraining order.