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Wednesday, April 2, 2014

BASEBALL: Pitchers power St. Helens to back-to-back wins at spring break tournament

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The Chronicle

$1.00 Vol. 132, No. 14 16 Pages

www.thechronicleonline.com

Domestic violence leads to attempted murder charge

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BY AMANDA FRINK news@thechronicleonline.com

ST. HELENS — A Scappoose man is in Columbia County Jail on an attempted murder charge after an injured woman was found bleeding on the doorstep of a St. Helens residence over the weekend. Just before 2 a.m. Saturday, residents in the 500 block of N. 10th Street called 911 to report a woman who had come to their door and was beaten, bleeding and Thomas Googins partially clothed. The woman was taken inside a home until law enforcement responded. When St. Helens Police Officers arrived, they were confronted by a man in the middle of the street, who was described as being “covered in blood.” Officers took the man into custody and identified him as Thomas M. Googins, a 43-year-old Scappoose resident. The officers continued to investigate and found the woman seeking shelter in a nearby residence. She was bleeding from what appeared to be defensive knife wounds to her neck and hands, and was transported by ambulance to a Portland hospital for treatment of her injuries. “The injuries that she suffered were not life threatening,” stated Police Chief Terry Moss. “We know that they were defensive wounds. If someone comes at you with a knife, you’re going to have wounds on your hands and arms. She was taken to the See DOMESTIC, Page A2

DAN PATTERSON / The Chronicle

The Oregon DEQ has issued a $117,000 fine against Global Partners for its crude oil transloading operations in Clatskanie. DEQ fined the company for operating without the proper permits.

Crude oil shipper issued $117,000 fine BY SHARI PHIEL news@thechronicleonline.com

CLATSKANIE — Global Partners, the Waltham, Mass., based logistics company operating the Columbia Pacific Bio-refinery (CPBR) at Port Westward, is facing just over $117,000 in fines. Oregon Department of Environmental Quality notified the compa-

ny in a letter dated March 27 that the civil penalties were for “operating a new source (crude oil transloading operation) without the required Air Contaminant Discharge Permit (ACDP).” According to company officials, the bio-refinery began receiving crude oil shipments in November of 2012 and has received around 140 trains in total so far.

With an average of 3 million gallons of crude oil transported on each 100-car-long train, the total gallons shipped far exceeds the 50 million gallons the DEQ says the refinery is permitted to transport. Global Partners doesn’t agree with the DEQ’s findings. During a March 12 quarterly presentation to the Port of St. Helens com-

missioners, CPBR Manager Dan Luckett said the company had not been notified by DEQ of any violations related to its crude oil shipments. DEQ documents show the agency issued the permit for the 50 million gallons of crude annually on June 26, 2012. The following month, the DEQ was notified by then owner Cascade Kelly it intended

to “significantly increase and expand” its crude oil transloading operations. “In discussions with [Cascade Kelly Holdings] and in a July 26, 2012 email, DEQ notified respondent that increasing the crude oil transloading activity to the levels respondent was proposing would require a separate ­­­­

See OIL, Page A4

Bookkeeper arrested on theft charges BY AMANDA FRINK news@thechronicleonline.com

ST. HELENS — The former bookkeeper and account manager for SAFE of Columbia County was arrested last week on multiple charges associated with nearly two years of fraudulent activity. Hillary Ann Sims, a 40-year-old St. Helens resident, became the subject of a criminal investigation following the loss of several thousand dollars to the business accounts at the center. It is believed that Sims wrote

several checks, made payable to herself, and netted approximately $13,000 from the SAFE of Hillary Sims Columbia County accounts. According to St. Helens Police Chief Terry Moss, the thefts took place over a period spanning from February 2011 to January 2013. The department initiated an

investigation last April. “Financial cases are complicated, they take time,” Moss said. “We really had to look at it from an analytical, financial standpoint. It isn’t as simple as it seems, as she was hiding checks under fictitious names.” Sims was arrested in the morning of Wednesday, March 26, and was lodged in Columbia County Jail. Following her arrest, a Columbia County Grand Jury met and issued an indictment charging Sims with 10 counts of Theft in the First Degree, eight counts of Forgery in the First Degree, seven counts of Iden-

tity Theft and 32 counts of Theft in the Second Degree. She remains in the Columbia County Jail with bail set at $25,000. Naaman Cordova-Muenzberg, who has been the program manager for SAFE of Columbia County since last May, said the loss was detrimental to the agency, which provides emergency shelter, counseling and other resources to victims and survivors of abuse and assault. “We’ve undergone, in the last year, a huge change in staff and just the culture of our organization due to [the fraud],” Cordova-Muenzberg

lamented. “However, during those two years, the agency was in quite a bit of financial trouble, and as you may know, we did have to close down the store and had to cut down certain programs and services because of financial difficulty. We’re doing OK financially now, but it’s taken some time to build that.” SAFE of Columbia County is primarily funded by grants, as well as by donations from the community. Cordova-Muenzberg assured that donor information was not compromised as a result of the fraudulent activity.

Riders aren’t allowed to join the pro tour until they turn 16, which Davis did in November. Four months later, he has his first win as a professional and two top-10 finishes in his first two tour races. Fisher raced in his first pro race on March 8 in Savannah, Ga., competing in the AMA All-Star National Flat Track Series. Because there was rain the night before that postponed one race, he

actually had two races on his first day as a pro rider. He did not make the main event in the morning ride, but more than made up for it in the evening ride. Competing in his first main event as a pro, Fisher took the checkered flag. He won the race by half a straightaway over the second-place racer on the half-mile track. “I was pretty nervous. My goal was just to make it to the main,” Fisher said. After Savannah, Fisher

and his team went to Daytona, Fla., for two more days of racing. These races are part of a different tour – the AMA Pro Flat Track Series. In his first race at Daytona – a quarter-mile track – Fisher finished ninth in an 18-person field. But, he said, he sensed there was a good opportunity to improve for the following day. “The bike setup was way off. The

gearing was way off so I wasn’t able to ride my fullest,” he said. So Davis, his dad, sponsor T.J. Burnett and Race Tech Suspension’s Jimmy Wood discussed the bike’s issue. “We all agreed the gearing was off and we should change it,” Fisher said. “It

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BY KYLE BOGGS sports@thechronicleonline.com

Time isn’t something Davis Fisher likes to waste. You can see it by the way the Scappoose High sophomore moves around the dirt tracks on his bike. You can see it by how quickly he made a splash on the AMA Pro Flat Track Series. And, maybe most easily, you can see it by the times he has posted as a pro racer.

Davis Fisher (67m) won a race in Savannah, Ga., and took second in Daytona, Fla., during his first weekend of professional flat track racing.

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See FISHER, Page A4

photo by TOM STEIN


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