HONORING OUR VETERANS THIS
VETERANS DAY
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The Chronicle
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Wednesday, November 9, 2016
$1 Vol. 134, No. 45 18 Pages
www.thechronicleonline.com
LIONS MAKE HISTORY CLAUDE AKINS/ The Chronicle The lions advance to the second round as a 5A school for the first time in history. See more on page A12.
Malheur occupation: SH attorney wins the biggest case of his life
The Spirit of Halloweentown: Business community reaction
BY DON PATTERSON dpatterson@countrymedia.net
The month-long Spirit of Halloweentown celebration brought record crowds and mixed results for St. Helens businesses. Tina Curry, an event planner hired by the city to coordinate and promote activities, gave a debriefing on the results of the Halloween festivities before a large citizen audience during the Nov. 2 City Council work session. Curry said the overall economic outcome was beneficial to the businesses of St. Helens. She touted a number of big draw events that were intended to stimulate local business by attracting tourists and residents. Curry said when she started working on Halloween it was an all but abandoned community event that looked like “a horse stall with a pumpkin.” She
“The good thing about not guilty - it’s final.” St. Helens attorney Robert Salisbury smiled and went on to explain, when a jury in a criminal trial returns a not guilty verdict, it’s over. No appeals. No requesting the judge dismiss the charges. It’s over. Salisbury knows ‘not guilty,’ having just won the coveted verdict in the biggest federal trial in Oregon history. Salisbury’s client, a 47-year-old construction worker from Nevada named Jeffrey Banta, was one of the last holdouts during the Malheur Wildlife Refuge Occupation. The armed standoff with Federal agents captivated national attention in January. Banta was one of the final four holdouts who were arrested Feb. 11. In October, Banta and six other defendants went to trial on a charge of conspiracy to impede federal employees in the performance of their duties. All were acquitted. “They could never prove there was an agreement among defendants to prevent employees from going to
work by force of threat or intimidation,” Salisbury matter-of-factly observed. Still, the verdict surprised even him, an attorney who has defended clients in two death penalty cases and participated in 150 jury trials during his 22 years of practicing law. Salisbury opened his law office on Columbia Boulevard in April 2000, practicing criminal defense and domestic relations law. He quickly gained a reputation as a capable attorney. His practice expanded and his local reputation spread, prompting the Port of St. Helens to hire him as General Counsel, a position he still holds today.
In 2005, Salisbury moved his family to a home in Yankton, where he lives with his wife and three children. In 2004, Salisbury defended 18-year-old Nicolas Fortier, accused of murder in conjunction with the death of Hong Ha Zweigart. Zweigart’s husband, Allen Gary Zweigart, a meat cutter with a penchant for seducing vulnerable younger women, concocted a scheme to kill his wife. As prearranged, Fortier broke into the couple’s Warren home and tied them up. He was unable to go through with the killing, Salis-
See SALISBURY, Page A5
said since taking it over, the event has improved each year. However, there was a visibly negative reaction among the crowd when Curry raised the issue of a VIP dinner with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Nicholas Brendon. She said the $150-a-plate event was not feasible to host in St. Helens for several reasons, so she shipped the event to Portland. The choice drew considerable criticism from the public, much of which was expressed on social media. “Everything doesn’t have to be local to bring in record-breaking money, but it’s always the best-case scenario,” Curry said. She added that feedback she received said businesses far surpassed expectations for increased profits during the Spirit of Halloweentown events.
BY CODY MANN cmann@countrymedia.net
See HALLOWEENTOWN, Page A5
CODY MANN/The Chronicle
The Spirit of Halloweentown took form this year as a full month of Halloween-themed events in St. Helens.
Robert Salisbury
Courtesy photo
Three new arrests in Hightower homicide case BY CODY MANN cmann@countrymedia.net
Three people were arrested on warrants stemming from new indict-
ments in the Apache Hightower hotaken into custody for micide case. The three were charged hindering prosecution with hindering prosecution in the and felon in possession investigation of the 24-year-old Portof a firearm. land woman’s murder. Hightower’s Columbia County body was found on Sept. 20 in a rural District Attorney Steve area near St. Helens. Atchison said a vehicle Columbia County Sheriff’s Ofand a firearm that may fice deputies served arrest warrants have been used in the at around 2 p.m. on Nov. 7 in the course of Hightower’s James Brewer Jr. Randall Schwirse Shelly Edwards 66000 block of Bishop Creek murder were found on Road, Deer Island. They arrested Schwirse’s property, and of Deer Island was arrested for violatRandall Schwirse, 42, of Deer Island the hindering prosecution charges are ing probation and Mark Davis, 52, a on charges of hindering prosecution due to an alleged attempt to conceal or transient was arrested for failure to and possession of methamphetamine. destroy that possible evidence. appear/violating a court order. Deputies also arrested James Brewer Achtison said the number of arrests Following the actions in Deer Jr., 46, of Deer Island for hindering in the case was a result of how the inIsland, deputies proceeded to the 500 prosecution and credit card fraud. block of South 9th Street in St. Helens, vestigation has played out. The deeper During the warrant service, two authorities go, the more people they where they arrested a third person. additional people were arrested on Shelly Edwards, 38, of St. Helens was turn up who have some connection to unrelated warrants. Kevin Loomis, 34, the crime. He said the recent arrestees
were connected to original trio of suspects arrested for Hightower’s murder, particularly to the two who have St. Helens backgrounds. Atchison said the investigation is ongoing and there is a possibility that more arrests could be made in the future. “I am really impressed with the investigators in this case,” Columbia County Sheriff Jeff Dickerson said. “They have been working very hard and thanks to their efforts they have identified the way crime often occurs.” “Rarely does crime occur in a vacuum, without others knowing what is going on and taking actions to either expose or cover up the facts,” Dickerson said.
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