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Wednesday, May 14, 2014
May 20th is election day! For complete election results go to: www.thechronicleonline.com
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The Chronicle
Friends, family help start county’s first brewpub It happens all the time: Families gather around the table during the holidays and get to talking – sometimes saving the world’s problems, other times coming up with can’t-miss get-rich-quick schemes. Chances are you’ve been a part of one of these conversations. Chances are, for most people anyway, you haven’t followed through on what came up in the discussion. With the help of countless friends and family in the community, one local family is doing just that. On Thanksgiving in 2012, Kelly and Trent Dolyniuk were enjoying their Turkey Day with their daughter Sam and her husband Ed Rosenlund. The conversation turned to creating a brewery in Columbia County. Fast-forward 18 months and the foursome will officially open the tasting room at Columbia County Brewing on May 16. Each of the four owns 25 percent of the company and each one has assigned tasks: Kelly runs the books, Trent handles sales, Sam’s in charge of marketing and Ed is the brewer – or Production Czar. Ed had spent several years brewing beer at home before. A few weeks after their Thanksgiving conversation, he started jotting down the recipes that would eventually become Columbia County Brewing’s first four beers: Hard Hat IPA, Westy Wheat, Irish Red and Aldern. The first three of those choices, Ed says, are “straight down the middle beers.” The Aldern, however, is different. It’s a smoked lager with alder-smoked barley. “There’s only a few smoked beers out there. See BREWPUB, Page A2
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$1.00 Vol. 132, No. 20 2 Sections 20 Pages
www.thechronicleonline.com
Commissioners do the math for county jail costs
Countdown to the VOTE!
BY AMANDA FRINK amandaf@thechronicleonline.com
BY KYLE BOGGS sports@thechronicleonline.com
INSIDE
TODAY’S WEATHER Sunny Highs to 86 Page B3 Lows to 54
DON PATTERSON / The Chronicle
Facing staff layoffs and closing the jail, Sheriff Jeff Dickerson contemplates what life would be like, should the jail levy fail.
“It has been a humbling experience” BY DON PATTERSON dpatterson@countrymedia.net
“It’s been a humbling experience,” Columbia County Sheriff Jeff Dickerson told citizens who attended a forum on the upcoming jail-operating levy, May 7. The St. Helens City Council hosted the forum at city hall, where several local officials provided information or advocated for a yes vote on the upcoming election. Dickerson told the audience he was working on a plan to close the jail if the levy is defeated on May 20. Those plans, he said, include transporting prisoners to Polk County and maintaining the facility after the prisoners have been transferred or released. County Commissioner
Henry Heimuller, who spoke after Dickerson, said even closing three or four other county departments would not save enough money to keep the jail going. He also promised to keep the jail facility “well maintained, oiled up and ready to go,” should the county find additional funding in the future. Heimuller also assured the audience the county would “follow the will of the people.” “There are a lot of eyes on Columbia County right now,” St. Helens Police Chief, Terry Moss told those in attendance. Five counties in Oregon are going through a similar situation, Moss said. The Oregon State Police had absorbed some of the law enforcement duties local agencies could no longer do, but that the head of OSP did not have an answer
should all five counties “go down at the same time.” Moss expressed his concern, should the jail close, “People are not going to be held accountable, not going to be sanctioned, and it will be left for us to deal with.” St. Helens resident, Brady Preheim, took issue with those comments. He questioned some of the dire predictions and the costs the sheriff and county officials quoted to run the jail. He also disputed the value of renting beds to the federal government, saying to the council, “I don’t want to be lied to, I want to be told the truth.” “Multnomah County is hoping they’ll get our guys,” Dickerson said, referring to the Federal bed rentals Columbia County gets. Dickerson also noted the number of Federal pris-
oners had gone up, because we have such a low rate. The Federal Government pays Columbia County $78 per night, a rate that has not changed since 2009 and a rate far below the $128 Multnomah County gets. Dickerson countered that argument, saying our costs to run the jail are lower. City Councilor, Doug Morten, asked Sheriff Dickerson if the county could house prisoners from other counties that are struggling. Dickerson replied most of those counties were in southern Oregon and too far away to practically transport prisoners back and forth. For Dickerson, the situation is dire. “I’m worried about what I’m going to do May 21st. “What are we going to do right now?” The voters will decide May 20.
$11k raised for high school technology BY AMANDA FRINK amandaf@thechronicleonline.com
SCAPPOOSE — Classroom instruction is getting a boost in efficiency thanks to recent tech equipment purchases funded by the Scappoose Parents Association (SPA). For the English classes at Scappoose High School, the SPA provided $10,000 to purchase 25 tablets. According to SPA vicepresident Candy Cole, students can use the tablets
and their wireless keyboards for research, essays, quizzes, reading e-books, record their speeches, and to even print documents with a cloud printing option. SPA also provided $1,000 to the high school’s Future Business Leaders of America club to build three document cameras and two smart boards for Scappoose Middle School. A smart board is somewhat of a cross between an overhead projector and a large, touch See TECH, Page A3
CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE
POSITION 3
inat ion! VOTE Agai nst Age Di sc rim
AMANDA FRINK / The Chronicle Scappoose High School seniors Mercedes Holm and Kristen Hansen (center) use the new tablets that the Scappoose Parents Association purchased for high school English classes recently.
ST. HELENS — In the final days leading up to the May 20 election, Columbia County Commissioners used their May 7 meeting as an opportunity to address misconceptions regarding operation of the county jail and the proposed levy to keep the jail open. Commissioner Tony Hyde addressed the allegations he has heard regarding how much it costs to operate the county jail. “You have a set cost, roughly $4.5 million for operation of the jail,” he stated. “If you have one inmate, and by the way, it takes the same amount of sheriff’s deputies to run that jail whether you have one inmate or are at full capacity at 250. If you have one inmate for the year, you take the $4.5 million and you divide that by 365 days, and that’s the cost for that one inmate. Pretty high.” He continued, “If you have 250 inmates, you divide $4.5 million by 250 and you divide that number by 365. And that’s a significantly different number than if you have one. So if you say it costs $97 a day, you’re not wrong. If you say it costs $40 a day, you’re not wrong. If you say it costs $3,000 a day, you’re not wrong. It’s only interpreted by the amount of inmates. But given that scenario, the more federal inmates that we put in the jail, the lower that fixed cost gets and the lower the cost for the inmates within the county that we have. That’s as simple as you can put it.” Hyde explained that when the U.S. Marshals audited the jail’s operation, it was determined that the facility’s operating costs are $78 per inmate per day and that is why the Marshal’s bed rental See JAIL, Page A3
Bystander’s action saves fisherman Quick reactions of a bystander, Rainier police officer and city employees saved a man from drowning on Friday. About 1:45 p.m., May 9 emergency personnel received a call there was a man in the Columbia River at Rainier Boat Launch. Authorities say a 72-yearold man was walking his boat up the ramp when he apparently fell in the water. When he emerged, he was clinging to the bow of his boat that was now adrift. A nearby fisherman cast his line and was able to snag the boat and keep it from drifting any farther. City of Rainier public works employees were able to improvise a makeshift floatation device by tying a rope to a water cooler. A Rainier police officer cast the device to the man in the water who was losing his grip on the boat from fatigue. Rescuers then pulled the man to the dock and safety. The man was in the water about 20 minutes. He was transported to the hospital with non-lifethreatening injuries.
Agnes Petersen WRITE-IN for experience and qualifications Agi has practiced law in Columbia County since 1960.