SHC 9-5-12

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FALL SPORTS PREVIEW

TODAY’S WEATHER

Go in depth with the local high school fall sports teams in The Chronicle's special preview section

The Chronicle

Wednesday September 5, 2012

Sunny PAGE A13

Highs to 83 Lows to 52

75¢ Vol. 130, No. 35 14 Pages

Les Schwab announces interim location BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle

ST. HELENS — Les Schwab Tire Centers announced it has signed a lease for a temporary store location at 555 S. Columbia River Highway in St. Helens. The site was the location of the former The Fuel Café. Les Schwab hired Robertson and Olsen Construction, Inc., based in Vancouver, Wash., as the general contractor to prepare the location for operation. According to a statement released by the company,

“Exterior painting and cleanup at the new store location began on Aug. 27.” Les Schwab expects to have the temporary store location open for business by mid September. “The sooner we can open the store, the better for us and our customers,” said Vice President of Marketing, Dale Thompson. In the meantime, Les Schwab employees from St. Helens will continue to work at neighboring stores, as they have been doing since shortly after an Aug. 24 fire swept through the St. See TIRES, Page A2

SHARI PHIEL / The Chronicle

Fire crews wait for an excavator to move burned rubble out before removing pieces to be investigated.

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SHARI PHIEL / The Chronicle

Store owners in St. Helens are placing signs in their shop windows reminding cyclists, skateboarders and roller skaters that sidewalks are off limits.

Business owners fight for sidewalk safety

BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle

BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle

ST. HELENS – Local business owners along north Columbia Boulevard have been putting signs up in their store windows to remind cyclists, skateboarders and roller skaters that city sidewalks are off limits. According to St. Helens municipal code 10.04.100, “No person shall use the sidewalks for skateboarding, rollerblading, or bicycling where prohibited by this chapter.” This ordinance has been in place since 1978, with revisions made in 1994. Despite having city signs posted along Columbia Boulevard, shop owners say the message isn’t getting through. “I think it’s worse this year than it was last year,” See SIDEWALK, Page A2

INSIDE Classified Ads. . . . . . . . A9 Legal Notices . . . . . . . . A9-11 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . A6 Opinions . . . . . . . . . . . . A5 Out & About . . . . . . . . . A7 Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . A12-14 TV Guide . . . . . . . . . . . A8 Weather. . . . . . . . . . . . A13

SHARI PHIEL / The Chronicle

Big or small, the 2012 Portland Pirate Festival brought thousands of visitors and plenty of shoppers to St. Helens for the two-day event held Sept. 1-2 in Olde Towne.

Son arrested for stealing money from jailed dad of a weapon. SanOn Aug. 28, a dusky was listed as Columbia County the victim in this Sheriff's detective, case. Once acting on a lead, deputies learned arrested the son of that Newman had a a man who had large amount of been jailed on a cash back at the domestic violence house, he was arrest, after the fortransported back to mer had stolen a Sandusky the house, only to reported $32,800 find the cash (and from his father Sandusky) had already diswhile he was incarcerated. Freddie K. Sandusky, 22, appeared. Acting on a lead that of Springfield, was taken Sandusky might be heading into custody as he was preparing to board a flight to to Hawaii, a Columbia County Sheriff's detective Hawaii at the Portland Airresponded to the airport and port at approximately 10 found Sandusky headed to a.m. that morning. He had the airline after checking in. been on the run for two "This is a case where our weeks, and reportedly has deputies had compassion on spent and/or gambled away the man they had just ar40 percent of what he had rested and acted in his interstolen. Investigators recovered approximately $19,000 est, even though the victim himself had previously comsince locating the suspect. mitted a crime," said Sheriff The case began Aug. 14, Jeff Dickerson. "The good when deputies responded to police work on the part of the scene of a domestic violence call. Sandusky's father, our people to find the suspect and recover some of the Dennis A. Newman, 59, money is noteworthy, even Scappoose was taken into when the victim is also a custody for Assault and for suspect in another matter." being a felon in possession

ST. HELENS — For the second consecutive year, the Portland Pirate Festival dropped anchor at the St. Helens City Docks for two full days of live music, food, ale and plenty of treasure. For local businesses, especially those in the Olde Towne area, the festival was especially beneficial. Denise Dahrens opened her store, The Apple Blossom, at 257 S. First Street earlier this summer. “This was the busiest day I’ve had since I opened,” said Dahrens on the first day of the two-day festival. Dahrens even found herself getting into the spirit of the event and is already looking forward to next year’s festival. “I took lots of photos and told everybody to come back next year and I would have all the pictures up in the windows,” Dahrens added. Just a couple of doors downs from The Apple Blossom is another newly opened business, Trinkets, Treasures and Threads. Owners Tom and Laura Miller also opened their

business earlier this summer and were happy to see sales ringing up and people coming into the store. “We’re priced to sell,” said Tom Miller. Jill Newkirk-Owens, owner of Jilly’s Again at the corner of First and Cowlitz streets, embraced the pirate spirit and spent both days in full costume. NewkirkOwens also brought in dresses, scarves, hats, and dozens of other pirate-related items for shoppers looking to extend the souvenir-purchasing experience beyond the gates of the festival. “It was a lot better than last year’s,” said NewkirkOwens. “It’s been really steady and sales have been good.” That wasn’t the case for everyone though. Milo and Trixie (Theresa) Honeywell use vintage-style and original tattoo designs to create custom art flasks and other items. This was their first year at the festival and while business was fairly good the first day, the couple definitely noticed a drop in attendance the second day. “I think there was a conSee PIRATES, Page A2

NW Natural files for rate reduction, little change expected for customers Northwest Natural Gas Company, which operates as NW Natural, filed a request with the Public Utility Commission of Oregon for a rate reduction for its customers. As filed, Oregon residential rates would be reduced by about 8 percent and commercial rates would be reduced by about 9 percent. “This rate reduction filing is in addition to the $35 million in gas cost savings that we passed back to Oregon customers on their June bills,” said NW Natural President and CEO Gregg Kantor. “Part of the reason for the lower prices is the surge of new domestic gas supplies. Last winter was also much warmer than usual, which helped reduce demand and keep prices lower.” But customers aren’t likely to see very much of a change to their monthly bills. Residential customers will actually see about a 2 percent decrease, and commercial customers will see about a 3 percent decrease from last year’s gas prices. That’s because these lower prices will nearly be offset by rate increases that went into effect at the end of last year. NW Natural filed a general rate case in Oregon last December – the company’s first in nearly a decade. In it, NW Natural asked regulators for about a 6 percent revenue increase. According to the company, the rate increase request addresses increases in util-

ity operating costs, such as maintaining pipelines, conducting inspections and making service calls to homes and businesses. Additionally, the company proposed a mechanism to address clean-up expenses related to legacy manufactured gas plant operations. Each year, NW Natural and other local gas companies adjust their rates to reflect changes in wholesale natural gas prices. This initial filing reflects gas purchases for the year beginning Nov. 1 as well as other small year-to-year changes. NW Natural will submit a final filing to the OPUC in late October. The rate changes will be changed slightly as the company locks in additional supplies for the upcoming heating season. So what rates can customers expect to pay this winter? Separate from this annual gas cost adjustment, Overall the company expects the decline in natural gas prices to offset any increase associated with the outcome of the general rate case. The end result for customers should be flat or slightly lower rates for the upcoming heating season. Regulators will make a decision on the rate case by the end of October, with new rates taking effect on Nov. 1. For more information about the general rate case, visit the rates and regulations section of nwnatural.com.


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