With Clatsop County District Attorney, Josh Marquis and Astoria City Attorney, Blair Henningsgaard scheduled to be in attendance, proposed HB3025 will be heard March 31, 2011 in the House Judiciary Committee in Salem and has already won endorsement from the Governor’s Advisory Committee on DUII’s at a previous meeting February 11, 2011.
This culminates a year’s worth of sparring between the Clatsop County District Attorney’s Office and the Astoria City Council over its Municipal Court and that court’s disposition of DUII cases and the issue seems far from being resolved at all but, here’s a rough and by no means, specific chronology of what has taken place to date:
* April, 2010: Astoria District Attorney presents his proposal to Astoria City Council declaring his desire to assume all DUII cases from Astoria Municipal Court.
* July, 2010: County D.A. comes back to Astoria City Council for further discussion on the issue and not well received by, then,. Councilor and candidate for new Astoria City Attorney, Blair Henningsgaard inferring a “personal vendetta” on the part of D.A. Marquis and Commissioner Russ Warr wanting statistics.
* At a Work Session in October, 2010, D.A. Marquis is back again with the results of a two month study by his office with everybody weighing-in on the results with no clear resolution on the issue but much scrutiny, on the part of the Council, to dissect Marquis’s report and defer any final outcomes till Mayor Van Dusen and Council and other parties review individual elements of the report.
* January, 2011: District Attorney Marquis publishes an Op-Ed in the Daily Astorian with his explanation as to why he is pursuing those DUII cases with the Astoria City Council their own letter to “The Citizens of Astoria” , collectively signed by all members and hand delivered to D.A. Marquis and a local radio personality in the dark of night to their doorstep and then, 4-5 days later meets to approve “The Letter”? Read The Op-Ed And Letter Here
* February, 2011: Oregon Rep. Deborah Boone drafts and introduces HB 3025 which will be heard March 31, 2011 in the House Judiciary Committee in Salem. Read “The Bill” Language Here
And so, here we are today and I’m looking at a headline in Thursday’s Daily Astorian that reads; ”Astoria DUII Battle Re-Ignites”?
Re-ignites?
I’d say that fire is still burning as strong as ever now with Astoria Police Chief Curzon weighing-in with his own statement on the issue and comes across, in my view, as somewhat generic and diluted and lends nothing whatsoever towards any resolution from his position and perspective.
Still, no clear resolution and still, many unanswered and unsettled questions remain and the true question I see arising ultimately is; Does this issue need to go before the people of Astoria to settle?
Should we hold open hearings, with testimony from all involved without fear from any reprisal or retaliation for that testimony?
I say “Yes” we should and the sooner the better and as amicably as possible.
