WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2022 | SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Is Oregon overcounting COVID-19 deaths?
Tracy Loew
Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK
On Jan. 25, 12-year-old Haley Pollman of
Salem lost her fight with Batten disease, a
fatal neurodegenerative disorder.
A few days earlier, at Randall Children’s
Hospital in Portland, her family had made
the decision not to take extreme measures
to extend Haley’s life.
“She had lost her ability to speak and
see, she had lost her strength to stand, she
was screaming in pain, she was so agitated
that she caused harm to her body, she
stopped eating and drinking, and she
stopped sleeping,” her mom, Melissa Poll-
man, said.
They brought her home, where she died
surrounded by her parents and her sib-
lings, Audrey, 24, Madison, 18, and Cole, 15.
Two weeks later, Haley’s family was
shocked to read in the Statesman Journal
that the Oregon Health Authority reported
a 12-year-old Marion County girl who died
Jan. 25 had been added to the state’s CO-
VID-19 death toll.
Although the child was not named, they
are sure it was Haley.
The Statesman Journal publishes every
COVID-19 death reported by OHA. The
state’s official COVID-19 death toll now is
nearing 7,000.
But Haley’s death raises questions
about that tally.
The Statesman Journal found that Ore-
gon is using significantly broader stan-
dards than many other states to decide
who counts as a COVID-19 death. And
nearly every state in the nation seems to be
counting deaths using different criteria.
Haley was tested for COVID-19 on Jan. 18
as part of her hospital admission. Her fam-
ily was surprised the test was positive. Ha-
ley showed no symptoms, they said.
And her death certificate, a copy of
which the family provided to the States-
See COVID-19, Page 3A
‘Unforgettable’
New guided trips allow
climbing 300-foot trees
at Silver Falls State Park
Zach Urness
Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK
T
here’s a new way to see
Silver Falls State Park —
from the top of an almost
300-foot tree. h Tree
Climbing at Silver Falls, a new busi-
ness at Oregon’s largest state park, is
offering guided trips that follow
ropes into the canopy of old-growth
giants east of Salem. h “A lot of peo-
ple have never climbed a tree — or
haven’t since they were children,”
owner and tree guide Leo Rosen-
Fischer said. “To be in the canopy of
a tree of this size is unforgettable.
The view, the ecology and the fun
takes you completely out of your box.
It’s a much different experience than
you can get from down the trail.”
See TREES, Page 4A
Climbers ascend into the canopy at
Silver Falls State Park following a new
business that takes people to the tops
of nearly 300-foot trees.
LEO ROSEN-FISCHER /
TREE CLIMBING AT SILVER FALLS
Local barista places among the best in competition
Dean and Melissa Pollman with a photo
of Haley on Wednesday, in Salem. Haley
Pollman died of a rare genetic disorder
called Batten disease on Jan. 25, but
tested positive while at the hospital and
was marked as a COVID death by OHA.
ABIGAIL DOLLINS / STATESMAN JOURNAL
‘Watching
history
unfold’
Teachers help
students understand
the war in Ukraine
Eddy Binford-Ross
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, sto-
ries of the war flooded the social media feeds of Nat-
alie Peton’s students.
High schoolers found their Instagrams and Tik-
Toks full of posts about the war, nearly overnight.
Many of them struggled to digest the information, due
to a lack of background knowledge and unreliable
sources.
So, Peton, a social studies teacher at McNary, set
out to help them understand what was happening in
Ukraine. Many other high school teachers across the
Salem area did the same.
A lack of historical knowledge
Phillip Nickel, a social studies teacher of 26 years at
Sprague, saw that his students wanted to talk about
the war, but many didn’t have the historical under-
standing to make sense of the events unfolding in
Eastern Europe.
“The first thing we do [when starting a topic] is ask:
‘What do you know already?’ They said, ‘We really
don’t know very much at all and what we do know we
got through memes,’” Nickel said.
Nickel’s students were aware that Russia was the
aggressor and who Russian President Vladimir Putin
was, with little knowledge beyond that. Only 20% of
them could even find Ukraine on a map, Nickel said.
These educators saw the importance of teaching
students about current events and giving them the
opportunity to learn and ask questions in a controlled
environment, instead of online. They also saw a desire
in their students to know more about the war.
So, Peton, Nickel and other teachers began incor-
porating it into their lessons.
“If this had gone a different direction and the con-
flict had fizzled or Russia had withdrawn, we would be
talking about a different unit by now, but it didn’t. So
the kids have been going along in this journey, watch-
ing history unfold in front of them,” Nickel said.
Teaching about the war
Em Chan
Isaac's Barista
Kyle Layton
competes in
latte art
competitions
and is top 16
in the World
Latte Art
Championship
in Salem.
Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK
If you close your eyes and listen to the whirring of the
espresso machine behind the bar at Isaac’s, you wouldn’t
guess at the magic being worked with espresso and milk
at the hands of barista Kyle Layton. He recently placed in
the top 16 at the World Latte Art Championship in New
York City.
The World Latte Art Championship is a bracket-style,
latte art competition that occurs four times a year during
CoffeeFest, a convention that revolves around coffee and
espresso. The championship requires competitors to be
on a stage; they have two and half minutes to do as many
latte art attempts to make one they can submit. Once
photos and judging are done, competitors are eliminated
or move ahead in the bracket.
“It was a big moment for me,” Layton said. It was only
his second time competing and getting to the finals in
one of the most notoriously competitive latte art cities,
he felt over the moon to be among the best.
Layton has been a barista for the past five years, origi-
nally starting out at Ikebox before moving to Isaac’s once
it opened almost four years ago. This past latte competi-
tion was just Layton’s second; his first time attending
and participating was last November, which was hosted
in Seattle.
News updates: h Breaking news h Get updates from
the Silverton area
Photos: h Photo galleries
See UKRAINE, Page 4A
ABIGAIL DOLLINS
/ STATESMAN
JOURNAL
He said his first time competing in Seattle he had
“the shakes,” his hands being almost too jittery and
shaky to pour the milk into the mug. Layton had one
goal: to beat one person, which he completed by ad-
vancing to the second round.
However, he “completely threw it away.” Dissatisfied
with his first latte art, he attempted a second and be-
cause it took too long and he was unable to finish it, was
disqualified.
See LAYTON, Page 3A
Vol. 141, No. 15
Online at SilvertonAppeal.com
At the beginning of the war, Peton put together a
lesson for her freshman world social sciences class,
walking them through the timeline and providing a
crash course on that area of the world over the past
century.
She’s also helped her students put what they had
been learning in class before the war – alliances and
imperialism in the 1900s – into the modern context.
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South Salem High students take notes during DJ
Correa’s class.
BRIAN HAYES / STATESMAN JOURNAL