OregRn StRry
SessiRns
YRuth takes the
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COAST WEEKEND
SPORTS • 7A
143rd YEAR NR 1
THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015
ONE DOLLAR
DISTRICT
ATTORNEY
DUELING LAWSUITS County
is in
mental
health
crisis
Focus came
after suicide
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Daily Astorian File
Westerlund Log Handlers and its President and CEO Dave Westerlund are concurrently suing and being sued by former estranged partner
Murphy Overseas USA and its local log-export operation, Astoria Forest Products.
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By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
L
awsuits are again flying
and partnerships unravel-
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Port of Astoria.
On July 13, Westerlund Log
Handlers’ founders David West-
erlund and Roger Nance filed suit
in federal court against Murphy
Overseas USA, local subsidiary
Astoria Forest Products and own-
er Dennis Murphy.
The same day, Murphy Over-
seas filed suit in state court
against Westerlund, Nance and
Westerlund Log Handlers.
Both sides allege breaches of a
contract they entered into in Jan-
uary 2014. The contract details an
arrangement in which Westerlund
was to transport, store, process
and prepare logs procured by
Astoria Forest Products for ship-
ment overseas.
Meanwhile, logs keep being
loaded at the Port, with the bulk
carrier Erradale at Pier 1 taking
on logs.
In March 2014, the Port Com-
mission voted to make Astoria
Forest Products a sublessee of
Westerlund, taking over all its ob-
ligations in the case of default. By
April 2014, Murphy Overseas and
Astoria Forest Products had ac-
quired Westerlund’s leases, most
of its operation and its employees.
Breaking ties
Westerlund Log Handlers,
which started in Bremerton,
Clatsop County District Attorney
Josh Marquis said Wednesday that the
county is in crisis on mental health and
that law enforcement is frustrated by
a limited ability
to help people in
urgent need of
care.
“We are not
doing a good
job,” Marquis
said at a work
session
held
by the county
Board of Com-
missioners on
Josh
Clatsop Behav-
Marquis
ioral Healthcare,
the county’s mental health contractor.
Law enforcement, he said, is “ter-
ribly frustrated” in dealing with peo-
ple who are not criminals but who
often pose danger to themselves and
others.
See CRISIS, Page 10A
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Daily Astorian File
Amid dueling lawsuits, Astoria Forest Products continues process-
ing logs on Pier 3 and exporting them off Pier 1 at the Port of Asto-
ria. Longshoremen are loading the bulk carrier Erradale.
Roger Nance, a chief financial
officer of Westerlund Log Han-
dlers, is suing and being sued by
former parter Murphy Overseas
USA and Astoria Forest Products.
Wash., came to Astoria in 2010,
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Pier 1 and a log-sorting yard in
Lewis and Clark. In August 2012,
it entered a partnership with
large, state-owned corporation
China National Building Mate-
rials, which eventually devolved
into a lawsuit starting in January
2014.
In late 2013, Nance and West-
erlund’s case alleges, Murphy
met with them several times and
agreed to form a new joint ven-
ture. During those meetings, the
suit alleges, Murphy Overseas,
Astoria Forest Products and its
agents recommended Westerlund
Log Handlers terminate its agree-
ment with China National.
Westerlund Log Handlers and
Murphy Overseas entered into
their contract Jan. 13, 2014. Two
days later, Nance sent a letter to
terminate Westerlund Log Han-
dlers’ partnership with China
National, claiming irrevocable
breaches of their agreement.
On Jan. 31, 2014, Westerlund
Log Handlers filed suit against
China National, alleging breach-
es of the partnership and seeking
more than $30 million. Shortly
thereafter, China National sent a
notice of default to Westerlund
seeking more than $17 million.
Murphy provided Nance and
Westerlund money for the litiga-
tion with China National, which
was settled late last year.
Westerlund’s beef
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relationship with China National
and forming a new partnership
with Murphy Overseas, Wester-
lund’s and Nance’s suit alleges,
they were to be paid $21,000
and $16,000 a month, respective-
ly, along with $107 per million
board feet of timber sold by As-
toria Forest Products and 30 per-
cent of its net profits.
Their suit alleges they were
only paid for two months. It fur-
ther alleges that Murphy barred
Westerlund and Nance from
See LAWSUITS, Page 10A
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Midwives, doulas can
also help in cases where
surgery is not necessary
By KATHERINE LACAZE
EO Media Group
Second of two parts
Giving birth by cesarean section
can be a lifesaving operation. But with
most of the nation hovering at about
twice the number of recommended
C-section births, questions arise as
to why. Katherine Lacaze looks at the
numbers and explores some of the fac-
tors driving C-section births up. Part 1
ran in Wednesday’s edition.
With cesarean birth rates around the
nation mostly at more than double the
World Health Organization’s recom-
mended percentage, what are the other
alternatives? What are the options for
assisted child birth and the pros and
cons?
Midwives and doulas provide a dif-
ferent role than hospitals in the birth
process, but “everybody wants to pro-
vide good care; that’s the bottom line,”
said Jennifer Childress of Nehalem.
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wife, has been in practice along the
coast from Astoria to Tillamook since
2010, and has attended births for about
14 years.
Midwifery is targeted toward low-
risk patients, which helps the profes-
sion have an overall lower C-section
rate — or, rather, rate of transport to
a hospital for a C-section to be per-
formed, since midwives can’t do the
surgery. Licensed midwives must
ascribe to risk-assessment-practice
standards addressed in the Oregon
Administrative Rules, which state,
“Licensees must assess the appropri-
ateness of an out-of-hospital birth tak-
ing into account the health and condi-
tion of the mother and baby according
See C-SECTIONS, Page 4A
Pelican
Brewing
Àies tR
CannRn
Beach
Craft brewery takes
over Dooger’s spot
By DANI PALMER
EO Media Group
CANNON BEACH — Why add
just one craft brewery when you can
have two?
Pelican Brewing Co. intends to
start construction soon and have a
brewpub running in Cannon Beach
by spring.
The city’s Design Review Board
unanimously approved the compa-
ny’s request for construction of a
new building July 16.
But, Pelican won’t be the only
new craft brewery in town, either.
$Q DSSOLFDWLRQ IRU PRGL¿FDWLRQV
to the Lumberyard Rotisserie and
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craft brewery was given a thumbs up.
See BREWERY, Page 10A