Astoria scoops
up Clash win
Salute to
¿UH¿JKWHUV
SPORTS • 4A
PAGE 7A
143rd YEAR, No. 76
110
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2015
ONE DOLLAR
DIE EVERY DAY
Astoria senior stages die-in to raise
awareness of metastatic breast cancer
New
docs
are in
town
OHSU provides
stability to local
emergency room
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Oregon Health & Science Uni-
versity has taken over staf¿ ng at Co-
lumbia Memorial Hospital’s emer-
gency care.
The hospital’s contract with
North Coast Emergency Physicians,
which had provided staf¿ ng for
more than 20 years, ended Sept. 30,
and OHSU’s doctors took over the
next day.
The hospital’s leaders stressed the
change in ER operators wasn’t about
quality, but rather about OHSU’s
ability to recruit physicians.
“The real decision around that
was the leader of the physicians
group saying he was stepping back,”
Trece Gurrad, the vice president of
clinical services .
“We kept it going as long as we
could,” the former director of the
doctor’s group, Dr. Larry Zagata,
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Libby Di Bartolomeo, a senior at Astoria High School and one of the organizers of the die-in, asks for a moment of silence.
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Fired Port
manager
wants to
add Raichl
to lawsuit
C
ancer victims lined the À oor
of Astoria High School’s
commons Tuesday evening .
Ninety people of all ages
were divided in two rows and
assigned a number for their chests.
Student Libby Di Bartolomeo
organized the siz able display for her
senior project, but still fell 20 short
of the estimated 110 people who die
in the U.S. every day of metastatic
breast cancer. Di Bartolomeo said
the dif¿ culty in ¿ nding enough vol-
unteers to play dead was a testament
in itself to the impact of the fatal,
yet often overlooked, ¿ nal stage for
breast cancer patients.
As many people do, Di Bar-
tolomeo has a familial connection
to breast cancer. Her uncle Denny
Adams was one of the actors lying
down Tuesday. Holding back tears,
Di Bartolomeo spoke of Adams’
late wife and her aunt, Judy Adams,
who died three years ago of the dis-
ease.
“It’s the very least I could do
with the lives she touched,” Di Bar-
tolomeo said .
Metavivor
Di Bartolomeo has been col-
lecting donations at the high school
and local businesses for Metavivor
www.metavivor.org , a nonpro¿ t
See DOCTORS, Page 10A
Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
LEFT: Participants lay on the floor as part of a die-in for metastatic breast cancer at Astoria High School
Tuesday. The die-in symbolizes the number of people that die every day from metastatic breast cancer.
RIGHT: Libby Di Bartolomeo hugs her uncle, Denny Adams, of Knappa, after the die-in. Di Bartolomeo’s
aunt and Adams’ wife, Judy Adams , died of metastatic breast cancer in October 2012. Bartolomeo said
her aunt was one of the reasons behind choosing to host the die-in for metastatic breast cancer.
created by people with metastatic
breast cancer to advocate on behalf
of more stage 4 research and a via-
ble cure.
Thirty percent of breast cancer
patients have the disease metasta-
size and move into other organs,
becoming terminal. An estimated
110 Americans and 1,430 people
worldwide die each day of meta-
static breast cancer. But according
to the Metastatic Breast Cancer
Alliance, only 7 percent of breast
cancer fundraising, which peaks
each October during the pink-tinged
National Breast Cancer Awareness
Month, goes toward metastatic-fo-
cused breast cancer research.
“We have to start talking about
it,” Di Bartolomeo said . “As human
beings, we don’t like to talk about
things that are hard.”
The die-in was the culmination
of Di Bartolomeo’s senior project,
but her efforts continue, with do-
nation jars on campus and at local
businesses such as Fultano’s, Dairy
Queen and the Short Stop Food
Mart. She is also accepting check s
payable to Metavivor through her
father’s of¿ ce Di Bartolomeo Law
Of¿ ce at 113 Exchange St. in As-
toria, 7103.
An estimated 155,000 Ameri-
cans live with metastatic breast can-
cer, often calling themselves “met-
sters.” One of those people is Di
Bartolomeo’s adviser on the project,
Laura Snyder, a former bookstore
owner, triathlete and school board
See DIE-IN, Page 10A
/DWHVW6HDVLGHORGJLQJSODQLVIRUWKHELUGV
Can a chicken
tractor make
city hens more
palatable?
By KATHERINE LACAZE
EO Media Group
SEASIDE — A local resi-
dent believes there is a way to
allow hens inside city limits
without the smell, noise and
neighborhood disputes.
Jennifer Barrett, owner of
Hens’ Lodging Inc., petitioned
Seaside City Council to amend
the city’s chicken ban to make
an allowance for hens, provid-
ed they are contained in chick-
en tractors or similar structures.
The tractor is a bottomless,
movable chicken “run” and
nesting construction designed
for a few hens. “Incorporating
this concept into the ordinance
will solve any and all problems
that may have been faced by
the city,” she said at the Sept.
28 council meeting.
A city ordinance regulating
nuisances states residents can-
not keep poultry — as well as
livestock, bees and other an-
imals, except household pets
— within city limits, unless
authorized by the City Council
for educational or entertain-
ment purposes. The ordinance
has been on the books “since he
See SEASIDE, Page 10A
Katherine Lacaze/EO Media Group
Jennifer Barrett, owner of Hens’ Lodging Inc., peti-
tioned the Seaside City Council to allow residents
to keep hens within city limits, an activity banned
under the city’s nuisance ordinance. Barrett advo-
cates for the city to incorporate chicken tractors,
or other movable, bottomless structures, suitable
for about four chickens, into the ordinance.
Herman’s suit
alleges chairman
did not protect
whistleblower
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
John Raichl, chairman of the Port
of Astoria Commission, could be the
newest defendant added to a lawsuit
¿ led earlier this year by ¿ red Port
Facilities Manager Tami Herman .
Last week, Herman’s lawyer,
Anne
Foster,
¿ led a motion
for an amended
complaint seek-
ing to add Raic-
hl to the list of
defendants. The
amended com-
plaint also seeks
to add a second
post-employ-
John
ment retaliation
Raichl
claim, alleging
Commissioner Bill Hunsinger yelled
an obscenity at Herman last month at
an intersection in downtown Astoria.
Herman and the Port’s former
¿ nance m anager, Colleen Browne,
were ¿ red from the Port in Novem-
ber, shortly after Executive Director
Jim .night was hired. Both ¿ led
separate but similar lawsuits in Feb-
ruary against the Port and Michael
Weston, the Port’s director of busi-
ness development and operations,
while leaving open up to 10 spots
to add additional defendants if nec-
essary.
See LAWSUIT, Page 10A