10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016
Search: Police
will continue
to search as
they patrol
Continued from Page 1A
Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Crews use a backhoe to flip the whale over for the necropsy.
Whale: Crews plan to bury sea mammal
Saturday. One dolphin was found in Cannon
Beach and the other in Ocean Park, Wash-
“There were a few humpbacks hanging out ington. A third striped dolphin washed ashore
in the mouth of the Columbia River last year,” in Seaside Monday. Chandler said it is “quite
he said. “They are usually further offshore. It unusual to get them all together,” especially the
could have died offshore and with the storm, striped dolphins.
washed in.”
The Ocean Park dolphin showed signs of
7KHZKDOHZDVRQHRIDWOHDVW¿YHFHWDFHDQV being entangled in a net and had a hole in its
to wash up in the area in three days. A harbor tail that appeared to be from a gaff, Chandler
porpoise and two striped dolphins were found said. The dolphin from Seaside had a similar
Continued from Page 1A
Mollie Schmidt, with the Seaside Aquarium, front, and Ja-
son Hussa, a volunteer with the Oregon Marine Mammal
Stranding Network, back, cut open the whale and collect
tissue samples during a necropsy.
hole in the same area, but it had not undergone
a necropsy by Tuesday. Chandler said it could
be a single event — getting caught in the net
— that caused the unusual occurrence of killing
multiple dolphins at once. If a single event is the
cause of death, Chandler said, then “we know
it’s just an accident,” as opposed to persistent
conditions impacting a species, like disease.
City crews planned to bury the whale at the
beach by Wednesday morning.
Dalin D’Alessandro, a research assistant at Portland State University,
holds up a sample of a whale kidney.
The search teams responded to tips from
people who had seen Hickman recently.
“It’s just really unfortunate because it’s
so heavily forested and green, which we love
down here,” Schermerhorn said. “But it’s
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have slid off the track or path.”
Described as 5-feet-9-inches tall, bald,
blue eyes and wearing glasses, family
members said Hickman may have memory
issues.
Schermerhorn said he met with the
Hickman family before making a decision.
“They understand the possibilities of what
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that they want some sort of closure,” Scher-
merhorn said. “The family was very thankful
for the responses they got. They never
expected it to turn into something like this.”
Don Hickman, Raymond Hickman’s
nephew, said from his home in Big Lake,
Alaska, “Everyone is hoping and praying
that somebody called in and he’s somewhere
and he’s safe and sound.”
“He’s just a good person. He’s there to
help anybody that he could and he’s always
been that way. We appreciate everyone doing
what they are doing and hopefully he’s going
to show up there pretty soon and there will
be a good ending to this story.”
Others praised the alert system when
someone goes missing.
“I’d like to comment on the alert system
and the number of calls I got both on my cell
and my landline,” City Councilor Melissa
Cadwallader said. “It’s reassuring to know
how much that’s working.”
“It’s a great warning system,” Scher-
merhorn said. “We are very thankful for the
search and rescue. It was an amazing collab-
oration working with the Coast Guard and
the Fire Department.”
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loaded” with food donations, Schermerhorn
said.
“Cannon Beach is a great community,”
he added. “I have found time and time again
that people step up and help out during these
tough times for families.”
The police department will continue to
search as they patrol, Schermerhorn said,
and encourage people to contact them if they
have any information.
Anyone with information about the
missing man should contact Clatsop County
Search and Rescue at 503-440-2650 or
Cannon Beach Police at 503-436-2811.
Tobacco: ‘I think it’ll make it
a lot harder for kids to use it’
Continued from Page 1A
“I would love for Oregon
to follow in Hawaii’s foot-
steps and be one of the
earliest adopters of raising
the legal age for tobacco to
21,” Steiner Hayward said.
“I think raising the legal
age to 21 is one of the best
things we can do to prevent
the devastating effects that
nicotine addiction, tobacco
addiction has had continues
to have on Oregonians.”
Steiner Hayward, who
works as a family physician,
took the podium Tuesday
at the coalition’s “Tobacco
21 for Oregon” campaign
launch to declare her
commitment to the cause.
“The later that people
have access to tobacco or
other
nicotine-containing
products the more likely we
are to prevent people from
becoming addicted,” Steiner
Hayward said. “We also
know that when 18-year-
olds can buy tobacco they’re
in our high schools. We have
lots of kids that are 18 and
in high school, and they
can give cigarettes to their
friends.”
National data indicates
about 95 percent of smokers
started using tobacco before
age 21.
In Oregon, about 7,000
people die annually from
tobacco-related
diseases.
Tobacco use is estimated
to cost the state about $3
billion per year in health care
costs and lost productivity,
according to the Campaign
for Tobacco Free Kids.
Several students from
South Salem High School
on Tuesday signed pledges
to abstain from using
tobacco and wrote to their
lawmakers to urge them
to raise the legal age for
buying the drug.
“I think it’ll make it a lot
harder for kids to use it,” said
Davis Carter, an 18-year-old
South Salem student. “It’ll
be a lot less accessible and
stop it from getting into high
schools as much.”
Luis Rodriguez, Oregon
government
relations
director for the Cancer
Action Network of the
American Cancer Society,
said no legislation has been
filed this year to raise the
age limit.
Members of the coali-
tion, which also include the
American Heart Association
and American Lung Associ-
ation, plan to give testimony
Tuesday to the Senate Health
Care Committee about why
the law should change.
“We are really looking
at 2016 as a way to educate
lawmakers and educate the
public about why this is such
an important issue,” Rodri-
guez said. “Right now, we
don’t have a vehicle, but we
are looking forward to the
future when we will.”
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Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Beaverton, spoke at the Capitol Tuesday in favor of a
proposal to raise Oregon’s legal age for buying tobacco to 21.
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www.columbiamemorial.org