coast
w eekend
143RD YEAR, NO. 241
Every Thursday • June 9, 2016 •
coastweekend.com
arts & entertainment
LGBT TO SHOW
THEIR PRIDE
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2016
ASTORIA HIGH SCHOOL
CLASS OF 2016
AST ORI A
PRIDE
COAST WEEKEND • INSIDE
ONE DOLLAR
PAGES 10A-12A
JUNE 9, 10 & 11
Clinical director resigns from mental health agency
Move comes
after internal
investigation
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Michele
Crump-Hart
The clinical director at Clat-
sop Behavioral Healthcare has
resigned as the mental health
agency responds to the fi ndings of
an internal investigation and a state
review into management.
The agency announced
Wednesday that Michele Crump-
Hart, who has served as clinical
director since 2014, and Sumuer
Watkins, the executive director,
had come to the mutual agree-
ment that it is in the best interest
of the agency for Crump-Hart to
resign.
Ben Paz, the agency’s outpa-
tient adult program manager and a
former director of the Lake County
Mental Health Department, has been
appointed interim clinical director.
“Under his leadership, Clatsop
Behavioral Health clinical staff
will continue to provide our clients
with the best of care,” Nick Benas,
the agency’s director of business
operations, said in an email.
Benas said the agency’s board
and Watkins would address the
fi ndings of the internal investiga-
tion. He did not publicly disclose
the fi ndings or, as of Wednes-
‘EMPIRES OF THE TURNING TIDES’
day, share the results with Clatsop
County Manager Cameron Moore.
The county contracts with Clat-
sop Behavioral Healthcare for
mental health services and has
been concerned about manage-
ment and the quality of care.
“We continue to have con-
cerns about the quality of ser-
vices that CBH is providing in the
See DIRECTOR, Page 3A
Oregon
wants to
test all
schools
for lead
Astoria, Seaside
and Warrenton
will check water
Associated Press
and staff reports
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Claire Bowman, 10, exits Fort Clatsop wearing a bonnet while exploring with her family on vacation Wednesday at Lewis and Clark
National Historical Park.
FILLING IN THE CRACKS
Professor and author describes local
history as empires rising and falling
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
he Columbia-Pacifi c region is marked
by a diversity of people and natural
resources that have shaped the land-
scape over time.
Research professor and author Doug Deur
describes the local history as a succession of
empires rising and falling, each with its own
ethnic diversity and signature resource. The
past two centuries have seen a boom and bust
in the fur trade, canneries, timber and tourism.
Deur explored the idea in his new book,
“Empires of the Turning Tides.”
“There is an awful lot of local history
that has fallen through the cracks,” he said.
T
Doug
Deur
See HISTORY, Page 3A
Fifth -graders from Chauncey Davis Elementary School in South Bend, Wash-
ington, explore the canoe launch area during a school field trip Wednesday
at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.
PORTLAND — Oregon health
and education offi cials said Wednes-
day they will team up with school dis-
tricts and licensed child care programs
statewide to facilitate testing for lead
in school drinking water over the
summer.
The plan responds to a directive
from Gov. Kate Brown in April and
comes on the heels of belated disclo-
sures about lead in the drinking water
of some Portland Public Schools.
In March, the district arranged
to test for lead at two schools at the
request of parents who were concerned
about the unfolding public health crisis
in Flint, Michigan. Those tests revealed
elevated levels of lead in 14 of 92 water
sources at the schools, including a
handful of drinking fountains, but par-
ents were not told for weeks.
That disclosure has motivated
other school districts around the state
to test their water for lead, which is a
neurotoxin.
Astoria Superintendent Craig Hop-
pes said the district is voluntarily test-
ing the water at its four schools, but
waiting to get the testing materials.
While it normally takes a couple weeks
to get the tubes for testing, Hoppes said,
he is hearing of a large backlog because
so many schools are testing for lead.
Seaside Superintendent Doug
Dougherty said his district is also test-
ing, and that results will be available in
July or August at the latest.
Warrenton-Hammond Superinten-
dent Mark Jeffery said his district is
preparing to test for lead within two
weeks.
See LEAD, Page 12A
Don’t touch seal
pups on the beach
It’s harbor seal
pupping season
By LYRA FONTAINE
The Daily Astorian
It is peak time for harbor
seal pups to show up alone on
Oregon beaches .
The Seaside A quarium
has received at least a dozen
reports this spring of baby har-
bor seals spotted on the beach,
general manager Keith Chan-
dler said.
The fi rst seal pups were
spotted in late April. The har-
bor seal pupping season is
usually from April through
August, Tiffany Boothe, of the
Seaside Aquarium, said.
Although the baby seals
might look cute or lonely,
beachgoers should give them
space and not touch them.
They can report the seal sight-
ing to the Seaside Aquarium at
503-738-6211. The aquarium
then posts signs around the
seal so it can rest.
“We try to get out and
put signs around them to get
people to just leave it alone,
because the beach is where
they live,” Chandler said. “It’s
like their bedroom.”
The harbor seal pups are typ-
Submitted Photo
A harbor seal pup on the Seaside beach, where they can be found during pupping sea-
son April through August.
ically not stranded, but waiting
to be cared for and fed by their
mothers — who are likely wait-
ing for human activity to clear
out before returning to shore.
“They try to go to an iso-
lated place where there are col-
onies of seals, but sometimes
they can’t plan where they are
born,” Chandler said.
After harbor seals are
weaned from maternal care
and catch their own food, they
may often come ashore to rest
on land.
In whale news, the aquar-
ium received a report that
some orcas recently went to
Tillamook Bay, Chandler said.
While most orcas are located
near Vancouver Island, a group
of transient orcas “cruise up
and down the coast” and feed
on marine mammals.