ILWACO WRESTLING TEAM WINS ‘BEACH BRAWL’ INVITE SPORTS • PAGE 10A
DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2017
144TH YEAR, NO. 152
ONE DOLLAR
Unsung
Vigil marks teen’s tragic death heroes get
chorus of
applause
Astoria, Warrenton
honor four citizens
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — Tears, joy and disbe-
lief washed across the faces of Astoria and
Warrenton’s four new citizens of the year
from 2016, each surprised Saturday during
the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of
Commerce’s 144th annual banquet at the
Astoria Golf and Country Club.
Christmas Food Basket coordinator
Myrle Bruner, Flavel mansion restorer Greg
Newenhof and downtown advocate Sara
Meyer joined the more-than 130 recipients
of Astoria’s George Awards since 1960.
Warrenton businesswoman and volunteer
Darlene Warren became the 20th individual
winner of Warrenton’s Richard Ford Award
since 2000.
See HEROES, Page 7A
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Brandon Williams, Trevor Secord’s uncle, and his son, Judas Williams, share a moment at a candlelight vigil for Secord on Sun-
day night at Warrenton City Park. Secord was hit by a pickup and died Thursday night.
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Darlene Warren wades through a lum-
berjack-themed crowd after being
named for the Richard Ford Award, War-
renton’s citizen-of-the-year honor.
Submitted Photo
Q&A
Trevor Secord with his mother, Christina.
Mother says
Secord would
‘light up a room’
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
ABOVE: Christina Secord, left, Trevor Secord’s mother, hugs friends and family before
the start of a candlelight vigil to remember the life of her son. BELOW: Friends, family and
community members gather for a candlelight vigil to remember the life of Trevor Secord.
New county
commissioner
casts critical
vote on suit
ARRENTON — Dozens of family,
friends and acquaintances gathered
Sunday night for a candlelight vigil
in memory of a Warrenton High School stu-
dent who was hit by a pickup and died last
week.
The remembrance took place at Warren-
ton City Park’s baseball field for Trevor Sec-
ord, 15, who was struck late Thursday night
after exiting a parked vehicle on the side of
the road and running into the middle of U.S.
Highway 101 just north of Gearhart.
Scores of attendees, some hugging and
others wiping away tears, lit candles for the
teenager. Ray Bergerson, a pastor at The Mis-
sion Christian Fellowship, invited people to
share their memories.
“He truly was one that would light up
a room,” said Christina Secord, Trevor’s
On the same night
Kathleen Sullivan was
sworn in to the Clat-
sop County Board of
Commissioners, she
cast a deciding vote to
opt out of a $1.4 bil-
lion timber lawsuit
against the state.
Sullivan had been
following the lawsuit
Kathleen
over revenue from tim-
Sullivan
ber harvests since she
was elected in May to replace Dirk Rohne,
but the 3-2 vote in front of a packed Judge
Guy Boyington Building was still dramatic.
See VIGIL, Page 7A
See Q&A, Page 7A
W
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Public health officer a critical link to health care
Duncan was
initially drawn
to the chaos
s a sea of doctors fled
Astoria in the late 1980s,
Thomas Duncan moved from
Drain toward the coast.
Clatsop County’s public
health officer came to Astoria
in the midst of the Patrick v.
Burget antitrust case. Dr. Tim-
othy Patrick accused private
partners at the former Asto-
ria Clinic — which housed 75
percent of doctors in the city
— of colluding against him.
The case made it to the U.S.
Supreme Court, which ruled in
A
Patrick’s favor, and along the
way bankrupted many of the
other doctors and put the clinic
out of business.
Duncan was one of the doc-
tors who came to Astoria to fill
the void. “You couldn’t really
get good doctors to come to
this place,” he said.
So what drew him to the
seemingly hopeless situation?
“The chaos,” he said. “It
was an opportunity to do
something interesting.”
Duncan, 73, has held
the position of county pub-
lic health officer for 28 years.
He essentially acts as a part-
time consultant for the county
health department, signing off
on new standard operating pro-
cedures. But he spends most of
his time tending to his private
practice at Lower Columbia
Clinic.
Other than common epi-
demics like meningitis and
influenza, Clatsop County has
not faced a major public health
crisis during Duncan’s tenure.
Still, Duncan views the role
of public health — including
living standards, clean air and
Submitted Photo
See DUNCAN, Page 7A
Thomas Duncan is the county’s public health officer.