DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018
145TH YEAR, NO. 146
ONE DOLLAR
Balensifer
to run for
Warrenton
mayor
Appointed last year
to fill vacancy
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Left to right: Sarah Mitchell, Sheri Salber and Kerry Strickland hold a needle exchange in Astoria.
County’s pilot needle
exchange program expands
More than 15,000
needles have been
collected in just
over three months
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
K
erry Strickland has been giving
mothers an ability she wishes she
had years ago.
Her son, Jordan, died alone in a South-
ern California apartment in 2015 when he
was 24 years old. Had someone given
him Naloxone — a drug that reverses
opioid overdoses — he might have had a
chance to recover.
Now, she offers weekly training teach-
ing people how to administer the drug,
and some of the students have been fel-
low mothers.
“There’s nothing more rewarding than
being able to hug a mother and give them
the lifesaving drug I couldn’t give my
son,” Strickland said.
A six-month pilot needle exchange
program in Clatsop County is gaining
momentum and expanding — including
the Naloxone training — as the experi-
ment passes its halfway point.
The county Public Health Depart-
ment and Strickland have been conduct-
ing the weekly exchanges since October.
After the first event yielded no takers, the
ABOVE: Clean, new needles and con-
tainers wait to be distributed at the nee-
dle exchange program in Astoria. BE-
LOW: Kerry Strickland holds up a box of
naloxone for treating opioid overdoses.
county has collected more than 15,874
needles and handed out 14,419 in trade.
“It’s a little shocking that there are
that many needles being used for intra-
venous drug use in this county,” Michael
McNickle, the public health director, said.
“We’re still pretty amazed at the numbers
we’ve been getting.”
The numbers are staggering for a
county of fewer than 40,000 residents, but
Multnomah County — with more than
790,000 people — exchanges roughly
30,000 needles a week, McNickle said.
The largest haul came last week, when
4,000 needles were exchanged. Several
people — commonly referred to as “mes-
sengers” — have been collecting and
exchanging the majority of needles each
week, McNickle said. Since the begin-
ning, 33 people have participated — 15 of
whom returned for at least a second time.
“We built trust in Astoria and the
messengers are getting the word out,”
McNickle said. “Every week is a little
different due to the shame that comes
with the stigma of intravenous drug use.
You’re not sure if the messengers are also
the users.”
Strickland, founder of Jordan’s Hope
for Recovery, began offering the free Nal-
oxone kits and training four weeks into
the program. After completing the train-
ing herself, she applied for grants through
her nonprofit that allowed her to receive
and distribute the drug at no cost.
See NEEDLES, Page 7A
‘THERE’S NOTHING MORE REWARDING THAN BEING
ABLE TO HUG A MOTHER AND GIVE THEM THE
LIFESAVING DRUG I COULDN’T GIVE MY SON.’
WARRENTON — Warrenton Mayor
Henry Balensifer will seek election to the
top job in November, fulfilling a promise he
made after being appointed to serve out for-
mer Mayor Mark Kujala’s term last year.
Balensifer was first elected to the City
Commission in 2012 after serving on the
Planning Commission.
After Kujala announced he was resigning
last March, Balensifer led
the commission as mayor
pro tem. He was appointed
by the other commission-
ers to finish out the rest of
Kujala’s term, which ends
in December. At the time,
he promised he would not
Henry
be a “short-term mayor.”
Balensifer
“You can’t compare
running a meeting to being
the figurehead of the city,” he said, adding,
“It was a learning curve to go from a Plan-
ning Commission to a City Commission and
it was a learning curve to go from city com-
missioner to mayor.”
See BALENSIFER, Page 5A
Astoria looks
to collect on
Smithart debt
Fallout continues from
Riverwalk Inn suit
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Astoria is trying to collect back lodging
taxes and other debts from the former opera-
tor of the Astoria Riverwalk Inn.
City Attorney Blair Henningsgaard has
sought garnishment from Param Hotel
Corp., a Portland hotelier that was awarded
the lease of the Riverwalk Inn through a
court judgment against the
Port of Astoria last year
and hopes to take over
operation of the hotel in
November.
The hotel’s previous
operator, Brad Smithart,
who also owned the now
Brad
closed Arc Arcade down-
Smithart
town, owes thousands of
dollars to the Port, the city
and Clatsop County — debts Param has
promised to pay off. As part of past negoti-
ations with the Port, Param will have to pay
Smithart as well.
Astoria hopes to garnish what Smithart
owes the city from this debt. The city could
make back some of the money by then sell-
ing the debt, Henningsgaard said.
Kerry Strickland | mother who offers weekly training teaching people how to administer Naloxone
See DEBT, Page 5A
Tsunami threat canceled after 7.9 magnitude quake in Alaska
Associated Press
and EO Media Group
ANCHORAGE, Alaska —
A powerful earthquake struck
off an island in the Gulf of
Alaska, prompting a tsunami
threat that sent the state’s res-
idents along the southern coast
and western Canada fleeing
for higher ground just after
midnight.
After a few intense hours,
the tsunami warning was can-
celed, allowing people to
return home from shelters.
There were no immediate
reports of damage, not even on
Kodiak Island, the closest land
to the epicenter of the mag-
nitude 7.9 quake. The quake
was followed by dozens of
aftershocks.
Oregon, Washington state,
California and Hawaii were
under tsunami watches, which
eventually were lifted.
Word of a potential tsunami
rattled nerves on the North
Coast.
A local alert was not sent
out by Clatsop County Emer-
gency Management, said
Director Tiffany Brown.
“There is a difference
between a watch and a warn-
ing. With a watch, it means the
potential exists, and a warning
is that (the tsunami) is immi-
nent and it requires immedi-
ate action. Nothing required
immediate action today, so I
didn’t issue an alert. I would
wake people up in the middle
of the night if they needed to
take immediate action.”
Cannon Beach Rural Fire
Protection District made
the decision to open a joint
Emergency Operation Center
for Cannon Beach, Arch Cape
and Falcon Cove as a precau-
tion, but it was closed soon
after the tsunami watch was
called off.
In Pacific County, Washing-
ton, the tsunami watch caused
some to seek high ground.
As happened on March 11,
2011 when a serious earth-
quake in Japan was feared to
See TSUNAMI, Page 5A
Melissa Renwick/The Canadian Press
Brennan Caton, center, Misty Lawson and Courtney Caton,
right, listen to the Coast Guard radio inside their home for
updates on the tsunami warnings that shook Tofino, Brit-
ish Columbia, after the Alaska earthquake on Tuesday.