DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 2018
146TH YEAR, NO. 31
ONE DOLLAR
GRAND LAND PARADE A
REGATTA TRADITION
Inmates
get help
on mental
health
Treatment center
at state prison
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The Astoria Regatta festivities included a parade through downtown.
A maritime-style
march through
downtown
By HANNAH SIEVERT
The Daily Astorian
F
loats, clowns, dancers, a
marching band and the Asto-
ria Regatta princesses paraded
through downtown on Satur-
day for the Regatta’s annual
Grand Land Parade.
The parade has been a feature of
the Regatta since the event began
in 1894. It’s the oldest and biggest
parade west of the Rockies, according
to the Regatta’s organizers.
Some in the community have been
attending the parade for years. Bill
Landwehr and Jim Robinson, mem-
bers of the Astoria Clowns, estimate
they have been performing in the
parade as clowns for around 15 years.
Hannah Sievert/The Daily Astorian
See PARADE, Page 5A
The 2018 Astoria Regatta princesses and queen wave to the crowd during the parade.
SALEM — The Oregon Depart-
ment of Corrections has opened a
new behavioral health treatment cen-
ter at Oregon State Penitentiary to
help improve conditions for inmates
with severe mental illness.
Two years ago, Colette Peters, the
department’s director, signed a mem-
orandum of understanding with Dis-
ability Rights Oregon to increase out-
of-cell time for these inmates and
make other improvements. Peters
agreed to give inmates at least 20
hours per week, or less than three
hours per day, outside their cells by
2020.
“I believe this building and our
great staff work is going to get us
there in no time,” Peters said during
a ribbon-cutting at the treatment cen-
ter on Friday.
In July and early August, the
agency provided about 12.6 hours per
week, or about 1.8 hours a day, Peters
said. Inmates remain in windowless
cells measured 6 feet by 11 feet with
no companionship for the rest of the
day. Disability Rights Oregon has
alleged those conditions are on par
with solitary confinement.
Twenty hours a week is the mini-
mum needed to protect inmates with
mental health conditions from cruel
and unusual punishment as defined
by the Eighth Amendment, according
to Disability Rights Oregon.
Joel Greenberg, attorney at Dis-
ability Rights Oregon, said he is
“skeptically optimistic” that the
agency will meet its obligation.
“We hope this building — which
they have placed a lot of faith in and a
lot of hope in — will turn around the
numbers,” Greenberg said.
State lawmakers appropriated $5.2
million in February 2016 to build,
furnish and staff the treatment center
for some 45 inmates who have seri-
ous mental illness and have demon-
strated violent or disruptive behavior.
The metal mesh doors in the
inmates’ living quarters and the con-
figuration of the prison prevent expo-
sure to natural light and make it diffi-
cult for inmates to communicate with
anyone outside.
“Talking to someone through
punched-out metal holes doesn’t
allow you to adequately see or hear
anything,” Greenberg said. “In order
to talk to someone inside a cell, you
would have to bend down and talk
through the food slot and hopefully
the resident of the cell would do the
same thing. Even though the resi-
dents are very disabled and ill, there
is a lot of noise, yelling and scream-
ing that made it difficult to have not
only a private conversation but any
conversation.”
Now, inmates can meet privately
with mental health professionals in
one of 13 offices at the treatment cen-
ter. The 6,830-square-foot center also
has four classrooms for group therapy
See INMATES, Page 5A
‘Pottery for a purpose’
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
G
EARHART — Jenn Whyman
likes to think of the artwork she
sells as “pottery with a purpose.”
In late July, she opened Coast Gallery
and Numismatics, a small
gallery located off U.S.
Highway 101 in Gearhart
that features a mix between
sculptures, paintings and
an extensive stock of
coins paired with appraisal
services.
On the surface, it resembles many
other North Coast galleries, with
pieces featuring coastal landmarks like
Haystack Rock and Hug Point. But
Whyman’s inspiration to open the gal-
Gearhart resident opens
art gallery for charity
lery drew from a slightly different well.
Instead of selling for a profit, she
envisioned a model where proceeds from
each sale — after bills were paid and art-
ists given their cut — would go to sup-
port different charities.
To do so, she brought together the
passions of her husband,
Dan Whyman, who is an
avid coin collector and
appraiser, and her broth-
er-in-law, Jeff Whyman, a
sculptor and painter whose
North Coast roots extend
back to his days operating an art gallery
in Cannon Beach in the 1990s.
“I wanted to support both of their
interests, as well as open a gallery that
Brenna Visser/The Daily Astorian
See WHYMAN, Page 5A
Dan and Jenn Whyman opened Coast Gallery and Numismatics in
Gearhart in July.