ASTORIA FISHERMEN FALL SPORTS PREVIEWS
PAGES 8A-9A
INSIDE
WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2018
146TH YEAR, NO. 45
ONE DOLLAR
Woman in
fatal Seaside
drunken-driving
crash sentenced
Robert Miles, 42, of Ham-
mond, died, while the other
man, Abdirisak Mohamed,
41, of Longview, Washington,
By JACK HEFFERNAN was critically injured.
The Daily Astorian
When police arrived, the
street was littered with shat-
A woman who crashed an tered glass from the damaged
SUV into a Seaside bus stop bus stop and blood from the
shelter while drunk last year, two victims. Officers spot-
killing one man and critically ted Barnett running toward a
injuring another, pleaded bush, where she hid and was
guilty Thursday to several soon arrested.
Barnett was taken to the
crimes and was sentenced to
more than 13 years in prison. hospital, where her blood
One night in Septem- alcohol content was more
ber, Corrissa Barnett had than four times the legal limit
for driving, Dep-
been drinking heav-
uty District Attor-
ily while she was
ney Dawn Buzzard
with Casey Fulmer, a
said. She admitted
longtime friend, and
to being the driver
some children at Ful-
mer’s house. Later in
and drinking prior
the night, she indi-
to the crash and was
cated she wanted to
taken to the Clatsop
County Jail.
leave and take her
Corrissa
Barnett, now 39,
teenage
daughter
Barnett
pleaded guilty Thurs-
with her.
When Fulmer tried to pre- day to first-degree man-
vent her from leaving, Bar- slaughter, three assault counts
nett started a fight in which and driving under the influ-
she punched and choked her. ence of intoxicants as part
Fulmer had taken the keys to of a deal with the Clatsop
the SUV, but Barnett was still County District Attorney’s
able to start the 1999 Dodge Office. She originally faced
Durango and drive away as charges of strangulation, two
additional assault counts and
Fulmer dialed 911.
Seaside police responded three counts of felony fail-
to the area, located the ure to perform the duties of a
Durango — driving at high driver. If convicted on all the
speed with the headlights off charges in the indictment, she
— and attempted to make would have faced at least 16
a traffic stop. Barnett, how- years in prison.
ever, continued driving and
Barnett was ordered to pay
partially sideswiped a police nearly $5,400 in restitution
car, injuring Officer Elise for funeral expenses and med-
ical bills. Her driver’s license
Parkman.
She kept driving and has been suspended for life.
turned northbound onto Roo-
sevelt Drive. The car jumped
Emotional hearing
Several of Miles’ relatives
a sidewalk outside of McDon-
ald’s restaurant, struck a con- spoke Thursday in Circuit
crete light pole and slammed Court. Each of them cried.
into a bus stop shelter occu-
pied by two men.
See BARNETT, Page 6A
Barnett gets 13
years in prison
Common
misconception
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
A young common murre dries off after a bath at the rehabilitation center.
Young common murres washing ashore near
Haystack Rock could mean a healthier colony
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
ANNON BEACH — Since
the beginning of August,
volunteers with the Hay-
stack Rock Awareness Pro-
gram can expect a beachgoer to
approach them at least once a day
with a report of a stranded young
seabird.
While it is normal to see some
birds wash ashore both dead and
alive this time of year, more than
23 stranded baby common murres
have been documented, a finding
that has piqued interest.
“The reason for concern is just
that there has been a large number
in a small amount of time,” Melissa
Keyser, the awareness program’s
director, said. As of Wednesday,
the Wildlife Center of the North
Coast had about 30 baby common
murres in its care, said executive
director Josh Saranpaa, the major-
ity of which came from Cannon
Beach.
But the strandings shouldn’t be
an immediate cause for alarm. So
far, there has been no evidence to
suggest this year’s rates of mortal-
ity are anything out of the ordinary,
said Miel Corbett, of the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service. Though see-
ing small black-and-white seabird
chicks washing ashore inevitably
C
See MURRES, Page 6A
Common murres swim together in an enclosure at the Wildlife Center
of the North Coast.
Pauline Baker treats a common murre that was brought to the Wild-
life Center of the North Coast.
Corrissa Barnett was charged with manslaughter after a
fatal drunken-driving crash in Seaside last September.
Methadone clinic pitched for Clatsop County
Travel costs are
eight times higher
than treatment
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
Eighty-eight people in Clat-
sop, Columbia and Tillamook coun-
ties received methadone through the
Oregon Health Plan last year to help
treat heroin or prescription opioid
addiction.
The drug cost $87,972. The cost
of travel to the Portland metro area
for treatment? $725,758.
“It’s astonishing,” said Leslie
Ford, the director of clinical inno-
vation at Greater Oregon Behavioral
Health Inc., which helps adminis-
ter drug treatment and mental health
care in several rural counties.
Motivated to lower travel costs,
and to treat people for drug addic-
tion where they live, regional health
care administrators are scouting loca-
tions for a methadone clinic in Clat-
sop County.
Underwritten by the Columbia
Pacific Coordinated Care Organi-
zation, which oversees the Oregon
Health Plan in the three counties,
the methadone clinic would likely be
operated by CODA, a Portland-based
drug treatment provider.
“I think that what people under-
estimate is how much is happening
already in the community and it’s just
badly treated,” Ford said.
Methadone is a powerful pain
reliever that mimics some of the
same effects as heroin or prescription
opioids and eases withdrawal symp-
toms. The drug, approved by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
to treat heroin addiction since 1972,
is prescribed for at least a year and
often much longer to reduce harm
as addicts move from treatment to
recovery.
Medication-assisted treatment has
been embraced by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Health and Human Ser-
vices as having the highest proba-
bility of success for people addicted
to opioids. In Clatsop County,
See CLINIC, Page 7A
BY THE NUMBERS
88
the number of people in Clatsop, Columbia and
Tillamook counties who received methadone
through the Oregon Health Plan to treat opioid
addiction in 2017
$87,972
$725,758
the cost of the methadone
the travel cost to send people to the Portland
metro area for treatment
*Source: Greater Oregon Behavioral Health Inc.