6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2018
Murres: Many have been rehabilitated, released
Continued from Page 1A
tugs on the heartstrings, having
more stranded baby birds actu-
ally points to the area returning
to a more typical year.
“I’ve worked through
many die-offs, and I wouldn’t
consider it that yet, even
though we are very busy,”
Saranpaa said. “This is con-
sidered a more normal, annual
stranding event.”
Lots of factors can con-
tribute to a juvenile seabird
die-off. Mortality can some-
times be high if food condi-
tions are poor or if the pres-
ence of toxins is high. But
those factors have not been
thoroughly studied, thus no
specific information has indi-
cated that either is the case in
Oregon, Corbett said.
“Observations of murres
feeding chicks at Yaquina
Head through early August
suggested that while food
conditions were not great
this year, they weren’t cata-
strophic, either,” she said.
High numbers in Cannon
Beach could be attributed to
the fact Haystack Rock has
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Melisa Colvin, right, helps out as a volunteer at the center.
a large colony close to the
shore, making the problem
more visible to the average
beachgoer than other offshore
colonies, Keyser said.
Seeing juvenile birds wash
ashore is normal starting in
late summer, when the fledg-
ling common murre jumps
from nests to learn how to for-
age for fish. Through the pro-
cess, some birds will always
struggle, and those arriving
on shore are often coming
into the wildlife center mal-
nourished and hypothermic,
rehabilitation specialist Pau-
line Baker said.
After a few weeks of
intense care and feeding,
many have already been reha-
bilitated and released, she
said.
But the difference could
be noticeable locally, because
the number of stranded chicks
has been unusually low for
the past two years, Saranpaa
said. On average, the wild-
life center can expect about
200 common murre chicks
from across the coast from
late summer to early spring.
In the past two years, the cen-
ter has only seen between 80
to 90 birds.
The pattern is reflected in
an ongoing study by Oregon
State University, which has
been monitoring nest success
at Yaquina Head, that found
very few chicks fledged in
this time. This year, fledgling
production was much higher,
which means there were many
more chicks out on the water
to potentially run into prob-
lems and become stranded on
the beach, Corbett said.
The study suggests that
more juvenile common
murres on the beach could
signal a healthier colony that
produces more fledglings. In
poorer years, fewer chicks
would even reach fledging
stage, and adults would likely
be stressed and thinner, mean-
ing surveyors could see rela-
tively more adults washing
ashore, according to a report
from the Coastal Observation
and Seabird Survey Team.
Despite what appears to
be business as usual, Saran-
paa and his team always are
watching for another die-off.
In 2014 and 2015, the wild-
life center saw an influx of
about 2,000 birds as part of a
massive die-off on the West
Coast related to “the Blob,” a
large mass of relatively warm
water in the Pacific Ocean.
Other regions, like North-
ern California, have already
seen big die-offs this summer
attributed to pollution and
depleted fish stocks.
“Common murres, there
are so many of them … So
you’re going to have a die-
off of some extent,” Saran-
paa said. “However, because
we’ve had die-offs in the past,
we are keeping a close eye.”
Barnett: ‘How do you say sorry in this situation?
Continued from Page 1A
“How do I even begin to
start?” said Diane Miles, his wife
of 20 years.
She recalled the haunting
day after the crash when police
knocked on her front door to
break the news.
“Robert always came back
to say, ‘I love you,’ but now I’m
never going to hear those words
again,” Miles said. “How am
I going to do this without him?
Who am I without him?”
Miles then addressed Barnett.
She talked about how her hus-
band enjoyed a good time, espe-
cially when listening to music.
He also liked metal detecting,
fishing, crabbing and clamming.
“Your decision that night to
drive drunk took someone who
was so loving and so funny,”
Miles said. “His laughter would
make you tear up, his stories a
little long-worded, but he told
them in such a way that you
would get into the story.”
Robert Miles called his wife
shortly before he was killed,
but she didn’t answer. He used
to call every day, and she still
checks her phone — just in case.
“Now, because of you,
I’m left with such guilt of not
answering the phone,” Miles
said. “What if I just answered
it? Would he still be here? Why
didn’t I just go pick him up? All
he wanted was to be with me.
Your decision that night made
me feel so guilty.”
Jim Miles, Robert Miles’
brother, asked Barnett to seek
treatment for alcohol abuse. Tra-
vis Gosser, his nephew, wrote
a statement describing Robert
Miles as his best friend and con-
fidant. Donna Gosser, his sister,
talked about watching him walk
away after a fight soon before he
died.
“Driving by that bus stop,
driving by any bus stop, is a
memory that I’ll never get out of
my head,” Donna Gosser said.
Diane Miles’ last image of
her husband is his lifeless body
on a cold table, with his face
bruised and scraped and shards
of glass in his hair. He hated
being cold, she said.
Now, Miles and her three
children have been forever
changed and are still living a
nightmare, she said. She keeps
an urn full of her husband’s
ashes beside her bed.
“It’s not fair. Why didn’t you
just stop? You had the chance
to stop so many times,” Miles
said to Barnett. “So many lives
changed because of your deci-
sion. Even your family has to
live with the shame and guilt
knowing that you killed some-
one’s husband and father, sibling
Buzzard described Offi-
cer Parkman, who took time
off work for her injuries, as
“shaken.”
“This is a very, obviously,
difficult day for everyone in this
courtroom, and the real trag-
edy is that it absolutely, 100 per-
cent could have been avoided,”
Buzzard said. “It should be a
reminder not just to Ms. Barnett,
who I think is paying a pretty big
price for this, but for everybody
who thinks that drinking and
driving in a little town is, like,
not a big deal.”
Barnett’s sister, Cassi, and
her father, Steve, also spoke
Thursday.
Corrissa Barnett’s life
changed more than a decade ago
more dependent,” Cassi Barnett
said.
Barnett’s sister added that
a head injury sustained in the
altercation with Fulmer likely
impaired her judgment before
the crash.
Steve Barnett is a former
lieutenant with the Seaside
Police Department who unsuc-
cessfully ran for county sheriff
in 2012 and retired in 2016. He
filed a federal lawsuit against
District Attorney Josh Marquis,
claiming his free speech and
due process rights were violated
when Marquis refused to use
Barnett as a witness in prosecu-
tions because of concerns about
the officer’s credibility. A federal
appeals court ruled in 2016 that
ing Miles’ family, though Buz-
zard at one point asked Judge
Cindee Matyas to have him face
the judge.
He said his daughter has
never been a “problem child,”
save one drunken-driving arrest
in 2014, when she recorded a
blood alcohol content of 0.31
percent. The misdemeanor
charge was dismissed after Bar-
nett completed a DUII diversion
program.
The veteran police offi-
cer noted that his work sched-
ule may have left her feeling
neglected as a child, possibly
leading to substance abuse. He
said Clatsop County encour-
ages alcohol abuse more than
most counties in the state, cit-
‘I TOOK A LIFE. I SHATTERED IT IN THE NIGHT.
I BLEW OUT HIS CANDLE, AND I TOOK AWAY YOUR LIGHT.
I’M ALSO SORRY FOR THE MESS I’VE MADE. IF I COULD
TRADE MY LIFE, I WOULD MAKE THE TRADE.’
Corrissa Barnett | she read aloud this poem she had written in jail
and friend.
“The only difference is that
they’ll be able to see you and
hear you and touch you, unlike
my family, who will never get
that chance anymore.”
Buzzard talked a bit about
Mohamed, who was unable to
attend the court hearing. She vis-
ited him nine months after the
crash, the first day he was able
to walk with a walker instead of
a wheelchair. An immigrant to
America who had fled persecu-
tion, Mohamed established a sta-
ble life as an apartment cleaner.
It is unclear whether Mohamed
will be able to continue the work
or how he will be able to support
himself.
“Frankly, he’s a pretty gener-
ous man, and he was pretty for-
giving,” Buzzard said.
after she fell and hit her head,
causing chronic pain, her fam-
ily said. She became addicted
to drugs prescribed for the pain,
went to a rehabilitation facil-
ity and later developed an alco-
hol addiction in its place, her sis-
ter said.
“With the help of her pre-
scribing doctor, here lies the
beginning of Corrie’s transfor-
mation from a strong, indepen-
dent, organized mother, daugh-
ter, sister, auntie, niece and
cousin, to a damaged, depen-
dent, shattered, tiny shell of a
human struggling each day with
pain while growing more and
Marquis had absolute immunity
from the lawsuit.
“And also, our family holds
high regard and respect for the
judicial system, and we do hope
that Corrie’s sentencing is, she is
being sentenced as an individual
— and not being held account-
able for the reputation and rela-
tionship her father … and the
district attorney’s office have had
in the past,” Cassi Barnett said.
Steve Barnett, who did not
originally plan to speak in court,
offered an unscripted statement
that went on for more than 10
minutes. Sitting next to prose-
cutors, he spent much of it fac-
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‘I took a life’
After saying he loved her and
that she is salvageable, Steve
Barnett stepped down and Cor-
rissa Barnett spoke. In her apolo-
gies to Miles and Mohamed, she
read two poems she had written
in jail.
“This is the way I chose to
say sorry, because how do you
say sorry in this situation?” Bar-
nett said before reading.
“I took a life. I shattered it in
the night. I blew out his candle,
and I took away your light,” read
part of the poem to Miles’ fam-
ily. “I’m also sorry for the mess
I’ve made. If I could trade my
life, I would make the trade.”
Before issuing the prison
sentence, Matyas said trying to
correlate the length with the cost
of a death is “ridiculous.”
“I don’t have a lot to add to
what’s been said,” the judge
said. “This is incredibly sad on
every level, and there’s noth-
ing that the court can do to even
touch that sadness.”
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ing statements made by Ron
Brown, Marquis’ chief deputy,
who will become district attor-
ney in January.
“We drag our feet in our
county,” Steve Barnett said.
He then called the length of
the court case “borderline cru-
elty” since his daughter’s first
lawyer — court-appointed attor-
ney Temojai Inhofe — quit the
case.
“I don’t condone a thing that
(my daughter) has done in refer-
ence to this incident. I don’t con-
done any of the actions taken by
the officers. I don’t condone any
of the actions taken that have
been taken by any of the court,”
Steve Barnett said.
He closed by turning to Buz-
zard, claiming his daughter
had a drunken-driving incident
months before the fatal crash
that did not lead to an arrest.
“One thing that is infuriating
me as member of law enforce-
ment — retired — and you as a
member of law enforcement is
that somebody has failed to do
their job and that we would not
even be here today if the Seaside
Police Department would’ve
took action against her for her
DUII about six months before
this fatal crash,” he claimed.
“And if they would have done
that, instead of being a lazy, irre-
sponsible apathetic individual,
we would not be here.”
“WOMEN WILL SWOON AND MEN WILL LAUGH”
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for more information.