146TH YEAR, NO. 165
ONE DOLLAR
DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2019
BACKYARD BIRD COUNT
LANDS IN CLATSOP COUNTY
Washington
may limit
vaccine
exemptions
Measles outbreak
climbs to 61 cases
By RACHEL LA CORTE
Associated Press
Photos by Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian
Naturalist Mike Patterson and park volunteer Rosemary McGrath turn their binoculars to the trees to identify a bird during a
birding walk at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park Saturday. The walk was part of the annual Great Backyard Bird Count.
Bird watching celebrated
at Fort Clatsop
See Measles, Page A7
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
H
ere’s a birding lesson: Your
ears are just as important as
your eyes.
On a birding walk at Lewis
and Clark National Historical Park
Saturday morning, naturalist Mike
Patterson stopped often to listen. The
sounds of birds socializing and hunt-
ing often caught his attention before
he even saw a flutter in the trees or the
underbrush. There was the distinc-
tive “dee-dee-dee” of black-capped
chickadees. The harsh squawking
complaints of a great blue heron.
The birding walk was one of sev-
eral events the national park hosted
over the weekend as part of the 22nd
annual Great Backyard Bird Count,
the first online citizen-science proj-
ect with the purpose of collecting
data on wild birds around the globe.
The park provided a number of
bird-related exhibits and activities at
the visitor’s center over the weekend.
A number of pink plastic flamingos
— sorry, “great pink herons,” per-
haps a subspecies of the more com-
mon great blue heron — also made
an appearance along trails in the park.
During the annual bird count,
people around the world count the
birds they see in their area and post
the information online, provid-
ing important information about
the abundance and distribution of
Washington state lawmakers have
advanced a measure that would remove
parents’ ability to claim a personal or
philosophical exemption to vaccinating
their school-age children for measles as
the Pacific Northwest struggles with an
outbreak of the contagious virus.
The state House Health Care and
Wellness Committee approved House
Bill 1638 on a 10-5 vote on Friday. The
full House could vote on it in the com-
ing weeks.
The legislation comes amid an out-
break that has sickened 61 people in
the Pacific Northwest and led Washing-
ton Gov. Jay Inslee to declare a state of
emergency.
Of the cases confirmed in Clark
County, 54 were not immunized against
measles. Immunization status couldn’t
be verified for five cases, and two cases
involved a child who had received only a
single dose of the MMR vaccine.
The majority of confirmed Clark
County cases — 44 — involve children
between the ages of 1 and 10.
Washington is among 17 states, includ-
ing Oregon, that allow some type of non-
medical vaccine exemption for “per-
sonal, moral or other beliefs,” according
to the National Conference of State
Legislatures.
Washington now allows vaccination
exemptions for children at public or pri-
vate schools or licensed day care cen-
ters based on medical, religious and per-
sonal or philosophical beliefs. Unless an
Soul food,
pizza come to
food cart pod
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
ABOVE: Park volunteer Rosemary
McGrath goes over the bird species
seen during a birding walk on Saturday
at Lewis and Clark National Historical
Park as part of the 22nd annual Great
Backyard Bird Count. RIGHT: Park staff at
Lewis and Clark National Historical Park
tucked plastic pink flamingos at intervals
along trails through the park, referring
to them jokingly as ‘great pink herons.’
bird species.
In Clatsop County, people submit-
ted sightings of dozens of different
birds, cataloguing a total of 99 spe-
cies as of Sunday afternoon, accord-
ing to the bird count’s website.
The settling ponds in Cannon
Beach proved to be a popular spot for
sightings, along with Fort Clatsop’s
Netul River Trail, the route Patterson
took on Saturday.
The food cart pod on 11th and Duane
streets has added some soul, with wood-
fired pizza on the way.
Jordan Wilson is serving up all the
soul food standards — chicken and waf-
fle sandwiches, po’boys, shrimp and grits
and other Southern staples — out of his
black cart wedged on 11th Street between
Roll & Bowl and Sasquatch Sandwich.
Wilson, originally from Seattle,
worked as a chef around Portland before
recently relocating to Manzanita with
his fiancé, a Cannon Beach native. Over
the summer, he built out the inside of his
food cart, opening last week.
His background in Portland includes
stints at Ex Novo Brewing and the 100-
plus taproom Henry’s 12th Street Tavern
on Burnside Street.
See Pod, Page A7
Intern finds direction at Haystack Rock
A success story
from Clatsop Works
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
C
ANNON BEACH —
Ellison Randall didn’t
anticipate she would some-
day be pursuing environ-
mental activism.
Ever since she was lit-
tle, the 18-year-old Asto-
ria native has had her sights
set on becoming a veterinar-
ian. A self-proclaimed ani-
mal lover, in high school she
would spend her free time
volunteering at animal shel-
ters and the Wildlife Center
of the North Coast.
But then life took a
detour. Right before her
senior year, Randall left
Astoria High School to
work through some personal
issues.
Later that year, she
decided to enroll at Clat-
sop Community College to
study for her GED, which
she received by the end of
the school year.
“(That experience) was a
big boost to my confidence
... to know I can do stuff,
even if it’s not the normal
way,” Randall said.
While at the college,
Randall was also intro-
duced to Clatsop Works,
a countywide paid intern-
ship program. She asked if
there were any opportuni-
ties to work with animals
or the environment. Around
the same time, the Haystack
Rock Awareness Program
had just applied to be a host-
ing employer.
Rita Goldfarb
See Randall, Page A7
Ellison Randall is a lead interpreter for the Haystack Rock
Awareness Program.