A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2019
Sunset in Seaside
IN BRIEF
Health advisory lifted
for Short Sand Beach
The public health advisory for Short Sand Beach in
Oswald West State Park has been lifted.
The Oregon Health Authority issued the advi-
sory Wednesday after water samples showed high-
er-than-normal levels of fecal bacteria in ocean waters.
Recent samples taken by the state Department
of Environmental Quality show bacteria levels are
lower. However, offi cials recommend staying out of
large pools on the beach that are frequented by birds,
and runoff from those pools, as the water may contain
increased bacteria from fecal matter.
Offi cials encourage recreational activities on the
beach, but warn water contact should be avoided
when advisories are in effect.
Explosive device in Seaside
causes a scare
SEASIDE — Authorities disposed of an explo-
sive device that was found on the beach in Seaside on
Thursday.
The object, described by police as plastic tubing
capped at both ends with duct tape, was viable and
fi lled with black powder substitute. The fuse appears
to have burned out before initiating the powder.
Avenue A between S. Columbia and S. Edgewood
was closed midday while authorities investigated.
The Oregon State Police explosives unit took pos-
session of the device for destruction at an undisclosed
location.
Columbia Memorial nurses
hold town hall at Fort George
Columbia Memorial Hospital nurses are holding
an open house Sunday after the most recent round of
negotiations with the hospital’s management.
Nurses, union negotiators with the Oregon Nurses
Association and other union representatives will
gather at 6 p.m. Sunday in the Lovell Showroom at
Fort George Brewery in Astoria.
Nurses will provide updates on contract nego-
tiations. Guest speakers will include Val Hoyle, the
state commissioner of labor and industries; state Rep.
Rachel Prusak, D-West Linn; state Rep. Tiffi ny Mitch-
ell, D-Astoria; Tom Chamberlain, president of Ore-
gon AFL-CIO; and Kevyn Paul, labor cabinet chair-
man of the Oregon Nurses Association.
Nurses and the hospital’s management have been
negotiating to replace a contract that expired in May.
The two sides remain apart on issues such as staffi ng
and the docking of hours when patient counts are low.
— The Astorian
Strong quake rattles Oregon Coast
COOS BAY — An underwater earthquake with an
initial 5.9 magnitude struck Thursday off the southern
Oregon Coast.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hap-
pened about 180 miles from land at a depth of 7 miles.
There were no reports of damage or injuries.
The quake happened around 8 a.m. in the same
area where a 6.3-magnitude temblor struck on Aug.
29.
The larger quake Thursday was preceded by one
with a 3.7 magnitude. A 4.0 magnitude quake fol-
lowed the larger one.
The earthquakes off the coast of Coos Bay are
being caused by slipping along an offshore fault that
has nothing to do with the more well-known Casca-
dia fault, which is believed to be overdue for a major
Pacifi c Northwest earthquake.
— Associated Press
Jeff TerHar
A sunset near the Prom in Seaside.
North Coast man sentenced for sex crimes
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
A N orth C oast man was
sentenced Friday to more than
six years in prison for sexu-
ally assaulting three women.
Parker Philip Whitsett,
22, pleaded no contest to one
count of attempted rape in the
fi rst degree and guilty to sex
abuse in the fi rst degree and
attempted sex abuse in the
fi rst degree.
The no-contest plea was
not an attempt to to evade
accountability, James Lee
von Boeckmann, Whitsett’s
attorney, said, but because he
has no memory of the inci-
dent since he was intoxicated
at the time .
Whitsett was accused of
having sex with a woman
who was unable to consent
while she was unconscious
and under the infl uence of
intoxicants at a get-together
in December 2017.
At a different gathering in
November 2018, he
were in this situation
was accused of hav-
this would be really
ing sex with a woman
tough,” she said. “I
while she was uncon-
do forgive him and I
scious and mak-
want to move on with
ing sexual contact
my life and I think
with another woman
that looking for-
who was unable to Parker Philip ward I have a pretty
Whitsett
consent.
bright future so I’m
Two of the three
not going to let this
women abused by Whitsett defi ne me.”
shared their thoughts prior to
Chief Deputy District
sentencing.
Attorney Dawn Buzzard
“I just hope he gets help,” shared her pride for the wom-
one woman told the court en’s strength and called them
over the phone.
her heroes.
Another woman was in the
“I understand I’ve caused
courtroom and tearfully gave a lot of pain and, for that, I’m
her testimony.
deeply sorry,” Whitsett said.
“I knew Parker before
“I hope that by the time
this and I don’t think he’s a this is all over I can change
bad person even if he did bad the person I am enough to
things and I do hope that he where I can more than make
does get help,” she said. “I amends for the problems that
just hope he learns from his I caused for these people, and
mistakes and doesn’t make I want to thank them for their
the same ones when he’s free willingness to forgive.”
again.”
Rape and sex abuse are
“I do pray for his fam- violent crimes that take
ily because I do know if I something away from a per-
son while they are compro-
mised, so the punishment is
severe, Judge Cindee Matyas
said.
“We sort of cast off these
young women who will
have to draw upon their own
strength and support and fam-
ily and their own deep con-
victions to move out of this,”
Matyas said.
“They don’t have the
same structured support that
offenders do and I think that’s
so tragic.”
The judge said the sen-
tence could be an opportu-
nity for Whitsett to learn and
change, which would be a
success for the women who
were brave enough to come
forward .
“It’s just kind of the cul-
ture we live in, sadly,”
Matyas said. “B ut they’ll
know that they have suffered
not in vain, but for some pur-
pose and that will be a good
outcome, Mr. Whitsett, so
you have a lot of work to do. ”
Contenders emerge for Circuit Court vacancy
New judge to
replace Brownhill
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
Six contenders have
emerged to fi ll a vacancy on
the Clatsop County Circuit
Court.
Gov. Kate Brown will
appoint a replacement for
Judge Paula Brownhill, who
plans to retire in Novem-
ber after 25 years on the
bench. The presiding judge
was appointed by Gov. Bar-
bara Roberts in 1994 and has
been elected four times.
The primary election is
next May. Brownhill hopes
Brown will appoint a new
judge before she retires.
The contenders include
Deputy District Attorney
Beau Peterson and defense
attorneys James von Boeck-
mann and Kirk Wintermute.
The other applicants are
attorneys Arthur Saito, Kelly
Stearns and Diana Taylor.
Misha Isaak, t he g eneral
c ounsel at Brown’s o ffi ce, is
accepting comments on the
applicants .
DEATHS
Sept. 4, 2019
GRAHAM,
Gerald
Richard, 70, of Warren-
ton, died in Warrenton.
Caldwell’s
Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
Sept. 1, 2019
PHILLIPS,
David
W.,
76, of Astoria,
died in Astoria. Ocean
View Funeral & Cre-
mation Service of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Youngs River Lewis &
Clark Water District
Board, 6 p.m., 34583 U.S.
Highway 101 Business.
Cannon Beach Rural
Fire Department Board,
6 p.m., Fire-Rescue Main
Station, 188 Sunset Ave.
TUESDAY
Astoria City Council,
9 a.m., work session, City
Hall, 1095 Duane St.
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Clatsop County Planning
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Building, 857 Commercial
St., Astoria.
Warrenton City Commis-
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Heat wave: Agencies stepping up monitoring efforts
Continued from Page A1
National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric
Administration’s
Southwest Fisheries Science
Center.
Ocean conditions had
yet to return to normal fol-
lowing the Blob. Biologists
aren’t sure yet what the
full effects of this new heat
wave will be but, given its
size, they say it has likely
already started to impact
marine ecosystems.
Commercial and sport
fi sheries have noted poor
landings off Washington
state and Oregon this year,
Mantua said .
The conditions created
by the Blob resulted in one
of the largest harmful algal
blooms ever recorded on the
West Coast. Domoic acid, a
naturally occurring marine
toxin, shut down crab and
shellfi sh fi sheries. Multi-
ple fi shery disasters were
declared and thousands of
young California sea lions
were stranded on beaches.
Salmon entering the ocean
endured unusually bleak
conditions and returned in
low numbers to freshwater
habitats.
Researchers have even
drawn a connection between
Colin Murphey/The Astorian
Massive harmful algal blooms shut down the popular razor
clam fi shery during an unusual warm ocean water event that
began in 2014 and persisted for several years. Researchers are
seeing a return of the same conditions this year.
higher numbers of whales
tangling with fi shing gear.
In response to tempera-
ture and forage conditions,
the large mammals shifted
into areas where they were
more likely to tangle with
gear, said Chris Harvey, a
research fi sheries biologist
with NOAA’s Northwest
Fisheries Science Center.
“We had a lot of expec-
tations about how things
would respond,” Harvey
said about the years follow-
ing the Blob’s appearance.
“Some of them were cor-
rect and some were not at
all correct and then we got
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a lot of surprises.”
Researchers are work-
ing with a sample size of
one, he noted. After the
Blob, this new warm water
expanse is the second larg-
est marine heat wave in
terms of area in the north-
ern Pacifi c Ocean in the
p ast 40 years, according to
researchers.
“And since we only have
a sample size of one we
should expect there to be
some surprises we currently
can’t anticipate if this event
persists (for several years),”
Harvey said.
But while the Blob
caught many people by sur-
prise in 2014 — no one was
quite sure what they were
looking at as it formed and
then persisted — research-
ers were more familiar with
the signs this time around.
They may not be able
to completely predict what
will happen, but agencies
have stepped up some mon-
itoring efforts , particularly
following the huge harmful
algal bloom in 2015.
“We also now have a lit-
tle bit more of a better under-
standing of the impacts of
that harmful algal bloom in
terms of how extensive it
was, the duration of fi sher-
ies closures that it caused,
the socioeconomic impacts
to fi shing communities,”
said Stephanie Moore,
research
oceanographer
with the Northwest Fisher-
ies Science Center.
This knowledge will
“help us to get the message
out so that those groups can
be better prepared in the
event that (another bloom)
does occur,” she added.
Researchers can’t say
with certainty whether the
heat wave is directly related
to human-caused climate
change or if the weather
patterns that caused the
heat wave and the Blob sig-
nal the start of a new nor-
mal . B ut the Blob’s effects
did appear to be exacerbated
by underlying warming in
the ocean linked to climate
change, Mantua said.
For now, the question is
whether the heat wave will
stick around long enough to
cause long-reaching prob-
lems like the Blob or if a
shift in weather patterns will
break it up. F orecasts show
the heat wave moderating
but continuing for months.