A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 2020
Seaside restricts access to beach
IN BRIEF
Astoria extends parks, pool closures
Astoria is extending the closure of the Astoria Library,
Astoria Aquatic Center and other parks facilities indefi -
nitely amid efforts to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
The closures also include the Astoria Recreation
Center, Lil’ Sprouts, Port of Play, playgrounds and sport
courts. They were expected to end Wednesday, along
with Gov. Kate Brown’s initial public school closures,
which have since been extended through late April.
City Hall will also extend its restriction of walk-in
access, with admittance by appointment only. The city
prefers business be conducted over the phone or through
email as much as possible.
County establishes coronavirus hotline
Clatsop County has a COVID-19 informational
phone line to answer questions about the virus.
Personnel will be available from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to
5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The number is 503-325-8500.
County staff cannot answer medical questions.
Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria also has a
hotline at 503-338-4699 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday
through Friday.
County collecting donations
of medical supplies
Clatsop County Emergency Management is accept-
ing donations of personal protective equipment, includ-
ing masks, gowns, gloves and face shields.
The county is collecting donations and will distribute
them to local medical personnel and emergency responders.
Donations can be dropped off every weekday
between 10 a.m. and noon at the Clatsop County Emer-
gency Management Offi ce at Camp Rilea in Warrenton.
For more information, email donate@clatsopeoc.com or
call 503-325-8645.
County appoints new counsel
County commissioners appointed a new county coun-
sel on Wednesday.
Joanna Lyons-Antley will start on April 1. She
replaces Heather Reynolds, who served as Clatsop
County counsel for 25 years.
Lyons-Antley will serve as an in-house counsel
instead of a contract attorney.
Lyons-Antley was formerly a contract attorney for
Beery, Elsner & Hammond LLP. She also served about
eight years as the city attorney for Klamath Falls and
about six years as the assistant Coos County counsel.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
March 27, 2020
In POTTER,
Brief
Mary Gail,
59, of Astoria, died in Asto-
ria.
Caldwell’s Luce-Lay-
Deaths
ton Mortuary of Astoria is in
charge of the arrangements.
March 26, 2020
BROWN,
Dennis
Leroy, 80, of Gearhart,
died in Seaside. Caldwell’s
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
March 25, 2020
SHOOP, Kenneth War-
ren, 78, of Hammond, died
in Warrenton. Caldwell’s
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
BIRTHS
March 12, 2020
FRANCIS, Krysta, and CLARK, Tim, of Chinook,
Washington, a girl, Madison Layne Clark, born at
Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria. Grandparents
are Tracy and Don Hoffman, of Port Angeles, Wash-
ington, and Teresa and Tim Clark, of Astoria.
CORRECTION
Employee count — EO Media Group on Wednes-
day announced the layoff of 47 of the company’s 261
employees in Oregon and Washington state over coro-
navirus-related losses. An In Brief item on A2 on Thurs-
day incorrectly said the company had 181 employees.
Correction
Follows closure of
state parks
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
SEASIDE — With Gov.
Kate Brown’s order “Stay
Home, Save Lives” limiting
access to many businesses
and recreational areas, resi-
dents are wondering “What
about the beach?”
“We’re working with
the city of Seaside to close
their upland accesses to the
beach,” said Chris Havel of
the Oregon Parks and Rec-
reation Department. “We
have the power to close the
beach itself, but we haven’t
exercised it. We will revisit
that decision if people don’t
maintain social distance.”
The governor’s order
came after some Oregonians
failed to adhere to social dis-
tancing guidelines, result-
ing in crowds on the Oregon
Coast and state parks around
the state. “I fi nd that imme-
diate implementation of
additional measures is nec-
essary,” Brown said in the
declaration.
While the order doesn’t
currently extend to the ocean
shore, according to Ore-
gon Parks and Recreation
Department Director Lisa
R.J. Marx/The Astorian
The beach in Seaside on Monday.
Sumption, it does close all
state park-managed parking
lots and beach access .
“Closed is closed,” Sump-
tion said in her message. “We
lock restrooms, stop trash
service, and it’s not safe for
you or us to go into a closed
park. If we see you in a park,
we’ll ask you to leave. If you
refuse, we can issue you a
citation.”
For now, Seaside is lim-
iting public access to the
beach, Public Works Director
Dale McDowell said at Mon-
day’s City Council meeting.
His department put signs
up at beach entrances from
the estuary to the Cove, he
said, telling residents that the
beaches are closed because
of the state resolution.
Four restroom facili-
ties remain open, at Seltzer
Park, the Prom, the Seaside
Civic and Convention Cen-
ter parking lot and the Sea-
side Chamber of Commerce.
While the Prom is open
to walking, jogging or bik-
ing, walking to the beach is
prohibited, McDowell said,
even if a person is alone or
social distancing.
City Manager Jon Rahl
said the beach closure is
intended to send a message
to visitors.
“We feel by closing
the parks, the beaches, the
streams, we can say, ‘Look,
we don’t have room or
access for visitors at this
point in time out of respect
for the rest of our citizens
so we can maintain our own
health.’” Rahl said. “For
now, it gives the police the
authority to drive the beach
and say: ‘You can’t be here.’
We didn’t have the authority.
Now we have that.”
Rahl said Seaside has
had discussions with Ore-
gon State Parks ranger Justin
Parker. “My understanding
is that whatever we choose
to do, they will support. I
believe we have the support
from Oregon State Parks.”
“We and the city will do
everything we can to make
it clear,” Havel said. “The
beach may not be closed,
but that could change if peo-
ple don’t start listening to the
message — stay home, save
lives.”
Seaside, fi re chief address mask shortage
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
SEASIDE — The sup-
ply of N95 masks for fi re-
fi ghters is critically low, Sea-
side Fire Chief Joey Daniels
said at Monday’s City Coun-
cil meeting: “We have nil to
none.”
Dust masks are OK for
responders as a protective
measure, he said, but don’t
form a protective seal like
N95 masks, which are fi t-
tested and offer a tight seal.
While Clatsop County has
a “very small supply” of per-
sonal protective equipment,
as the number of COVID-19
cases increases, “this supply
will go fast.”
City Manager Mark Win-
stanley addressed the con-
cerns of local responders.
“As we go through this
process, the unfortunate chal-
lenge is that we will have fi re-
men ultimately exposed to
the virus,” Winstanley said.
“These are things we have to
work our way through along
with the general public.”
In addition to paid staff
and volunteers, two Seaside
Public Works employees
have been assigned to the fi re
department, along with two
hires from the police depart-
ment with fi re experience.
While the city supports
local hospitals, doctors, pub-
lic health offi cials on the
front lines, this is not an area
that the city normally oper-
ates in, Winstanley said. “It’s
a challenge for us and all of
our community.”
Fire departments through-
out the state are seeking sup-
plies in any way they can.
“We’re out shopping
these things on the internet
trying to fi nd them,” Win-
stanley said.
All county fi re depart-
ments are actively engaged
with vendors asking the state
for more equipment, Dan-
iels said. “As equipment
has been available we have
all been getting limited sup-
plies and we are helping one
another out.”
Depending on the call,
fi refi ghters assess how they
should suit up.
Daniels, who also serves
as fi re defense chief for the
county, a rotating position
every three years among the
chiefs in the county, said
departments are limiting
access of personnel that need
to be with the patient.
“If we are dispatched to
someone that has any of the
signs of COVID-19 we are
putting a Tyvek suit on, gog-
gles and an N95,” Daniels
said. “We have always worn
N95s and safety glasses on
any patient that has signs
of the fl u, so this is just us
adapting to COVID-19.”
Dispatchers screen fi re
calls by asking if the patient
has
COVID-19-related
symptoms like fever, cough
or diffi culty breathing, he
said.
If the risk is clear, two
fi refi ghters don a Tyvek suit,
rubber gloves and goggles
before entering.
If risk is uncertain, one
fi refi ghter will enter with an
N95, goggles and gloves to
get information before mak-
ing a decision on what oth-
ers wear.
These procedures are in
place for all fi re calls, includ-
ing fi res, accidents or other
emergencies.
Daniels listed the coun-
ty’s main needs as more
N95 masks, gowns, surgi-
cal masks, hand sanitizer and
wipes.
“This is all equipment
we would share with all
of our public safety part-
ners throughout the county,”
he said. “We all work well
together and help one another
out. This is no different.”
Daniels said departments
are “searching every day,”
to bolster supply. “We have
every agency in the county
looking and helping one
another out if they fi nd a
resource.”
Daniels said he wanted to
set the public at ease if fi re-
fi ghters enter a scene fully
covered in protective gear.
“We’re
dressed
up
because you may not know
you have something,” he
said. “We want to make sure
we don’t get anything. If I
were to lose fi ve or six guys
to quarantine, it would be
devastating.”
Distillers: Sanitizer helps support community need
Continued from Page A1
ON THE RECORD
Disorderly conduct
DUII
On
the Danca,
Record
• Matthew
40,
• Lotus Clark, 20, of
was arrested Thursday in
Seaside for disorderly con-
duct in the second degree.
• Rocky Guerrero, 48,
of Seaside, was arrested
Thursday on Oceanway
Street in Seaside for dis-
orderly conduct in the
second degree.
Gearhart, was arrested
Thursday on N. Roosevelt
Drive in Seaside for driv-
ing under the infl uence of
intoxicants, reckless driv-
ing, minor in possession
of alcohol and failure to
perform the duties of a
driver.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, work session
on coronavirus, 12 p.m. (virtual meeting).
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Brown reached out to
local hospitals, emergency
responders, city govern-
ments and care centers to see
what they needed. Friday’s
shipment is supplying local
care centers, the county and
several city governments.
“We’re just now starting
to monitor the burn rate of
things,” Brown said. “And
that’s a separate, broader
issue — not just hand sani-
tizer. In order to get the fed-
eral supplies delivered to the
state or to the local govern-
ment, we need to start pro-
viding them with better pro-
jections about how much we
think we’re going to need.”
The hand sanitizer is not
yet available for sale to the
public. Pilot House wanted
to make sure emergency
Gallon bottles are fi lled with
Pilot House Distilling hand
sanitizer.
Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Justin Cross fi lls gallon jugs with hand sanitizer. Pilot House
Distilling in Astoria began producing sanitizer to support
community need.
responders and other critical
services were supplied, Kro-
ening said.
Government restrictions
on bars and restaurants have
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hurt demand for craft liquor
and beer and have led many
distilleries toward mak-
ing hand sanitizer. Federal
and state authorities have
made it easier to make the
switch. The $2 trillion stim-
ulus bill passed by Congress
exempted distilleries from
paying excise taxes for pro-
ducing hand sanitizer with
denatured alcohol.
T he Oregon Distillers
G uild is trying to help coor-
dinate getting resources to
the right place amid an over-
taxed supply chain with
everyone searching for the
same ingredients. Etha-
nol has been the most chal-
lenging to source, Cary said,
leaving Pilot House with the
diffi cult decision of whether
to redistill its processed spir-
its for the sanitizer.
“At this point, if it
becomes such a necessity,
we’ll just use the spirits,” he
said, adding a bit of humor.
“Sanitize it from the out-
side. If not, you can drink
the booze and sanitize from
the inside.”
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