A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2020
IN BRIEF
Man injured, elk killed
after a crash on Highway 101
A 73 year-old man was injured Thursday after
crashing into a herd of elk on U.S. Highway 101 in
Warrenton.
The man was driving a pickup and heading south-
bound near Old Pine Drive when he collided with a
herd of elk crossing the highway.
Three elk were killed and were claimed for salvage.
The man was taken to a local hospital.
No parking proposed on parts
of Sunset Boulevard in Seaside
SEASIDE — In a move aimed to protect dog walk-
ers, bicyclists and pedestrians, the Seaside Transpor-
tation Advisory Commission recommended a parking
reduction on the west side of Sunset Boulevard.
The proposed change came before the City Council
on Monday night.
“When vehicles are parked along the curb, it
reduces the drive lane to less than 8 feet in width,”
Public Works Director Dale McDowell said. “Vehicles
are forced to drive into the oncoming lane to go around
the parked cars.
“You come around the corner and all of a sudden
you are on top of somebody.”
He said homeowners have been notifi ed of the pro-
posed change.
“We wanted to get as much input as we possibly
could,” McDowell said. “We’re looking to get as much
input as we can before we take any parking away
anyplace.”
— The Astorian
Pacifi c County surpasses 100 virus
cases after virus activity balloons
SOUTH BEND, Wash. — A state of emergency
was declared Feb. 29 in response to COVID-19 in
Washington state.
On Oct. 10, 224 days later, Pacifi c County sur-
passed 100 confi rmed cases of the virus that has
infected some 38 million people worldwide and killed
more than 1 million.
The Pacifi c County Health and Human Services
Department reported 14 newly confi rmed cases in a
span of just 24 hours on Oct. 9 and Oct. 10. The eight
cases announced on Oct. 9 were the most reported by
the county in a single day since the pandemic began,
and the 14 cases were the most reported in back-to-
back days.
Two more cases were reported on Monday, bring-
ing the county’s total case count to 107, up from 91 the
previous week.
— Chinook Observer
In Brief
DEATHS
Oct. 15, 2020
Deaths
DAHL, Martha Claire,
66, of Astoria, died in Asto-
ria. Caldwell’s Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
Oct. 14, 2020
REYNOLDS,
John
Perry Jr., 81, of Oyster-
ville, Washington, died in
Ilwaco, Washington. Ocean
View Funeral & Crema-
tion Service of Astoria is in
charge of the arrangements.
Oct. 13, 2020
DeCAMP, Sally Ann,
67, of Astoria, died in Asto-
ria. Caldwell’s Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
Theft
On
Record
• James the
Gardner,
46, of Astoria, was arrested Thurs-
day on Hillcrest Loop in Astoria for theft in the fi rst
degree and criminal trespass in the second degree.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Jewell School District Board, 6 p.m., Jewell School Li-
brary, 83874 state Highway 103.
Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St.
TUESDAY
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Union Health District of Clatsop County Board, 8 a.m.,
Seaside Convention Center, 415 First Ave.
Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Astoria Historic Landmarks Commission, 5:15 p.m., City
Hall, 1095 Duane St.
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District Board,
5:15 p.m., Bob Chisholm Community Center, 1225 Avenue
A, Seaside.
Seaside School District, 6 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Shoreline Sanitary District Board, 7 p.m., Gearhart Her-
tig Station, 33496 West Lake Lane, Warrenton.
(USPS 035-000)
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Policy: Workman looking for more training for offi cers
Continued from Page A1
actions to see if things can be
done differently or better.”
Jimenez, 34, was arrested
by Warrenton police on April
17 for disorderly conduct and
resisting arrest after he was
seen walking into the street
on S. Main Avenue.
An investigative report
into Jimenez’s death con-
ducted by Oregon State
Police, which was reviewed
by The Astorian, described
Jimenez as a veteran with
mental health and drug abuse
issues who was homeless
before fi nding a Warrenton
apartment last year through a
social service agency.
His fi le with the War-
renton police cautioned that
Jimenez could have violent
tendencies. Jimenez had sev-
eral previous interactions
with local police, none of
which ended in arrest.
Jimenez was under the
infl uence of methamphet-
amine when two offi cers
saw him on S. Main Ave-
nue in April. The investiga-
tive report indicated police
believed Jimenez was expe-
riencing a mental breakdown
and was high on drugs.
Body camera footage,
‘ONE OF THE MORE PROMISING
APPROACHES I AM LOOKING
INTO IS A ‘ CRISIS TEAM’ THAT
USES MULTIPLE DISCIPLINES
TO RESPOND AS A TEAM.’
Police Chief Mathew Workman
reviewed by The Astorian,
shows an offi cer shouting at
Jimenez to get on his knees
after he did not react to the
offi cer’s command to get out
of the road.
Jimenez resisted when
police began to take him into
custody and the offi cer used a
Taser to subdue him.
Jimenez was screened by
a doctor at Columbia Memo-
rial Hospital in Astoria from
the police SUV because of
coronavirus restrictions and
medically cleared to go to the
Clatsop County Jail.
During a struggle at the
sally port of the jail, sheriff’s
deputies placed spit hoods
over Jimenez’s head and dep-
uties and an offi cer held him
down while applying leg and
ankle restraints. Jimenez lost
consciousness and was taken
back to Columbia Memorial,
where he died.
The state medical examin-
er’s forensic report concluded
the cause of Jimenez’s death
was the toxic effects of meth-
amphetamine and the manner
of death was accidental. The
report listed fatty liver dis-
ease and the application of
the Taser as other signifi cant
conditions.
District Attorney Ron
Brown ruled that Warrenton
police had probable cause
to arrest Jimenez and that
none of the offi cers and sher-
iff’s deputies involved used
excessive force.
Workman questioned the
medical examiner’s fi nd-
ing that the Taser was a fac-
tor in Jimenez’s death, but
acknowledged he is not a
medical expert.
The police chief said he
plans to meet with Columbia
Memorial , the Astoria Police
Department and the s heriff’s
o ffi ce to discuss procedures
when taking suspects to the
hospital for treatment or med-
ical screening.
Workman said he is also
looking for more training for
offi cers when interacting with
people experiencing a men-
tal health crisi s or under the
infl uence of drugs or alcohol .
“One of the more prom-
ising approaches I am look-
ing into is a ‘ crisis team’ that
uses multiple disciplines to
respond as a team,” he said
in an email. “Because of
our limited resources I am
not sure we could create (a)
working team here in Clat-
sop County but I do believe
we could do training with the
offi cers on a team approach
and give them the ability to
call in pieces of a team to
assist them.
“One of the compo-
nents of this team is already
in place and that is the c ri-
sis r esponse t eam from Clat-
sop Behavioral Healthcare. I
want to do more training/edu-
cation with the CRT so all
offi cers can work in unison
with them and not assigning
one or two offi cers to a desig-
nated team.”
Resiliency: ‘We’re looking for the safety of our citizens’
ON THE RECORD
Established July 1, 1873
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
A child holds up a large piece of kelp while playing on the beach at Fort Stevens State Park on Wednesday afternoon.
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Continued from Page A1
the south part of the Lewis
and Clark Mainline, which
is about 5 miles long. But t he
county is not pursuing the
north part of the m ainline,
which is about 2 miles and
runs parallel to Lewis and
Clark Road and U.S. High-
way 101.
“For a variety of factors,
including the results of our
public engagement, and lack
of agreement over the pur-
chase of the property, the
n orth m ainline segment is no
longer part of the Resiliency
P roject,” the county said in a
statement.
Potential acquisition of
the Lewis and Clark Main-
line was met with opposi-
tion by nearby neighbors
who believe the construction
of a bypass will fundamen-
tally change the landscape of
the rural area and invite new
development.
Concerned Friends for
Clatsop County, a group
formed to respond to the
project, has challenged the
county over a lack of trans-
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Neighbor concerns
More than two dozen peo-
ple, including Concerned
Friends for Clatsop County,
submitted testimony during
a county Board of Commis-
sioners meeting on Wednes-
day in opposition or raising
concerns about the project.
Many residents and pub-
lic offi cials have criticized
the county’s communica-
tion and outreach . There has
also been skepticism over a
recent questionnaire that was
sent to residents .
More than 2,600 peo-
ple responded to the ques-
tionnaire, with 69% indicat-
ing they support moving the
public works facility out of
the tsunami inundation zone
and 28% in opposition .
About 29% indicated sup-
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parency and has called the
county to look at other loca-
tions to relocate the public
works facility, like the coun-
ty-owned North Coast Busi-
ness Park. However, the
county has already elimi-
nated that property and oth-
ers as viable options.
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Noon to 4pm, Tues-Sat
port in moving the public
works facility to the War-
renton Fiber s ort y ard, while
25% indicated they did not
and 46% were not sure. As
far as whether the county
should acquire existing or
private roads for alternate
and emergency routes, 65%
said they are supportive and
30% were not supportive.
“As we’ve been going
through this questionnaire
process, we did receive a
lot of helpful feedback, and
we’ll continue to take that
feedback into consideration,”
Assistant County Manager
Monica Steele said. “I’ve
had several people explain to
us that they responded ‘ not
sure’ because they didn’t
know where some of these
locations were.
“The term ‘ sort yard’ is
known by many, but not
known by all, and so trying
to identify it by another name
or by the address, along with
m ainline north and m ain-
line south and Pipeline, we
learned created some con-
fusion for people because,
again, they didn’t know
where these locations were.”
During a county Plan-
ning Commission meet-
ing Tuesday, Commissioner
Nadia Gardner said she did
not feel like she had enough
information to complete the
questionnaire.
“I got a lot of negative
feedback on the survey,” she
said. “The people that I saw
online and I talked to really
were confused by it. And I
don’t think that it should be
considered data to rely on for
the pulse of the county.
“Actually, the vast major-
ity of the county did move
here in the last 20 years,
they’re not old-timers. And
so most people don’t know
what those places are. And
there was very little infor-
mation on the mailing to get
people to understand it.
“I encourage all of the
county departments to try
to do better at really tell-
ing the story to our commu-
nities, and telling that story
and then inviting feedback
so that we can get more valid
statistics on who supports
what and who makes what a
priority.”
Due diligence
The Board of Commis-
sioners directed staff during
a work session in early Octo-
ber to move ahead in the
due diligence process of the
Resiliency Project agree-
ments following results from
the questionnaire.
Commissioner
Pamela
Wev, who represents the
Lewis and Clark area, said
she feels like the county has
extensively addressed peo-
ple’s concerns. She thinks
the response to the question-
naire was supportive of the
project.
“I’m not sure we have
done a good enough job in
helping our citizens under-
stand how important our
public works department and
facilities and other material
is in the face of any climate
emergency,” Wev said. “And
I think it’s time for us to get
moving on this.
“We have narrowed it
down to two sites. We have
eliminated a very controver-
sial site. Our project goals,
in my estimation, have not
changed. We’re looking for
the safety of our citizens —
for all of our citizens — and
we have responded to neigh-
borhood concerns about
some of the sites.
“We backed off.”