A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2020
IN BRIEF
Man accused of attacking journalists
at protests outside Capitol turns
himself in to state police
A man accused of attacking two journalists and
attempting to gain entrance to the Oregon State Capi-
tol during a protest in Salem last week has turned him-
self in to the state police.
The Oregon State Police announced Monday that
Jeremy Roberts, 40, was booked at the Marion County
Jail on Sunday afternoon for charges of criminal mis-
chief, disorderly conduct, assault, harassment and a
probation violation.
Police had been trying to locate Roberts after
demonstrations turned violent outside the Capitol on
Dec. 21 as lawmakers met inside for a special legisla-
tive session on coronavirus pandemic-related relief.
According to court documents, Roberts is accused
of engaging in “violent, tumultuous and threaten-
ing behavior,” damaging a door and attacking Brian
Hayes, a photojournalist with the Statesman Jour-
nal, and Sergio Olmos, a reporter with Oregon Pub-
lic Broadcasting.
Roberts’ is one of several arrests stemming from
last week’s protests. Oregon State Police said offi cials
have charged two men who remained in the Capitol’s
vestibule after warnings to leave — Ronald Vanvlack,
75, and Jerry Dyerson, 53 — with criminal trespass-
ing and disorderly conduct. Ryan Lyles, 41, of Clat-
sop County, also was arrested for felon in possession
of body armor and unlawful use of mace, and Jeremiah
Pruitt, 35, was arrested for criminal mischief and dis-
orderly conduct.
— Oregon Public Broadcasting
Offi ces close for New Year’s Day
In observance of New Year’s Day on Friday, all fed-
eral, state, county and city offi ces, including Astoria,
Warrenton, Gearhart and Seaside, are closed Friday.
Cannon Beach offi ces are closed Thursday and Friday.
All U.S. post offi ces are closed Friday, and there is
no mail delivery.
Astoria, Jewell, Knappa, Warrenton/Hammond
and Seaside (including Cannon Beach and Gearhart)
school district schools, and Clatsop Community Col-
lege, are closed for winter break.
The Astoria Library, Seaside Library and Warren-
ton Library are closed Friday.
The Port of Astoria offi ces and services are closed
Friday.
Garbage collection through Recology Western Ore-
gon and the city of Warrenton garbage collection are
not affected by the holiday. Recology Western Ore-
gon’s transfer station closes at 2 p.m. Thursday and is
closed Friday.
The Sunset Pool in Seaside and the Astoria Aquatic
Center are closed.
The Clatsop County Heritage Museum, Oregon
Film Museum, Flavel House and Carriage House are
closed Friday. The Uppertown Firefi ghters’ Museum
is closed for the winter.
Lil’ Sprouts is closed Friday. Fort Clatsop is open
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Columbia River Maritime
Museum is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Seaside
Museum is closed.
Sunset Empire Transportation (“The Bus”) is not
running Friday.
The Astorian offi ces are closed Friday.
— The Astorian
ON THE RECORD
Assault
Theft
In • Peter
Brief
Johansen, 56,
• Lilly I. Pettit, 30,
of Astoria, was arrested was arrested Saturday at
Wednesday
U.S. Walmart in Warrenton
On the on Record
Highway 30 for assault for theft in the second
in the fourth degree and
harassment.
Burglary
Ellen M. Langevin,
61, of Hammond, was
arrested Sunday on Lake
Drive in Warrenton
for burglary in the fi rst
degree, criminal trespass
in the fi rst degree and
criminal mischief in the
fi rst degree.
• Alaina Burns, 31, of
Astoria, was arrested Fri-
day on U.S. Highway 101
Business for burglary in
the second degree, theft
in the second degree and
criminal mischief in the
fi rst degree.
degree.
Criminal trespass
• Joshua Henry Mar-
shall, 36, was arrested
Saturday on Exchange
Street in Astoria for crim-
inal trespass in the sec-
ond degree and crimi-
nal mischief in the third
degree.
DUII
•
Kimberly
Cae
Schwartz, 41, of War-
renton, was arrested Sat-
urday on Columbia Ave-
nue in Astoria for driving
under the infl uence of
intoxicants following a
hit-and-run complaint in
Warrenton.
Offi cials say mink recovering
from virus at Oregon farm
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SALEM — Mink that
tested positive for COVID-19
at an Oregon farm in Novem-
ber appear to be recovering,
according to state agriculture
offi cials.
Dr. Ryan Scholz, the state
veterinarian for the Ore-
gon Department of Agricul-
ture, visited the farm Nov. 23
and collected 10 mink sam-
ples that were sent to Oregon
State University and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture
for testing. All samples came
back positive for the virus.
It is believed the mink
contracted COVID-19 from
humans at the farm, which
was placed under immediate
quarantine. The Department
of Agriculture has not iden-
tifi ed the operation or dis-
closed its location.
Oregon has 11 permitted
mink farms with an estimated
438,327 animals, making it
the fourth-largest pelt-pro-
ducing state behind Wiscon-
sin, Utah and Idaho. Eight
of Oregon’s mink farms are
in Marion County, one is in
Linn County and two are in
Clatsop County.
An animal rights group
has claimed that a mink farm
in Astoria is the one under
quarantine, but the state has
declined to identify the farm,
citing medical privacy.
Since the initial positive
tests, the Department of Agri-
culture has conducted two
rounds of follow-up testing
Fur Commission USA
COVID-19 has been found in an Oregon mink farm.
documenting the animals’
recovery. The fi rst round was
conducted Dec. 7. Out of
62 mink sampled, only one
showed “barely detectable”
levels of the virus.
The second round, con-
ducted Dec. 21, revealed no
positive tests at the farm.
The Department of Agricul-
ture says it will conduct one
more round of testing before
deciding whether to lift the
quarantine.
Meanwhile, USDA Wild-
life Services, under the direc-
tion of the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife,
continues to trap and test
local wildlife to ensure the
virus does not spread. Biol-
ogists have tested nine ani-
mals since Dec. 7, including
fi ve opossums, three cats and
one mink that was believed to
have escaped from the farm.
The mink, captured Dec.
13, tested positive for low
levels of COVID-19 while
the cats and opossums all
tested negative. Based on
where the mink was captured
and its condition, the Depart-
ment of Agriculture believes
it had recently escaped.
The Department of Agri-
culture has requested con-
tinued surveillance, trap-
ping and testing as an added
precaution.
Scholz said there is no evi-
dence that COVID-19 is cir-
culating or has been estab-
lished in the wild.
“Several animals from
different species were sam-
pled, and all others were neg-
ative,” Scholz said in a state-
ment. “Still, we are taking
this situation very seriously
and continuing to survey
and trap near the farm. Also,
we have asked USDA to run
additional tests on the trapped
mink, including sequenc-
ing the viral genome and a
DNA test to ensure we know
exactly where this mink came
from.”
Outbreaks of COVID-
19 in farmed mink have also
been reported in Utah, Mich-
igan and Wisconsin, as well
as six countries, according to
the World Organization for
Animal Health. The situation
in Denmark was particularly
severe, where health offi cials
discovered a mutated strain
of the virus that threatened to
undercut the effectiveness of
a vaccine.
In response, Denmark
culled its entire population
of farmed mink — more than
17 million animals. To make
matters worse, the Wall Street
Journal reports Danish par-
liament has voted to exhume
5.5 million of the dead mink
beginning in May after envi-
ronmental inspectors found
that some water sources
might have been contami-
nated by bacteria as the mink
decay.
Fearing a similar threat in
Oregon, the Center for Bio-
logical Diversity, an environ-
mental group, has urged the
Department of Agriculture ,
the Oregon Health Author-
ity and Gov. Kate Brown
to release more informa-
tion about the November
outbreak.
“It’s inexcusable that Ore-
gon offi cials are withholding
information critical to iden-
tifying and protecting any-
one exposed to this facility,”
said Lori Ann Burd, envi-
ronmental health director for
the group, in a letter sent ear-
lier this month. “Given the
surge of COVID-19 cases,
it’s astounding that Oregon’s
public health offi cials are
choosing to protect this facil-
ity’s secrets rather than pub-
lic health.”
Marine heat waves concern researchers
By CASSANDRA
PROFITA
Oregon Public Broadcasting
This year brought one
of the biggest marine heat
waves on record in the Pacifi c
Ocean, and it’s one of several
record-setting spikes in ocean
water temperatures over the
last six years.
The string of warm water
events has scientists wonder-
ing if this is actually the new
normal for the Pacifi c Ocean.
A series of heat waves
started in 2013 with what was
nicknamed “the blob,” which
brought water temperatures
up to nearly 7 degrees Fahr-
enheit higher than normal
across a 1,000-mile stretch of
the West Coast.
The warm water caused
massive
harmful
algae
blooms that shut down
crab and clam fi sheries and
affected food availability for
wildlife. Many young sea
lions were left stranded on
beaches by parents searching
for food. Whales started feed-
ing closer to shore, which
caused more of them to be
struck by vessels and entan-
gled in fi shing gear. The heat
wave also brought warm-wa-
ter species farther north and
spurred a baffl ing prolifera-
tion of a pickle-shaped crea-
ture known as a pyrosome.
But although “the Blob”
retreated in 2018, the marine
heat waves continued with
NOAA Fisheries
An emaciated sea lion pup in California’s Channel Islands.
water temperatures reaching
record highs again in 2019
and 2020.
Andrew Leising, a scien-
tist with the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration, uses satellite data to
track how much of the ocean
is much warmer than normal
in these heat waves.
“For the last six years,
we’ve now had the three larg-
est events on record,” he said.
“It’s tempting to say, ‘OK,
this may be the new normal.”
However, Leising said,
satellite data only goes back
to 1982. So, this could be
part of a temperature cycle
that hasn’t been documented
before.
“My take on it is it’s just
still too early to say,” he
said. “We need another cou-
ple years of data and more
research into the pressures
and drivers of what’s causing
them to really understand if
we’re in a new pattern.”
The ocean is also getting
warmer with climate change,
which complicates the mea-
surements scientists use to
identify a marine heat wave.
Leising said the defi nition
of a heatwave might need to
change as the overall tem-
perature of the ocean rises.
“Basically, in 40-50
years from now, everything
will look like a heat wave
if we keep the same defi -
nition we have now,” Leis-
ing said. “The whole ocean
will be a heat wave all the
time, right? But that’s kind of
meaningless.”
It is important to distin-
guish between long-term
warming and shorter-term
temperature spikes because
they can have different
effects on the marine ecosys-
tem, he said.
“The heat waves are basi-
cally exacerbating the effects
of background warming,”
Leising said. “And that actu-
ally can be important for
some animals because cer-
tain fi sh and other animals
have these absolute limits. ...
suddenly it gets to 25 degrees
Celsius and bam, it’s dead.
They do fi ne up until a certain
point and then they just can’t
have it any warmer.”
Research shows warmer
water and more frequent
marine heat waves are
increasing the risks of harm-
ful algal blooms in the ocean.
A recent study found
the 2013-2015 marine heat
wave created a new toxic hot
spot near the border of Ore-
gon and California where the
algae that produce domoic
acid have shut down fi sher-
ies every year since the heat
wave and are likely to con-
tinue proliferating in that area
in the future.
Fishery managers are
developing new systems of
forecasting harmful algal
blooms that produce domoic
acid, a potentially deadly
neurotoxin, so they can pro-
vide early earnings and pre-
vent people from eating shell-
fi sh that could poison them.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Gearhart City Council, 6 p.m., work session, (electronic
meeting).
Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St.
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Food cart: Long-term spot in Seaside could be a challenge
Continued from Page A1
on rye or sourdough .
Lancaster, a Seattle native,
joined Bridgewater Bistro as
a sous chef and graduated to
chef de cuisine.
At The Cove restaurant at
the Peninsula Golf Course in
Long Beach, Washington, he
enhanced his reputation with
an Iron Chef Goes Coastal
award and was mentioned in
a “picks” selection by The
Oregonian contributor Gerry
Frank.
He established a perma-
nent truck as part of a food
pod in Astoria before buying
a second truck, which he tried
out this summer at the Sea-
side Farmers Market and is
now debuting for eight weeks
every Friday at the Hamilton.
He is joined by his partner,
Amy Myers, who worked at
Maggie’s as a sous chef.
Myers, a Portland native,
grew up in Hillsboro and the
Portland area before her fam-
ily relocated to Seaside. She
brings 27 years of experience
to the food truck, working at
various restaurants since she
was around 10.
“I went to culinary school
over a decade ago,” Myers
said. “I used to be the kitchen
manager right here in this
neighborhood at the former U
Street Pub.”
The most diffi cult part of
operating a food truck, Lan-
caster said, is setting up and
shutting down.
“You’re putting in an hour
before you even touch any
food,” he said.
Unlike in Astoria, where
he serves from a fi xed loca-
tion, moving the cart means
loading and packing up. Not
done properly, once out of the
parking lot the inside of the
truck “looks like a bomb went
off,” he said.
Lancaster, Myers and
Montero still face a challenge
to maintain a long-term spot
in Seaside.
In 2018, Seaside restau-
rant owners largely opposed
a request from another food
cart owner to operate in Sea-
side, citing limited housing
and the short tourist season,
which, they said, put brick-
and-mortar businesses at a
disadvantage.
All uses in the city’s com-
mercial zones, “shall be con-
ducted entirely within a com-
pletely enclosed building,”
Seaside’s code reads .
“When I asked for the
event permit, I used COVID
as the basis for my request,”
Montero said. “My sense is
that we are really not infring-
ing upon the sit-down din-
ers, we’re really affecting the
fast-food people. There’s a
need. Even McDonald’s and
Kentucky Fried Chicken are
backed up for blocks.”
A challenge looms.
After their fi rst day serv-
ing, Montero said, they were
told that downtown restaura-
teurs had complained to the
city’s p lanning d epartment
about Lancaster’s operation.
Montero planned to
approach the department to
seek a variance for a long-
term permit.
If denied, he said, Mon-
tero could approach the City
Council to try to change the
ordinance.
Lancaster said he is con-
fi dent he will be able to con-
tinue to operate in Seaside.
“If places have the right
setup and you’ve got your
own garbage disposal and
power, I think they’re going
to allow it,” he said.