A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 2022
IN BRIEF
State discloses virus cases
at local schools
The Oregon Health Authority has disclosed three
new coronavirus cases at schools in Clatsop County.
All three cases were students from the Seaside
School District, according to the health authority’s
weekly outbreak report.
Two cases were from Seaside High School, while
one case was from Pacifi c Ridge Elementary.
On Thursday, the health authority reported 12 new
virus cases in Clatsop County. The state also reported
16 virus cases for the county on Wednesday.
Since the pandemic began, the county had recorded
2,830 cases and 36 deaths as of Thursday.
FIRE
AND
SNOW
Neon sign returns at Custard King
The owners of Custard King have repaired
the restaurant’s iconic neon sign, relighting the
landmark on Marine Drive after nearly two years of
darkness.
The repair came from a recent Craft3 small-busi-
ness loan that also helped Jamie Gerlitz and her daugh-
ter, Tara Gerlitz, acquire the property.
“It was nice to be able to get that (sign) up and run-
ning again,” Jamie Gerlitz said.
Gerlitz said it will be business as usual for the
custard and burger joint, though with a new shake
machine. She takes pride in its made-from-scratch
food menu.
“We wanted to keep the name alive, and hopefully
it’s a family business that we can pass on to the grand-
children,” she said.
— The Astorian
llwaco adopts consumer fi reworks ban
ILWACO, Wash. — After months of discussion
and debate, the Ilwaco City Council narrowly voted to
adopt an outright ban on the sale and discharge of con-
sumer fi reworks at its meeting on Monday.
By a 3-2 vote, the council adopted an ordinance
banning consumer fi reworks . The vote came after rig-
orous discussion among councilors over the past sev-
eral meetings that got heated at times. Councilors
Missy Bageant, Dave Cundiff and Jonathan Quittner
voted in favor of the ordinance, while councilors Matt
Lessnau and Kristen Mathison voted to oppose the
ordinance.
The ordinance, which will not go into eff ect until
2023 per existing state law, prohibits the sale, use,
transfer, discharge, ignition or explosion of any fi re-
works within Ilwaco city limits — with the exception
of authorized public displays, such as the annual fi re-
works show held at the Port of Ilwaco on the fi rst Sat-
urday in July.
— Chinook Observer
Parts of Santiam State Forest
to reopen after 2020 fi res
The Oregon Department of Forestry will reopen
4,000 acres of the Santiam State Forest for the fi rst
time since the 2020 Labor Day wildfi res.
The forestry department says on its website that
post-fi re road repairs, timber harvesting and hazard
tree removal in this part of the forest are complete. The
area was set to open on Saturday.
The area along Highway 22 near Niagara includes
the popular Rocky Top Trail. Another well-known
trail, Natural Arch, will remain closed.
Fires torched about a third of the 47,000-acre San-
tiam State Forest east of Salem in 2020. Portions of the
forest spared from the worst of the Beachie Creek and
Lionshead fi res have already opened.
Even after Saturday’s reopening, a large chunk of
forest will remain closed to the public, with a pro-
jected reopening of next fall.
— Oregon Public Broadcasting
DEATHS
Dec. 28, 2021
Deaths
PALMROSE,
Wal-
ter Vernon, 87, of Sea-
side, died in Seaside.
Caldwell’s
Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
Dec. 20, 2021
STAUF, Harry Wil-
liam, 77, of Albany, for-
merly of Olney, died in
Albany. Fisher Funeral
Home
of
Albany
is in charge of the
arrangements.
ON THE RECORD
Assault
On
the
Record
• Justin
Thomas
Peterson, 38, of Hammond, was
indicted last week for assault in the fourth degree
constituting domestic violence and harassment. The
crimes are alleged to have occurred in June.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St.
TUESDAY
Clatsop County Fair Board, 5:30 p.m., 92937 Walluski
Loop, Astoria.
Cannon Beach City Council, 6 p.m., (electronic meeting).
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
Firefi ghters battled a blaze on the F/V Tlingit Princess on Sunday at the Ilwaco marina. No injuries were reported.
County to end
monoclonal antibody
treatment against virus
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
Coronavirus
patients
will no longer be able to get
monoclonal antibody treat-
ment in Clatsop County to
stave off the worst symptoms
of the virus.
The treatment has been
found not to be eff ective
against the omicron vari-
ant, which may soon replace
delta as the county’s domi-
nant variant.
“We don’t have tests that
can tell us within a day or
two, like, ‘OK, you have omi-
cron,’ and, ‘You have delta,’”
Chris Laman, the director of
pharmacy and cancer center
services at Columbia Memo-
rial Hospital in Astoria, said
in an interview.
“Once you get to a point
where it’s the dominant vari-
ant, you just assume that
everyone has omicron, and
then you only allow treat-
ments that basically work for
both of them, not that work
for some but not all.”
Since mid-fall, patients
— roughly four to seven at a
time — have been given the
treatment at clinics on Tues-
days and Fridays at Camp
Rilea Armed Forces Training
Center, the site of the coun-
ty’s virus operations hub.
The clinics were a joint oper-
ation of Columbia Memorial ,
Providence Seaside Hospital
and the Clatsop County Pub-
lic Health Department . The
last clinic was set for Friday.
Monoclonal
antibody
treatment, which involves
four subcutaneous injections
in the patient’s abdomen,
uses lab-generated proteins
that slow the virus’ replica-
tion and prevent cases from
turning severe.
A diff erent monoclonal
antibody treatment could be
eff ective against omicron, but
the set up is more complex,
involving an IV infusion that
must be administered by a
nurse with advanced certifi -
cation. The injection-based
treatment could be given by
a pharmacist.
The intravenous itera-
tion of monoclonals may be
administered in Tillamook,
and Columbia Memorial
Hospital anticipates sending
some patients there, Laman
said.
T he U.S. Food and Drug
Administration has approved
two oral antiviral medica-
tions, developed by Pfi zer
and Merck, that patients can
take at home. The drugs are
not yet widely available —
Oregon has received less
than 700 courses of Pfi zer’s,
Laman said — but more are
expected to arrive .
“If we have access to
those medications, that
should replace the need for
the monoclonal treatments,”
Chris Strear, the chief med-
ical offi cer at Columbia
Memorial , said in a news
conference on Wednesday.
DIGITAL
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By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
WARRENTON
—
Conditional approval from
the P lanning C ommission
will allow a new Popeyes
Louisiana Kitchen to open
in the coming year.
The fast-food restau-
rant will be located along
Ensign Lane, adjacent to
Walmart and Fibre Fed-
eral Credit Union. The
2,100-square-foot build-
ing will contain dine-in
seating, along with a
drive-thru window.
Because the plan pro-
posed a drive-thru , a pub-
lic hearing was held at
a P lanning C ommission
meeting in December .
Police and p ublic
w orks expressed wor-
ries about the potential
for increased traffi c in an
already-busy area, Scott
Hazelton, the city’s plan-
ning director, said at the
meeting.
Several planning com-
missioners echoed similar
concerns.
“The traffi c seems to
me to be a pretty import-
ant issue with this — with
all the roads and this being
a pretty popular restau-
rant,” Planning Commis-
sioner Christine Bridgens
said. “(It) will create a lot
of traffi c.”
Popeyes plans to have
17 parking spots and the
ability to stack 13 vehicles
in the drive-thru .
PM Design, repre-
senting the restaurant,
answered questions during
the meeting to alleviate
concerns about traffi c.
Charlie Patton, the
director of construc-
tion for Ambrosia QSR,
which is a franchisee for
Popeyes, said they con-
sidered previous issues
regarding traffi c in the
area .
“We spent quite a bit
of time designing this
space … We were very
aware of the issues that
occurred with Wendy’s
when it opened up and
why the city is concerned
likewise,” Patton said.
“We went through prob-
ably eight diff erent itera-
tions of site plans to get to
the point where we would
least impact the backup on
Ensign.”
Patton agreed with
the idea that traffi c miti-
gation would be needed
during the fi rst few weeks
of opening, but added that
more than 20 cars can be
stacked in the drive-thru
before reaching Ensign
Lane.
The concerns brought
up by police and p ub-
lic w orks will need to be
addressed prior to plans
being submitted to the
building
department,
Hazelton said.
Boating deaths across the state drop in 2021
By SAVANNAH EADENS
The Oregonian
The year 2021 was a safer
year for recreational boating
than 2020, according to the
Oregon State Marine Board,
but the number of deaths
remained above historic
levels.
The board’s annual review
of the boating season found
that 19 people died in 2021
compared with 26 in 2020.
2020 was an outlier with
the most deaths in boating
accidents since 1985. Nation-
ally, more people fl ocked out-
doors as they practiced social
distancing during the pan-
demic, and with that came
risks for those who weren’t
skilled boaters or didn’t fol-
low basic boating safety, said
Randy Henry, an Oregon
State Marine Board boating
safety program manager.
In 2021 , the deaths remain
high but are more in line with
the past decade, which aver-
aged 16.7 per year. The low-
est number was seven in
2014, but most years range in
the teens.
The deaths are calculated
according to a U.S. Coast
Guard defi nition of boats and
does not include people who
drown while swimming or on
inner tubes or pool toys, for
example.
As more people are boat-
ing, deaths increase, Henry
said. But much of the increase
involves casual recreational
boating, like in canoes, paddle
boards and kayaks, because
they are cheap to buy and eas-
ier to use — but don’t require
safety courses or licenses.
Victims ranged in age from
5 to 79 years old, and deaths
occurred in the ocean, inland
rivers, large and small lakes
and reservoirs. Half the fatal-
ities were in non-motorized or
small electric-powered boats,
but others were in larger boats
designed for open water,
according to the state agency.
“We’re headed back in the
right direction,” Henry said.
“But it would be a great reso-
lution for more boaters to sim-
ply wear their life jackets in
2022.”
Five of the boating victims
were wearing life jackets, four
of whom were caught in surf.
Two of those suff ered seri-
ous injuries in the surf, and
two others, including a child,
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Popeyes receives
conditional approval for
Warrenton restaurant
were trapped in the cabin of a
capsized boat. The fi fth per-
son had a medical event that
contributed to their death, the
agency said in a news release.
Three double-fatality inci-
dents happened in the Ore-
gon surf zone or at coastal bar
crossings in 2021 . In some
cases, people died in swift
outgoing tides, others after
falling overboard. A few boats
capsized after mechanical
equipment problems.
Two young children died
in boating incidents in 2021 ,
including one who was in a
small infl atable raft on the
edge of a river who was not
wearing a life jacket.
“It breaks your heart to see
these incidents,” Henry said.
“Occasionally there is an inci-
dent where the life jacket isn’t
enough, but most of the time,
it is. Parents should always
put their child in a life jacket,
even if just playing on a tube
or small infl atable boat at the
edge of a pond or other water-
way. Things happen so fast.”
When using an infl atable
life jacket, be sure to test it
before boating, Henry said.
“When you look at the
individual incidents, you see
so many that could easily have
been prevented if the opera-
tor had taken a very simple,
basic safety precaution, such
as waiting until the outgoing
tide cycle fi nished, wearing
a life jacket, or checking the
weather,” Henry said. “Safe
boating is easy if you take the
time.”
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