A3
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021
Gearhart: Lack of
funding, resources has
kept outreach from
being more effective
Continued from Page A1
Police and sheriff’s dep-
uties can ask mental health
experts for guidance when
responding to calls involv-
ing people in crisis, but, in
practice, a lack of funding
and resources has kept the
outreach from being a more
effective tool.
Funding a challenge
Helicopter: Life Flight has
moved 800 patients with virus
Life
Flight’s
recent
investment also includes
a fl ight simulator based in
Aurora. Clayton said the
simulator will save crews
from traveling to Dallas,
Texas, and Denver for sim-
ilar training.
Life Flight established a
base at the Astoria Regional
Airport in 2015, adding the
ability to transport patients
from the coast to Portland
in less than 30 minutes in its
The Astorian
Clatsop County reported 41 new coronavirus cases
over the past few days.
On Wednesday, the county reported 18 virus cases.
All 18 were recovering at home.
On Tuesday, the county reported 23 virus cases.
Two were hospitalized and the others were recovering
at home.
The county has recorded 713 cases since March.
According to the county, 16 were hospitalized and fi ve
have died.
not become a reality in our
county without the funding to
go with it,” she said.
Seaside Police Chief Dave
Ham said police will not fol-
low Gearhart and change
responses to similar calls for
service in Seaside.
Seaside police are not
expected to respond to calls
Fatal encounters
in Gearhart, and Bowman’s
The county has struggled directive will not change Sea-
for decades to provide ade- side’s response coverage to
quate services for people in assist them when needed.
crisis, a challenge often com- Seaside’s dispatch center will
pounded by alcohol and drug continue to advise Gearhart
abuse. Over the past year, two police of calls for service in
people believed to be suffer- their jurisdiction.
ing from mental health diffi -
Cockrum said she and
culties have been killed after Bowman have had discus-
interactions with police.
sions about police reform
Last
April,
Alexan- over the past year.
der Jimenez,
“I
have
a
34-year-
reviewed and
‘THE
old Warren-
he has revised
ton man, died
the Gearhart
POLITICAL
after
police
Police Depart-
used a Taser
ment proce-
BODIES OF
to
subdue
dures on use of
CITIES AND
him during an
force, but not
arrest and he
specifically
COUNTIES
wrestled with
through
the
ARE NOT
sheriff’s depu-
lens of men-
ties and police
health,” the
ADDRESSING tal
at the county
mayor said.
jail. The state
“I have asked
THESE
medical exam-
him to add
MENTAL
iner ruled that
a procedure
Jimenez, who
with contact
HEALTH
reportedly had
information
schizophrenia,
for the pub-
NEEDS.’
died from the
lic on what to
Gearhart Police Chief
toxic effects of
do if they are
Jeff Bowman
methamphet-
faced with a
amine.
mental health
In December, Alaina crisis.”
Burns, a 31-year-old Astoria
Cockrum proposed con-
woman, was shot and killed sideration of city funding
by an Oregon State Police in the next budget cycle for
trooper after reportedly bran- social service providers to
dishing a gun after break- assist in responding to people
ing into a home near Sun- experiencing a mental health
set Beach. Friends of Burns’ crisis.
family said she struggled
Regardless of the response
with drug addiction and men- from other agencies, Bow-
tal illness.
man said he recognizes he
Amy Baker, the executive is “just one person taking on
director of Clatsop Behav- bureaucracy.”
ioral Healthcare, said she
He said he’s willing to
wanted to meet with Bowman shoulder that responsibility.
to discuss the issue further.
“I’m not going to end my
“Our current model relies career with one of my offi cers
on a co-response with law or myself in a case like this
enforcement,” Baker said. Texas case,” he said.
“We typically go to situa-
Bowman said he hopes his
tions with law enforcement. letter will inspire other juris-
If the situation is safe, we will dictions to address police
take the lead in working with response to mental health
someone who is experiencing care, ultimately leading to a
psychological distress.
change in law enforcement
“We agree that it is ideal procedures in the state.
to have behavioral health pro-
“Having a mental health
fessionals respond to behav- condition is not a crime,”
ioral health crisis. However, Bowman said. “And these
we are not equipped to be subjects should not be treated
the sole responder in situa- as such. We have a duty to
tions such as when weapons protect all lives and some-
might be involved; if the per- times that task is best done by
son is agitated or threatening not doing. We’re not psychol-
harm to self or others and the ogists. Let the professionally
person is unable to engage in trained individuals handle
conversation.
these noncriminal calls.
“Additionally, we are not
“It is time for the social
equipped to transport people services community to step
safely if they require assis- up and start taking an active
tance at an emergency depart- role,” Bowman wrote in his
ment, and with law enforce- letter . “There has been leg-
ment on scene, they are able islation calling for change,
to summon that assistance in court rulings calling for
an expedited manner.”
change and society calling
Baker cited Lane Coun- for change. Why isn’t there
ty’s CAHOOTS program as a a sweeping reform across the
potential model. Teams with U.S. within law enforcement
a medic and crisis worker agencies to end the practice
often respond to calls involv- of law enforcement offi cers
ing mental health, addiction being the fi rst response to
and homelessness.
these types of calls?
“While we are excited by
“My guess, the political
this model and can see the bodies of cities and counties
benefi ts of its application in are not addressing these men-
our area, this simply can- tal health needs.”
Continued from Page A1
County reports 41 new virus cases
blue Augusta 109 helicopter.
Last year, Life Flight com-
pleted a new hangar next to
JBT Lektro, an electric air-
plane tug manufacturer.
During the coronavirus
pandemic, Life Flight has
transported 800 patients with
coronavirus, Haley Dowell,
a spokeswoman for the non-
profi t, said in an email.
“Of note, we trans-
ported 21 suspected COVID
patients
from
Clatsop
County, of which two ended
up being positive,” she said.
LNG
Continued from Page A2
The company has asked
the U.S. c ommerce s ecre-
tary to overturn that deci-
sion, but no decision has
been forthcoming.
Likewise, the company
withdrew its application for
a dredging permit from the
Department of State Lands
in January 2020 after regu-
lators refused to extend their
decision deadline and said
the application was missing
critical information.
Again, the company
could reapply, but that would
trigger an entirely new pro-
cess, with a suffi ciency
review and a new public
comment period. Last time
around, the agency held fi ve
public meetings across the
state attended by more than
2,000 people. It received
some 49,000 comments on
the application.
Meanwhile, Oregon’s
Land Use Board of Appeals
delivered another blow to
the project’s prospects in
December when it over-
turned Coos County’s per-
mits for the project, saying
it had made errors in grant-
ing a dredging permit for the
pipeline.
Debate over the con-
troversial project has been
intense in Oregon since it
was fi rst proposed as a gas
import facility in 2005.
Backers eventually shifted
their rationale for the facil-
ity, proposing it as an export
facility after the industry’s
fracking revolution shifted
the outlook for U.S. natural
gas supplies from shortage
to surplus. Either way, boost-
ers have touted the proj-
ect’s potential employment
and property tax impacts in
an area of the state that has
lagged economically since
the early 1980s. Opponents
have consistently called it
a potential environmental,
public safety and property
rights disaster.
A competing $6 billion
LNG export terminal and
pipeline project on the Ski-
panon Peninsula in Warren-
ton collapsed in 2016.
Permitting setbacks
The state permitting set-
backs for the Jordan Cove
project effectively bring
it back to square one. The
Federal Energy Regula-
tory Commission denied
the project’s federal license
application in 2016, say-
ing the project backers had
not demonstrated suffi cient
commercial demand for
the gas it would process to
demonstrate a public need
for the facility and over-
come the impacts to land-
owners along the pipeline
route.
The company resubmit-
ted the application once the
Trump a dministration took
Vaccines: ‘We
have a task force’
Continued from Page A1
Mixed messages from
the federal and state gov-
ernments on when new
shipments will arrive —
and who will be next in
the priority line — have
caused confusion and some
resentment.
Mark Kujala, the chair-
man of the county Board of
Commissioners, who works
for the Columbia Memorial
Hospital Foundation, said
he is frustrated by the lack
of communication .
He said the most
important thing for peo-
ple to know is that “once
we receive vaccines we’ve
got a framework in place to
distribute them effi ciently.”
The county, in partner-
ship with Columbia Memo-
rial and Providence Seaside
Hospital, created the vac-
cine task force to manage
the rollout locally.
The task force was for-
malized in January, with
Laman in the lead role.
He said more organiza-
tions have started to get
involved, including Coastal
Family Health Center, local
pharmacies and the Colum-
bia Pacifi c Coordinated
Care Organization, which
oversees the Oregon Health
Plan in Clatsop, Columbia
and Tillamook counties.
Laman said the hospi-
tals and Coastal Family
Health Center have given
their doses to the P ub-
lic H ealth D epartment “so
that the task force can be in
complete control of who’s
getting vaccinated, where
the events are happen-
ing and making sure that
everything is coordinated
and rolled out in a good
manner.
“Our county is ahead of
many counties in terms of
the fact that we have a task
force,” he said. “We have a
way to register. W e’ve got a
way to follow up with peo-
ple. W e have the plans in
place to be able to roll this
out as soon as we get the
vaccine.”
Vaccinations
started
with health care, emer-
gency response, long-term
care and other care home
staff. The task force will
use the remaining vaccines
for the more than 400 peo-
ple left on the priority list
in the fi rst phase , which
includes in-home care ser-
vices, dentist offi ces and
group foster homes.
Some essential county
staff, elected offi cials
and social service agency
staffers have also been
vaccinated.
A county spokesman
said some county c ommis-
sioners were vaccinated
because they make up the
county’s governing body
— an integral part of keep-
ing the county functioning
and directing services and
programs. The spokesman
said it was also a way to
reassure the public that the
vaccine is safe.
Columbia Memorial and
Providence Seaside will
receive some second doses
this week for hospital staff .
As vaccines become
available, the task force
will notify the public on
Wednesdays, with informa-
tion about when and where
the next vaccination event
will take place, who is eli-
gible and how to register.
The process will look
the same when second
doses become available.
The next phase includes
about 1,200 teachers and
other educators .
After a delay Gov.
Kate Brown blamed on
the Trump administration,
seniors are expected to be
placed into four tiers for
vaccination: those over 80,
those over 75, those over
70 and those over 65.
offi ce, hoping to get a more
favorable decision once the
president appointed new
Republican members to the
commission.
The commission did
grant the company a condi-
tional license last year, agree-
ing with a staff recommenda-
tion that most of the project’s
impacts could be reduced to
less than signifi cant levels,
and the public need for the
facility outweighed any of
those impacts.
Yet Tuesday’s decision
cast doubt on whether Pem-
bina has a viable path forward.
It may not get a favorable
reception under the incoming
Biden administration, which
has already vowed to kill the
controversial Keystone XL
p ipeline project in its fi rst
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WANTED
days and rejoin the Paris c li-
mate a ccord .
“Today marks a big win
for protecting the South Coast
because it reinforces our
state’s environmental laws
and refl ects local community
input,” Wyden, an Oregon
Democrat, said in an emailed
statement on Tuesday. “From
Day One with this project,
I have insisted that Orego-
nians receive a fair, open,
fact-based and non-political
process while FERC deter-
mines whether LNG projects
are necessary and in the pub-
lic’s best interest — including
strict adherence to the Clean
Water Act.
“Today’s unanimous deci-
sion by FERC is good news
and the logical conclusion of
that process.”
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