A6
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 2021
County reports seven new virus cases
The Astorian
Clatsop County on Monday
reported seven new coronavirus
cases.
The cases include a woman
in her 40s living in the southern
part of the county. The others live
in the northern part of the county
and involve a woman in her 30s,
a woman in her 50s and two men
and two women in their 60s.
All seven were recovering at
home.
The county has recorded 866
cases since the start of the pandemic.
According to the county, 20 were
hospitalized and eight have died.
At Issue: ‘We don’t have a choice’
Continued from Page A1
those calls for service, we would
have so much more time on our
hands. We could better respond to
the emergency calls for service. We
could provide a higher police pres-
ence in our community and do more
community policing, all the things
that our community would like us
to do.
“But, unfortunately, that’s where
we spent a lot of our time. And it’s
not the best use of our time, but we
don’t have a choice, either.”
‘We’re not always the end-all,
be-all of solutions’
Astoria Deputy Chief Eric Halv-
erson said offi cers get to know the
people they frequently encounter
and spend a lot of time encouraging
people to change their behavior and
engage in services.
O ver the past several years, there
has been more recognition locally
that law enforcement is not sepa-
rate from mental health and other
social services, and there is a deeper
understanding of their distinct roles,
limitations and legal obligations.
However, there is still a miscon-
ception that calling the police can
solve issues that are often rooted in
chronic, complex social problems.
“And I think that’s a piece that
sometimes the community doesn’t
understand, is that a lot of people
think that you can call the police
and that we can make people do
certain things,” Halverson said.
“Sometimes we can. A lot of times
we can’t. And we’re not always the
end-all, be-all of solutions. We’re
there to deal with the bad behavior,
knowing it’s going to return if we
don’t fi nd the deeper solution.”
In Oregon and across the United
States, there is movement toward
having mental health or social ser-
vices advocates answer some cri-
sis response calls, either with police
offi cers or instead of police. U.S.
Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Dem-
ocrat, has sought to enhance fed-
eral Medicaid funding so states can
expand on ideas like CAHOOTS, a
crisis intervention program of the
White Bird Clinic in Eugene.
Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare,
the county’s mental health provider,
has a mobile crisis team available
to help law enforcement, but inad-
equate funding and staffi ng has
made it a less useful resource for
police. The mental health agency
also hopes to open a rapid access
center in Astoria, providing clinical
drop-in services for mental health
and substance abuse. A crisis respite
center in Warrenton was initially
pitched to serve a similar purpose,
but the agency has found fi nancial
sustainability for the respite center
in short-term crisis care and long-
term residential services.
Beacon Clubhouse, supported by
the Clatsop County branch of the
National Alliance on Mental Illness,
is a membership-based community
center for people with mental health
issues at the First Baptist Church on
Seventh Street.
Two new homeless liaisons,
hired to work under Clatsop Com-
munity Action, will do outreach and
help connect vulnerable people to
resources.
A new county jail at the former
North Coast Youth Correctional
Facility in Warrenton will provide
more space and relieve pressure to
release inmates early, which has
often been the practice at the jail in
Astoria because of overcrowding.
Police make arrests for crimes
such as assault and issue citations
for lesser off enses, but many of the
people they frequently respond to
do not usually engage in the types
of behavior that leads to substantial
jail time. Many also do not meet the
criteria under state law to be forced
into treatment, which means they
have to voluntarily agree to seek
help.
Police, hospital administrators
and mental health providers have
MORE
THAN
YOU
IMAGINED
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Geoff Spalding is the Astoria police chief.
said that Oregon’s high thresh-
old for civil commitment is one of
the biggest barriers to helping peo-
ple in crisis. A court must fi nd that
a person has a mental disorder that
poses a danger to themselves or oth-
ers or they are unable to provide for
basic personal needs like health and
safety.
“There’s been a lot of talk over
this past year about police not being
involved in particular things that
really shouldn’t be in their wheel-
house, like dealing with mental
health calls,” Halverson said. “But
what we end up seeing is we do
reach out for those resources and
they do try to provide the resources.
But then when the person refuses to
accept those resources, it’s back to
calling the police.”
Over time, offi cers witness a
familiar cycle that often ends badly.
“And the offi cers are not cold to
that,” Halverson said. “You have
to develop relationships with these
people and you see that they need
assistance. And it’s so frustrating
because we’re in a business where
our job is to try and problem-solve
and fi x things. And when you keep
on trying to tape it together and
you can’t quite get it fi xed over and
over and over again, it can be very
frustrating for the offi cers who are
responding to these things.
“And people might not see that
in law enforcement, but it does
aff ect offi cers that are trying.”
Kirk Wintermute, an Asto-
ria attorney and president of the
National Alliance on Mental Illness
in Clatsop County, called it “a slow
rolling crisis.
‘I THINK IF
YOU ADDRESS
THE ROOT OF
THE PROBLEM,
ULTIMATELY
YOU’RE GOING
TO ADDRESS THE
BEHAVIOR THAT
WE’RE SEEING.’
Astoria Police Chief
Geoff Spalding
“It’s frustrating for everybody
in the system to be dealing with. I
mean, I know that the police are not
mental health fi rst responders and
the jail are not mental health pro-
viders, but they’re kind of ending
up in that situation,” he said. “And
I’m not a psychologist and I’m not
a psychiatrist, but I end up doing a
lot of that work sometimes it seems
like, too.
“It just seems like there’s just
such a failure of the system and it’s
landing on these people who are the
most vulnerable.”
Both Wintermute and Halverson
said they are open to the state Leg-
islature reviewing the civil commit-
ment law.
“It should be a stringent process
— they’re taking away people’s lib-
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erty,” Wintermute said. “But we
also end up with people in this gap
where they might be committable
under a more loosened process, but
they’re not and so they get released
oftentimes without much planning
or much support because they’re on
the street or they’re mentally ill and
they can’t engage.”
Wintermute said he has rep-
resented people in court who he
believes should have been com-
mitted or engaged in mental health
services.
“But because mental health
either can’t or doesn’t have the
resources to engage them, they end
up in the criminal justice system and
then they end up in the state hospi-
tal,” he said. “But that’s not what
that process was built for. And so it’s
a round peg in a square hole and it’s
not good for anybody, frankly. It’s
more expensive. It’s more trauma-
tizing for the defendant. It doesn’t
work.”
‘What does
this person need?’
There are undercurrents of frus-
tration and urgency among law
enforcement leaders and social ser-
vices advocates. Calls tied to cri-
sis response have surged during the
coronavirus pandemic. Two peo-
ple in Clatsop County with mental
health and substance abuse issues
were killed last year after interac-
tions with police.
In January, in an announcement
meant to draw attention to the lack
of mental health treatment options,
Gearhart Police Chief Jeff Bow-
man said his offi cers would no lon-
ger respond to mental health calls
unless there is an imminent threat of
physical harm.
In February, Astoria took a
tougher approach to bad behavior at
the park at Ninth and Astor streets
after tracking 470 calls for service
last year. The tipping point came
after a stabbing and an attack with
a machete.
Spalding said it is diffi cult to pin-
point exactly what is needed, but he
knows there is no single answer.
“Especially if you’re talking
about dealing with individuals who
are homeless, too. I think there’s a
lot of people that feel that we need
to have more housing and we need
a place for somebody to go,” the
police chief said. “I’ve heard lots
and lots of stories about providing
housing for homeless individuals,
and they stay there for a night or
two, then they’re back on the street
again. It doesn’t work for (some of)
them.
“Even if you provided hous-
ing, there’s a lot of them that won’t
take avail of that. Some of them
won’t work regardless of what you
do. There’s certain individuals that
are only going to do so much when
you get to a certain point,” he said.
“That’s why I just think there’s so
many diff erent ways to approach
it. It’s almost like you have to take
each individual, triage them and say,
‘What does this person need?’
“I think if you address the root
of the problem, ultimately you’re
going to address the behavior that
we’re seeing.”
Vaccine: Pandemic makes
outreach even more diffi cult
is refl ected in offi cial data. Clat-
sop Community Action has pro-
Johnson & Johnson vaccine, vided wrap around services
depending on supplies available — meals, laundry, lodging, trans-
from the Clatsop County Public portation — to people who had
Health Department.
to quarantine after they became
The Oregonian reported Sun- infected with the coronavirus.
day that Oregon will receive far A major outbreak among work-
fewer doses of this vaccine than ers at Pacifi c Seafood formed a
previously expected — a mere substantial bulk of the people the
7,300 doses from the federal gov- agency served, but the homeless
ernment, down from the 61,400 have been a signifi cant portion as
well, Matthews said.
doses expected.
Certainly, the pandemic has
Planning for the wellness
event only began recently. Orga- made outreach even more diffi -
nizers say it will be a sort of cult on the North Coast. Many
mini version of the annual Proj- social services and advocacy
ect Homeless Connect event held offi ces are operating in a more
in Seaside. That event includes limited way while access to pub-
a count of the homeless popula- lic libraries — with computers
tion and seeks to connect people and free internet — has also been
limited .
to services.
With the well-
“We’re trying
‘WE’D LIKE TO ness event, Mat-
to do the best
thews wants to
we can in such a
SEE AS MANY
make sure peo-
short time,” said
Viviana
Mat-
VACCINATIONS ple have access
to the informa-
thews, the exec-
AS WE CAN.
tion they need to
utive director of
a decision
Clatsop Com-
BUT EVEN ONE make
about the vac-
munity Action.
Though vac-
VACCINE IN AN cine , and then
have the option
cinations are the
ARM IS BETTER to receive it.
impetus for the
The nonprofi t
wellness event,
THAN ZERO.’
CARE, Inc., a
the social ser-
Susan Prettyman, the social
social services
vices
agency
services program manager for
agency in Til-
is bringing in a
Clatsop Community Action
lamook, orga-
shower station
nized a similar
and will provide
event at the end
to-go meals and
bags of hygiene items for attend- of March in that city. Billed as
ees. The recovery ally team from “Homeless Connect (Part 2),” it
Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare off ered a variety of services and
will be on site. Matthews also resources, but the primary pur-
hopes to be able to provide assis- pose was to off er the coronavirus
tance with Oregon Health Plan vaccine to people in the commu-
nity who are homeless or at high
enrollment and free haircuts.
The agency and its partners risk of becoming homeless.
Around 40 people attended
have often heard there is a need
for a Homeless Connect-style the event — most of them exist-
event in the spring, Matthews ing clients of CARE. Of those,
20 were vaccinated, according to
added.
“We’d like to see as many vac- Peter Starkey, executive direc-
cinations as we can,” said Susan tor of CARE. The nonprofi t also
Prettyman, the social services provided shelter for two nights
program manager for Clatsop to people who received the
Community Action, “but even vaccine.
Clatsop Community Action is
one vaccine in an arm is better
in conversation with the Astoria
than zero.”
Homeless advocates and Warming Center and area hotels
researchers believe the coronavi- to provide a safe place for people
rus has had a far greater impact to go if they feel ill after receiv-
on homeless populations than ing the vaccine.
Continued from Page A1
Wentzel: Master gardeners plan
to dedicate a row in their own
gardens for the community
Continued from Page A1
Wentzel has a background
in helping communities bet-
ter understand and engage with
farming and food resources. An
avid gardener herself, she fi rmly
believes you do not need to spend
a lot of money or own property
to grow a garden that can supply
you with some basic food.
A stint in the Peace Corps
took her to Paraguay, where she
worked with subsistence farmers
and looked at ways to support the
smallest scale farmers with the
fewest resources, she said. It was
an experience that motivated her
to return to school to learn more,
but also, later, to look at ways
to engage directly with her own
farming and growing communi-
ties in the Pacifi c Northwest.
She moved to the coast two
years ago to work for the Til-
lamook-based nonprofi t Food
Roots and joined the e xtension
s ervice in December.
The coronavirus pandemic
shut down many volunteer and
educational opportunities last
year for the master gardener pro-
gram she now oversees, and it
continues to hamper activities
this year.
The program’s biggest event
— the annual plant sale — will
be held in May , though at a dif-
ferent location than usual.
T he master gardening training
itself is not happening this year, a
fi rst for the program since it was
founded in the 1980s.
But Wentzel sees the lull as an
opportunity.
“It’s giving us some time to
think about the programs we
off er and the ways we’re engag-
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ing in the communities, to think
about who we are and who we
are not including in our pro-
gram,” she said.
This year, the master garden-
ers are planning to dedicate a
row in their own gardens for the
community. The food grown in
these rows will go to local food
pantries, where fresh produce is
one of the hardest things to keep
in stock.
It is an exciting plan after
a year where food insecurities
have only been further high-
lighted and exacerbated, Went-
zel said.
For would-be gardeners —
and there are many after the
pandemic gave people both
more time and inclination to
try to grow their own food —
Wentzel hopes to begin build-
ing more coast-specifi c garden-
ing resources. The North Coast
climate is really particular, she
said, and contains many micro-
climates. While you can easily
grow corn in Jewell, it may be
more diffi cult on Astoria’s S outh
S lope, for example.
The coast also, in general, still
sees dramatic nighttime tempera-
ture drops well into spring.
So, Wentzel suggests, try not
to get fooled by the occasional
warm spring day that might
entice you to start planting seeds
earlier than you should. Closer
to Memorial Day is often a bet-
ter time to start a coastal garden,
she said.
And, if you’re still not sure
what will grow best in your area,
spy on your neighbors.
“If someone has a nice garden
down the street, take a peek,” she
said. “It’s a clue.”