A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021
County man sues hospital for medical negligence
IN BRIEF
State discloses virus outbreak
at Funland in Seaside
SEASIDE — Funland is tied to fi ve coronavirus
cases, the state disclosed.
The virus cases, detailed by the Oregon Health
Authority in a weekly report on workplace outbreaks
released on Wednesday, date back to April 26. The
most recent onset was April 29.
The health authority discloses outbreaks at busi-
nesses with 30 or more workers once fi ve virus cases
are reported.
Park district selects facility
consultant for recreation center
SEASIDE — The Sunset Empire Park and Recre-
ation District selected a strategic consultant to plan the
future of the Sunset Recreation Center.
Sports Facilities Advisory and Scott Edwards Archi-
tecture were chosen out of three fi nalists based on fi rm
size and structure, project understanding, fi rm experi-
ence, work plan, proposed staff and fee proposal.
“It’s the recommendation of that group to select
the Sports Facilities Advisory working with Scott
Edwards Architecture for the opportunity to partner
with us on our plan for the future of Sunset Recre-
ation Center,” Skyler Archibald, the park district’s
executive director, said in presenting the decision to
the board on Tuesday. “This is a signifi cant step for-
ward in the district.”
The park district purchased the former Broadway
Middle School for $2.15 million in January. The mid-
dle school, renamed the Sunset Recreation Center, was
among Seaside School District properties relocated to
the new Spruce Drive location outside of the tsunami
inundation zone.
— The Astorian
Inslee says Washington state on track
to fully reopen from virus restrictions
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington is on track to
fully reopen its economy by June 30, and a full reopen-
ing could happen even sooner if 70% or more of resi-
dents 16 and older have gotten at least one dose of vac-
cine by then, Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday.
And Inslee said the state would immediately adopt
new guidance off ered by the federal Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention, which eased most indoor
mask-wearing for fully vaccinated people.
Businesses will retain the right to require customers
to wear masks, and masks will still be required in hos-
pitals, schools and on public transportation, he said.
Nearly 44% of people age 16 and up are fully vacci-
nated in Washington state.
“This is a heck of a benefi t,” Inslee said. “People
who have been annoyed by this mask ... that shot is a
ticket to freedom from masks.”
— Associated Press
DEATHS
May 11, 2021
In VERNOR,
Brief
Leila
Mae, 88, of Seaside,
died
in Seaside. Cald-
Deaths
well’s Funeral & Crema-
tion Arrangement Center
of Seaside is in charge of
the arrangements.
WARR,
Russell
Edward “Russ,” 78, of
Astoria, died in Asto-
ria. Ocean View Funeral
& Cremation Service of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
DUII
• Katie Rosannah
On
the
Record
• Stephanie
Marie Reynolds, 41, of Hill-
sboro, was arrested on
May 7 off of U.S. High-
way 26 for DUII, reck-
less driving, recklessly
endangering
another
person and eluding.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
SATURDAY
Warrenton Budget Committee, 9 a.m., Warrenton Com-
munity Center, 170 S.W. Third Street.
MONDAY
Knappa School District School Board, 5:30 p.m., (elec-
tronic meeting).
Jewell School District Board, 6 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St.
TUESDAY
Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, 10 a.m., work
session, (electronic meeting).
Miles Crossing Sanitary Sewer District Board, 3 p.m.,
budget meeting, 34583 U.S. Highway 101 Business.
Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Astoria Historic Landmarks Commission, 5:30 p.m., City
Hall, 1095 Duane St.
Seaside Planning Commission, 6 p.m., work session, 989
Broadway St.
Seaside School District Board, 6 p.m., (electronic meet-
ing).
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR
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DailyAstorian.com
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
A Clatsop County man has
fi led a lawsuit seeking more
than $100 million against
Columbia Memorial Hospital,
alleging negligence resulted
in his son suff ering permanent
neurological damage.
The lawsuit claims the
Astoria hospital failed to
properly monitor the fetal
heart rate and other aspects of
the labor and delivery of Wil-
liam Harvey Humphries in
2017.
As a result, the lawsuit
alleges, Humphries was taken
to Oregon Health & Science
University Hospital in Port-
land for emergency treatment
and diagnosed with hypoxic
ischemic encephalopathy.
The suit claims the hos-
pital’s negligence led to per-
manent neurological damage,
including cerebral palsy.
Humphries is severely
developmentally delayed and
will be impaired in all activi-
ties for the rest of his life, the
suit claims.
The lawsuit, fi led in late
April in Multnomah County
Circuit Court, alleges med-
ical negligence and names
the hospital and Dr. William
Barstow.
Wesley Humphries, the
child’s father, is bringing the
lawsuit on his behalf. He is
seeking more than $45 million
in medical, custodial and life
care expenses and $65 million
for noneconomic damages.
The hospital declined to
comment.
Brent Barton, a Newport
medical malpractice attor-
ney representing Humphries,
said, “Like any responsible
parents, their fi rst priority is
to protect their son, who will
never be able to work or care
for himself.
“This child’s life will for-
ever be very diff erent than
yours and mine, and we want
to give him the resources nec-
essary for his basic needs and
to have a chance at becoming
the best version of himself.”
Pandemic boosts Hood River agritourism
By SIERRA DAWN
McCLAIN
Capital Press
HOOD RIVER — It was
a sunny spring afternoon. The
parking lot at Draper Girls
Country Farm was packed.
Visitors were touring the
Hood River Fruit Loop, one
of Oregon’s top agritourism
destinations.
The Hood River Fruit
Loop is named after the
cluster of farms growing
fruit trees and wine grapes
between the Columbia River
and majestic Mount Hood.
About 30 farms selling fresh
produce, fl owers, ciders,
wines and gourmet foods are
part of the Fruit Loop.
According to the Oregon
Tourism Commission, vis-
itors spend more than $100
million annually in Hood
River County, and staff ers at
the Visit Hood River organi-
zation estimate tourists spend
as much as tens of millions
of dollars on the Fruit Loop
alone.
When COVID-19 struck
last spring, it rattled agri-
tourism ventures across the
nation, including along the
Fruit Loop. Events were can-
celed. Couples postponed
on-farm weddings. The
number of foreign tourists
nosedived.
Fruit Loop farmers say
the lockdown pushed them
to adapt at warp speed.
Some created websites. Oth-
ers started delivery services.
Several farmers invented
new products.
“We all really worked our
tail ends off ,” said Tammi
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Ali Mclaughlin, founder and a tour guide at MountNbarreL, a
scenic bike tours company, rides past farmland with Mount
Hood in the background.
Packer, a farmer along the
loop.
It worked.
Although some businesses
still suff ered, especially win-
eries that were mandated to
close tasting rooms, most
Fruit Loop farmers say 2020
turned out to be a great year
and expect 2021 to be even
stronger. Consumer interest
in buying direct-from-farm is
growing, many say. And agri-
tourism is on the rise.
Farms along the Fruit
Loop have long relied on
tourism traffi c, so when the
pandemic hit, many farmers
were afraid a shutdown could
destroy them.
For the fi rst few months,
the situation looked dismal.
One tourist who visited
last April told the Capital
Press the Fruit Loop felt like
a ghost town.
Ali Mclaughlin is a tour
guide and founder of Mount-
NbarreL, a company that
takes hundreds of people
annually on scenic bike tours
between farms along the
Fruit Loop. Last spring, she
said, nearly every group on
her reservation list canceled.
“It killed us,” she said.
Mclaughlin canceled all
remaining tours until June.
Tourism picked up over the
summer, but at the end of
the year, she had made about
80% less revenue than in
2019.
Events that normally sup-
port local farmers were can-
celed, too.
Ashley May, who pro-
motes the loop and was pre-
viously executive director of
Visit Hood River, said it was
sad to see the Fruit Loop’s
two biggest events canceled
last year: the spring Cider
Fest, which usually brings in
5,000 people, and the week-
end Harvest Fest, which
draws up to 12,000 people.
The Cider Fest was again
canceled this year. A decision
has yet to be made about the
Harvest Fest.
Revenue loss from those
events meant Visit Hood
River went from 10 full-time
staff ers to the equivalent of
one-and-a-half staff .
Tourism lodging tax data
show the number of over-
night guests in the area also
dropped — a reduction of
almost 100% in spring, and
about two-thirds fewer guests
than normal during summer.
Hood River winery and
vineyard owners, who were
required to close tasting
rooms several times through-
out the year, were especially
hard-hit.
The Wy’East Vineyards
tasting room is set on a fam-
ily farm with livestock, farm-
houses and pear orchards
with a view of Mount Adams
to the north.
Mount Hood graces the
southern sky, visible from
the family’s main vineyard,
where vines sprawl across
hills about 1,600 feet above
sea level — one of Oregon’s
highest-elevation vineyards.
Dick and Christie Reed
founded the farm in 1992
after shirking city life in
Chicago. They, along with
daughter Keely Reed Kopetz,
now general manager, run the
business together.
When Gov. Kate Brown
ordered wine tasting rooms
and restaurants to close last
spring, Christie Reed says
it was “fi nancially devas-
tating.” The main income,
Keely Kopetz said, came
from generous wine club
members.
Masks: More pop-up vaccination clinics planned
ON THE RECORD
McGeatchy, 38, of Ten-
ino, Washington, was
arrested on May 8 on
U.S. Highway 101 for
driving under the infl u-
ence of intoxicants and
reckless driving.
Alleges son
suff ered permanent
neurological damage
Circulation phone number:
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Continued from Page A1
“The new CDC guidance
makes clear that vaccines are
the best tool to protect your-
self, and everyone around
you. Vaccines are also the
fastest way to get back to
doing the things we all love,
and to returning to a sense of
normalcy.”
The Astoria-Warrenton
Area Chamber of Commerce
said in a Facebook post Fri-
day the new mask guidance
from the CDC was unex-
pected and asked that people
be patient with businesses.
“It may take some time
for businesses to adopt pro-
cedures to implement the
changes,” the chamber said.
“Please have patience and
understand that businesses
may continue to request
masks for all customers until
they know more.”
The CDC outlined a few
exceptions in the new guid-
ance, and will continue
requiring people to wear a
mask and socially distance
on public transportation, in
hospitals and health care clin-
ics, correctional facilities and
long-term care facilities.
Nothing is changing for
schools this school year,
Brown said, and she expects
staff and students to continue
to wear masks and physically
distance.
She said the new guidance
from the CDC is “yet another
sign that, if we all continue to
do our part, the pandemic is
coming closer to an end.”
On Tuesday, Brown
announced plans to lift most
risk level restrictions state-
wide once 70% of Orego-
nians 16 and older receive
their fi rst vaccine doses
against the virus.
Counties where 65% of
people 16 and older have
received at least one dose
will have the option of mov-
ing to lower risk beginning
May 21.
Margo Lalich, Clat-
sop County’s interim public
health director, expects the
county will meet that metric
by the end of the month. The
county will be at high risk
through Thursday.
As of Friday, 32,300 vac-
cines have been adminis-
tered in Clatsop County and
14,855 people were fully
vaccinated. The county’s
goal to reach herd immunity
against the virus is vaccinat-
ing 27,533 people, or 70% of
the population.
The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration gave Pfi zer
emergency approval of its
vaccine Monday for children
12 to 15.
The county will adminis-
ter the two-dose vaccine at
clinics in Astoria on Satur-
day and Seaside on May 22
to 12- and 17-year-olds and
their families.
The county’s vaccine
task force has begun to wind
down mass vaccination clin-
ics because of lower turnout.
The task force is seeking new
ways to reach people who
are either hesitant about vac-
cination or simply haven’t
yet made an appointment by
reducing barriers.
The one-dose Johnson
& Johnson vaccine is avail-
able through Providence Sea-
side Hospital and Columbia
Memorial Hospital primary
care clinics. People can also
receive vaccines at p harma-
cies at Fred Meyer, Safeway,
Walmart and Costco.
The task force also plans
on hosting more pop-up vac-
cination clinics throughout
the county.
“We’re starting to see
that shift of those who have
been watching or just ada-
mant they’re not going to
get vaccinated — so there
are the vaccine hesitant and
they’re crossing over and
now they’re wanting to get
vaccinated,” Lalich said
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during a county Board of
Commissioners work ses-
sion Wednesday. “And when
you think of the size of our
population, we’ve given
over 30,000 shots in Clatsop
County. That’s a lot of vac-
cinations, right? And so now
it’s time to lace it all together
and help the community to
understand what this return
on investment is.
“And one of the most sig-
nifi cant ... is that after you
get that second dose, your
series is complete — or a sin-
gle dose for Johnson & John-
son two weeks afterwards —
if you’re exposed to COVID,
you no longer have to quar-
antine. If you develop symp-
toms because we do have
some breakthrough cases,
then you’ll want to get tested.
But for small businesses, for
employers, that is signifi -
cant that if your employees
are vaccinated, it means that
you’re not going to lose part
of the workforce if they’ve
been exposed to somebody
else who’s positive. So there
are many pluses, but this is a
very signifi cant one that has
certainly economic benefi ts.”
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