149TH YEAR, NO. 27
DailyAstorian.com // TuEsdAY, AugusT 31, 2021
$1.50
Cruise
ship
season
slips away
Oceangoing cruises
disrupted by pandemic
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
Photos by Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
A sign made for Ted Stallsworth at a memorial service near Coffenbury Lake.
In Warrenton, family and
friends grieve a virus death
Stallsworth is believed to be the 12th county resident who died from the coronavirus
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
A
memorial service for a Warren-
ton man who died from the coro-
navirus drew nearly 200 people to
a picnic area near Coffenbury Lake on
Thursday evening.
It was overwhelming to a family who
never expected so many people would
attend, but, for Ted Stallsworth’s wife,
Julie, ultimately heartwarming.
The faces in the crowd — long-
time friends, law enforcement, people
Stallsworth knew from recovery, cli-
ents from his carpet-cleaning business
— were a testament to the kind of man
he had been, she said. An anchor for her
and their four children, a man ready to
befriend anyone.
Stallsworth, 52, died on Aug. 19 after
being hospitalized since late July. His
family believes he is Clatsop County’s
12th virus death based on information
reported by the state.
His family doesn’t know how he
caught the virus. Around the time he
got sick, other family members were
also sick. His youngest daughter was
exposed through her work. His oldest
son was exposed while on vacation. He
ended up hospitalized with severe symp-
toms around the same time as his father.
At Stallsworth’s memorial service near
the lake at Fort Stevens State Park, he
stood up to talk with an oxygen tank in
tow.
The virus that killed Stallsworth has
killed more than 600,000 people in the
United States to date — 13 in Clatsop
County as of early Monday. The virus
is surging again in Oregon because of
the delta variant, placing a strain on the
health care system as hospital and inten-
sive care unit beds are becoming scarce.
The Oregon Health Authority
reported 58 new virus cases for the
Ted Stallsworth died from complications of COVID-19 on Aug. 19.
Hospitalization rates are expected
to continue to rise over the next week,
according to researchers with Oregon
Health & Science University. Most of
the recent hospitalizations and deaths
from the virus are occurring among peo-
ple who are unvaccinated.
Stallsworth was unvaccinated.
‘He said he’d never thought it
would get him’
Flowers sit at a memorial service for Ted
Stallsworth.
county over the weekend. Since the pan-
demic began, the county has recorded
1,851 virus cases.
He was not against vaccinations, in
general, Julie Stallsworth said, but he
told her he felt the vaccines for COVID-
19 had been developed more quickly
than he was comfortable with. When she
got vaccinated in April, he didn’t join
her.
Julie Stallsworth isn’t sure the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s
approval of the Pfizer vaccine — the
first such approval for a coronavirus
See Virus death, Page A6
The remaining oceangoing cruise ship
visits on Astoria’s calendar this year have
been canceled.
Bruce Conner, who is in charge of
the Port of Astoria’s cruise ship market-
ing, told Port commissioners earlier this
month that the final eight cruise ships
planning to stop in Astoria will not do
so because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Twenty-nine passenger cruise ships were
set to visit the port this year.
“We were 50-50 probably through
mid-July and then each day it went
(down),” Conner said. “So no, it was no
surprise, but there was an outside chance
and I did not want to say anything.”
While two Norwegian Cruise Line
ships docked at the Port this year — the
Regatta and the Pride of America — both
were crew-only vessels waiting out virus
disruptions. All 38 oceangoing cruise
ships on the Port’s calendar for 2020 were
also canceled.
Foreign-flagged cruise ships visiting
multiple U.S. ports are required under
federal maritime law to stop in foreign
ports, such as Canada, which banned
cruise ship visits in March 2020. The
vessels were unable to visit ports on the
Pacific coast until the Alaska Tourism
Restoration Act was passed by Congress
and signed into law by President Joe
Biden in May, allowing ships transport-
ing passengers to travel between Wash-
ington state and Alaska.
Conner and the cruise lines were
attempting to get an exemption for
Oregon.
“They were holding on … we just ran
out of time,” Conner said.
Will Isom, the Port’s executive direc-
tor, said he was also not surprised the
cruise ship visits were canceled given the
surge in virus cases. But he acknowledged
the financial blow of the cancellations.
Oceangoing cruise ships typically
bring in over $1 million each year for the
Port. Much of that money goes toward
dredging, a significant operational cost,
Isom said.
“When you have that type of fixed
cost, it definitely hurts,” he said.
Isom noted the Port has been able to
recoup some of the financial losses with
the two crew-only vessels that came this
year.
While the oceangoing cruise ships
will not venture into Astoria until at least
2022, a number of riverboats are visiting
the city at the 17th Street Dock.
“There has never been a busier year
than this year, at this point anyway, in the
history of the riverboats coming,” Con-
ner said.
Looking ahead, Conner said he is
encouraged by the growth in the cruise
ship industry. The Port has 37 ships
scheduled for 2022 and 22 ships sched-
uled for 2023.
“I think the demand is there, the book-
ings are there and people have booked,”
he said. “They have made these reserva-
tions to accommodate the demand.”
Bigfoot believer steps up to skeptics
Retired postman wrote
a sasquatch book
By PATRICK WEBB
Chinook Observer
AYMOND, Wash. — Russell
Wiitala has two words for folk
who want to measure him for a tin-
foil hat.
“Metaphysical denial.”
The longtime Raymond resident
R
coined the phrase to describe doubt-
ers who question the existence of
sasquatch, sacred numbers or any-
thing paranormal.
But can the retired postman
deliver the evidence?
He hopes to take strides with the
publication of his book, “Sasquatch:
Shaman of the Woods.”
Wiitala is a familiar figure in
north Pacific County as a rural car-
rier for 27 years and for his many
roles with the Willapa Players.
He’s president of the community
troupe, spearheading its conversion
of a newly purchased South Bend
church into a theater. He’s written
plays, directed and acted and even
appeared in a couple of films.
But while that hobby is all
make-believe, Wiitala is eager to
prove the reality of sasquatch. And
his book spells out his belief that if
humans were more open-minded
they would acknowledge that there
is plenty of evidence that other-
worldly beings exist.
Around the world, the names
of these creatures vary: sasquatch,
Bigfoot, yeti, abominable snow-
man or swamp creature. Every-
where their existence is questioned
because few people can demon-
strate evidence they have seen any
See Wiitala, Page A6
Patrick Webb/Chinook Observer
‘They are metaphysical and
telepathic,’ Russell Wiitala said of
sasquatch.
Russell Wiitala wrote ‘Sasquatch:
Shaman of the Woods.’