A2
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2021
IN BRIEF
TRAINING
One person injured in Gearhart fi re
GEARHART — A fi re in Gearhart early Monday
resulted in a burn injury as fl ames reached more than
200-feet high and torched trees.
Fire offi cials said they received a call at 4 a.m.
on Monday about a structure fi re in the area of Katie
Court. The fi rst crews to arrive called for additional
assistance after fi nding two structures fully involved.
It took about 30 minutes to bring the fi re under
control, James Hutchinson, the Gearhart Fire Depart-
ment’s interim training offi cer, said.
Crews left the residence 11 hours after the fi re was
out.
The cause of the fi re is under investigation.
The person who was injured received burns to their
foot, Hutchinson said.
The American Red Cross was called to assist with
displaced residents.
— The Astorian
Pacifi c County hits
20 coronavirus deaths
LONG BEACH, Wash. — Cases of COVID-19
continued to swarm through Pacifi c County commu-
nities, as the past week brought more death and severe
illness to local residents of all ages.
According to the Pacifi c County Health and Human
Services Department, another 75 cases, eight hospital-
izations and two deaths were reported over the pre-
vious week as of Monday . The deaths were the 19th
and 20th due to complications from the virus that the
county has recorded since the pandemic began. The
two deaths involving individuals in their 70s and 90s,
with the most recent death before that being in their
20s.
Of at least eight new hospitalizations being reported
in the county in the past week, the patients severely
struggling with the virus cut through generations. All
told, 70 county residents have now been hospitalized
because of coronavirus complications since the pan-
demic began.
The total number of cases recorded in the county
since the pandemic began sat at 1,496 as of Monday .
The number of cases, which continues to rise
higher and higher, is a staggering fi gure that few likely
thought was possible in the earliest months of the pan-
demic, when Pacifi c County was largely spared from
the sickness and death that the country as a whole was
experiencing. The 20 deaths in the county outpace
the 13 deaths reported so far in neighboring Clatsop
County, which has a population nearly twice as large.
County health director Katie Lindstrom said the
county’s two small hospitals continue to have trou-
ble being able to expeditiously transfer hospitalized
COVID -19 patients to out-of-county hospitals to
receive more specialized care.
— Chinook Observer
Petty Offi cer 3rd Class Diolanda Caballero
The U.S. Coast Guard conducted a law enforcement training exercise in late August at the mouth of the Columbia River.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
More than a dozen
people protested
coronavirus
vaccine and mask
mandates outside
of Carruthers
in Astoria on
Tuesday evening.
The restaurant
announced via
Facebook in
August that it
would require
customers to
show proof of
vaccination
against the virus.
Hailey Hoff man/
The Astorian
DEATHS
Wyden pushing his agenda as election clock ticks
Sept. 1, 2021
Mortuary in
In BENTHIEN,
Brief Linnea Luce-Layton
Astoria is in charge of the
local newspapers.
Carol, 78, of Seaside, died arrangements.
Senator hopes to
in Seaside. Caldwell’s
Aug.
28, 2021
Death:
Sept.
2,
2021
extend majority
‘Voters get
Luce-Layton Mortuary in
KATON, Philip Dean,
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
Aug. 31, 2021
NIEMI, Lisbet Ulrika,
77, of Astoria, died in
Astoria.
Caldwell’s
41, of Clatskanie, previ-
ously of Astoria, died in
Vancouver, Washington.
Caldwell’s Luce-Layton
Mortuary in Astoria is in
charge of the arrangements.
MEMORIALS
Sunday, Sept. 12,
time for people to speak
Memorial:
Sept.
2021
if they wish 2,
or they can
KATON, Philip Dean provide a statement to the
— A celebration of life pastor before the service
2021
will be held at 2 p.m. on and he will read it aloud.
Sept. 12 at the Clatskanie
High School football
fi eld, located at the end
of S.W. Canyon Road in
Clatskanie. There will be
Those wishing to send
memorial fl owers can
send them to the football
fi eld on the day of the ser-
vice by 1 p.m.
ON THE RECORD
Burglary
left his residence during
On
the
• Cyrus
Galen Record
Gra- an execution of a search
benhorst, 27, of Astoria,
was arrested on Mon-
day evening for burglary
in the second degree and
two counts of tampering
with physical evidence.
He allegedly stole a safe
from The Sea Crab House
in Astoria earlier that day,
warrant and was arrested
at Safeway.
Reckless driving
• Anthony Le Hoang,
30, of Seattle, was
arrested at Marine Drive
and 17th Street in Astoria
on Sunday morning for
reckless driving.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
THURSDAY
Clatsop County Human Services Advisory Council,
3 p.m., (electronic meeting).
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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the last word’
By GARY WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
EUGENE — As a for-
mer college basketball player,
Ron Wyden knows all about
shot clocks.
In basketball, the clocks
hang above the backboard
on each side, showing play-
ers how much of the 24 sec-
onds remain between taking
possession of the ball and try-
ing to score.
Democrats are facing a
shot clock now: 14 months
and ticking. That’s the time
of possession remaining of
assured Democratic control
of t he White House, t he U.S.
Senate and the U.S. House
before the November 2022
elections.
During a masked and
socially distanced interview
Monday on the patio of a bak-
ery , Wyden argued against
letting clocks rule Congress.
“I am a contrarian on the
idea that you can only do
legislation in odd-numbered
years because elections are
in even-numbered years,” the
Oregon Democrat said. “The
best politics is to do good pol-
icy that helps people.”
Wyden is well aware of
the tenuous nature of Dem-
ocrats’ majority, a status that
includes his moving into the
chair of the Senate Finance
Committee, where much fed-
eral spending fl ows.
Democrats came out of the
2020 elections with President
Joe Biden and a fragile tri-
fecta of government control.
History shows that the
party of a new president loses
seats — often dozens — in
the House in the fi rst mid-
term election. All 435 seats
— including a new sixth one
in Oregon — will be on the
2022 ballot. Only twice has
the new party held or added
to its majority: Democrats in
1934 amid the Depression
and Republicans in 2002 after
the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The
Senate, with its staggered six-
year terms, is harder to pre-
dict, but overall history favors
a turnover to the GOP.
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, shown here on the North Coast last year,
is up for reelection in 2022.
‘You need 51 votes’
In the 40 years since he
arrived in Washington, D.C.,
as a 31-year-old freshman
congressman from Portland,
Wyden has learned that over
time, you’ll likely be on leg-
islative off ense with the
majority or defense with the
minority.
When he arrived in 1981,
Republicans were on the rise.
Ronald Reagan had just been
elected president in a land-
slide, while Oregon’s gov-
ernor and two senators were
both Republicans.
In Oregon today, the gov-
ernor and both s enators —
along with four of fi ve U.S.
House members — are
Democrats.
In his 25 years in the Sen-
ate, Wyden has spent most of
the time outside looking in —
with 10 years in the majority
and 15 in the minority. In the
House, he was in the major-
ity 14 out of 15 years. But the
basic math remains the same.
Regardless of the par-
tisan breakdown of mem-
bership, the most important
number doesn’t change in the
100-member Senate.
“You need 51 votes,”
Wyden said.
That coalition can be put
together in diff erent ways.
He’s co-sponsoring legis-
lation with U.S. Sen. Mike
Crapo, R-Idaho, on mental
health care reform. Crapo was
chair of the Senate Finance
Committee when the GOP
held the Senate until early
January. He’s worked with
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley,
R-Iowa, over the years.
But he’s also ready, when
needed, to push legislation
through the tight partisan
squeeze, as he did early this
year when he guided Pres-
ident Biden’s $1.3 trillion
coronavirus relief package
through the c ommittee and
onto the fl oor for passage on
a party-line 50-49 vote.
He’s taking his legisla-
tive shots at a rapid-fi re pace.
On Tuesday, he held a virtual
town hall to promote a bill
he co-sponsored, The River
Democracy Act, which would
designate about 4,700 miles
of w ild and s cenic r ivers for
additional federal protection.
He’s been in c entral Ore-
gon to tout the state’s portion
of the $1 trillion infrastructure
bill passed by the Senate in
August . The bill would pump
billions of dollars into Ore-
gon highways, water, electri-
cal, internet access and edu-
cational projects, as well as
fund more aggressive action
against drought and wildfi re.
It’s now awaiting action in the
House.
Wyden has introduced
legislation to protect domes-
tic abuse victims from future
intimidation by gun violence,
and fund aff ordable housing
rent vouchers.
A bill would streamline
federal drug laws so that legal
marijuana businesses could
have access to banking and
credit. Other issues include
making court records free of
charge, pushing for insurance
companies to pay for fans and
air-conditioners under a fed-
eral Medicaid program and
allowing tax credits to sustain
Wyden plans to keep going
as long as there is a window to
get laws passed.
“My big three priorities
now are child care, aff ordable
housing and prescription drug
prices,” Wyden said.
They are part of what he
termed the “human infrastruc-
ture” support that he says is
just as important as concrete
for highways or stronger wire
for electricity.
Republicans were wrong
about the aid package pro-
posed by Biden because the
math facing Oregon residents
is not just about a paycheck,
Wyden said. Part of the deci-
sion of whether to take a job
is the ability to have aff ord-
able child care while you
are working and to be able
to aff ord to rent or even buy
a home for your family. He
believes too much money is
spent on a dizzying array of
prescription drug programs
and prices that always put the
consumer at the disadvantage.
“The top of the 1% have to
pay their fair share,” Wyden
said. “You ask people if the
wealthiest are paying their
fair share, they are going to
say ‘no.’”
Though it’s been just over
seven months since the new
Congress was convened, the
window to fi le to run for the
2022 election is already open-
ing — it’s Sept. 9 in Oregon.
Wyden said he will be on
the ballot, seeking a fi fth full
term. Prineville Mayor Jason
Beebe is among the candi-
dates who’ve said they plan to
fi le to run in the Republican
primary to face Wyden.
It’s a seemingly uphill task
to topple Wyden, who has
never received less than 55%
of the vote in his Senate races.
But he also recalls that when
he was elected to the Senate
in a 1996 special election, no
Democrat had won a Senate
seat in Oregon since 1962.
“Voters get the last word,”
he said.
The Oregon Capital
Bureau is a collaboration
between EO Media Group
and Pamplin Media Group.