A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2021
IN BRIEF
Astoria woman dies
after crash on Highway 30
An Astoria woman died Friday after a two-vehicle
crash on U.S. Highway 30.
Debra Livingston, 67, was driving east in a Honda
Civic at about 8:20 a.m. when she veered into the west-
bound lane and collided with an oncoming Toyota
Tacoma near milepost 94 east of the city, according to
the Oregon State Police.
Livingston was pronounced dead at Columbia
Memorial Hospital in Astoria.
The driver of the Toyota was treated for injuries at
the hospital.
The crash closed the highway for about two hours,
police said.
Coast Guard rescues man
suff ering medical emergency
A 57-year-old man having a medical emergency was
medevaced from a fi shing boat off the coast of Westport,
Washington, on Thursday, according to the U.S. Coast
Guard.
Coast Guard Sector Columbia River responded to a
report from the charter vessel Ranger, where a man with
a faint pulse was having trouble breathing and staying
conscious, according to the Coast Guard.
A crew aboard a Jayhawk helicopter lifted the man,
along with his son, off the 51-foot boat, which was then
about 57 miles out to sea. Personnel from the Coast
Guard cutter Sea Lion assisted with the rescue.
The man was in stable condition when he came
ashore, the Coast Guard said. The pair were eventually
taken to Harbor Regional Health Community Hospital
in Aberdeen, Washington.
Judge hears Gearhart fi rehouse
ballot arguments
Circuit Court Judge Beau Peterson heard testimony
Thursday on a legal challenge to the wording of a ballot
measure seeking a $13 million Gearhart fi rehouse bond.
Residents Jack Zimmerman and Harold Gable asked
the court to suspend the bond vote until costs for the
project are more fully determined.
The timing of the legal challenge prompted the Clat-
sop County clerk to remove the ballot measure from the
November election.
“We’re going to simply try to protect the Gearhart
voter and make sure that they are fully informed about
what’s happening and what is going forward,” Zimmer-
man said at the court hearing.
Voters who are weighing a bond measure to build infra-
structure understand that architecture and engineering will
go into that, City Attorney Peter Watts said. “I only have
175 words in the summary,” he said. “I’m not going to say
whether the light bulbs are going to be LED or not.”
Peterson said he will rule on whether the ballot title is
“suffi cient, concise and fair” for a future election.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
Sept. 13, 2021
In CARPENTER,
Brief Janice
Jeanne, 78, of Seaside, died
in Seaside. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
Death:
Sept.
14, 2021
ON THE RECORD
DUII
U.S. Highway 101 near
On
the
• Robert
Linn Record
Stamp- milepost 20 for DUII and
fl ee, 41, of Astoria, was
arrested on Sunday at
the Sunset Beach access
in Warrenton for driv-
ing under the infl uence of
intoxicants.
• Lonny Gene Rad-
ford, 35, of Hammond,
was arrested Saturday on
reckless driving.
• Mark Alan Vasquez,
30, of Gearhart, was
arrested Friday in the
Warrenton area of U.S.
Highway 101 for elud-
ing a police offi cer, DUII,
reckless driving and reck-
less endangerment.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Clatsop County Planning Commission, 10 a.m., (elec-
tronic meeting).
Clatsop Care Health District, 5 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Cannon Beach City Council, 6 p.m., work session, (elec-
tronic meeting).
Lewis and Clark Fire Department Board, 6 p.m., main fi re
station, 34571 U.S. Highway 101 Business.
Warrenton City Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main
Ave.
Clatsop Community College Board of Education,
6:30 p.m., (electronic meeting).
WEDNESDAY
Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, 10 a.m., work
session, (electronic meeting).
Clatsop Soil and Water Conservation District, 10 a.m.,
(electronic meeting).
Astoria City Council, 1 p.m., work session, City Hall, 1095
Duane St.
Seaside Tourism Advisory Committee, 3 p.m., City Hall,
989 Broadway.
Seaside Transportation Advisory Committee, 6 p.m.,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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BACK TO
SCHOOL
Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
Rowan Haldeman, 6, waved to his mom, Danielle, as he walked toward the school bus in Ilwaco last week.
The Astorian recognized for general excellence
The Astorian
The Astorian was recog-
nized by the Oregon News-
paper Publishers Associa-
tion for general excellence
for work published in 2020,
the top honor among news-
papers of similar size.
The award in the annual
Better Newspaper Contest,
announced Friday, marked
the fi rst time The Astorian
earned the top prize in more
than a decade.
“The coronavirus pan-
demic upended life on the
North Coast and placed sig-
nifi cant personal and fi nan-
cial demands on our news-
room,” Derrick DePledge,
the editor of The Astorian,
said. “Our staff kept their
focus and did their jobs in a
climate that was often polit-
ically fraught and hostile to
transparency.
“When
it
mattered
most, our staff matched the
moment.”
Along with general excel-
lence, The Astorian won sev-
eral fi rst-place awards for
pandemic-related coverage.
Nicole Bales, now a
reporter at The Bulletin in
Bend, won for best govern-
ment coverage for a story
examining Clatsop County’s
response to a virus outbreak
at Pacifi c Seafood in Warren-
ton. The story was based on
information the newspaper
obtained through the state’s
public records law.
Hailey Hoff man, now
a multimedia journalist at
the Cascadia Daily News
in Bellingham, Washing-
ton, won best photo essay
for Portraits in a Pandemic,
a series of front-page photos
that depicted how life on the
North Coast was disrupted
by the virus.
The Astorian won best
special section for Hun-
ker/rise/surge: Coronavirus
2020, produced by associate
editor Jonathan Williams and
designed by production man-
ager John Bruijn.
The Astorian won fi rst place for front-page design.
The Astorian won best
editorial and best editorial
page for editorials calling on
the county to be more trans-
parent about workplace out-
breaks and supporting cap-
and-trade legislation as a step
forward on climate change.
Alyssa Evans, who now
works at Columbia Memo-
rial Hospital, won for best
lifestyle coverage for a story
on how the arts adapted to
the pandemic.
The Astorian also won
Washington state has little capacity to help Idaho virus patients
By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Washing-
ton state is facing its own
COVID-19 crisis and has
little capacity to help neigh-
boring Idaho deal with an
overwhelming surge of
cases driven by unvacci-
nated people, state hospital
executives and doctors said
Monday.
Taya Briley, the exec-
utive vice president of the
Washington State Hospital
Association, called the situ-
ation “very sobering” during
a media briefi ng, saying
Washington faces its worst
COVID wave since the pan-
demic began — even before
big recent events like fall
fairs and a return to school.
Hospitals are canceling
necessary surgeries and tak-
ing longer to deal with heart
attacks and strokes because
COVID patients are taking
up so many beds. Nearly
1,700 patients are hospital-
ized with COVID, up from
350 in June and early July
before the delta variant’s
spread among the unvacci-
nated drove the spike, Bri-
ley said.
More than 95% of hos-
pitalized
patients
are
unvaccinated — a stag-
gering amount of unneces-
sary suff ering, Briley said.
Some 260 patients are on
ventilators.
“When you walk down
a hall that is full of COVID
patients, it becomes very
real,” Briley said. “These
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awards for work that was not
related to the pandemic.
Katie Frankowicz won
best education coverage for
a story about a new approach
to math.
Gary Henley won best
feature — personality for
a look at a former Major
League Baseball player who
owns Grizzly Tuna.
Hoff man won best news
photo for a picture of the
Warrenton teenager who
organized local Black Lives
Matter protests.
The Astorian won best
front-page design for the
work of designer Mat-
thew Vann, DePledge and
Williams.
Elleda Wilson won sec-
ond place in local column for
In One Ear.
Hoff man won second and
third place for online multi-
media element for her video
work.
Hoff man won third place
for feature photo.
Williams won third place
for local column and third
place for feature story.
Frankowicz won third
place for sports story.
Bruijn won third place for
graphics.
The Oregon Newspa-
per Publishers Association
also recognized The Asto-
rian with several advertising
awards:
• First place in best color
merchandising ad for Brims
Farm & Garden.
• First place in best
multi-sponsor ROP ads for
the U.S. Coast Guard Salute.
• First place for most
eff ective use of small space
— Northwest Hardwoods.
• Second place best cam-
paign using print and online
— Columbia Memorial
Hospital.
• Second place best ad
series — City Lumber.
• Third place best house
ad, institutional section and
use of one color and black.
“The
Astorian
staff
showed that excellence
isn’t dependent on work-
ing inside of our building. It
is a team ethic that is rooted
in a commitment to serve
our community with credi-
ble, accurate, well-presented
content,” Kari Borgen, the
publisher of The Astorian,
said. “The general excel-
lence award is recognition
by our peers that The Asto-
rian demonstrated that com-
mitment in the pages of our
newspapers in this past chal-
lenging year.”
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patients cannot catch their
breath. ... They are, in
eff ect, drowning. It’s horri-
ble for the patients and it’s
also something that causes
horrible anguish for our
staff .”
About two-thirds of
Washington residents age
12 and older had been fully
vaccinated as of last week,
and 74% have received at
least one dose, according to
Washington Department of
Health data.
In conservative northern
Idaho, only about 4 in 10
eligible residents are fully
vaccinated. Hospitals there
are so packed that author-
ities announced last week
facilities would be allowed
to ration care, potentially
giving lifesaving care to
some patients at the expense
of others.
Hospitals there have
sent patients to hospitals in
Washington, particularly in
Spokane, though how many
is not clear. The New York
Times reported Monday
that as of last week, Provi-
dence Sacred Heart in Spo-
kane had patients from
Idaho taking up 29 beds.
Olney Grange
BEEF BAR-B-QUE
Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021 • 12:30 - 5:00 PM
Adults $ 15 00 • Children (under 10) $ 8 00
Beef Only $ 9.00/lb.
Take out available
Highway 202, Astoria • Public Welcome