149TH YEAR, NO. 39
DailyAstorian.com // TuEsDAY, sEpTEmbER 28, 2021
$1.50
WARRENTON
Crimes
show a
gap in
system
Agitated suspect released
after jail would not house him
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
Katie Frankowicz/The Astorian
Jennifer Shermerhorn, left, and Elise Rankin handle calls on a Friday afternoon at the Seaside Dispatch Center.
Astoria emergency dispatch
temporarily moving to Seaside
Call center short on staff
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
hort on staff for nearly two years,
Astoria’s emergency dispatch
center will temporarily move
operations to Seaside in October.
The dispatch center has been run-
ning with only a handful of dispatch-
ers since early 2020, a situation that
has required staff to shoulder a sig-
nificant amount of overtime each
month and that Astoria Police Chief
Geoff Spalding said is undesirable and
unsustainable. Meanwhile, the Seaside
Dispatch Center has been fully staffed
for a while for the first time in more
than a decade.
Over the past year, Seaside dis-
patchers have traveled north to help
out in Astoria, but the new agreement
between the two cities will place Asto-
ria’s four dispatchers in the Seaside
office until four new hires can be fully
trained. The arrangement could last as
long as six months.
The combined office will handle
911 calls countywide, together cov-
ering all the fire and police entities
served under separate Seaside and
Astoria dispatch agreements.
The arrangement means there will
be more dispatchers available to field
calls at any given time — a major plus
for emergency responders, said Mitch
Brown, the communications manager
for the Seaside Police Department.
The combined dispatch could shorten
the time it takes to organize mutual aid
calls.
S
Staffing levels
The Astoria Police Department
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Astoria dispatch has struggled to find staff.
can’t point to any one reason why
staffing levels have dipped so low.
Some dispatchers retired and others
left unexpectedly. Four new dispatch-
ers are in training or set to begin train-
ing soon and could be on board in the
next three to six months. The dispatch
center is authorized for nine full-time
dispatch positions, one operations
supervisor and one communications
manager.
It can easily take up to six months
to get someone proficient in dispatch-
ing. Then some hires ultimately dis-
cover the job is not for them once they
are working the desk. It is a difficult
job that requires a high level of multi-
tasking skills, Spalding said.
Then there are the peculiarities
and challenges of dispatching within
small communities. A dispatcher must
remain professional no matter what,
said Jennifer Schermerhorn, a Seaside
dispatcher.
“And you may know someone who
is calling 911 on the worst day of their
life,” she said.
Talks of consolidation — to com-
bine the two dispatch centers — have
occurred at various times over the
years with no concrete steps toward
a single countywide dispatch center.
Seaside has continued to invest in its
own equipment and continues to fine-
tune radio issues to reliably reach all
corners of its coverage area.
The combined operations set to
begin in October could act as a sort
of test run for future consolidation,
Brown allowed.
“We’ll be able to see what works
and what doesn’t work,” he said.
See Dispatch, Page A3
On Sept. 8, Steven Michael Wolf
allegedly threatened a Warrenton family, at
one point stepping into their house when a
mother and her daughters were inside.
When Warrenton police detained Wolf,
44, he was in an agitated state and a worker
at Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare’s crisis
team determined he was on something. A
doctor at Columbia Memorial Hospital’s
emergency department did not think Wolf
belonged at the hospital and cleared him to
be booked at Clatsop County Jail.
The jail nurse also examined him at the
jail’s sally port when he arrived and wor-
ried that the facility was not set up to care
for Wolf. Warrenton police took him again
to the hospital, where Wolf was again
cleared for the jail. Once more, the jail said
it did not feel comfortable lodging him,
given his state.
Unable to house him themselves, War-
renton police cited Wolf in lieu of an arrest
and released him that day. He still appeared
to be under the influence, Warrenton Police
Chief Mathew Workman said, but had
calmed a bit by then.
On Sept. 9, Wolf entered another War-
renton home and allegedly attempted
to rape the woman who lives there. Her
screams awoke her husband, who began
loading a shotgun, and Wolf took off. On
Sept. 12, he was arrested at the house of his
mother, who has a restraining order against
him.
Wolf is now in jail and faces nine
charges covering three incidents: the two
home invasions and the restraining order
violation.
His case speaks to law enforcement’s
limitations when it comes to handling sub-
jects whose conditions, often drug induced,
require an extra level of care. Wolf fell into
a gap in the system, where a hospital did
not believe he qualified to be a patient, but
the jail was not prepared to provide the care
he would have required.
“We are not a hospital,” Sheriff Matt
Phillips said. “Our jail isn’t an urgent care.
It’s not an emergency department.”
‘Hell no, you don’t’
There have been instances where
the sheriff’s office has monitored
subjects with medical issues, even
See Crimes, Page A3
MORE INSIDE
Dozens of new coronavirus cases
reported in county • A7
In Knappa, schools turn to therapist to help manage stress
Knighton brings
‘a little sunshine’
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
T
he last year-and-a-half has been
one big bundle of stress for
schools, students, parents and teach-
ers. Nationwide, convenience just
hasn’t been on their side.
Remote learning, social distanc-
ing, masks or no masks, the coro-
navirus pandemic caused more than
just the illness itself — it resulted
in a lot of pressure in and around
schools.
The Knappa School District has
taken a proactive approach by bring-
ing in a community connector to
help heal emotional wounds.
And they found just the right per-
son for the job.
“My expertise is in education, I
am a registered behavior therapist,”
said Ian Knighton, the Knappa dis-
trict’s recent hire.
Knighton works primarily with
the students. “What I like to say is,
I am enhancing the rich culture that
has already been established here at
Knappa, and trying to bridge the gap
between the community and the cul-
ture of our school.”
In regards to COVID, he said,
“Statistically, what has happened
is we have been deprived of our
social interactions in the world since
December of 2019. It really took
great effect in March of 2020.
“What I have seen is that our stu-
dents are of the generation that’s
pretty much technology dependent.
But due to the fact that we went vir-
tual in the hybrid schools, they really
don’t have interest in using comput-
ers,” because students were always
on computers during the pandemic.
“They have been socially
deprived, and they’re not getting the
social interaction that they normally
get from their peers and educators in
the school systems.
“That’s not just in Knappa, that’s
nationwide,” he said. “I have seen it
in different communities and differ-
ent demographics.”
Knappa Superintendent Bill Fritz
said the job of community connec-
tor “is a brand new position. Com-
munity members wanted to have
a position like this in our school to
support the students, the parents and
the staff.”
The school district “went on a
national search, and we ran into Ian,
who was working in Hawaii at the
time. It felt like it would be a good
fit, and he’s been a great addition to
our team.”
‘Reminds me of home’
Knighton, who worked in the
Vancouver School District several
years ago, is originally from Cuth-
bert, Georgia.
See Knighton, Page A3
Ian Knighton is the new community
connector for Knappa schools.