A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2022
IN BRIEF
Hospitals make testing appeal
as virus cases spike
CLOSE
CROP
Local hospitals have urged people not to come into
emergency rooms or urgent care clinics for COVID-19
testing as virus cases surge.
People are directed to contact the Clatsop County
Public Health Department at 503-325-8500 about test-
ing options at the county’s drive-thru testing site at
Camp Rilea in Warrenton.
“Clatsop County’s e mergency d epartment and
u rgent c are clinics are for treating emergencies and ill-
nesses,” the hospitals and county said in a statement
on Monday. “We need to keep them open for those
who need care. They are not the place for people sim-
ply looking for COVID testing.”
The Oregon Health Authority reported 55 new
coronavirus cases for the county on Friday.
Since the pandemic began, the county had recorded
3,062 virus cases as of Friday.
The health authority also reported a 37th virus-re-
lated death for the county.
The health authority said a 60-year-old man tested
positive for the virus on Aug. 16 and died on Aug. 27
at Providence Seaside Hospital. The state said he had
underlying health conditions.
Astoria man arrested after crash that
temporarily closed Astoria Bridge
An Astoria man was arrested Friday night for
drunken driving following a multivehicle crash that
closed the Astoria Bridge for a few hours.
Norbel Lopez Sereno, 36, was arrested for driving
under the infl uence of intoxicants, reckless driving and
reckless endangerment.
Offi cials say the incident started when a Chevrolet
Camaro driven by Sereno crossed into the northbound
lane, crashing head-on into another vehicle.
A third vehicle rear-ended the vehicle in the north-
bound lane, and a semitruck then crashed into the
Camaro, pushing it into another vehicle.
Sereno was extricated from the vehicle and taken
to Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria with seri-
ous injuries.
Offi cers found an odor of alcohol and open contain-
ers inside the Camaro, offi cials say.
— The Astorian
DEATH
Jan. 6, 2022
In POETSCH,
Brief
Melinda Mitchell, 61, of Warrenton,
died in Warrenton. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary
of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements.
Death
ON THE RECORD
Assault
DUII
On
the
• Ronald
Albert Record
Lafre-
• Chance Lynn Smith,
niere, 55, of Hammond,
was arrested for assault
in the fourth degree,
strangulation and men-
acing. All charges relate
to domestic violence.
The crimes are alleged
to have occurred on Fri-
day on Duane Street in
Astoria.
37, of St. Helens, was
arrested on Sunday at
Marine Drive and Second
Street in Astoria for driv-
ing under the infl uence of
intoxicants.
• Joseph Bailey Sellers,
53, of Astoria, was arrested
Thursday on 30th Street
and Marine Drive for DUII
and reckless driving.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Clatsop County Planning Commission, 10 a.m., (elec-
tronic meeting).
Clatsop Care Health District Board, 5 p.m., (electronic
meeting).
Lewis & Clark Fire Department Board, 6 p.m., main fi re
station, 34571 U.S. Highway 101 Business.
Cannon Beach City Council, 6 p.m., work session, (elec-
tronic meeting).
Warrenton City Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main
Ave.
Clatsop Community College Board, 6:30 p.m., (electronic
meeting).
WEDNESDAY
Clatsop Soil and Water Conservation District Board,
10 a.m., Oregon State University Extension Service, Confer-
ence Room 231, 2001 Marine Drive, Astoria.
Port of Astoria Finance Advisory Committee, 1 p.m.,
(electronic meeting).
Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, 6 p.m., (elec-
tronic meeting).
Warrenton-Hammond School District Board, 6 p.m.,
Warrenton High School Library, 1700 S. Main Ave.
Gearhart City Council, 6:30 p.m., work session on election
law training, (electronic meeting).
THURSDAY
Seaside Civic and Convention Center Commission,
5 p.m., 415 First Ave.
Gearhart Planning Commission, 6 p.m., (electronic
meeting).
PUBLIC MEETINGS: JAN. 11,
2022
Established July 1, 1873
(USPS 035-000)
Published Tuesday, Thursday
and Saturday by EO Media Group,
949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR
97103 Telephone 503-325-3211,
800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
The Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR
97103-0210
DailyAstorian.com
Circulation phone number:
800-781-3214
Periodicals postage paid at Astoria, OR
ADVERTISING OWNERSHIP
All advertising copy and illustrations
prepared by The Astorian become the
property of The Astorian and may not
be reproduced for any use without
explicit prior approval.
COPYRIGHT ©
Entire contents © Copyright,
2022 by The Astorian.
MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF
CIRCULATIONS, INC.
Printed on
recycled paper
Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
A photographer takes photos while a wave crashes over logs at Cape Disappointment State Park earlier this month.
Seaside man sues state hospital,
alleging sexual abuse as patient
Abuse allegedly
occurred in the
late 1990s
By ARDESHIR
TABRIZIAN
Salem Reporter
SALEM — A Seaside
man is suing Oregon State
Hospital, claiming he was
sexually abused as a patient
in the late 1990s by a psy-
chiatric aide who was later
convicted of sexually abus-
ing three underage boys and
attempting to kill one of his
victims.
The man sued the hospi-
tal, former employee Frank
James Milligan and the Ore-
gon Department of Human
Services in late December
in Marion County Circuit
Court, seeking $3 million in
damages.
The complaint alleges
Milligan was allowed access
to the man when he was 16
as a psychiatric aide and
used his position of author-
ity to abuse him and other
young boys.
Milligan has been in the
custody of the state Depart-
ment of Corrections for over
21 years, having been con-
victed of abusing boys in
three separate criminal cases
in 2000, 2001 and 2015.
He is incarcerated at Ore-
gon State Correctional Insti-
tution in Salem, with his
earliest release being in Sep-
tember 2071, according to
the state’s website.
The complaint said Milli-
gan was hired in 1994 as a
psychiatric aide at the state
hospital in Salem. At an
unspecifi ed time, the man
— then 16 — had signifi cant
health issues that required
his admission to the state
hospital, which cares for
Oregonians with mental ill-
nesses who are court-or-
dered to get treatment.
At the time, the state
hospital operated under the
state human services depart-
ment’s direction before a
2009 law split off some pro-
grams to form the Oregon
Health Authority. The health
authority has been the hos-
pital’s parent agency since
July 2011.
Representatives
for
the state hospital and the
Department of Human Ser-
vices declined to comment
on the allegations in the suit.
Matthew Sweeney, the attor-
ney representing the plain-
tiff in the lawsuit, could not
A $3 million lawsuit has been fi led against the Oregon State Hospital alleging sex abuse.
THE COMPLAINT ALLEGES
FRANK JAMES MILLIGAN
WAS ALLOWED ACCESS TO
THE MAN WHEN HE WAS 16
AS A PSYCHIATRIC AIDE
AND USED HIS POSITION OF
AUTHORITY TO ABUSE HIM
AND OTHER YOUNG BOYS.
be reached for comment
Friday.
According to the com-
plaint, Milligan sexually
abused the patient when he
was at the hospital.
The victim is identifi ed
in public court documents,
but Salem Reporter does not
identify victims of sexual
abuse.
Due to Milligan’s threats
of punishment and his
authority to infl ict it, the
complaint said, the man
was reasonably afraid Milli-
gan would physically retal-
iate or kill him. He did not
report Milligan’s abuse to
anyone at the state hospital
and repressed all thoughts
of the abuse he had suff ered,
according to the complaint.
The man returned home
to Seaside after his release
from the state hospital. The
complaint said Milligan
went to Seaside and threat-
ened to kill him if he ever
told anyone what happened,
the complaint said.
After Milligan threat-
ened him, the man repressed
memories of the abuse, the
complaint said. Unable to
Subscription rates
Eff ective January 12, 2021
MAIL
EZpay (per month) ...............................................................................................................$10.75
13 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$37.00
26 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$71.00
52 weeks in advance ........................................................................................................ $135.00
DIGITAL
EZpay (per month) .................................................................................................................$8.25
WANTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
mentally process what he’d
endured at the state hospital,
he suff ered many setbacks in
life and had trouble fi nding
his place in the world.
The man struggled to
fi nd housing and provide
for himself and eventually
became homeless. “Living
on the streets aggravated his
already delicate mental state
and (he) had many encoun-
ters with the criminal justice
system,” the complaint said.
The complaint said he
and many others fell victim
to a pattern of abuse of chil-
dren under the state hospi-
tal’s supervision and care.
It went on to say the
abuse was a result of state
hospital and Department
of Human Services lead-
ership lacking oversight of
employees, their facilities
lacking proper security and
monitoring, the hospital fail-
ing to report suspected abuse
to the Department of Human
Services , and “the culture in
which the abuse of juveniles
was not taken seriously.”
The complaint also
said the state hospital and
Department of Human Ser-
vices didn’t put in place
eff ective policies and pro-
cedures to prevent abuse
as new cases of abuse by
employees came to light,
and that they didn’t termi-
nate Milligan’s employ-
ment when the Department
of Human Services knew or
should’ve known the threat
he posed.
As a direct result of the
state hospital’s and Milli-
gan’s abuse, negligence and
violation of rights, the com-
plaint said, the man has suf-
fered “severe and debilitat-
ing emotional injury, pain
and suff ering, emotional
trauma, and permanent psy-
chological damage.” He will
also incur costs for counsel-
ing, psychiatric and psycho-
logical medical treatment,
and reduced ability to earn
income due to the abuse, the
complaint said.
Milligan
previously
pleaded guilty in July 2000
in Clatsop County to two
counts of attempted fi rst-de-
gree sodomy and fi rst-de-
gree sexual abuse, admitting
to abusing a boy under 12
in August 1997, according
court documents. He was
sentenced to six years and
three months in prison.
Milligan was indicted in
August 2000 on charges of
attempted aggravated mur-
der, fi rst-degree kidnapping,
two counts of fi rst-degree
sodomy and fi rst-degree
sexual abuse. The charges
alleged he abused and tried
to kill a diff erent boy under
12 in July 2000. He pleaded
guilty to all charges in
August 2001 and was sen-
tenced to 30 years in prison.
In September 2015,
a jury in Marion County
found Milligan guilty of two
counts of fi rst-degree sex-
ual abuse and fi rst-degree
unlawful sexual penetra-
tion, court records showed.
The Dec. 30 complaint said
the victim was a minor in
his custody at MacLaren
Youth Correctional Facility
in Woodburn.
A Marion County Cir-
cuit Court judge sentenced
him to 35 years in prison on
those charges.