A2
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022
IN BRIEF
ECOLA ELK
State fi shery managers fi nalize
salmon and steelhead seasons
Oregon and Washington state fi shery managers
have fi nalized seasons and regulations for the Colum-
bia River summer and fall recreational salmon and
steelhead fi sheries.
Upriver summer steelhead’s forecast of 99,700
is below average, requiring conservative retention
regulations.
There will be no directed sockeye fi shery in the
Columbia River downstream of the Wenatchee
River confl uence, due to a forecast of 19,200
Wenatchee River sockeye, which is below the escape-
ment goal.
Retention of adult hatchery Chinook will open June
16 for the summer season and is expected to continue
through June 22 downstream of Bonneville Dam.
Hatchery steelhead retention will be allowed June 16
to July 31 from the Astoria Bridge upstream to The
Dalles Dam.
Chinook retention seasons start Aug. 1 with
mark-selective rules at Buoy 10 through Aug. 24 and
closures of salmonid angling upstream of west Puget
Island when Chinook retention is prohibited.
In response to a low forecast for upriver summer
steelhead, there is a one hatchery steelhead daily bag
limit when open, area-specifi c retention closures and
thermal angling sanctuaries in portions near the mouth
of the Columbia River and other tributaries.
Fishery managers
add fi shing days on river
Fishery managers have adopted additional fi shing
days on the Columbia River beginning Thursday.
Downstream of Bonneville Dam, the additional
season will be from Thursday to May 22 and June 4
to June 15.
Bag limit is two adult hatchery Chinook or steel-
head salmonids per day, one Chinook maximum. Shad
can also be retained.
The open area includes the Tongue Point/Rocky
Point line upstream to Beacon Rock, with bank angling
only from Beacon Rock to Bonneville Dam.
The additional fi shing days follow a projected
return of over 161,800 upriver-origin adult spring
Chinook, exceeding the preseason forecast by 38,900
fi sh.
— The Astorian
Investigators looking into
fatal crash in Ilwaco
ILWACO, Wash. — Investigators are piecing
together a crash near the Ilwaco Fuel Dock that left a
woman and two teenagers dead.
The driver was identifi ed as Kimberly A. Pickering,
39, of Long Beach, her daughter Mya A. Edwards, 15,
of Ocean Park, and a friend, Nevaeh A. Longcrow, 15,
of Ilwaco.
The crash occurred sometime between the late-
night hours last Thursday and the early-morning hours
on Friday.
According to law enforcement offi cers, who
responded to the scene at about 6 a.m. on Friday, the
vehicle was noticed by a port worker who observed
tires protruding from the murky water.
— Chinook Observer
DEATHS
May 10, 2022
Deaths
MASSEY,
Robert
Buren, 58, of Warrenton,
died in Portland. Ocean
View Funeral & Cre-
mation Service of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
May 9, 2022
BONNER,
Glenda
Marie, 83, of Sea-
side, died in Seaside.
Caldwell’s
Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
CHO, Hiram Syd-
ney Kalino, 52, of Asto-
ria, died in Astoria.
Caldwell’s
Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
May 8, 2022
ALVA, Jorge Mota,
46, of Seaside, died
in Seaside. Caldwell’s
Funeral & Cremation
Arrangement Center of
Seaside is in charge of the
arrangements.
JOHNSON, Gail, 70,
of Warrenton, died in
Warrenton. Hughes-Ran-
som Mortuary is in charge
of the arrangements.
ON THE RECORD
DUII
On
the
Record
• Felipe
Hernandez-Garcia,
19, of Spokane, Wash-
ington, was arrested on Tuesday at W. Marine Drive
and the Astoria Bridge for driving under the infl uence
of intoxicants and reckless driving.
THURSDAY
Seaside Civic and Convention Center Commission,
5 p.m., 415 First Ave.
Gearhart Planning Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 698
Pacifi c Way.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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DailyAstorian.com
A rare contested race
for appeals court judge
Ortega facing a
challenge from Day
By ZANE SPARLING
The Oregonian
Voters will encounter something
unusual while fi lling out their May bal-
lot for one seat on the Oregon Court of
Appeals this year: a choice.
Judge Darleen Ortega, who has
served on the appellate court since
2003, is facing a challenge from
Vance Day, a former Oregon Republi-
can Party chairman whom the Oregon
Supreme Court suspended from his
role as a Marion County judge in 2018
for making false statements.
Day says the real reason behind his
suspension was his religious opposi-
tion to gay marriage, which became
apparent when he refused to marry
same-sex couples.
The statewide race for a six-year
term is the fi rst real electoral test for
Ortega, who at 59 is the fi rst woman of
color and the only Latina to serve on
Oregon’s second-highest court.
The incumbent says that while non-
partisan judges are elected to deter-
mine the facts, not represent constitu-
encies, the absence of people of color
from positions of power can omit
important perspectives, such as when
the 13 Court of Appeals judges confer
as a group.
“As a result, I think the process is
missing key information, resulting in
biased outcomes,” Ortega said in a
written reply to questions. “My expe-
riences as a Latina from a challeng-
ing background, along with my com-
passion, help me to be curious about
things that others miss, and regularly
help me to deepen the conversations
we have at the court as we apply the
law.”
For his part, Day, 61, says he will
bring ideological diversity to the
appellate court. Describing himself as
a strict constructionist who interprets
the Constitution as it was originally
intended, Day claims that Ortega and
other judges have embraced an “equity
doctrine” that picks winners and losers.
“You can’t have a justice system
which views those in the system dif-
Darleen Ortega
Vance Day
ferently depending upon their color,
their experience or whether they’re
an oppressor or an oppressed person,”
he said. “Our laws should be applied
to all people in all places at all times
equally.”
Single-candidate races featur-
ing only the incumbent judge are the
norm in the Oregon judiciary, as most
judges choose to retire midterm, allow-
ing the governor to handpick their suc-
cessors, who can then run as an incum-
bent during the next election. While
the court itself does not track con-
tested races, they are exceedingly rare,
although defense attorney Kyle Krohn
made them less so in recent years.
Krohn lost to incumbent Judge Rex
Armstrong in 2018. Incumbent Judge
Joel DeVore also defeated Krohn in the
May 2020 primary. In both cases, the
incumbents won handily.
Adrian Brown, a former assistant
U.S. Attorney in Oregon, triumphed
over attorney Rima Ghandour in
another hotly-contested judgeship in
Multnomah County Circuit Court in
2020.
This year’s face-off has also led to
an unusual degree of fund raising. Cam-
paign fi nance records show Ortega has
taken in $81 ,000 . Day has collected
$59 ,000 .
Ortega had never reported raising
any money for any of her three a ppeals
c ourt campaigns. Day had never raised
more than $1,150 for any of his judi-
cial campaigns, state records indicate.
Day, whose family has lived in Ore-
gon for generations, has a history of
generating controversial headlines.
The Oregon Supreme Court’s deci-
sion to suspend him followed a recom-
mendation from the state’s Commis-
sion on Judicial Fitness and Disability.
The ruling was spurred by controver-
sies regarding Day’s refusal to marry
same-sex couples and a portrait of
Adolf Hitler that was part of a large
art display in the Veterans Treatment
Court over which Day presided.
Felony gun charges and misde-
meanor misconduct charges, which
centered on allegations that Day had let
a felon handle a gun, were dismissed at
the last minute in 2018 after a key wit-
ness refused to testify.
Day says Oregon’s gun laws were
“weaponized” against him for his
views on gay marriage.
“My actions infuriated those,
frankly, who had anointed themselves
as the arbiters of right or wrong,” he
said. “The justice system must not
become a political punishment and
reward system.”
Ortega has occupied a spot near the
limelight for years as an appeals court
judge who also wrote fi lm criticism
for two Portland newspapers. She’s
also a law instructor who has pushed
to let Oregon students attain their law
license via practical experience as an
alternative to the bar exam.
After nearly two decades on the
bench, Ortega says she remains one
of the most productive and engaged
judges on the court and is dedicated
to breaking down the barriers people
from marginalized populations face in
the legal system.
“We fi rst have to recognize the bar-
riers to true equity, which means active
looking and listening, followed by
acknowledgment and real systemic
change,” she said. “No one has done
more to increase diversity of thought
and perspective in the judiciary than I
have.”
County Public Health Department discloses virus cases among staff
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Printed on
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By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
The Clatsop County Pub-
lic Health Department on
Tuesday disclosed three
coronavirus cases among
department staff .
The virus cases did not
interrupt public health oper-
ations, Margo Lalich, the
department’s interim direc-
tor, said.
The employees who con-
tracted the virus did so inde-
pendently of each other and
are now back at work. No
one showed up at the depart-
ment with symptoms, Lalich
said.
“It’s hard, particularly
when you work in a health-
care setting, because staff
feel very committed and
obligated to show up for
work because they’re care-
takers, right? They take care
of other people,” Lalich
said. “But we are adamant
with our policy in public
health that, if anyone pres-
ents with any symptoms of
any sort, they report to their
supervisor and they don’t
come to work. And we are
uncompromising in wearing
masks.”
All public health staff
have been vaccinated and
boosted. These measures
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don’t make a person immune
from the virus; they provide
protection from severe ill-
ness and other adverse out-
comes, she said.
“We’re doing the best
we can because we’re pub-
lic health, and we need to be
healthy and well to take care
of the public,” Lalich said.
COVID-19 is increas-
ingly presenting “like a
really nasty head cold,”
with symptoms that include
fever, fatigue and brain fog,
she said.
In June 2020, Michael
McNickle, who at the time
was the director of the Pub-
lic Health Department, dis-
closed that he had tested pos-
itive for the virus. He called
it “a teachable moment
because it shows that any-
body can get COVID.”
The new virus cases at the
Public Health Department
were disclosed as cases have
risen in the county.
On April 1, Gov. Kate
Brown lifted the COVID-19
emergency declaration. The
state’s indoor mask mandate
had gone away a few weeks
earlier.
Daily v irus case counts
remained relatively low in
Clatsop County until late
April and early May, when
they began climbing into the
double digits.
As of May 4, the county
had seen 4,727 virus cases
and 50 deaths, accord-
ing to the Oregon Health
Authority.
“Without masks, and with
people gathering the way
they’ve always gathered in
the past, inevitably we’re
going to have more commu-
nity spread, just like we’re
seeing more fl u and just the
common cold,” Lalich said.
“And so this shouldn’t be a
surprise to anyone.”