A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2022
IN BRIEF
Police investigate bank robbery in Astoria
Police are investigating a bank robbery that
occurred in downtown Astoria on Thursday.
A report at about 12:30 p.m. said a man who appeared
in his 50s or 60s entered Lewis & Clark Bank on Com-
mercial Street. He presented a note to a teller and left
with an undisclosed amount of money, police said.
The suspect was described as wearing sunglasses,
a black beanie, a black-and-blue raincoat, black pants
and black shoes. He was last seen walking on 10th
Street toward Marine Drive, police said.
“For the weather, the clothing should have been
fairly noticeable to people,” Astoria Deputy Police
Chief Eric Halverson said.
Virus death reported by county
Clatsop County has reported a 52nd coronavi-
rus-related death.
On June 18, a 75-year-old woman died of the virus
at an area hospital, the county reported.
No other information was immediately available, includ-
ing whether she had been vaccinated against COVID-19.
State discloses virus cases at local schools
The Oregon Health Authority has disclosed four
new coronavirus cases at schools in Clatsop County.
Three cases — one student and two staff members
— were from Astoria High School, according to the
health authority’s biweekly outbreak report.
The other case was a student from Warrenton Mid-
dle School.
Two arrested after car crash in Warrenton
Two men allegedly involved in a car crash in War-
renton on Wednesday were arrested for possession of
a stolen vehicle and other charges.
Christopher Courtney Jessup, 47, of Kennewick,
Washington, was also charged with unauthorized use of
a motor vehicle, failure to carry or present a license, a
hit-and-run involving property and driving uninsured.
Christopher Michael Vivona, 29, of San Emidio, Cali-
fornia, was also charged with giving false information to
avoid citation. He had a warrant out for his arrest.
The crash occurred at S.E. Discovery and S.E. Ensign lanes.
Fishery managers add
Chinook fi shing days
Fishery managers have added 13 days of summer
Chinook fi shing below Bonneville Dam, lasting from
Friday through July 13.
Sockeye retention will also be permitted as part
of the adult salmon bag limit from Friday to July 31
from the Astoria Bridge to the Highway 395 Bridge in
Pasco, Washington. Sockeye can only be tagged on a
combined angling tag.
The bag limit is two adult salmonids, with no more than
one steelhead. The bag limit for jack salmon is fi ve fi sh.
A total of 239,575 sockeye have been counted at
Bonneville Dam through June 26, 60% higher than
the recent 10-year average, according to the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
June 30, 2022
Deaths
MILLER, Dr. Rodney
Spexarth, 100, of Clats-
kanie, formerly of Astoria,
died in Clatskanie. Cald-
well’s Luce-Layton Mor-
tuary of Astoria is in charge
of the arrangements.
June 29, 2022
GLORIA,
Luisito
Sengco, 81, of Seaside,
died in Seaside. Ocean
View Funeral & Crema-
tion Service of Astoria is in
charge of the arrangements.
OLSON, William Pat-
rick, 86, of Nehalem, died
in Nehalem. Caldwell’s
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
June 26, 2022
McCLINTOCK, Ron-
ald James, 82, of Knappa,
died in Knappa. Ocean
View Funeral & Crema-
tion Service of Astoria is in
charge of the arrangements.
ON THE RECORD
Assault
On
• Jose the
Enrique Record
Gutierrez Sanchez, 28, of Astoria,
was arrested on Tuesday on W. Marine Drive in Asto-
ria for fourth-degree assault and strangulation, both
charges constituting domestic violence.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Seaside Community Center Commission, 10 a.m., Bob
Chisholm Community Center, 1225 Avenue A.
Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., 10 Pier 1, Suite 209.
Seaside Library Board, 4:30 p.m, 1131 Broadway.
Cannon Beach City Council, 5 p.m., City Hall, 163 E.
Gower Ave.
Clatsop County Fair Board, 5:30 p.m., 92937 Walluski Loop.
Miles Crossing Sanitary Sewer District Board, 6 p.m.,
34583 U.S. Highway 101 Business.
Seaside Planning Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989
Broadway.
Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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SURF
GULL
Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
A sea gull in the surf on the Long Beach Peninsula.
False gun threat leads to
precautions in Gearhart
City Council will
meet via Zoom
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
GEARHART — A false
gun threat has led to city pre-
cautions, Police Chief Jeff
Bowman said , including a
Zoom-only City Council
meeting on Wednesday .
Conversations from pri-
vate Facebook groups admin-
istered by local residents led
to reports of potential gun
use at an upcoming c ouncil
meeting.
The reports of threats were
unfounded, Clatsop County
Sheriff Matt Phillips said in
an incident report. The sher-
iff determined the discussion
had been distorted via word-
of-mouth and social media.
The issue surfaced in the
aftermath of the contentious
May vote on a fi rehouse bond
measure . After the bond mea-
sure failed , residents who had
opposed the bond appeared
at the City Council meet-
ing on June 1 and threatened
to recall the mayor and city
councilors, who had endorsed
the measure .
Paulina Cockrum resigned
as mayor the next day, citing
personal reasons.
On June 3, an anonymous
social media post alarmed
acting Mayor Kerry Smith
enough to tell City Admin-
istrator Chad Sweet he was
concerned about people car-
rying weapons to public
meetings.
“In regard to the risk of
CONVERSATIONS FROM
PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUPS
ADMINISTERED BY LOCAL
RESIDENTS LED TO REPORTS
OF POTENTIAL GUN USE AT AN
UPCOMING C OUNCIL MEETING.
violence, I was sent a screen-
shot of two handguns, a bot-
tle of s cotch and a Bible with
a caption that made me ill
because of its content,” Smith
said this week . “I considered
it hate-mongering in tone, and
because it came from a person
who frequents social media,
I felt it showed a real lack
of responsibility in the indi-
vidual, which in turn, made
me think safety and secu-
rity needed beefi ng up at C ity
H all. Threats to people in our
community will elicit a timely
response by the city.”
Smith asked for better
security doors and a metal
detector to prevent weapons
from entering C ity H all.
Sweet sent an email to city
councilors and Smith ask-
ing to get all sources of the
threats or perceived threats
in the form of emails, texts or
screenshots.
His message was trans-
mitted by word-of-mouth
to a member of T he Pacifi c
Way Group, who referred to
a potential for violence at the
next City C ouncil meeting.
On June 8, Beth Cameron,
an opponent of the fi rehouse
bond, reported social media
posts to the sheriff ’s offi ce
after reading on Facebook
Hospital dropped from lawsuit over loss of leg
Columbia Memorial
was incorrectly named
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
Columbia Memorial Hos-
pital has been dropped from
a lawsuit involving a man
who claims his right leg
was amputated after a doc-
tor failed to accurately diag-
nose him.
The lawsuit, fi led by
Douglas Flesey in Circuit
Court in March, named the
Astoria hospital as a defen-
dant doing business as the
Lower Columbia Clinic.
“CMH was incorrectly
named in this lawsuit as
being the owner of the
Lower Columbia Clinic,”
Erik Thorsen, the hospital’s
CEO , wrote in a statement.
“CMH does not own or
operate the Lower Columbia
Clinic and has been offi cially
dismissed from the lawsuit.”
The complaint says that in
October 2018, Flesey visited
the Lower Columbia Clinic
after a thorn had punctured
his foot, which had become
infected.
His doctor, Thomas Dun-
can, prescribed antibiotics.
Flesey’s foot developed a
necrotic ulceration, accord-
ing to the complaint.
Flesey claims that Dun-
can neglected to sanitize
the wound before remov-
ing dead tissue, and that the
doctor wiped the wound
with a pad that had been on
the fl oor absorbing Flesey’s
blood.
Duncan removed Fle-
sey’s bandages a week
later. The wound had turned
black; the discoloration had
spread to two toes, and later
four, according to the com-
plaint. Gangrene had set in.
Over several visits, Dun-
can prescribed multiple
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that Sweet “was saying there
would be guns at the next City
Council meeting,” the sheriff
said in his incident report.
Cameron told the sher-
iff she was concerned that
Sweet was “unstable,” high-
lighting past troubles related
to alcohol.
The rumored threat came
just days after the mass shoot-
ing at a school in Uvalde,
Texas, Cameron said Friday.
“I was understandably con-
cerned for the safety of every
single person attending City
Council meetings, ” she said.
Chief Bowman wrote in
his blog in early June that
City Hall did receive an anon-
ymous letter , she said.
“So what did I falsely
report? ... I reported because
I would never have been able
to live with myself if someone
had been hurt, or killed, and I
had known about that poten-
tial from social media rumors
beforehand, ” she said.
Jack Zimmerman, an
administrator of The Pacifi c
Way Group , also contacted
the sheriff ’s offi ce about the
matter .
The sheriff ’s offi ce deter-
mined that the discussion
had been distorted . Instead
of Sweet being proactive in
ensuring security at meetings,
messaging led to a percep-
tion Sweet was either going
to bring a fi rearm to a meeting
or invite others to bring them,
the sheriff said in his incident
report.
“Sweet was aware of the
misinformation being spread
and we discussed the email
he sent,” Phillips said. “Mr.
Sweet has no inclination
whatsoever to bring fi rearms
of any type to a meeting.”
Zimmerman, one of the
leading opponents of the bond
measure and a critic of Sweet ,
said his report to the sheriff ’s
offi ce wasn’t motivated by
politics.
“The question on my part
— and I know on Beth Cam-
eron’s part — was if there
were in fact, people coming
to City Council with guns,
why was this not reported?”
he asked. “One, to the county
sheriff ; two, to the residents
of Gearhart; and then three,
what were the actions that
would be taken to protect the
residents?”
Along with the Zoom-only
meeting next week, the City
C ouncil could consider addi-
tional measures regulating
fi rearms on city property.
“Due to possible negative
reactions by others from these
social media posts and the
members themselves, certain
precautions should be taken,”
Bowman said. “Everyone
should be able to feel a sense
of safety at a public meeting
or gatherings. By making a
few adjustments and setting
forth some security protocols,
citizens will have just that.”
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rounds of antibiotics that
proved ineff ective, the com-
plaint says.
A vascular surgeon at a
Portland hospital eventually
informed Flesey that the foot
had about 30% blood fl ow,
the complaint says. On Nov.
15, 2018, Flesey’s leg was
amputated below the knee.
The complaint says that
Flesey’s health and quality
of life have diminished as a
result of the amputation and
mobility loss. He has had to
use a wheelchair and a pros-
thetic leg, undergo physical
therapy and modify his liv-
ing environment, the com-
plaint says.
Flesey is seeking more
than $2.8 million covering
medical expenses, noneco-
nomic damages and other
costs.
Duncan could not imme-
diately be reached for
comment.
Patrick Angel, Flesey’s
Lake Oswego-based attor-
ney, could not be reached for
comment.
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