150TH YEAR, NO. 19
WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 2022
$1.50
Grant
to help
food
bank
USDA money for
rural health care
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
Photos by Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Signs at the Astoria Bridge caution pedestrians and offer suicide counseling.
State to take steps to reduce the
risk of suicides at Astoria Bridge
Signs, an enlarged gate,
fencing among options
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
A
fter a series of tragedies and
close calls, the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation plans to
take steps to reduce the risk of suicides
at the Astoria Bridge.
The state does not keep an official
count, but several people have leapt
off the bridge in recent years.
In January, a 29-year-old Astoria
man died after jumping off the bridge
and landing on the grass east of Suomi
Hall.
Another man with a history of men-
tal health issues scaled the bridge
twice this year.
One night in late July, a Kia was
found abandoned on the bridge, block-
ing the northbound lane. The owner is
listed as a missing person, the Oregon
State Police said.
“The Megler Bridge is a draw for
suicide or suicide attempts,” Monica
Steele, the assistant Clatsop County
manager, said this month at a Public
Safety Coordinating Council meeting.
County leaders recently met virtu-
ally with Department of Transporta-
tion staff to discuss a range of options.
In the near future, the department
will post bridge signs with the 988
Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, the new
national suicide-prevention number,
according to Mark Buffington, the
department’s district manager on the
North Coast.
The department may also enlarge a
deck-level gate, currently topped with
barbed wire, that allows access to the
top of the span. People have managed
The
Oregon
Department
of
Transportation does not keep an official
count, but several people have leapt off
the Astoria Bridge in recent years.
to bypass it and ascend the steps to the
bridge’s highest point.
Other bridges, such as the Golden
Gate Bridge in San Francisco, have
had netting installed to help catch peo-
ple who jump. At the Astoria Bridge,
the cormorant population could pose
problems.
“I’m afraid that if we put netting
down, we create a platform for nest-
ing,” Buffington said. “But it is in
discussion.”
Fencing may be another option,
though a retrofit would be years away.
“There’s currently no funding for that
type of change,” Buffington said, add-
ing, “It would be a major construction
project.”
The Astoria Bridge, completed in
1966, was designed to bear a certain
weight and withstand winds of a cer-
tain speed. To add fencing to the super-
structure would require the department
to study the feasibility and engineering.
Steele told the Public Safety Coor-
dinating Council that the county would
work with its lobbying firm to find
potential funding for a study.
Another idea from the county-De-
partment of Transportation meeting is
to post signage telling drivers to call
911 if they see someone walking on
the bridge, an action considered tres-
passing. Current signs caution pedes-
trians not to walk on the span and offer
suicide counseling.
The Department of Transportation
can be reluctant to put up nonstan-
dard signage. The department tries to
adhere to the Manual on Uniform Traf-
fic Control Devices, Buffington said.
The death of Carrie Barnhart, a
54-year-old woman who jumped off
the Astoria Bridge in 2015, led to an
examination of the gaps in the coun-
ty’s mental health safety net. Barn-
hart had a history of schizophrenia and
depression and had been pulled from
the bridge by police a week before her
suicide. Her family settled a wrong-
ful death claim against Clatsop Behav-
ioral Healthcare, the county’s mental
health and substance abuse treatment
provider, over her treatment.
Sheriff Matt Phillips told the Public
Safety Coordinating Council that what
is needed is “more capable guard-
ians,” people who feel empowered to
look after their fellow citizens and call
emergency responders when they see
someone on the bridge.
“We got citizens all over the place,”
the sheriff said. “Here’s an opportunity
to use them.”
Margi Hoffmann, the state director of
rural development for the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture, visited the North
Coast this week to meet with stakehold-
ers and announce a substantial grant to a
regional food bank.
The grant, totaling $237,900, will
help pay for the expansion of refriger-
ation capacity at Clatsop Community
Action’s food distribution facility in War-
renton. The emergency rural health care
grant coincides with additional funding
from the Roundhouse Foundation and
the Columbia Pacific Coordinated Care
Organization.
The money will go toward replac-
ing the walk-in cooler and freezer at the
organization’s warehouse, remodeling the
existing dry storage area and the purchase
of two new refrigerated trucks.
NEW REFRIGERATED
TRUCKS WILL BE A
SIGNIFICANT BOOST
“It’s incredibly important because food
bank infrastructure used to provide cans
and canned goods to people, but this will
provide them with the ability to grow,”
Hoffmann said. “It will expand their abil-
ity to provide fresh produce to people and
culturally specific food to community
members, which is really important.”
Since nearly half of the food bank’s
distribution is done through mobile deliv-
ery to people in need throughout Clatsop
County, the new refrigerated trucks will
be a significant boost, Dusten Martin, the
chief operations officer for the regional
food bank, said.
“It’s a big part of what we do,” he said.
“The majority of the pounds we distrib-
ute come out of our freezer and cooler, so
it’s important, it’s a big support for our
operation.
“It also makes a little rural county and
a little rural food bank like us a little more
self-sufficient.”
Hoffmann, who has been in her role
since January but served in a number of
rural development positions over the past
two decades, emphasized that the invest-
ment from the Biden administration in
rural communities has been “once in a
generation.”
“(The rural development’s) role at
See Grant, Page A2
Boles crowned Astoria Regatta queen
Scholarships awarded
to participants
By ALEXIS WEISEND
The Astorian
The bathroom of the Liberty
Theatre was packed with curling
irons, hairbrushes and excited girls
in floor-length blue dresses.
Family and friends helped the
girls do their makeup and hair while
others practiced their speeches in
the mirror. The girls offered advice
and reassurance to each other.
They had been waiting for this
moment for almost a year.
ASTORIA REGATTA
The Grand Land Parade takes
place at noon on Saturday
downtown.
For a full Regatta schedule, go
to: astoriaregatta.com
The Astoria Regatta held the
queen’s coronation Wednesday
night, crowning Leah Boles, who is
entering her senior year at Seaside
High School.
“ I have no words to describe
what an honor this is, especially
being surrounded by such a group of
amazing women,” Boles said. “It’s
truly been an amazing experience.”
One of Oregon’s oldest tradi-
tions, the Astoria Regatta started in
1894 to celebrate the return of fish-
ermen from Alaska. The annual tra-
dition has only been interrupted
by World War I, the Astoria fire of
1922, World War II and the corona-
virus pandemic.
Girls from local high schools
interview with the Astoria Regatta
Association to become princesses
on the Regatta court. The prin-
cesses write speeches based on the
Regatta theme and deliver them at
community events.
On stage at the queen’s corona-
tion at the Liberty, the princesses
give their speeches one last time.
With this year’s theme being “Just
Wanna Have Fun,” the princesses
spoke about entertainment.
The judges choose a queen
based on her public speaking skills
and ability to answer questions.
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
See Regatta, Page A2
Leah Boles was crowned Astoria Regatta queen Wednesday night at the
Liberty Theatre.