A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2022
IN BRIEF
Fire displaces six people in Seaside
SEASIDE — A fi re in a duplex on Avenue B dis-
placed six residents late Tuesday.
Police received the report shortly after 9 p.m.,
Fire Chief Joey Daniels said. Police evacuated res-
idents prior to arrival and were able to contain the
fi re to one side of the duplex.
The fi re was deemed accidental, Daniels said.
Overdose Awareness Day
planned by county
Overdose Awareness Day, an event to remember
friends and family who have died from drug over-
doses, will take place at the Barbey Maritime Cen-
ter in Astoria on Aug. 31.
The Clatsop County Public Health Department
will host the event from 5 to 8 p.m.
Attendees will see educational presentations.
A candlelight vigil will honor loved ones lost. An
opportunity to train on, and get supplies of, Narcan,
a medication used to reverse drug overdoses, will be
off ered, the county said.
People will also have a chance to tell their own
stories. They can also share a photo of someone
they lost to an overdose on an interactive memorial
space, the county said.
“Overdose deaths are preventable — we can
do something and we all must do something,” the
county said.
Ultralight aircraft fl ies
into tree near Knappa
An ultralight aircraft taking off from Karpens
Airport in the Knappa area on Wednesday fl ew into
a tree, the Astoria Fire Department said.
Astoria assisted the Knappa Fire District in the
incident.
The pilot, who declined medical treat-
ment, reached the ground using a ladder truck
from Astoria, Knappa Fire Chief Kurt Donaldson
said.
“These types of incidents demonstrate how well
our Clatsop County (fi re departments) work together
to resolve complex incidents that in this case we
don’t see often,” the Astoria Fire Department wrote
in a Facebook post.
Body of Washington state
man recovered
The body of Aaron Tyler Blake, 37, of Belling-
ham, Washington, has been recovered, Oregon State
Police confi rmed.
Blake was discovered on Aug. 12 in the Colum-
bia River near Jetty A, according to the Clatsop
County Sheriff ’s Offi ce.
On the night of July 27, Blake’s car was found
abandoned in the Astoria Bridge’s northbound lane,
near the highest point over the river, according to
the police report.
Lower Columbia Q Center
seeking applications for board
The Lower Columbia Q Center, a nonprofi t that
provides outreach, education and advocacy for the
region’s LGBTQ community, is seeking applica-
tions to serve on its board.
A custodial board was appointed in June to
guide the nonprofi t following a legal battle. The
interim board has also been tasked with form-
ing a new board to lead the organization into the
future.
For more information, visit the organization’s
website.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
Aug. 16, 2022
In RENICK,
Brief
Andrea
Lyn, 31, of Seaside, died
in Seaside. Caldwell’s
Deaths
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
Aug. 15, 2022
THOMPSON, Mar-
garet Frances, 93, of
Astoria, died in Astoria.
Hughes-Ransom Mor-
tuary is in charge of the
arrangements.
ON THE RECORD
Theft
On
the
Record
• Terry
Richard
Madsen, 53, from Utah, was
arrested on Tuesday for second-degree theft and sec-
ond-degree disorderly conduct. He allegedly stole a
cart from Fred Meyer in Warrenton and was jumping
into traffi c before law enforcement contacted him on
the New Youngs Bay Bridge.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Warrenton City Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main Ave.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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BLASTED
Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
Long Beach volunteer fi refi ghter Scott Elliott reacted as he was blasted with water during the annual Firefi ghter Games last weekend.
Commission fi res head of the
state’s public defense system
Singer held the job for
nearly eight months
By DIRK VANDERHART
and CONRAD WILSON
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Steve Singer survived the
fi rst attempt at his job. The
state’s top public defender
was not as fortunate the sec-
ond time around.
In a widely expected
move, the commission over-
seeing Oregon’s fl agging
public defense system voted
to fi re Singer on Thursday
in a 6-2 vote with one mem-
ber absent. Singer has led the
Offi ce of Public Defense Ser-
vices for nearly eight months,
winning fans among public
defenders. But his confron-
tational style has grated on
commissioners, employees
and Oregon Supreme Court
Chief Justice Martha Walters.
The commission, which
was reconstituted by Walters
on Tuesday, did not take the
act of fi ring Singer lightly.
When the vote was initially
called on Thursday, only
four commissioners voted to
fi re Singer, one short of the
required majority. But after
more discussion, two brand
new commissioners, Jennifer
Nash and Kristen Winemiller,
agreed to fi re him.
“Based on the informa-
tion I’ve heard about how
much damage it will cause
the agency if we don’t move
forward,” Nash said, “I’m
going to vote to terminate Mr.
Singer.”
“I agree,” Winemiller
added. “That’s also my vote.”
That came after Singer
mounted a vigorous defense,
characterizing the push to
remove him as a dictatorial
move by Walters and the judi-
ciary at large, and saying it
would put a black mark on
Oregon’s eff orts to reform
public defense.
“This is the most sig-
nifi cant frontal attack on
the independence of public
defense ever in the United
States,” Singer said as part of
a lengthy address to the com-
mission before the vote. “It is
frightening. It is scary.”
Singer’s removal settles
one issue that had provided
distraction from the state’s
mounting public defense cri-
sis. But it creates new ques-
tions, such as who will take
over the agency in his stead,
and whether that person will
prove more successful at nav-
igating the three branches of
government now intensely
focused on the issue.
Bradley W. Parks/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters, shown
addressing the state House in 2019, removed members of the
Public Defense Services Commission.
Commissioners said they
would take up appointing an
interim director as soon as
next week, but for now left the
agency in the hands of three
staff members, including dep-
uty director Brian DeForest,
who clashed with Singer.
Hundreds of criminal
defendants in Oregon are cur-
rently without lawyers, and
the state faces a class-action
lawsuit aimed at bringing
it back in compliance with
the U.S. Constitution, which
guarantees a right to an attor-
ney for those charged with
crimes.
‘Chaos’
Thursday’s action is the
latest development in a dra-
matic series of events set into
motion at a similar commis-
sion meeting last week.
At that Aug. 10 meet-
ing, Walters and commission
chair Per Ramfjord forcefully
urged commission members
to vote to fi re Singer. They
and other commissioners said
the director had bullied subor-
dinates, lashed out at Walters
for no reason, off ended law-
makers with rash statements
and failed to craft a workable
plan to dig Oregon out of its
public defense crisis.
The fate of Oregon’s pub-
lic defense reform, Singer’s
detractors suggested, would
be placed at risk if he were
allowed to continue in his
role.
“We’ve been a chaos of
Mr. Singer’s making,” Wal-
ters told the commission at
the meeting.
But while every member
of the commission agreed on
Aug. 10 that the fi rst eight
months of Singer’s tenure in
Oregon had been rocky, they
could not fi nd agreement on
what to do about it. The group
deadlocked on votes to fi re
Singer or place him on leave,
with some commission mem-
bers voicing a belief in Sing-
Happy
40 th Birthday
Courtney
August 21, 1982
Do not be afraid, for I am with you.
- Isaiah 43:5
Love always forever and ever and ever
- Dadio
er’s vision and abilities even
as they decried his conduct.
Oregon’s public defense
system is unique nationally.
Instead of being government
employees, like prosecutors
are, trial level public defend-
ers in Oregon are contractors.
Most work for private fi rms or
nonprofi ts that contract with
the state. The Offi ce of Pub-
lic Defense Services issues
those contracts and handles
appeals. The offi ce is over-
seen by the Public Defense
Services Commission. And
that commission is entirely
appointed by the chief jus-
tice of the Oregon Supreme
Court.
With the commission
unwilling to do Walters’ bid-
ding, the chief justice pursued
a new strategy.
Not long after the meeting,
courts offi cials began contact-
ing people around the state
who might be willing to serve
on the commission. On Mon-
day, Walters took the unprec-
edented step of removing all
nine members of the public
defense commission, inviting
anyone who wanted to stay
on to reapply. By Tuesday,
the chief justice had named a
new commission, re appoint-
ing fi ve members and adding
four brand new people.
Many of Singer’s strongest
defenders on the commis-
sion either declined to apply
or were not reappointed. At a
hearing Wednesday, the new
board talked openly of who
might be Singer’s interim
replacement if he was fi red.
With Singer now gone,
questions remain about how
the state moves forward.
Oregon is in the midst of an
unprecedented and troubling
public defense crisis, which
now includes more than 700
defendants — some jailed —
without access to attorneys.
According to a study
released in January, the state
needs roughly 1,300 addi-
tional public defenders to
meet its caseloads. And state
offi cials, who have known for
years that the threadbare sys-
tem is likely unconstitutional,
now face a class-action law-
suit over Oregon’s inability to
provide indigent defense.
Complicating
matters,
public defenders around
the state had warmed to
Singer, and praised him for
the urgency and vision he
brought to the fl ailing agency.
Many of those proponents
pointed to the work he did in
reshaping public defense in
New Orleans following Hur-
ricane Katrina.
“For the fi rst time in my
time in public defense … we
have a director who seems to
hear the voice of rural Ore-
gon’s public defense commu-
nity, understands their needs,
and responds to those needs,”
Erik Swallow, a defender in
Roseburg, wrote in a letter to
commissioners last week.
Chilling message
At the same time, many of
the high-ranking government
offi cials who’ll have a central
say in improving Oregon’s
public defense system have
appeared to support remov-
ing Singer.
State Senate President
Peter Courtney, D-Salem, and
House Speaker Dan Rayfi eld,
D-Corvallis, both backed
Walters on Monday when
she fi red the public defense
commission.
“I’m not sure anyone saw
this coming,” Courtney said
at the time. “Things are a
mess and they’ve got to get
better. We’ve got to correct
this thing.”
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