A2 • Friday, April 19, 2019 | Cannon Beach Gazette | CannonBeachGazette.com
Sheriff’s offi ce welcomes Tux, its newest K-9
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
In March, the Clatsop
County Sheriff’s offi ce wel-
comes its newest recruit.
Tux, a 5-year-old Belgian
Malinois, met his new han-
dler, Senior Deputy Thomas
Phillips, just a few days ago.
In the next few weeks, Tux
will go to patrol school to
train up on how to sniff out
drugs and fi nd suspects.
But until then, Tux’s fi rst
order of business will be to
play around and eat. Food,
unsurprisingly, is a crucial
tool to build trust between a
canine and his handler.
“I’m the guy who brings
him food,” Phillips said.
“I’ll do little things, like hav-
ing him eat the food out of
my hand versus just giving
him the bowl of food, so he
knows, ‘Well, food is com-
ing from this guy, so I should
be nice to him and maybe
listen.’”
Tux replaces Pax, a fel-
low Belgian Malinois, who
served as the sheriff’s dog for
6½ years and conducted more
than 70 captures. The 8-year-
old Pax suffered an injury
after chasing a ball down an
embankment and was off the
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Thomas Phillips, senior deputy with the Clatsop County
Sheriff ’s Offi ce, talks about his new canine partner, Tux.
streets for about six months.
He eventually trained up
and got recertifi ed. Pax had
the ability to work a little lon-
ger, Phillips said, but doing so
would probably take years off
his life.
Around the same time the
sheriff’s offi ce was consider-
ing a new dog, the Washing-
ton County Sheriff’s Offi ce
was looking for a new home
for Tux. After fi ve years on
the job, his former handler
had moved into the agency’s
public affairs unit.
The timing couldn’t have
been better.
Phillips was excited at the
prospect, as he had met Tux
multiple times at canine train-
ing exercises around the state.
“They wanted Tux to be
able to come to a good home,”
Phillips said. “He has a lot of
years of working life in him,
and I think he’ll be able to
serve the sheriff’s offi ce and
citizens really well here.”
Phillips has been involved
with canine work ever since
he was a cadet with the sher-
iff’s offi ce, serving as a decoy
for the previous handler and
taking bites from the dog
during training exercises. He
long has been in awe of what
they can do.
“I think (canine units)
can make a difference. Their
noses are tremendously bet-
ter than ours, and unfortu-
nately we have this huge
opiate problem nation-
wide,” he said. “So, I mean,
if we can get more drugs off
the streets through traffi c
stops and interdiction stops,
that’s a win.”
He also loves the bond that
is formed with each dog.
“I think sometimes my
wife is jealous because I
spend more time with the
dogs,” Phillips joked. “But
it’s defi nitely a bond that’s
really unbreakable ... I’ll do
a traffi c stop with (Pax), and
he’ll be upright watching
what I’ve got going on ... just
ready to spring into action
and save the day.”
Even in retirement, Pax
won’t stray far from Phillips.
He will spend his days living
the good life, eating steak and
laying on the couch.
Though he is ready and
excited to start training with
Tux, Phillips can’t help but
admit it will feel strange
not putting Pax into his rig
anymore.
State data breach exposes
health information
By AUBREY WIEBER
Capital Bureau
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Human Services
last week disclosed that
millions of agency emails
had been breached in Jan-
uary, potentially expos-
ing the personal medical
information of hundreds of
thousands of people.
The agency said it dis-
covered the data breach
involving 2 million emails
on Jan. 8 and by Jan.
28 realized the emails
included personal medi-
cal information protected
under Health Insurance
Portability and Account-
ability Act, known as
HIPAA.
The agency hasn’t con-
fi rmed that any information
was actually taken, but the
hackers gained access to
the emails. Agency offi cials
couldn’t readily explain
why the public was being
alerted two months later.
Robert Oakes, a depart-
ment spokesman, said the
agency found there was
the potential for the breach
to impact at least 350,000
people.
Oregon’s Identity Theft
Protection Act requires
agencies to alert the public
when there is potential to
cross that 350,000 thresh-
old. A more specifi c number
should be available in about
two weeks, Oakes said.
When asked why the
public wasn’t notifi ed in
January, he said it took time
to go through the large num-
ber of emails to fi gure out
what was exposed. When
asked what happened in the
two months since the dis-
covery of the breach, Oakes
declined to elaborate, say-
ing, “It just took time.”
The delay in informing
the public, and the breach
itself, caught the attention of
Republicans in the Capitol
long critical of the Depart-
ment of Human Services.
“Nearly two months
passed
before
DHS
revealed that its system
had been compromised,
exposing Social Security
numbers, birth dates and
additional personal infor-
mation,” House Republi-
can spokesman Greg Stiles
said in a news release. “This
risks identity theft and other
criminal exploitation of this
data.”
CANNON BEACH POLICE LOG
March 29
March 30
1:24 a.m., Highway 101, MP 34: Po-
lice assist Cannon Beach Fire De-
partment; Oregon State Police and
Oregon Department of Transporta-
tion with a three-car motor vehicle
accident.
8:29 p.m., 3400 block S. Hemlock:
Police assist fi re department with
a female fall patient. Woman trans-
ported to Providence Seaside Hos-
pital by Medix.
3:20 p.m. Shorewood: Children are
upset when a subject came on to
their property and spoke to them;
mother reported incident to police.
Police locate the subject and tell
her to stay away from the children.
4:54 p.m., Shorewood: A second re-
port came in regarding the neigh-
bor and the children.
6:20 p.m., 8400 block Highway 101:
Police check the welfare of a man
threatening to jump into traffi c. The
man was transported by the Coun-
ty Deputy to Providence Seaside
Hospital for evaluation.
March 31
5:24 p.m., Beach and North of
Creek: A drone reported missing
was recovered and returned to its
owner.
6:53 p.m., Ecola Park Drive: An
intoxicated male reported to be
bothering people at Indian Beach
by asking for a ride is given a cour-
tesy lift to Seaside to his grandfa-
ther’s residence.
10:45 p.m., Jackson and Hemlock:
Youths fooling around and lying in
the middle of the road are warned
of disorderly conduct.
April 1
April 4
April 7
April 10
5:39 p.m., Haystack parking: A mo-
tor vehicle hit and run is reported.
6:30 a.m., Highway 101, MP 3: A
dead elk in the roadway struck by a
vehicle is removed by ODOT.
3:25 p.m., W. Warren Way: A ring is
reported missing.
April 2
9:36 a.m., S. Spruce: A lost fi rearm is
reported.
4:20 p.m., N. Hemlock: Theft of a
mermaid doll and a hat reported;
clerk made contact with the sus-
pect who returned the doll, but not
the hat.
5:23 p.m., Vista Del Mar: Caller ex-
presses concern about being left
alone with her mentally disturbed
son who she said is not taking his
medication. Son agreed to tone it
down and resume medication.
2:37 p.m., Beach: Police receive nu-
merous reports of a heavyset white
male with a limp reported to have a
knife and behaving in a combative
manner. Police are unable to locate.
April 5
12:34 p.m., Deer Place: Police deal
with truancy concerns regarding a
14 year old. Father is given options.
Child is reported missing.
April 6
3:02 p.m., N. Hemlock: A hit and
run motor vehicle accident is re-
ported.
12:19 p.m., N. Gower: Police re-
spond to a verbal disturbance re-
ported. No crimes were committed.
April 9
2:49 p.m. W. Washington: Police as-
sist with a female fall patient.
2:47 p.m., Hug Point: Police respond
to a report of a man swept out by a
wave. Man located prior to police
arrival and determined to be fi ne.
9:20 a.m., 80,000 block Carnahan
Rd.: Police assist another agency
at a verbal disturbance reported.
Cannon Beach police maintained
scene.
2:56 p.m., N. Hemlock: Police re-
spond to a report of a suspicious
black bag left on sidewalk. Bag
gone on police arrival.
April 3
8:07 p.m., Brallier and Ocean Shore:
A male subject is apprehended and
arrested for menacing; disorderly
conduct; and giving false informa-
tion to a police offi cer as well as in-
terfering with a police offi cer after
caller reports a negative interaction
with the person who was carrying
a sword.
April 8
CUSTOM LAVISH CANNON BEACH OCEAN FRONT
$2,590,000
SALE
PENDING
CUTEST COTTAGE IN CANNON BEACH
$479,000
ONE OF A KIND OCEANFRONT
$3,099,000
NEW
LISTING
BEACH HOME W/GUEST STUDIO
$639,000
CUSTOM HOME TRANQUIL SETTING
$639,000
SALE
PENDING
MANZANITA COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
$1,350,000
SUPERIOR OCEAN VIEWS & QUALITY
$1,550,000
NEW
LISTING
W. PRESIDENTIAL GEM!
$1,449,000
April 11
COZY OCEANFRONT BEACH CABIN
$1,225,000
NEW
PRICE
DOWNTOWN COMMERCIAL LOT IN MANZANITA
$499,000
5:53 p.m., W. Gower: Police respond
to a report of a juvenile playing in
the surf. Police explain to grand-
parent the ocean is rough due to
storms and unsafe for an unsuper-
vised juvenile.
1/12TH SHARE CONDO UNITS A2-H & B
$85,000-$90,000
SOLD
200’ X 150’ VACANT ARCH CAPE LOT
$206,000
AFFORDABLE W PRESIDENTIAL VACANT LOT
$299,000
1/12TH SHARE CONDOMINIUM UNIT # A2A
$83,000
SALE
PENDING
HEART OF DOWNTOWN
$459,000
TERRIFIC ARCH CAPE OCEAN VIEW HOME
$599,000
W KENAI OCEANVIEW LOT
$485,000
COMMERCIAL CONDO MID-TOWN
$357,500
296 N. Spruce St. • Cannon Beach • (503) 436-0451
www.duanejohnson.com
All brokers listed with firm are licensed in the state of Oregon
SOLD
W PRESIDENTIAL VACANT LOT
$305,000
Active Members of
&
What is RMLS? As the Northwest’s largest REALTOR®-owned
Multiple Listing Service(MLS), RMLS serves approximately 10,000
Real Estate Professionals in over 2,200 offices licensed in Oregon
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1/12TH SHARE CONDOMINIUM UNIT # C1D
$90,000