WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2018
LOCAL
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Council race features
two local candidates
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
With a month and a half
left before the deadline to
file for one of four Hermis-
ton city council seats, two
candidates are in the run-
ning so far.
Incumbent Doug Smith
will run again, and Shean
Fitzgerald has filed to run
for his wife Clara Beas
Fitzgerald’s seat after she
decided not to run for
another term.
Fitzgerald, running for
Ward II, said one of his
biggest reasons for run-
ning is to see if he can
have an effect on lower-
ing the property tax bur-
den for Hermiston resi-
dents. Hermiston has the
highest property taxes in
the county, thanks in large
part to the bonds that vot-
ers continue to pass.
He said he would also
like to see the city do more
to help the elderly, the
lonely and the homeless.
“We need to take care
of those people,” he said.
Fitzgerald
described
himself as “semi-retired”
from the construction
industry and said he still
takes jobs as an operat-
ing engineer from time to
time. He moved to Herm-
iston in 1978 after getting
out of the Marine Corps.
“It’s a nice place to live,
and a nice place to raise
your kids,” he said.
His wife, Beas Fitz-
gerald, has taken on sev-
eral new tasks since being
elected to the city coun-
cil three years ago, includ-
ing pursuing an advanced
degree, chairing the non-
profit that puts on the city’s
annual Cinco de Mayo fes-
tival and serving on the
Oregon Commission on
Women. She has decided
not to run again in order to
focus on other endeavors.
Doug Smith, who hopes
to maintain his seat repre-
Local law enforcement have little in the way of tools to deal with the mentally ill population in the area. Lifeways offers some
help to those with mental illness in the area.
Action plan put in place for Lifeways
Mental health
provider agrees to
outside consultant,
appoint ‘coalition’
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
and KATHY ANEY
STAFF WRITERS
A Friday meeting left
mental health profession-
als and local law enforce-
ment “cautiously optimis-
tic” about improvements
that can be made to crisis
services in Umatilla County.
“The most important
thing is that Lifeways and
law enforcement agreed to
work together to create a
better structure for commu-
nication and information
sharing,” said Kevin Camp-
bell, the CEO of Greater
Oregon Behavioral Health,
Inc.
The meeting included
county mental health pro-
vider Lifeways, its adminis-
trative organization GOBHI,
and chiefs of most of the
county’s police depart-
ments. It was prompted by
a message last week from
Campbell, who issued a
public statement saying that
if Lifeways did not make
“key changes” by Feb. 20
their contract for crisis ser-
vices in Umatilla County
would be terminated.
After Friday’s meeting,
Pendleton Police Chief Stu-
art Roberts said he felt more
optimistic about mental
health services in the county
than he had in a long time.
“We agree that as long as
there are deliverables in the
next 90 days we are willing
to work together,” he said.
Roberts said the group
formed a couple of imme-
diate goals: specifically,
bringing in an outside con-
sultant to work with Life-
ways and setting up a coali-
tion to address case-specific
issues.
He said Lifeways hoped
to hire a consultant within
the next couple of weeks.
Roberts said the idea for
a coalition was proposed
by new Lifeways CEO Tim
Hoekstra, who started work
with the organization just
last week.
“It’s a strategy he’s pre-
viously employed,” Roberts
said.
Campbell said they also
identified some of the chal-
lenges Lifeways has faced.
“I believe one barrier in
the past has been consis-
tency in personnel,” he said,
referring to Lifeways’ fre-
quent rotation of leaders
based in the county.
Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston said he also
felt the meeting was produc-
tive, but noted it was first
step in a long process.
“Today was getting all
the initial players in the
room,” he said. “Now we
have to get down to the
nitty gritty. Are there areas
as a group, as a county,
or as a city where we can
step beside Lifeways as a
partner?”
Roberts said his officers
see everything from depres-
sion to schizophrenia on the
streets.. Often, with no other
options, people with mental
illness end up at the emer-
gency room or in jail, then
back on the street with their
problems unsolved.
Roberts said he had
been especially frustrated
about Lifeways’ reluctance
to deal with people who
are intoxicated. Mental ill-
ness and substance use,
he said, are often woven
together and tough to tease
apart. Yet, Lifeways has cre-
ated too many rules for eli-
gibility, hamstringing the
organization.
“Eligibility should not
Hermiston fisherman sues after crash
even be a part of the con-
versation. If we look at the
demographic we deal with
on a regular basis, it is not
unusual for folks suffer-
ing with mental illness to
self-medicate with drugs
and alcohol,” Roberts said.
“If they are under the influ-
ence, (Lifeways) won’t even
talk to them.”
But he acknowledged
Lifeways’ openness at the
meeting.
“I’m appreciative they
came to the table with a
level of humility,” he said.
Hoekstra said he was
not informed of GOBHI’s
announcement before it was
released. He said he had
identified several goals as
Lifeways’ new CEO.
“Creating a collabora-
tive, effective partnership
with a community,” Hoek-
stra said. “Continually
improving [systems] over
time, improving outcomes
for patients, and controlling
costs.”
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By JACK HEFFERNAN
EO MEDIA GROUP
A Hermiston sport fisher-
man has filed a lawsuit after
being rammed in a harrow-
ing boat crash on the Colum-
bia River near Hammond in
August.
Bryan Maess, a patrol
sergeant with the Hermiston
Police Department, is suing
the alleged driver of the boat
— Marlin Lee Larsen — for
$372,500 after the boat he
was on was slammed while
trolling for Chinook salmon
during the popular Buoy 10
fishery season. The lawsuit
claims Larsen caused phys-
ical and emotional injury in
his negligence prior to the
crash.
Maess, Chris McMa-
hon and Roni Durham were
standing in a 20-foot Weld-
craft about 8:30 a.m. on Aug.
12, 2017 near Tansy Point
when they noticed a 31-foot
Bayliner Trophy speeding
toward them. After yelling
at the boat and waving their
hands, the trio leapt into
the river seconds before the
crash. The three were pulled
from the water and treated at
Columbia Memorial Hospi-
tal, Astoria for minor inju-
ries. Their boat was severely
damaged.
The lawsuit alleges
Larsen was traveling at an
excessive speed, distracted
and using his cell phone, and
did not have one of the two
other occupants of the vessel
keep watch for surrounding
boat traffic.
Maess sustained injuries
to the right side of his body.
senting Ward IV, is a for-
mer officer with the Herm-
iston Police Department.
He is three years into his
first four-year term on the
city council.
“This is my home, this
is the city I love and I want
to do what I can to further
it,” he said.
He said serving on the
council was intimidating
at first, but he has learned
a lot and had opportunities
to serve the community
that he wouldn’t have oth-
erwise had.
Lori Davis and Jackie
Myers, the other two
incumbents who would be
up for re-election, haven’t
said whether they will run
again.
The deadline to file is
March 6 at 5 p.m.
Hermiston has an
eight-person council, with
four at-large seats and four
seats representing geo-
graphical areas known as
wards. It is the four ward
seats that are up for elec-
tion in 2018. If two or
fewer people run for a seat
during the May 15 elec-
tion, the winner of that
race will take their seat
for a four-year term on
the council in Jan. 2019. If
more than two people run
for a seat, the May elec-
tion will be considered a
primary and the top two
vote-getters will have a
run-off in November.
Candidates must live in
the ward they are running
for, must be a “qualified
voter” in Oregon and must
have lived in Hermiston
for at least one year. A map
of the four wards can be
found at city hall or online
at www.hermiston.or.us/
government/city-council.
Filing forms can be found
at city hall or online at
sos.oregon.gov/elections/
Pages/manuals-tutorials.
aspx and must be returned
to the city recorder by no
later than 5 p.m. March 6.
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A sport fisherman has filed a lawsuit over a boat crash near
Hammond in August.
He continues to wear a knee
brace, his ankle still hurts
and a wound on his shin
has not fully healed, accord-
ing to the lawsuit. He ini-
tially experienced neck pain,
vision issues, headaches and
a hyper-extended left thumb
after floating with the debris
from the wreck in the cold
water.
The lawsuit also claims
Maess, 47, suffered emo-
tionally and financially after
needing to take time off
work.
McMahon is also an
officer with the Hermiston
Police Department and was
a member of the regional
SWAT team before the col-
lision. He also took time off.
Police Chief Jason Edmiston
said he requested McMa-
hon be temporarily removed
from the SWAT team
when he found out about
the wreck, and McMahon
later decided to step down
entirely.
He is now one of two
school resource officers in
Hermiston, Edmiston said,
but wasn’t able to start that
job right away because the
wreck happened shortly
before the school year began.
Larsen, 75, pleaded not
guilty in September to three
counts of fourth-degree
assault, three counts of reck-
lessly endangering another
person and one reckless
operation of a boat charge
in connection with the case.
An early resolution confer-
ence in the criminal case has
been scheduled for April 13
in Clatsop County.
Larsen, a Roseburg resi-
dent who owns the Harbor-
view Resort in Hammond,
could not be reached for
comment by The Daily Asto-
rian. He told The Oregonian
last week that allegations
he was using his cell phone
before the crash are “fake
news.”
A video of the incident —
taken from a camera on the
smaller boat — was shared
on Facebook by Angling
Oregon — a website oper-
ated by McMahon, and can
be found on YouTube.
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