Friday, January 22, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3
Ponds: Volunteers hope to make a difference as cleanups resume
Continued from Page A1
ness, designed to include
diverse members of the
community, was postponed
indefi nitely as a result of the
pandemic.
Meanwhile,
volunteer
efforts to clean up the Mill
Ponds resumed.
Chandler, accompanied
by his wife, Alex, and dog,
“Sirius,” made regular visits
to the area, offering garbage
bags at his own expense for
those living or camping in
the ponds and designating an
area near U.S. Highway 101
for collection.
The Facebook page
R.J. Marx
Cleanup organizer Brady Chandler said he counted 638
needles collected during a December cleanup.
swelled to almost 400 mem-
bers, with members from
Seaside, throughout Clatsop
County and beyond.
In early December, Chan-
dler invited volunteers to help
load and remove garbage that
had piled up throughout the
park. He trimmed trees along
pathways to enable trailers to
load up in the interior.
The day after Christmas,
Seaside’s Parker McCarthy
donated his time and a trac-
tor, joining Chandler and
volunteers to remove trash
from an area likely to be
fl ooded.
After
mid-January
storms, at least one of the
camps was abandoned, likely
due to fl ooding issues, Chan-
dler said. “There was cer-
tainly some garbage that
fl oated away, but our effort
in December had a massive
reduction in the trash that did
fl oat away. I wasn’t expect-
Reservoir: ‘The system has been working great’
Continued from Page A1
The site will also house
a new emergency opera-
tions center, Seaside Pub-
lic Works Director Dale
McDowell said.
A heated modular build-
ing — repurposed after use
on the Seaside Civic and
Convention Center expan-
sion project — will con-
tain equipment improv-
ing communications for
law enforcement and fi rst
responders.
Work on the emergency
operations center is in its
fi nal phases, McDowell
said.
Decommissioned pump
stations will be used for
confi ned space training for
the fi re department and staff.
McDowell asked the City
Council to return retain-
age of about $290,000 to
contractor T. Bailey Inc.,
at which point the one-year
warranty period will begin.
Murraysmith Inc., the
city’s design and engineer-
ing fi rm, recommended the
acceptance. The City Coun-
cil and mayor unanimously
approved the release.
“We are very pleased
with the product we have,
the process we’ve gone
through, the contractor and
what they’ve given us for
this,” McDowell said.
The school district is
also happy with the new
reservoir.
“The system has been
working great,” Super-
intendent Susan Penrod
said. “We will be able to
fully test it when the kids
are back in school. We are
confi dent it will be fi ne,
as much of the district’s
water demand needs were
based on fi re code sprinkler
requirements.”
ing a 36-inch water level
rise, to be honest.”
Another Mill Ponds vol-
unteer cleanup is scheduled
Jan. 30 and Jan. 31, from
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day,
Chandler said. Event guide-
lines and a sign up are avail-
able on the Seaside Commu-
nity Cleanup Facebook page.
The city will be providing a
dumpster and cost of garbage
disposal.
Chandler said he is see-
ing a growing awareness of
the public safety issues in the
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Bowman emailed the
directive “as a head’s up why
we may or may not respond”
to Seaside police and Clat-
sop Behavioral Healthcare,
Clatsop County’s mental
health contractor.
Police and sheriff’s dep-
uties in the county can ask
mental health experts for
guidance when responding
to calls involving people in
crisis, but, in practice, a lack
of funding and resources has
kept the outreach from being
a more effective tool.
Fatal encounters
Gearhart Police Chief Jeff
Bowman has drawn a line on
mental health response calls.
are able to summon that
assistance in an expedited
manner.”
Baker cited Lane Coun-
ty’s CAHOOTS program
as a potential model. Teams
with a medic and crisis
worker often respond to calls
involving mental health,
addiction and homelessness.
“While we are excited by
this model and can see the
benefi ts of its application
in our area, this simply can-
not become a reality in our
county without the funding
to go with it,” she said.
Funding a challenge
Seaside Police Chief
Dave Ham said police will
not follow Gearhart and
change responses to similar
calls for service in Seaside.
Seaside police are not
expected to respond to calls
in Gearhart, and Bowman’s
directive will not change
Seaside’s response coverage
to assist them when needed.
Seaside’s dispatch cen-
ter will continue to advise
Gearhart police of calls for
service in their jurisdiction.
Cockrum said she and
Bowman have had discus-
sions about police reform
over the past year.
“I have reviewed and
he has revised the Gearhart
Police Department proce-
dures on use of force, but not
specifi cally through the lens
of mental health,” the mayor
said. “I have asked him to
add a procedure with con-
tact information for the pub-
lic on what to do if they are
faced with a mental health
crisis.”
Cockrum proposed con-
sideration of city funding
in the next budget cycle for
social service providers to
assist in responding to peo-
ple experiencing a mental
health crisis.
Regardless
of
the
response from other agen-
cies, Bowman said he recog-
nizes he is “just one person
taking on bureaucracy.”
He said he’s willing to
shoulder that responsibility.
“I’m not going to end my
career with one of my offi -
cers or myself in a case like
this Texas case,” he said.
Bowman said he hopes
his letter will inspire other
jurisdictions to address
police response to men-
tal health care, ultimately
leading to a change in law
enforcement procedures in
role,” Bowman wrote in his
letter. “There has been leg-
islation calling for change,
court rulings calling for
change and society calling
for change. Why isn’t there a
sweeping reform across the
U.S. within law enforcement
agencies to end the practice
of law enforcement offi cers
being the fi rst response to
these types of calls?
“My guess, the political
bodies of cities and coun-
ties are not addressing these
mental health needs.”
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The county has struggled
for decades to provide ade-
quate services for people
in crisis, a challenge often
compounded by alcohol and
drug abuse. Over the past
year, two people believed
to be suffering from mental
health diffi culties have been
killed after interactions with
police.
Last April, Alexan-
der Jimenez, a 34-year-old
Warrenton man, died after
police used a Taser to sub-
due him during an arrest
and he wrestled with sher-
iff’s deputies and police at
the county jail. The state
medical examiner ruled
that Jimenez, who report-
edly had schizophrenia, died
from the toxic effects of
methamphetamine.
In December, Alaina
Burns, a 31-year-old Asto-
ria woman, was shot and
killed by an Oregon State
Police trooper after report-
edly brandishing a gun after
breaking into a home near
Sunset Beach. Friends of
Burns’ family said she strug-
gled with drug addiction and
mental illness.
Amy Baker, the exec-
utive director of Clatsop
Behavioral Healthcare, said
she wanted to meet with
Bowman to discuss the issue
further.
“Our current model relies
on a co-response with law
enforcement,” Baker said.
“We typically go to situa-
tions with law enforcement.
If the situation is safe, we
will take the lead in work-
ing with someone who is
experiencing psychological
distress.
“We agree that it is ideal to
have behavioral health pro-
fessionals respond to behav-
ioral health crisis. However,
we are not equipped to be
the sole responder in situ-
ations such as when weap-
ons might be involved; if the
person is agitated or threat-
ening harm to self or others
and the person is unable to
engage in conversation.
“Additionally, we are not
equipped to transport peo-
ple safely if they require
assistance at an emergency
department, and with law
enforcement on scene, they
Seaside Signal
the state.
“Having a mental health
condition is not a crime,”
Bowman said. “And these
subjects should not be
treated as such. We have a
duty to protect all lives and
sometimes that task is best
done by not doing. We’re
not psychologists. Let the
professionally trained indi-
viduals handle these non-
criminal calls.
“It is time for the social
services community to step
up and start taking an active
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Police: Gearhart chief calls for sweeping reform
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park and the cleanup effort
has new momentum this
time. “I feel like people are
fi nally realizing what’s going
on and starting to pay more
attention to it.”
The trails remain steady,
he added, and with a few
days of no rain before the
cleanup, shouldn’t be too
muddy.
“Jan. 30 is my 30th birth-
day,” he said. “I would
rather spend it on the moun-
tain in the snow, but this is
important.”
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