A2 • Friday, October 1, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
NEWS NOTES
Federal grants
to help rural fi re
departments
Rural fi re departments
in Clatsop County will
receive more than $1.2
million in federal grants
to buy new tools and
resources that are in com-
pliance with the National
Fire Protection Associa-
tion, U.S. Rep. Suzanne
Bonamici announced.
Warrenton
will
receive
$160,952.
Knappa will receive
$200,000.
Cannon
Beach will receive
grants of $574,571
and $46,380. Hamlet
will receive grants of
$268,571 and $44,761.
The money comes
from the Assistance to
Firefi ghters Grants Pro-
gram, part of the U.S.
Department of Homeland
Security.
Razor clamming
reopens on
North Coast
Razor
clamming
reopens on the popular
Clatsop beaches between
Warrenton and Seaside on
Friday.
The area was closed
to clamming for an
annual conservation clo-
sure during the summer,
but has not been open
to clammers since last
October. High levels of
domoic acid shut down
digging last year and kept
the area closed through
the spring.
Clammers are allowed
a daily harvest limit of the
fi rst 15 razor clams dug,
regardless of size or con-
dition. Razor clam har-
vesting in Oregon opened
elsewhere on the coast last
week, from the California
border to Tillamook Head
south of Seaside.
OBITUARIES
Donna Jean
Osborne
Susan Colleen Goddard
Seaside
March 15, 1959 — Sept. 18, 2021
Wheeler
Donna Jean Osborne, 81,
passed away peacefully on
Sept. 22, 2021, in her home
in Wheeler.
Retired teacher and
Indigenous and women’s
rights activist, Donna is sur-
vived by her husband, two
brothers, three daughters
and a son.
A family graveside ser-
vice was held at Nehalem
American Legion Ceme-
tery on Monday. A memo-
rial celebration of life for
friends and family will be
announced by the family at
a later date.
Susan Colleen Goddard,
62, of Seaside, passed on
Sept. 18, 2021, at home, sur-
rounded by those who loved
her.
She was born in Salem on
March 15, 1959, and raised
in Springfi eld. Susie spent
much of her life in the Van-
couver-Portland metro area,
and her remaining years in
Seaside. She is survived by
her two children, Jill and
Louie, as well as her sib-
lings, Donna, Michelle, Jea-
nette, Diana, Robert, and
step-sister, Kathy. She is
also survived by her lov-
ing partner and soul mate,
Jimmy Mendenhall.
Anyone who knew Susie
would agree that she was a
truly beautiful and unique
soul. She was a charming,
honest woman with a big
heart and enduring smile,
whose love would make
you feel like the sunshine
was upon you. She loved to
have fun and make others
laugh wherever she went;
her sense of humor was
absolutely infectious. Susie
loved being a mom and took
so much pride in her chil-
dren. She was also a loyal
friend; always with so much
to give. That’s what she was,
a giver, even if she didn’t
have much of her own. She
will be dearly missed to
say the least. We love you
Susie-Q.
PUBLIC SAFETY LOG
SEASIDE POLICE DEPT.
PUBLIC SAFETY LOG
11:36 p.m., 500 block Avenue
G: A caller reports their car was
illegally entered.
Sept. 20
Sept. 17
12:46 p.m., 300 block Alpine
Drive: A disturbance is report-
ed.
Sept. 18
5:24 a.m., Fifth Avenue and N.
Jackson: A person reports their
vehicle was illegally entered.
10:18 a.m., E. End Avenue
D: Caller asks assistance for
information about her father
who she said is a transient in
Seaside. She said she’d had no
contact with him for months.
Police contacted her father
who reported through them
back to her that he is fi ne.
Sept. 19
2:26 a.m., 2500 block S. Roo-
sevelt: A deceased person is
reported.
3:41 a.m., 600 block S. Colum-
bia: A disturbance is reported.
6:40 p.m., 14th Avenue and
Ocean Shore: A party digging a
large hole in the sand is report-
ed; offi cers responding advise
the group of city ordinances
and the group leader says they
will fi ll in the hole.
5:24 a.m., 1100 block Broad-
way: Subjects are trespassed
from a property and advised to
not return.
12:59 p.m., Police headquar-
ters: A person came in for their
annual sex off ender registra-
tion. New fi ngerprints were
taken.
9:53 p.m., 900 block Avenue S:
A disturbance is reported.
Sept. 21
8:19 a.m., 1700 block N.
Holladay: A deceased person is
reported.
9:08 a.m., 1700 block Beach
Drive: Caller reports someone
came into her yard and turned
the hose on full force and then
left with the water running.
A property crime report was
made.
10:53 a.m. Avenue T and the
Prom: Caller reports a female
sleeping on a bench, prevent-
ing her from sitting there.
Police on arrival tell the female
to wake up and move along.
11:32 a.m., 1400 block N.
Wahanna: Caller reports an
abandoned suitcase. Police
fi nd a dirty old nylon bag full of
garbage which they throw in
the trash.
3:18 p.m., Police headquarters:
A person came in for their an-
nual sex off ender registration.
Sept. 18
1:59 p.m., Indian Beach: Water
rescue.
10:42 a.m., N. Holladay: EMS
call.
5:17 p.m., 400 block S.
Holladay: Property crimes are
reported.
2:57 p.m., 700 block S. Wahan-
na: EMS call.
6:49 a.m., 1200 block S.
Wahanna: Police respond to
a reported disturbance in an
adjacent unit; it was about
children going to school. No
further action was taken.
2:15 p.m., Chamber parking:
Suspicious circumstances are
reported.
11:13 p.m., Avenue A/Turn-
around: A person is arrested on
a warrant.
PUBLIC SAFETY LOG
Sept. 20
Sept. 22
Sept. 23
OREGON STATE
POLICE
Sept. 21
5:09 p.m., N. Downing: EMS
call.
5:43 p.m., One mile
north of Del Rey Beach: Water
rescue.
9:42 p.m., 1200 block Avenue
A: EMS call.
Sept. 22
5:05 a.m., 1000 block S. Down-
ing Street: EMS call.
9:09 a.m., 400 block S. Holla-
day: EMS call.
SEASIDE FIRE & RESCUE
11:28 a.m., 500 block S. Prom:
EMS call.
PUBLIC SAFETY
LOG
1:26 p.m., Side of Safeway:
EMS call.
2:33 p.m., Second and Holla-
day: Fire investigation.
Sept. 17
5:23 p.m., S. Wahanna: EMS
call.
1:42 p.m., 2100 block S. Down-
ing: EMS call.
6:24 p.m., 25th and Pine: Fire
investigation.
8:04 p.m., Surfer’s Cove: Fire
investigation.
11:05 p.m., 1100 block Avenue
A: EMS call.
Fatality
Leah Brown, 30,
of Nehalem, was killed
Sept. 17 in a two-vehicle
crash on U.S. Highway 26.
Brown was driving a 1998
Ford Explorer westbound near
milepost 11 at about 7:20 a.m.
when the vehicle crossed
the centerline and struck
a semitruck , according to
Oregon State Police. Brown was
pronounced dead at the scene,
police said.
Crashed
A Seaside woman
Sept. 17 at 5:32 p.m.
crashed her car on U.S. High-
way 53 at milepost 2.2, her car
winding up wedged between
trees. State police say she was
traveling southbound and her
Ford truck left the roadway
as she negotiated a curve,
crashing her into the north-
bound ditch and eventually
getting her stuck between
trees. Her Ford left the area via
Gary’s Tow. The Hamlet Fire
Department was on scene.
The 59-year-old driver wasn’t
injured.
Vaccine mandate could trigger staff losses at several fi re departments
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
Fire chiefs in Clatsop
County expect to see a sig-
nifi cant decline in personnel
due to the state’s coronavi-
rus vaccine mandate, a situa-
tion that could leave parts of
the county underserved by
emergency responders.
At a recent meeting of
the county’s Fire Defense
Board, local chiefs and
department leaders gave esti-
mates of the staffi ng losses
that may occur after Gov.
Kate Brown’s Oct. 18 dead-
line for health care workers,
teachers and other school
staff to get vaccinated.
Sheriff Matt Phillips
attended the meeting and
relayed the numbers in a
report to the county Board of
Commissioners. “It appears
that on Oct. 19, some areas
of our county will not have
a fi re response to medical
emergencies, crashes, indus-
trial accidents, etc.,” the
sheriff told commissioners
in an email.
‘THE PERVASIVE MISINFORMATION OUT THERE IS NO
LONGER AN EXCUSE. UNVACCINATED PEOPLE ARE
GETTING SICK AND ARE DYING IN THIS COMMUNITY.
WE NEED TO GIVE PUBLIC HEALTH AND HEALTH
CARE SYSTEMS A BREAK AND THAT MEANS DOING
YOUR PART AND PROTECTING YOURSELF AND THOSE
AROUND YOU BY GETTING VACCINATED.’
Mark Kujala, chairman of the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners,
who serves as director of the Columbia Memorial Hospital Foundation
Warrenton Mayor Henry
Balensifer has asked Brown
for an exemption to the
vaccine mandate for volun-
teer fi refi ghters. The mayor
and others are particularly
concerned about losing fi re-
fi ghters who are trained to
provide emergency medical
service.
Some fi re departments,
such as Seaside, indi-
cated they may not lose
staff over the vaccine man-
date, according to Phillips’
report. Others, like depart-
ments in Knappa and West-
port, may lose a small num-
ber but won’t experience
operational changes.
But at Lewis and Clark,
the 31-person fi re crew
could lose, on the higher
end, about half of its people.
Unvaccinated staff can
remain at Lewis and Clark
and respond only to fi re
calls, Golightly said, but
the fi re department’s ability
to respond to medical calls
during daytime hours will
be limited. He is the only
paid staff member in the
department.
For a moment, the gover-
nor’s rules required health
care workers to submit to
weekly COVID-19 test-
ing if they couldn’t show
proof of vaccination. Goli-
ghtly’s crew was on board
with that, he said, and the
department had planned to
do testing in house.
According
to
the
report Phillips compiled,
Olney-Walluski Fire and
Rescue also indicated its
department will have trou-
ble during business hours
responding to motor vehi-
cle crashes and medical
incidents. Elsie’s depart-
ment, located in a rural area
where the wait time for
emergency response is rel-
atively long, has discussed
the possibility of “only
responding to fi re calls.”
Hamlet Volunteer Fire
Department, which shows
up to crashes on U.S High-
way 26, said it may lose
roughly half of its small
department. Warrenton and
Gearhart, two better-staff ed
departments, face an abrupt
depletion of fi refi ghters.
County Manager Don
Bohn noted that the concern
about potential EMS short-
falls is felt in rural counties
statewide. Some counties,
such as Malheur and Baker,
have declared emergencies
over the vaccine mandate.
Mark Kujala, the chair-
man of the Board of Com-
missioners, who serves as
director of the Columbia
Memorial Hospital Founda-
tion, acknowledged the dif-
fi culties the vaccine man-
date has created throughout
Oregon.
But he also said it’s
wrong to say the debate
about vaccines is balanced.
He pointed to a letter the
board received from a con-
stituent “basically telling
us that COVID isn’t killing
anybody, and vaccines are
responsible for deaths …
that we’re feeding every-
body lies, it’s a big conspir-
acy about health care and
government,” he summa-
rized at the meeting.
“I just think that the facts
on one side are wrong,” he
said, “and I don’t mind say-
ing that. I think that we
need to be able to say that.”
Kujala said in a text
message after the meeting
that it’s unfortunate that it
takes mandates to get peo-
ple vaccinated.
“But the pervasive mis-
information out there is
no longer an excuse,” he
wrote. “Unvaccinated peo-
ple are getting sick and
are dying in this commu-
nity. We need to give pub-
lic health and health care
systems a break and that
means doing your part and
protecting yourself and
those around you by getting
vaccinated.”
FOSTER CHILDREN IN CLATSOP COUNTY NEED YOU!
Become a CASA volunteer!
Fall training begins October 13th and will be held virtually
A Court Appointed Special Advocate is a community volunteer who advocates for a child who has been
abused or neglected. CASA volunteers work hard to ensure that children in foster care in Clatsop County will
have a safe and nurturing permanent home as soon as possible. Join us and make a difference.
Contact us today to set up a
CASA 101 Orientation!
(503) 338-6063