FRIDAY December 6, 2019
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Fort Dick man surrenders after 6 hours R
Staff Report
onald Berry, 56, was apprehended Wednesday after a nearly six-hour standoff with multiple law-enforcement agencies. According to a press release on the Del Norte County Sheriff ’s Office Facebook page, Berry was wanted for a probation
violation in Del Norte County and for outstanding warrants in Curry County. He also allegedly recently evaded law enforcement by fleeing during a traffic stop. When Del Norte County deputies attempted to contact Berry, according to the press release, he
Law enforcement officers approach the Fort Dick house where suspect Ronald Berry is barricaded inside. Courtesy photo.
More Standoff on Page A3
OREGON’S OLDEST (MAYBE)
FISH HATCHERY STILL GOING STRONG IN GOLD BEACH By Linda Pinkham Staff Writer
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ore than a dozen volunteers, supporters and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) employees were at Indian Creek Hatchery in Gold Beach on Nov. 13 for the season’s first spawning of Rogue River hatchery chinook salmon. “First spawning (brings out) quite a crew,” said David Sophusson, president of Curry Anadromous Fishermen (CAF). “But after the third or fourth time, we need to recruit more volunteers.” CAF, along with ODFW, spawned four female salmon, fertilized their eggs with milt from four males and placed the spawn into incubator trays. The program is authorized through the Rogue Fall Chinook Management Plan, adopted in 2013 by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission. The spawning will continue weekly, as fish continue to become “ripe,” until sometime in mid to late December. The goal is to produce 90,000 smolt (fish ready to head out to the ocean) to be released at the mouth of Indian Creek in the Rogue estuary late next August. The work isn’t easy.
ODFW experimental biological aide Andrew “Hatchery male, over,” as the sorting process Wells climbs into the waist-deep tank containing for the 101 fish present continues for nearly two all of the fish that have been brought into the hours. spawning program this year. With him is 75-yearWells lifts every one of the fish, which averold Joan age 20 to 40 Cooper, who is pounds. That’s slightly shorter a ton or two of in stature – so, salmon! she’s chestSeventy-eight deep in the of the fish came water. from seining the Joan Cooper Rogue River; is the official the remainder “fish whacker” are fish that for each fish returned to the Wells selects as hatchery on ready to spawn. their own. More “Every year, Indian Creek she says she’s fish will arrive not coming with the seasonback, but she al rains. always does,” “Today’s usuThe present-day hatchery building at Indian Creek was Sophusson actually constructed in the 1980s, although the site dates ally the longest said. “The day, because back to 1906 when fish canning baron Robert Hume water is very established his fourth hatchery. He built his first hatchery we have to go cold.” through all of on the Rogue River in 1877. Photo by Linda Pinkham. With each the fish to find netful of which ones are fish, Wells and Cooper are drenched by the fish most ready,” Sophusson said. “Once the spawnsplashing and thrashing. ing has started, someone has to be out here every “Wild female, over,” Wells yells, as he releases the fish back to the holding pen. A volunteer More Hatchery on Page A2 keeps track of the fish as they’re being sorted.
Domestic dispute sends 3 to Crescent City hospital A
Following the fire, crews removed large portions of the boat’s rigging to allow it to be towed to a repair yard. Photo by Jeremy C. Ruark.
Boat fire cause still ‘undetermined’ By Jeremy C. Ruark Staff Writer
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nvestigators said they have yet to find the precise cause of a Brookings Harbor fire Monday morning that heavily damaged the Miss Pacific, an 85-foot
commercial fishing vessel. “The cause is undetermined,” Harbor Fire Interim Chief Thomas Sorrentino told The Pilot. “We believe it could be an electrical issue. “The fire started on the port-side rear of the cabin and went out the back to the stern of the boat, which
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caught the net reel on fire.” Sorrentino could not estimate the financial damages to the vessel. Witnesses said someone from nearby U.S. Coast Guard Station Chetco River
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domestic dispute on Sunday evening sent three people, including a baby, to a Crescent City hospital. According to Curry County Sheriff’s Lieutenant John Ensley, the dispute between a Brookings-area couple - Nicholas Wymer, 25, and his wife, Kathryn Wymer, 22 - occurred at the Harbor Chevron station, 16258 U.S. Highway 101. Ensley said 911 dispatchers received an emergency call at 6:34 p.m. for a “dropped baby” at the gas station. According to witnesses interviewed by a sheriff’s deputy, the mother allegedly had tackled the father, who was holding the baby, and all three fell to the ground. Nicholas Wymer told the deputy that overall the one-year-old child was fine, but he had been injured in the fall. Nicholas Wymer and the child were transported to Sutter Coast Hospital in Crescent City. The deputy then reportedly went to the Dutch Brothers coffee shop location in the shopping center on the far side of the highway, to speak with Kathryn Wymer. She proceeded to run back toward the high-
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By Linda Pinkham Staff Writer
way, stop at the curb and make a motion that she had stabbed herself, Ensley said. As the deputy approached her, she retraced her steps towards the Dutch Brothers location, where he repeatedly ordered her to drop the knife. She did not respond to the deputy’s orders, said Ensley, and began stabbing herself repeatedly. The deputy requested backup. Additional deputies, officers from the Brookings Police Department and Oregon State Police (OSP) troopers arrived to assist. In addition, an ambulance was requested. Ensley said Kathryn Wymer fell to the ground and the deputy was able to remove a 3-inch knife from the area and begin administering first aid, helped by a Brookings police officer and an OSP trooper, until the ambulance arrived. Kathryn Wymer resisted and was uncooperative with the first-responders, Ensley said. She was taken to Sutter Coast Hospital in Crescent City and later flown from Sutter to another hospital because of the severity of her injuries, according to officials. The investigation is continuing, Ensley said, adding that Kathryn Wymer’s injuries were too severe to allow investigators to interview her. The current status of all three patients was unavailable, given patient privacy regulations.
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