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Citizen Serving North Tillamook County since 1996
November 3, 2022
$1.50 Volume 29, No. 21
Disease outbreak in sea lions has potential to be spread to dogs Breeana Laughlin
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Country Media
ildlife officials always encourage humans and their pets to keep their distance from sea lions and other marine mammals on the beach. A recent outbreak of disease among sea lion populations is giving people and their pets yet another reason to steer clear of marine mammals while they walk along the beach. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported an increase in the number of stranded sea lions along the entire Oregon Coast – from Brookings to Astoria. Many of these sick and deceased sea lions have suffered from leptospirosis – a disease that can be passed along to animals and people. The Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network documented over 150 sick or dead sea lions along the Oregon coast since the current outbreak began in late July 2022. Necropsies on seven sea lions confirmed all tested positive for leptospirosis. Meghan Durham, a representative for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said leptospirosis is a naturally occurring bacteria that causes disease in sea lions and other wildlife. “It can happen in small numbers every year, and sometimes you get larger sporadic outbreaks of the disease,” Durham said. Although the outbreak is happening in numbers larger than usual, Durham said there isn’t any reason to believe it will impact the larger population of sea lions in Oregon. There are no rescue and rehabil-
itation options for sick or injured seals and sea lions in Oregon. The state policy is to minimize disturbance from people and to let nature take its course, according to the Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network. “There are currently no efforts to treat the sea lions (for leptospirosis) because it is something that occurs naturally,” Durham said. She said to her knowledge there is no correlation between climate change or other ocean health issues that is currently contributing to the current disease outbreak. But because leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease - meaning that people can get infected from animals and vice versa – wildlife officials are encouraging dog and horse owners to discuss the merits of vaccination for leptospirosis with their veterinarian. Brookings, Oregon veterinarian technician assistant Robi Chance says the leptospirosis vaccine is common and recommended for dogs in areas along the Oregon Coast. Leptospirosis is a disease that is not only carried by sea lions, but other wildlife such as deer and raccoons. Chance, who has been in the veterinary field for 30 years, said she encourages pet owners to keep their pets contained at the beach. “There’s a lot of things that they can get into on the beach that makes them sick,” she said. There are a few possible ways dogs can contract leptospirosis, including if they “roll” in a deceased animals with the disease, bite or ingest parts of an animals with the disease, or by drinking water that is contaminated with urine from a diseased animal. The veterinarians’ recommendation to contain their animals goes
Former Garibaldi City Manager set to sue city, former mayor Will Chappell
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along with ODFW and Oregon Parks and Recreation guidelines to leash their dogs and keep at least 150 feet away from live or dead sea lions. Close encounters with people can be harmful and continued disturbances may cause stress, including causing mothers to abandon their pups. Brookings resident Bob Oneida said he was a recent witness to a sick and dying sea lion on the Southern Oregon Coast. “It had crawled up onto the beach but was laying sideways to the ocean. The tide was coming in and the waves were washing over it a little further each time. Finally the waves started going over its’ head. It picked its’ nose up high enough to get out of the water, but as soon as the wave receded it dropped its’ head to the sand,” Oneida said. “It was having a lot of trouble. Its’ breathing was very labored,” Oneida said.
Oneida said several people were there watching the sea lion with him at Sporthaven Beach, including one with a dog – and the dog approached the sea lion. Leptospirosis can be serious and fatal to dogs. Infection of the liver or kidneys can be fatal for animals if the infection progresses, causing severe damage to these organs. Veterinarian technician Chance says it is best to vaccinate dogs because if they do get the disease it can be difficult and expensive to treat. It is also rare but possible that dogs with leptospirosis can transmit the disease to their owners. Sick or injured seals, sea lions, whales or dolphins can be reported to 1-800-452-7888. For more information on wildlife diseases, contact ODFW’s wildlife health hotline at 1-866-968-2600.
Rockaway Beach City Manager withdraws resignation Will Chappell
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Reporter
uke Shepard submitted his resignation as Rockaway Beach’s City Manager last Tuesday, October 25th, before withdrawing his resignation at a special city council meeting convened on Tuesday Nov. 1. Shepard has been city manager since October of 2019 and had served as director of public works prior to that. “Thank you again for the privilege of serving Rockaway Beach in many capacities over the past 15 years,” Shepard had said in his resignation letter. In the letter, Shepard pointed to hiring a full-time fire chief and bringing the city’s finances onto firm ground as accomplishments in which he took particular pride. “It’s been my pleasure to work with Luke Shepard, both in his capacity as Director of Public Works and as City Manager,” Mayor Sue Wilson said after receiving the resignation letter. “He has proven himself time and time again with the projects he has supported for the benefit of our citizens.”
Rockaway Beach City Hall. Citizen file photo Shepard withdraws resignation In an unexpected turn of events, city council convened a special meeting on Tuesday evening to review Shepard’s performance over the last year as city manager. After conducting the review in a closed executive session, the council returned to public session and said that Shepard had “met
and exceeded expectations” in the past year. They then asked Shepard to withdraw his letter of resignation, with Councilor Kristine Hayes abstaining from both motions due to her physical absence from the meeting. “I had a lot more support than I realized and Rockaway is where I want to be,” Shepard said after the meeting when asked about his
change of heart. “I am thrilled that he is not leaving the city, he’s been a breath of fresh air and a stabilizing for the city,” Wilson said after the meeting. Please send any comments to headlightreporter@countrymedia. net.
Mayors Assoc. announces plan to address homelessness A
n Oregon Mayors Association task force submitted a letter last week to Oregon’s three gubernatorial candidates and the Legislature, outlining its plan to successfully address the current statewide homelessness crisis. The plan calls for a partnership be-
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tween the state and Oregon’s 241 incorporated cities to provide comprehensive funding for local homelessness response and prevention programs. This would require direct allocations to each incorporated city in Oregon, totaling $123,575,800 annually. In addition to direct, annual allocations, coordinated capital construction investments for specific shelter and transitional housing projects statewide would also be required. The task force, consisting of 25 mayors from across the state, was created in May to develop a response to homelessness that would help all communities statewide, regardless of size or location, to address the issue.
North Bend Mayor Jessica Engelke is among the 25 mayors on the task force. The letter submitted reads: We write to you as leaders, partners and voters seeking collaboration and action. Cities are facing a crisis as we respond to the emergency of homelessness across Oregon. Last week at the League of Oregon Cities conference, Mayors came together from across the state to discuss critical policies and programs that impact Oregonians. The number one issue throughout Oregon – in both rural and urban communities, large and small – is homelessness. We know this humanitarian crisis is impacting both the individuals
directly experiencing homelessness as well as communities at large. Many jurisdictions have developed new programs, expanded service efforts, built regional partnerships, and are making substantial investments of local general fund and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to respond to the unhoused emergency. Yet, this humanitarian crisis exceeds our individual capacity. While active projects, programs, and partnerships are in place in many cities in Oregon, the state has an opportunity to partner with local governments to build upon these efforts to make
n See MAYORS, Page 6
Reporter
he City of Garibaldi received a letter late in September informing them that former City Manager Juliet Hyams plans to file suit against the city and former Mayor, and current city councilor and candidate for mayor, Judy Riggs. The suit alleges that while city manager Hyams was subjected to retaliation for whistleblowing, invasion of privacy by false light and defamation by Riggs, leading to her eventual resignation in July of this year. “Ms. Hyams will allege that she was publically and illegally subjected to false accusations and insinuations about her job performance that effectively made it impossible to do her job,” Hyams’s attorney Tim Volpert said in a statement. Interim City Manager Jay Marugg confirmed that the city had received the letter informing them of the suit but said that he could not comment further on the matter, citing pending litigation. When Hyams took over as city manager in the summer of 2021 she found that the city had serious accounting issues. Under former City Manager Geoff Wullschlager, Garibaldi fell behind on annual audits of the city’s finances, submitting the audit for fiscal year 2019 only in October 2021, after Hyams’s tenure had begun. Auditors carrying out that investigation found that there were issues surrounding the reliability of financial information and accounting discipline. The city is still in the process of completing audits for fiscal years 2020 and 2021. The suit will allege that as Hyams brought these deficiencies to the counsel’s attention and tried to address these shortcomings, Riggs adopted a hostile attitude towards her. Hyams says that Riggs began spreading unfounded rumors about Hyams’s job performance, including making false statements about Hyams inappropriately purchasing a fire truck at a December 2021 city council meeting. Riggs, who served as mayor of Garibaldi from 2019-2021, declined to comment for this story stating she had yet to see the suit or letter of intent to sue. The suit will allege that Riggs became more aggressive towards Hyams as the first half of 2022 progressed. Riggs’s attacks intensified this spring in the lead-up to the Garibaldi Days festival, which Hyams was organizing. In April of this year, Riggs accused Hyams of going over budget on the event and threatened to schedule Hyams’s performance review early. Matters came to a head at the July 2022 city council meeting, according to the letter from Hyams’s attorney. At this meeting, Riggs falsely said that Hyams and her staff had illegally conducted the 2022-2023 budget, despite Hyams holding all required meetings and providing proper notice.
n See SUE, Page 3