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TBCC Welding Program making sparks
Savory Wellness recipe Page 9
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Headlight Herald
TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2022
TILLAMOOK, OREGON • WWW.TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM
VOL. 134, NO. 14 • $1.50
Oceanside petitioners miss the May 2022 ballot, look ahead to 2023 Ashley Tike Staff Writer
The Oceanside petitioners fell short, not meeting requirements to get on the upcoming election ballot stating that the novelty of the process and vague nature of rules, along with time constraints as the reasons for the denial.
Tillamook County Sheriff deputy arrests Briana Richelle Chambers on Wed. March 23. Photo courtesy of Tillamook County Sheriff Dept.
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he Tillamook County Commissioners ultimately denied approval of the Oceansiders United petition for the creation of a new city of Oceanside to make the May 2022 Primary Election Ballot. The denial of the petition was frustrating for organizers but petitioners plan to pivot and move forward again in 2023. Jerry Keen of Oceansiders United said, “This May was an optimal time to get our petition on the ballot, we worked hard toward that date, hurdling obstacles along the way but we are going to remain positive and move forward with a new goal.” This was not the first public hearing for this topic; on February 2, 2022 the Tillamook Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) unanimously (3-0) denied the petition request Oceanside, Oregon. Headlight Herald file photo for the incorporation of the unincorporated community of Oceanside and Properties Proposed to be Included in the City the creation of the City of Oceanside. Limits for the City of Oceanside Include all PropOn February 9, 2022 the Oceanside United erties Currently Within the Oceanside Unincorpopetitioners submitted clarification and a motion rated Community Boundary with the Exception for reconsideration at a meeting held March 30, of Those Properties Located Within “The Capes.” 2022, “Discussion and Consideration of Petition According to Keen, the complicated and vague for the Incorporation of the Unincorporated Com- rules surrounding this made filing the petition munity of Oceanside and the Creation of the City a difficult task. Multiple issues came to light of Oceanside. upon working on the petition such as implicaPetition Includes a New Tax Rate for Propertions regarding city benefits regarding sewer ties Within the Proposed City Limits of the City development, issues with a proposed tax rate not of Oceanside at 80 Cents ($0.80) Per One-Thougenerating enough money for the proposed new sand Dollars ($1,000). city and concerns around “The Capes” area future
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ORIGINAL development. In the meeting Keen requested that the commissioners work together with Oceansiders United to find a clear path moving forward. Commissioner Yamamoto said, “This is the 3rd ask to incorporate a community in the State of Oregon in the past 80 years, it’s unprecedented,” adding that he has unanswered questions and concerns about The Capes area being left without sewer for a period of time. Comments: headlightreporter@countrymedia. net
New needle exchange site added in Hebo T
Ashley Tike Staff Writer
he Tillamook County Commissioners met Wednesday, March 30 and approved the request from The Department of Health and Human Services of Tillamook County to work with Nestucca Rural Fire Protection District (NRFPD) for the purpose of providing access to harm reduction and needle exchange services to all Tillamook County communities regardless of ability to pay. The fire department will provide their location as a drop site for dirty needles to be disposed of properly, in exchange for clean needle syringes. Shelby Porter, the public health program representative from the Tillamook County Health Department said, “We’re excited to expand to Hebo, we’ve been trying to get these services to south county for a little while now and finally were able to find a good location.” According to Porter, in Wheeler last week they were able to take in 5,500 dirty syringes off the streets putting the total at 31,320 syringe exchanges since the start of this program in Tillamook County. The NRFPD Fire Chief, Jim Oeder, said the department was approached and asked to help with the program, they were looking to find an easy-to-access site in south county. Tillamook County Public Health, with support from OHA, Clatsop County and Columbia Pacific Coordinate Care Organization, Tillamook County began their harm reduction and syringe services program in Tillamook in April 2021. According to the agreement, the goals of the needle
exchange program are to reduce incidence of transmission of blood-borne infections through substance use, to provide free access to needles/ syringes and safe disposal of used needles/syringes, and to raise awareness about the risk of drug overdoses and associated fatalities. Upon the approval of this agreement in the meeting Commissioner Mary Faith Bell said, “I support this, I think this concept oftentimes can be misunderstood by the community but it is exactly as it reads, harm reduction.” The Tillamook health department’s harm reduction strategy is aimed at reducing negative consequences (i.e., negative health outcomes) associated with drug use and along with the needle syringe 1:1 exchange, they will be offering community resource information based upon need and recovery information when one is ready to take the step. They also offer wound care supplies, prevention kits, Naloxone/ Narcan kits and training, resources and more. “Recently, we have seen an increase in overdoses in our response area and if they are able to reach out to people struggling, provide education and give them a way to receive help, that’s all the better,” said Oeder, “Some of these people have hit rock bottom, we’ve seen in the past that if they get the right kind of help they can make big changes in their life.” This program was approved to be held one day per month with a May 11th start date for the south county location, proper disposition of used needles along with bilingual English/Spanish literature will be provided. According to the Tillamook County Public Health Department website, these services are bring provided anonymously and currently are being held 11a.m. to 1p.m. the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month at the Ivy Wellness Center (1105 Ivy Ave) in Tillamook and the 4th Wednesday of each month in Wheeler at the
TSD9 employee arrested for alleged sex abuse involving a minor A
Tillamook School District employee has been arrested for alleged sex abuse involving a minor. On March 23, 2022, Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office Detectives arrested Briana Richelle Chambers, 28, of Bay City, Oregon. Chambers was booked into Tillamook County Jail on charges of Contributing to the Sexual Delinquency of a Minor, four counts of Sex Abuse 3 and Tampering with Evidence. “This investigation involves unlawful sexual conduct between the suspect and a minor teenaged male,” said TCSO Detective Sgt. Michelle Brewer. “The crimes alleged did not occur on school property and did not involve any students at the school where she worked.” This is an ongoing investigation. TCSO does not release victim information in cases of sexual assault or any cases involving minors. TSD9 administration was unavailable for comment as of press time. Comments: headlightreporter@ countrymedia.net
Highway 6 Bill passes, ODOT to study the road and report findings W
North County Food Bank (278 Rowe St Upper Parking Lot). “Oftentimes this is the only time these people interact with any type of healthcare professional,” said Porter, “We see them at these events and we’re building a relationship, making connections with them to eventually get them thinking about the recovery process.” Some of the public health principles of harm reduction include; accepting that drug use is part of our world and choosing to work to minimize its harmful effects on the people using drugs, rather than ignore or condemn those individu-
als, understanding that drug use and behavior change are complex and multifaceted, recognizing that the realities of poverty, class, racism, social isolation, past trauma, sex-based discrimination and other social inequities affect both people’s vulnerability to and capacity for dealing with drug-related harm, does not attempt to minimize or ignore the real or tragic harm and dangers associated with licit and illicit drug use. Comments: headlightreporter@ countrymedia.net
Ashley Tike Staff Writer
ednesday, March 30 a virtual town hall meeting was held to discuss House Bill 4053 which is the first step toward making improvements to Oregon Route 6. The bill passed through the Oregon state legislature and has been signed by Governor Brown. It requires the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to complete a study on Highway 6 and come up with a safety and reliability report; delivering the findings by no later than September 15, 2023. In the town hall sponsor of the bill, Representative Suzanne Weber said, “ODOT needed support to work on this and so I’m happy that this is going forward so we can finally get some sort of results.” She added, “We don’t know how much this will cost, it will be a major challenge to fund this once we know what the needs are, but I am sure once we find out we will be able to make decisions on how to do this.” According to Rep. Weber, this roadway has too few pullouts, guard rails or passing lanes, with more than a million people visiting Tillamook
n See ODOT, Page A3