The Chronicle
SHC-1107-A01, 03:Layout 1
11/6/12
3:08 PM
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Scappoose girls finish 4th, boys finish 5th at 2012 state meet, Page A12
Wednesday November 7, 2012
Veterans’ needs come to light at town hall BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
ST. HELENS — For more than 70 years, Americans have been celebrating Nov. 11 as Veterans Day. Columbia County is no different. This year’s annual ceremony will again be held at McCormick Park beginning at 11 a.m. VFW Auxiliary 1449, VFW Fred Clendening Post 1440 and Auxiliary and the St. Helens Garden Club are sponsoring this year’s event and invite all to join them for fellowship, sharing, singing, speaking and some traditional pomp and ceremony as they honor America’s veterans – living and deceased – on this special day. But, for the more than 6,000 veterans living in Columbia County, there is a need to address veterans’ issues more than just once or twice a year. On Oct. 25, a veterans town hall meeting was held at Columbia River Foursquare Church to give area veterans an opportunity to voice their concerns and needs and for officials like Community Action Team and county officials to hear what those needs are. “Something that veterans are aware of but hasn’t really come out in Columbia County, is the need for veterans – especially combat veterans – to have a place to get together and talk about their experiences and support one another,” said Community Action Team veterans service officer Grace Clark. “ Clark said it was during the town hall meeting that this need was addressed. Columbia River Foursquare Church offered the use of its
See VETERANS, Page A3
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Clatskanie standoff ends with arrest BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
A standoff that began around 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2, and lasted nearly 10 hours, was brought to a successful – and relatively peaceful – end by Oregon State Police SWAT. Cary Lee Woodard, 51, of Clatskanie, was taken into custody just after midnight following a short struggle with SWAT officers. Woodard was later transported to an area hospital with unknown but nonlife-threatening injuries. Columbia County Sheriff's Office deputies assisted with escorting Woodard, who has now been charged with first-degree menacing
and felon in possession of a firearm. Woodard is being held in the Columbia County Jail on a $25,000 bond. The standoff began after Woodard allegedly fired shots from inside a Clatskanie home. Deputies Cary Woodard responded to the vicinity of 18382 Co-Op Road, west of Clatskanie, at 2:20 p.m. after receiving reports that Woodard had gone berserk during a squabble at the residence there. Woodard reportedly took a .22-caliber, bolt-action rifle and began firing it off in the
house. “They were arguing and he was upset,” said Columbia County Sheriff Jeff Dickerson. “He lives in a motor home outside of the residence and he wanted inside the house. They wouldn’t let him so he kicked the front door. There happened to be a rifle near the front door so he grabbed it and started shooting.” Residents in the home escaped uninjured then went to a neighbor's house to call 9-1-1. As they responded to the scene, deputies learned that Woodard had a criminal history of arrest for murder, but had been convicted of a lesser offense of manslaughter. Witnesses at the scene said Woodard said he would do “whatever it took” to resist being arrested.
Investigators, who had locked down the scene while preparing to serve a search warrant on the property, discovered that Woodard was going back and forth between the residence and the motor home. The Critical Incident Response Team was activated and officers and deputies on the team responded and took up perimeter positions, but waited for a response from the Oregon State Police SWAT team, which began arriving around 9 p.m. after being previously deployed at another incident in the Willamette Valley. “He wasn’t shooting at anybody. If he was shooting at people, at civilians, then we would have gone
See STANDOFF, Page A3
Getting out to vote
DON PATTERSON / The Chronicle
Rain and fog couldn’t keep voters away on Election Day. A steady stream of drivers made their way through the county courthouse parking lot to drop their ballots in the election drop box. See all the election results online at www.TheChronicleOnline.com.
Coordinated care program makes progress BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
It has been more than two months since the implementation of the state’s new coordinated care program in Columbia County. Columbia Pacific CCO, which serves Oregon Health Plan members in Columbia, Clatsop, western Douglas, and Tillamook Counties, has been working through the transition and any issues that have arisen. Jeanie Lunsford, communications manager for CareOregon said, “During the transition, patients will continue to receive their medications and see their same providers as they would have under their previous plan.” CareOregon is a nonprofit health plan serving Medicaid and Medicare recipients in Oregon and is a member organization, along with Greater Oregon Better Health Initiative, of the Columbia Pacific CCO.
“The idea is to make sure there is no disruption in service,” said Lunsford. Under the state’s new plan CCOs will coordinate with health care providers who have agreed to work together in their local community for people who receive health care coverage under OHP. So far, the plan seems to be working. “I only know of one instance where there was a problem and that was rectified pretty quickly,” said Columbia County Commissioner Earl Fisher. Fisher serves as a board member for Columbia Pacific CCO. Columbia Pacific now serves as the umbrella for various provider groups, hospitals, health plans and agencies all working together to serve OHP members. The goal is for each CCO to work to improve patient care and simplify the way patients access care. See CCO, Page A3
Courtesy photo
The body of a construction worker who fell from the bridge in early October while working on a construction project was discovered by a boater on the Columbia River over the weekend.
Body of missing construction worker found BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
LONGVIEW, Wash. — The body of a construction worker who fell from the Lewis and Clark Bride nearly a month ago was found by a recreational boater on the Columbia River on Nov. 3. Charles William “Bill” Wiley Jr., 40, of Mississippi, was part of an OdysseyGeronimo JV construction crew working to complete repairs on the bridge, which spans the Columbia River between Rainier and Longview, Wash. Wiley had been working on a platform under the mid-section of the bridge on Oct. 7 when another worker saw him fall into the Columbia River below, a fall of nearly 200 feet. Wiley’s body was discovered by a recreational boater on the Oregon side of the river in the Abernathy Creek area, which is approximately six
miles downstream from the Lewis and Clark Bridge. “They knew it was him right away based on what he was wearing,” said Columbia County Sheriff Jeff Dickerson. “Later they made an exact match with ID.” Cowlitz County Deputy Riley McNeal, who has been working the investigation since Wiley fell from the bridge, responded to the Oregon site and worked with the Columbia County Sheriff Deputies to recover the body. The Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Coast Guard, along with area tug boat operators and recreational boaters, searched the river for several hours after Wiley’s fall from the bridge before calling off the search. The Cowlitz County dive was at the scene but did not take part in the search due to safety concerns. “That section of the river is a hazardous place to dive,” said Charlie Rosenzweig, Cowlitz County Sheriff's Of-
fice's chief criminal deputy. “It's high risk on a good day.” Odyssey-Geronimo JV is a Houston, Penn.-based construction company specializing in bridge, tunnel and elevated-highway projects. Wiley was experienced in bridge construction and was described by his co-workers as being extremely safety conscious. It is not known how or why the safety equipment Wiley was wearing failed. The formal cause and manner of death will ultimately be determined by the medical examiner’s office. Although Wiley’s body was recovered on the Oregon side of the river, the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office has declined to perform the investigation and instead referred the case to Cowlitz County. According to officials, there is no indication that Wiley's death was the result of anything other than an accident.
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