Headlight Herald
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2023
TILLAMOOK, OREGON • WWW.TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM
VOL. 135, NO. 50 • $1.50
As pineapple express drenches Tillamook, county commissioners declare state of emergency WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
A
large storm system battered Tillamook County beginning December 1, dropping more than five inches in one day on Tuesday, December 5, and causing widespread areal flooding across the county. By December 7, water had mostly subsided as rain showers became intermittent and isolated but by that point the atmospheric river had caused serious damage to several roads across the county, with the most extensive occurring on Miami Foley Road and Sand Lake Road. And with the weekend approaching forecasters were predicting another three to five inches on Saturday and Sunday, triggering another flood watch. With rain still falling, the mounting damages led the Tillamook Board of County Commissioners to declare a state of emergency on December 6, to expedite recovery efforts and the reception of state and federal funding. Tillamook County Public Works Director Chris Laity appeared at the commissioners’ meeting for a rundown of issues facing the county and to discuss the need for the emergency declaration. At the beginning of the meeting, the most significant damage to county infrastructure was a 30-foot washout on Miami Foley Road, 8.8 miles north of its intersection with Highway 101. The washout was caused when the Miami River rose four feet on December 5, overwhelming the capacity of a 36inch culvert in Crystal Creek. Laity said that the culvert had been previously damaged in a 2015 storm and the county had already been in the final stages of designing its replacement, with work planned for the summer of 2024. The design called for a 50-foot span with a
The section of Highway 101 through north Tillamook was under water on Tuesday and Wednesday, causing traffic to detour on Wilson River Loop Road. PHOTO BY WILL CHAPPELL
budget of $2.4 million, with HB Civil contracted to complete the work. That preparation came in handy for the county, as they were able to use the existing plans and forego a lengthy design process to get work started by December 7. Laity said that the construction team had been in touch with him since the washout
Updated modeling projects increased timber harvests in Tillamook County WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
U
pdated harvest projections for Oregon’s State Forests accounting for a proposed habitat conservation plan were presented to the Forest Trust Lands Advisory Committee by Oregon Department of Forestry staff on December 8. The projections showed harvest levels across all state forests slightly decreasing or staying steady compared to those under a transitional implementation plan in effect this year and next. Tillamook County saw an improvement in its projected situation, with a significantly higher level of harvest forecast, increasing from 49 million board feet currently to between 62 and 74 million board feet on average over the course of the plan. Other counties, particularly Clatsop and Washington, were projected to maintain current levels or see a slight decrease, with the variation coming from different harvest scenarios that will be selected between by the board of forestry.
The harvest projections presented to the Forest Trust Lands Advisory Committee (FTLAC) were part of a larger update on an in-development forest management plan (FMP) that will govern forest policy for the next 70 years. The new FMP is being developed in conjunction with and to adhere to the standards of a habitat conservation plan (HCP) that has been created concurrently. The HCP is an overarching conservation plan agreed to with federal agencies to limit damage to the habitats of endangered species and decrease the Oregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF) risk of lawsuits challenging its impact on endangered species. To achieve those goals, the HCP will designate certain zones as habitat conservation areas, greatly restricting forestry activities therein and remove other areas from harvest rotations completely. Early projections in 2020 and 2021 predicted that the HCP would have negligible impact on harvest levels across state forests, which have averaged between 225 and 250 million board feet (mmbf) over the past decade. However, in December of 2022, more refined modeling completed for the transitional implementation plan that is governing forests this SEE TIMBER HARVESTS PAGE A4
on the 5th, and that they had found 60-foot, used beams available in Salem that allowed the quick commencement of work. Laity said that with an emergency declaration clearing the way for direct work with the contractor and the existing plans, the project team expected the repair to take around 10 days.
The emergency declaration issued by the county commissioners will allow the public works department to work directly with contractors on repairs, foregoing a public bidding process. The declaration also paves the way for the county to receive state and federal aid to respond to the flooding, which Laity said had
surpassed the $7.6-million damages threshold required to issue an emergency declaration. During the meeting, Laity told the commissioners about another significant damage event he learned about in real time on Sand Lake Road. There, a large section of SEE PINEAPPLE EXPRESS PAGE A2
Tillamook citizens raise concerns over police department management WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
H
alf a dozen public commenters voiced concerns at Tillamook’s City Council meeting on December 4, following negative experiences with Tillamook Police Officer David Martinez and a lack of response from City Manager Nathan George and acting Police Chief Nick Troxel. The commenters shared stories of being treated aggressively by Martinez, ticketed when they did not believe they had violated traffic laws and one said that he had been held against his will by Martinez and planned to sue the city over the incident. The first to speak was Tanner Billow, a tow truck driver for Burden’s Towing who was recently found not guilty of two traffic citations issued by Martinez in a traffic stop while Billow was responding to the scene of an accident. Billow told the council that he had again been cited by Martinez the weekend before the meeting when he was temporarily double parked at Burden’s lot in downtown Tillamook, helping a client transfer items between vehicles. Billow said that he had not been impeding the flow of traffic on Front Street, noting that trucks making deliveries to the farm store obstructed traffic much more than he had. Billow said that he believed the ticket was in retaliation for his speaking out against his inappropri-
ate citations this summer and said that the city needed to get a grip on Martinez. Rick Burden, who runs the tow lot, and his father Don, who owns it spoke next and took issue with Martinez’s ticketing of Billows while he was not blocking traffic. Rick also bemoaned the city police’s lack of response to frequent break-ins at their lot and questioned why they couldn’t make time for those crimes caught on video but could for frivolous traffic stops. Another citizen then described a run-in he had with Martinez when he was pulled over in downtown Tillamook, for reasons unknown. The commenter said that when Martinez approached his vehicle in a parking lot on Third Street, he had his hand on his gun and began yelling at the driver. The man said that he had captured the incident on tape and that he was hard of hearing and had felt that the response was out of proportion for his cooperative behavior when pulled over. A different commenter said that since Martinez’s arrival he had received repeated tickets from the officer that he believed were issued in error. When he took his concerns to George and Troxel, he said that he had been issued more tickets following his visits. Yet another commenter said that he had been held in a room at the police station against his will while not under arrest with Martinez blocking the door with his hand on
his gun. The commenter said that he was preparing to sue the police department and city for the actions, which continued to cause him nightmares. He said that he did not plan to seek monetary damages but wanted to shine a light on the misdeeds of Martinez and those at the city who were allowing them to continue. Councilor Nick Torres called for an executive session to discuss George’s handling of the complaints against Martinez. Councilor Brian Reynolds said he preferred giving George time to respond before holding an executive session but noted that he was also concerned about the issues raised. Councilor Garrett Noffsinger echoed Torres and Reynolds’ concern and said that he would not be opposed to an executive session, although it was unclear if one had been scheduled at the time of press. In response to a question about Martinez’s employment status with the city after the complaints at the meeting, George did not offer a direct response. Instead, he thanked those who had offered feedback at the meeting and said that any citizen who had a complaint about a city employee could file a complaint form that would be investigated. “All such inquiries are taken very seriously,” George wrote. “The city wants to reassure the public that it is committed to continuing to provide a high level of public service.”