Local elected official urges more honest county messaging on overdose response after family’s experience

Elise Yarnell, a local elected official from Newburgh, addressed the Yamhill County Board of Commissioners during public comment on May 14 to say a sitting county commissioner had publicly overstated the scope and effectiveness of the county’s overdose-fatality review and postvention efforts.

Yarnell said she avoided public discussion of her husband’s death to prevent politicization but felt compelled to speak after hearing comments “described in glowing and expansive terms as leaving no stone unturned.” She said her husband’s death in January 2025 was initially communicated to her as an overdose and was later reclassified months later as natural causes; during the process her family experienced “mass confusion, limited investigation, and no coordinated outreach,” she said. “When elected officials publicly overstate the effectiveness of systems during election season…it matters,” Yarnell said.

Yarnell told the board the rhetoric used by public officials can silence grieving families who experience gaps in services and outreach. She called for “a more honest public conversation about what resources are truly available” in Yamhill County for people and families affected by overdose, recovery, and traumatic loss, and requested a follow-up conversation with county staff and commissioners.

Yarnell also acknowledged she believes the people involved in the county’s committee “genuinely care,” but distinguished care from the public portrayal of systems as consistently successful. She urged commissioners to “stop presenting complicated under‑resourced systems as polished success stories when real families are still carrying profound unanswered questions.”

The board did not record an on-the-spot formal response to Yarnell’s remarks during the meeting; Yarnell said a commissioner had later clarified parts of the committee’s role in a written email. Chair Johnston moved on to the next agenda item after public comments concluded.

The board later scheduled a work session on opioid settlement funds for early June, at which Director Manfren is expected to present details on proposed uses including a step‑down housing model and oversight of settlement funds.