CLATSOP COUNTY, Ore. (KPTV) – A big fish has washed ashore along the Oregon coast over the weekend.

A Mola mola was found about half a mile south of the Sunset Beach approach. The Seaside Aquarium says the fish is only a little over five feet, but Mola molas or ocean sunfish can get up to 10 feet and weigh as much as 5,000 pounds.

The aquarium says there are three different species of sunfish in the genus Mola: Mola mola, Mola tecta, and Mola alexandrine.

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A 7.3-foot Mola tecta – hoodwinker sunfish – washed ashore on a beach in Gearhart back in June.

It’s not known at this time why the Mola mola washed up on the Oregon coast.

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One of the top centers in the land is highly considering becoming an Oregon Duck.

Class of 2025’s Eric Reibe has scheduled six official visits to Kansas (Aug. 29-31), UConn (Sept. 6-8), Kentucky (Sept.13-15), North Carolina (Sept. 20-22), Indiana (Oct. 4-6) and Oregon (Oct. 11-13).

He doesn’t have a commitment date set at the moment but is looking to aim for an early signing period decision. Reibe seems to like the offense with which Dana Altman has implemented and believes it’s a strong fit at Oregon.

“Coach Dana Altman has done a good job of telling me how he wants to use my skill-set… I have good connections with Louis Rowe and Coach Mike Mennenga. I have developed a good connection with them and good relationships. They haven’t really had a player with my size or skill-set, so that is kind of new. But they run a five-out offense and they want to use me more as a four man to stretch the floor and in dribble hand-offs…”

– Eric Reibe via Joe Tipton of On3

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Reibe is ranked the 34th best overall recruit in the nation, the second ranked center in the country and the top player coming out of the state of Maryland according to On3.

The young, skilled seven-footer plays at The Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland and also represented Germany in the U18 European championship this summer. He averaged 8.0 points per game on 56.1 field goal percentage and 46.7 three-point percentage and 4.9 rebounds per game in 11 games with Orange Academy Ratiopharm in the Germany ProA league.

The southpaw can stretch the floor and isn’t afraid to let it loose from deep. That’s the dream seven-footer prospect. Reibe is also mobile and runs the floor well. Around the rim, he has an extremely soft touch.

The 2024-25 Ducks only have one true center in senior Nate Bittle on the roster and have no incoming recruits to play the five spot. The big man minutes can be all for Reibe if he wants it.

Altman’s Ducks are also targeting Trey McKenney, a 6-4 shooting guard in the class of 2025. McKenney is the nation’s No. 16 overall ranked player, according to 247 Sports, and is the No. 1 recruit from the state of Michigan. His versatility is a strength: with the ability to bring the ball up at the 1 and is a gifted scorer. He’s powerfully built for his size at 233 pounds with a 6-9 wingspan.

The Flint, Michigan, native is scheduled to visit Eugene on October 12.

Big visits on the calendar for Oregon!

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If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide or a mental health crisis, call or text 988 for free, immediate support 24/7.

After Jesse Banks died alone in his cell at Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, a state medical examiner found a ripped up a mask to protect against disease crammed in the back of his bloody mouth.

The account, drawn from an Oregon State Police detective’s notes, is part of  a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the Oregon Department of Corrections on Sunday in U.S. District Court in Eugene. The lawsuit, filed by Banks’ mother Patricia “Trish” Nemeth, lays out a series of allegations about Banks’ treatment in prison before his death on the morning of April 1, 2023 in a cell im the prison’s behavioral health unit. 

More broadly, it seeks to hold the agency accountable for its treatment of Banks, a 35-year-old man who had a documented history of mental health challenges and needed medication. The lawsuit suggests either a coverup, negligence or both were involved and seeks damages of up to $20 million. 

“The state actors were deliberately indifferent to the serious medical needs of Mr. Banks, either by strangling him to death, increasing his dosage to a fatal dose and then leaving him unattended for several hours while they had the responsibility to perform tier checks every 15 minutes,” the lawsuit said.

A spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Corrections declined to comment on the allegations. 

Banks had a developmental disorder, and corrections agency’s staff failed to follow their rules for inmates and make the necessary checks for inmates with mental health conditions who are in solitary confinement, the lawsuit alleges. Those checks are supposed to happen every 15 or 30 minutes. 

Instead, a corrections officer checking on Banks found him dead after more than two hours without any checks, the lawsuit alleged. 

Wayne Lamb, a Salem attorney who represents the mother, said appropriate medical care and regular checks are crucial in a case like Banks. 

The lawsuit says the prison “turned a blind eye” to his need for mental health care and that the state acted to cover up evidence. The mask mentioned in the detective’s notes was an N95, which is supposed to filter out 95% of particles in the air, including those that cause COVID. 

The bloody mask was not mentioned in the autopsy report, the lawsuit said. Instead, the report said the upper airway was not obstructed, the lawsuit alleged.

The complaint said the autopsy investigation was flawed and that the state either “intended to bury evidence” or had no interest in the actual cause of death, the lawsuit said. The autopsy found the death was self-inflicted strangulation.

The lawsuit asserted Banks died in one of two ways – and the state was responsible in both cases. One possibility is that a state employee at the prison crammed the mask into his throat and the evidence was buried, the lawsuit said. The other is when a doctor inappropriately adjusted his medication, it forced an overdose and triggered a suicide, the lawsuit said. 

Either way, the failure to conduct regular checks contributed, the lawsuit said.

“Whether the death was suicide or guard strangulation, the death was the product of a criminal act of intent or recklessness,” the lawsuit said. 

Based on medical records, the lawsuit said Banks didn’t have an inclination toward suicide. Rather, he said he looked forward to his release while visiting with his family. 

“He spoke of the future, of work, of National Geographic subscriptions and he generally spoke with optimism and level-headedness,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said Banks faced bullying and harassment from corrections officers and struggled to get access to appropriation medications. 

Banks bounced in and out of the criminal justice system and, at times, went to Oregon State Hospital for treatment so he could aid in his defense in court against various charges. His mental health and ability to face charges was repeatedly mentioned in his felony cases. 

He also was imprisoned. In 2018, he went to Oregon State Penitentiary for a 38-month sentence and was housed in the behavioral health unit. 

In 2022, he was sentenced on charges of aggravated harassment and assaulting a public safety officer and returned to the prison. When Banks died, he was about two years from his release date.

A corrections officer found him under his blankets and out of sight from the door, the lawsuit said. 

Officers told investigators they made efforts to revive him with medical staff, but his body was no longer warm. He was already stiff and rigid from rigor mortis. They said they gave him CPR anyway. 

“Whether true or not, it was clearly too late, as Mr. Banks was pronounced dead at 10:07 a.m.,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit opens the door for Nemeth’s lawyer to obtain more evidence, including potential security camera footage, and to interview prison staff to learn more about what transpired.