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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 2016)
4A • June 17, 2016 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com Views from the Rock invitation to Cannon Beach is launchpad An the purple martin for Bob Quick’s journey I SUBMITTED PHOTO/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Troy Easton, Lt. Chris Wilbur, Cannon Beach Police Chief Jason Schermerhorn and Bob Quick. W hat a way to make a friend — in the back of an ambulance as you’re suffering cardiac failure. Landscaper Bob Quick of Roy, Utah — just west of Ogden — led an unhealthy lifestyle. He paid the price in 2004. “I could tell he was dying as soon as I saw him, for sure,” paramedic Troy Easton said. “Complete cardiac failure, ash- en, blood pressure, 80 over nothing, he was real anxious, you know you’re dying. He said, ‘Please do everything you can to save my life.’” Easton, fi rst on the scene, said Quick had no pulse and was not breathing when they “let him have it,” shocking him with 360 joules from a defi brillator. For three-and-a-half minutes, Quick’s life hung in the balance. As Quick, now 55, entered the “white light,” he recounted last week in Cannon Beach, “I said, ‘I’ll do whatever I can to change,’ and I woke up three days later.” “I’m not sure whether I had a choice to save him or not, but he wouldn’t have had a very good lifestyle,” Easton said. “Not very many people come back.” Quick’s survival was a result of Easton’s quick action and subsequent medical treatment — stents, bypass surgery, and multiple cardiac procedures, according to Easton. Quick suffered so much damage — the lower third of his heart was dead — he required a pacemaker defi brillator for survival. San Diego to St. Augustine Less than a decade later, in 2013, Quick had built himself into shape and proposed a unique thank-you for the emergency responders who came to his assistance. He conceived a plan to bicycle from coast to coast, the fi rst man to embark on a trans- continental ride with 16 heart stents and a defi brillator. Easton and his wife Marla, owners of Easton Health and Safety Solutions in Ogden, sponsored the ride from San Diego, California, to St. Augustine, Florida. The 91-day journey went through Southern California’s Im- perial Valley, where temperatures reached 114 degrees on the ride. Quick and his son, Conrad, rode at night when necessary, “It was an appreciation ride and thank-you to public safety for their response,” Easton said. “Bob’s job was to go shake hands and kiss babies.” “Say hello to your hometown heroes, because that’s what they are,” Quick said. “The ones that never hear a thank-you.” When they landed back in Salt Lake City, they were greeted by fi refi ghters and emergency personnel lined on the runway in a V-formation. Onward to Cannon Beach Quick, along with the Eastons and their two daughters, arrived June 7 in Cannon Beach via RV to launch the fi rst leg of Quick’s second transcontinental journey, a 3,400-mile trek from Cannon Beach to Fire Island, New York. This time, Troy Easton will pedal alongside Quick. “Being the fi rst paramedic to save him, I said, ‘I’ll go with you,’” Easton, 48, said. “I’ve got to watch him. He’s a go-get- ter, he’s done amazing things but I’ve got to reel him back. It won’t be much of an journey if we kill him.” Quick had never been to Oregon, and originally suggested San Francisco as their launch point. Easton vetoed that. “Bob wanted to take me through Nevada,” he said. “We were going to go from San Francisco CANNON BEACH GAZETTE/SUBMITTED PHOTO Th e route Bob Quick and Troy Easton will follow on their ride. to Nevada from Reno to Salt Lake — 512 miles of sheer hell. Why would you do that? You could cook an egg on the hood of your car.” Easton’s daughters had recently vacationed in Cannon Beach, and loved the city and its scenic beauty. He successfully pitched the idea to Quick: “We’re going to Haystack, Jack!” Quick agreed, and began preparation for the trip, which would conclude 3,400 miles away. He got a “tune-up” from medical personnel, including another stent, implanted through the groin up the femoral artery. “The key was getting him ready internally, externally, mind for the next ride,” Easton said. The Eastons used the same tests on Quick they use for performance testing of fi re and police personnel. This ride expands the original goals of the 2013 trip. Along with thank-yous to emergency services, Quick and his team hope to raise awareness of physical fi tness and health, and they are raising funds to provide iPads to schools service autistic children. Quick’s grandson, Bruce, 6, is autistic. On the road Quick and Easton, who took off June 1, were headed for Salem and then to Bend. The northern route promises cooler weather and scenic beauty, along with the opportunity to participate in a three- day event planned for St. Jude Medical in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They’ll then take 250 miles of trail from St. Paul to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With food, tents, sleeping bags and stoves, “We’ve got everything we need,” Easton said. They plan to travel about 50 miles a day. To prevent diar- rhea or cramps, they eat glutamates and protein — to maintain their energy, they’ll need about 8,700 calories per day. “We’ve been training hard the last little while,” Easton said. “But once that heart rate goes up over your threshold and that lactic acid is rocking and you’ve still got seven miles up that hill still that’s so heartbreaking, when you’re riding a 140-pound bike. I’m used to a 17-pound bike.” This should be a wakeup call for all of us — you don’t have to suffer a heart attack to participate in life, the “full catastrophe.” Your crowning moment is right now. The journey offers inspiration to “seize the day” — before the day seizes you. ‘Start moving and grooving’ Cannon Beach Police Chief Jason Schermerhorn and Lt. Chris Wilbur off ered a salute to Troy Easton and Bob Quick before their fi rst leg Wednesday morning. “It’s such a good endeavor for a good cause,” Schermerhorn said. “He’s says he’s thankful for law enforcement and fi re and medical for everything they do because of the battles he’s been through with his drug addiction and getting clean. I’m honored to have met him, and just the work he’s doing to help others is a great Publisher Steve Forrester Editor R.J. Marx Reporter Lyra Fontaine Sales/Advertising Manager Betty Smith testament to what he’s doing.” The rescue component is one all law enforcement offi cers must face, wheth- er in Cannon Beach or Chicago. “We’ve performed CPR countless number of times and it’s very hard to bring people back,” Schermerhorn said. “When you have that opportunity, it’s good to know CPR does work. With him, what a great tribute and that he’s now able to change others’ lives as well. For all the things he’s been through with the stents and the Production Manager John D. Bruijn Circulation Manager Heather Ramsdell Real Estate Holly Larkins Classifi ed Sales Jamie Ramsdell CANNON BEACH GAZETTE The Cannon Beach Gazette is published every other week by EO Media Group. 1555 N. Roosevelt, Seaside, Oregon 97138 503-738-5561 • Fax 503-738-9285 www.cannonbeachgazette.com • email: editor@cannonbeachgazette.com pacemaker, it’s very courageous.” “When we saved Bob he was way down low,” Easton said. “He’s so inspir- ing — I was a fl ight paramedic and had a huge accident a year ago. I got addicted to pain pills, gained a bunch of weight. It’s come full circle and now he’s saving me, You never know. If you’ve got coronary artery disease, face overweight and obesity, diabetes, addiction — start moving and grooving, and you can pull yourself out of it.” SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Annually: $40.50 in county, $58.00 in and out of county. Postage Paid at: Cannon Beach, OR 97110 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cannon Beach Gazette, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Copyright 2015 © Cannon Beach Gazette. Nothing can be reprinted or copied without consent of the owners. have had many wonderful bird adventures this last month including becoming a bird whisperer to purple martins. Here’s how it happened! Just after Mother’s Day, some wonderful friends helped me put up a structure for purple martin nesting. (Thank you to Shoaib, Kara, John and Scott.) It’s a 25-foot tall T-shaped bar with a winch. The crossbars have eight gourds hanging from them. It is about 40 feet from my house on the edge of Neawanna Creek, perfect nesting territory BIRD NOTES for the martins. SUSAN BOAC Each morning when I woke up at 5:30 a.m., I played the purple martin dawn song on my back porch. This is done to attract the scouts that are out looking for more purple martin bird habitat as they migrate and fl y around in the area. Nothing seemed to be happening, no martins in sight. I thought of another approach. Hearing of a colony of purple martins in Astoria, I decided to stop by for a talk. Each morning on my way to work as I crossed the old Young’s Bay Bridge I took a right and stopped at the Yacht Club — you know, right there where the gillnetters park their boats and talked to the purple martin colony. I said “Hey, I know this great new place in Seaside! It’s affordable housing, it’s so close to water, in a quiet neighborhood and close to the beach! Well, it worked! That Saturday, a purple martin showed up! And on Sunday he landed on the crossbars then checked out each of the gourds. (so much fun to watch, I got nothing done that day!) The next day, he brought back a friend! I haven’t witnessed them putting in nesting material but they do come back and visit the affordable housing frequently and I hope we soon have purple martins nesting in Seaside. Please join us for a special bird walk sponsored by Ecola Creek Awareness Project, Sunday, June 26, 9 a.m. to noon. We’re going to retrace Mike Patterson’s walk around Can- non Beach that he described during the Friends of Haystack Rock lecture series last winter. We’ll be walking from the Lagoon Trail across the beach to Haystack Rock through a neighborhood and back to the Lagoon hopefully in three hours. Also our First Sunday bird walks continue to happen. The next one will be on July 3, so if you’re in town, join us 9 a.m. at the lagoon trail on Second Street. As a group, we decide where the best birding is and bird until about 11. Bring binoculars and wear appropriate clothing. Everyone is welcome! Susan has spent her life enjoying the great outdoors from the lakes and woods of Northern Minnesota, Mount Adams in Washington and now the Oregon beach environs. After spending many pleasurable hours driving her avid birder parents around, she has taken up birding as a passion, to the mixed emotions of her husband Scott. The Boacs reside on Neawanna Creek in Seaside where their backyard is a birder’s paradise. LETTERS Budget control? I was dismayed to read about the Cannon Beach budget plans (“Cannon Beach boosts budget by a third,” The Daily Astorian, May 6). Acquiring property in the tsunami inunda- tion zone sounds like a horrible idea. The idea that “as you enter town we want something we can be very proud of” indicates that there will be a massive building project ahead, with associated tax increases. If the city truly wants to beautify, I would suggest spending the money on underground utilities, better maintaining landscaping in parking areas and paving streets. Also interesting was money budgeted for a “salary sur- vey.” Will the taxpayers ever see the results, or will it be like the last expensive survey? Since this type of survey is commonly used to justify sala- ry increases, if the results show employees are overpaid, will it quietly be fi led away? How about some transparency here? Philip Hall Cannon Beach Ways to greatness We won’t pay for eternity if you are “feeling the Bern,” according to Thomas Friedman (“Politicians and the lies that matter,” The Daily Astorian, June 2). Here is the truth. The conservatives want you to think that a Bernie Sanders administration will make you pay taxes for eternity, but history (and I lived the history) points out that it’s not true. History has been kind to many of the Boomers. I paid $90 a quarter at Cal State University, Los Angeles in the early 1970s. That’s because the top federal tax rates were at 50 percent for earned income, 70 percent for unearned income and 32 percent for capital gains. Education was subsidized — then came Reagan. The conservatives’ goal is to starve government by cutting taxes for the wealthy and businesses so we can’t afford to have a functioning democratic society. This has almost been accom- plished. That’s why there is so much anger. How will a Bernie administration or a socialistic adminis- tration accomplish the great ideas? It’s easy: 1. Raise the ceiling on Social Security so the wealthy pay more into the program. No tax increase on everyone, just the wealthy. 2. Charge a .025 fee on high -speed stock transactions to pay for college. No tax increase. 3. Medicare for all is paid for by paying a tax instead of a premium. What’s the difference? We already pay into Medi- care, so we keep on making the payment and voila, Medicare for all. No tax increase. 4. Break up the banks and large corporations by activating the Sherman Antitrust Act. 5. Bring back Glass-Steagall Act. So, these are the ways we can make America great again … more equality. Pamela Jacobson Arch Cape See Letters, Page 5A THE NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING