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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 2020)
OUR 113th Year March 20, 2020 SEASIDESIGNAL.COM $1.00 Virus concerns bring Seaside to a near standstill Impacts felt in closures, cancellations ‘A whole new world’ Seaside Signal Seaside schools to focus on remote learning Canceled. As postponements, closures and cancellations mount, that is the mes- sage pumped out as the state moves to slow the spread of the corona- virus. Gov. Kate Brown on Mon- day ordered the closure of bars and restaurants in the state for four weeks, allowing restaurants only to provide takeout, and banned events R.J. Marx See Virus, Page A6 Seaside’s Nike store was one of hundreds of retailers throughout the country to temporarily close. By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal Seaside staff will be adapting to a “whole new world,” district superinten- dent Sheila Roley said after Gov. Kate Brown extended the closure of public schools because of the coronavirus until April 28. The Seaside School District board of direc- tors met Tuesday night, shortly after the governor’s announcement. “It’s a whole new world to all of us, in so many ways,” Roley said. See Schools, Page A6 The Heights needs full roof replacement The adventure continues Cost is signifi cantly higher than originally planned By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal R.J. Marx High Line Adventure Park off ers three-stories of climbing and platforms. High Life opens Seaside aerial challenge course By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal T he adventurous are welcome to pay a visit to Seaside’s newest outdoor attraction on Saturday. The High Life Adventure park on South Roosevelt Drive in Seaside fea- tures an aerial challenge course with 30 platforms and more than 60 chal- lenge elements. Participants are “clicked in” and navigate the course 20 to 40 feet off the ground, through the obstacles including bridges, ropes and cables. Moving elements incorporate swings, barrels, a kayak, snowboard, a surf- board and more. Owners Dave and Lancey Larson designed and created their fi rst adven- ture park, High Life Adventures Zip Line Tours, in Warrenton in 2012. R.J. Marx See Adventure, Page A8 Jana Dean shows how to clip in before going onto the ropes. The Heights Elementary School needs a new roof. “The roof work has been scheduled for summer 2020, since the beginning of con- struction,” said project manager Jim Henry at the Seaside School District Construction Oversight Committee meeting on March 10. “The district has decided it makes sense to replace the entire roof rather than limit the work to only repairing areas impacted by seismic upgrade work.” In the district’s construction plans, the replacement was budgeted for $500,000. Full removal and replacement, new fl ashing and drains for the 81,500-square- foot roof “will be much higher,” he said. The current roof is past its expected life span, Henry said. The Heights Elementary School opened for grade-school students in 1975, with a roof replacement in 1990. Specifi cations call for a three-ply, built-up bituminous roof for most of the roof area, Henry said. The north area will be asphalt shingles. The existing roof has the same systems. The asphalt shingle work can be done when school is in session, he said. The built-up roof will not be done when school is in session. As part of the $100 million bond project approved by voters in 2016, students from Gearhart Elementary School and Seaside Heights will merge in the renovated and expanded building. The renovation is considered the sec- ond phase of the $99.7 million construc- tion project that sees the relocation of the middle and high schools to a location out- side of the tsunami inundation zone. The roof replacement will likely be paid for from construction contingency funds, Henry said. Renovation at the Heights in the former gym and play area. The space will be used for new classrooms. Photographic memoir chronicles spirit of the 1960s Author traveled with the Grateful Dead By KATHERINE LACAZE Seaside Signal What was it like to be part of the Grateful Dead’s extended fam- ily, following the legendary rock band’s journey from its time in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood to touring across the country? The answer is chronicled by Rosie McGee, 74, who spent roughly a decade traveling with the Grateful Dead, dancing and taking photographs, in her book, “Danc- ing With the Dead,” a photographic memoir published in 2012. She recalls “one of the happiest moments” of her life taking place Jan. 4, 1967, during the Human Be-In, a gathering organized by poet Allen Ginsberg and writer Gary Snyder. “Onstage or in the audience, we all felt the embrace of commu- nity joined together by many com- mon bonds and especially that this was the fi rst time we had all got- ten together,” McGee said during a presentation at the Seaside Public Library on March 14. The Haight-Ashbury era McGee was the daughter of French immigrants who settled in the San Francisco Bay A rea. In 1964, she was dating Phil Lesh, one of the founding members of the Grateful Dead, and immersed in the fl edgling counterculture movement. According to McGee, that meant partaking frequently in acid tests, where dozens of people met at rented spaces and willingly drank Kool-Aid laced with then-legal LSD. See Memoir, Page A8 Katherine Lacaze Author Rosie McGee signs copies of her book, “Dancing With the Dead,” a photographic memoir published in 2012, at the Seaside Public Library after her presentation March 14.