OUR 113th Year
September 11, 2020
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
$1.00
Lou Solitske
Supporters of brewery owner Jimmy Griffi n showed their
support Sunday. In August, Griffi n went before City Council to
ask for limits on open carry gun rallies in Seaside.
Heated tempers,
but rally remains
peaceful in Seaside
Second Amendment
rally targets local
brewery
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Dual rallies in Seaside
— with Second Amend-
ment advocates on the east
side of U.S. Highway 101
and supporters of Sea-
side Brewing Co. owner
Jimmy Griffin — came
to a peaceful conclusion
Sunday after three hours
of marches, drums, chants
and sometimes heated
discussions.
No arrests, no warnings
and no citations by the
time participants dispersed
at about 4 p.m., Police
Chief Dave Ham said.
The open carry and Sec-
ond Amendment rally was
co-organized by Miles
Rudduck and Ryan Lyles.
Griffin had spoke at a
City Council meeting after
an open carry demonstra-
tion in August in front
of City Hall caused fam-
ilies at his brewery to
be concerned for their
safety. He proposed that
the community begin a
conversation to figure
out how to prevent armed
groups from marching
in Seaside’s streets with
loaded weapons.
In a post that went viral
on Seaside Brewing’s
Facebook page last Mon-
day, Griffin called for “an
exchange that helps define
what we need to do to
move the ball forward as
a community, and helps
strengthen and support the
foundations of our democ-
racy through conversation,
and subsequently, under-
standing of each other.
Let’s keep the dialogue
going.”
At about 1 p.m., Sec-
ond Amendment support-
ers marched down Broad-
way to the Turnaround.
After saying the Pledge
of
Allegiance,
they
returned to City Hall while
a second group across the
street chanted “We love
Seaside,” and showed their
support for Griffin .
See Rallies, Page A5
Archibald receives
retroactive raise
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
The Sunset Empire Park
and Recreation Depart-
ment board of directors
delivered a 4% raise to
executive director Sky-
ler Archibald. The raise,
retroactive for the 2019-
2020 fi scal year, reverses
a December board decision
to deny the merit increase
for Archibald.
Archibald, whose salary
is $84,500, will receive an
additional $3,400 annually.
The raise came because
Archibald went “above and
beyond” for the district
during the period, board
members said.
“He’s doing a very com-
mendable, superior job,”
Skyler Archibald
board member Michael
Hinton said. “We appreci-
ate that.”
Board members Celeste
Bodner and Erika Mar-
shall, Mike Hinton and Su
Coddington joined board
president Katharine Parker
in August to reject an exec-
utive director pay review
See Archibald, Page A5
Katherine Lacaze
Bob Evans, a local coach
and school teacher, broke
a Guinness World Record
for the most catches
juggling with fi ve balls
while swimming last
weekend.
A world record
Evans makes ‘swuggling’ history
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
“And there was a lot of strug-
gle even today.”
Training for a record
Breaking
a
Guinness
World Record doesn’t hap-
pen in an instant. It takes sev-
eral attempts at a time — and
months of training before that.
Bob Evans, a local coach
and fifth-grade teacher at
Pacific Ridge Elementary
School, demonstrated such
discipline and perseverance
at Sunset Pool last Saturday
when he surpassed two records
in the field of “swuggling,” or
swimming while juggling.
A few people were in atten-
dance to document his attempt,
and the Sunset Empire Park
and Recreation District also
streamed the hour long pro-
gram online.
“If you just pop on now,
and see me kind of effortlessly
get more than 25 catches, you
don’t really see what goes on
beneath the surface, but it’s a
lot of struggle,” Evans said.
At the beginning of the year,
Evans set a goal of surpassing
the mark recognized by the
Guinness World Records for
most catches while swuggling
with five balls, which previ-
ously was 25. There were no
time or distance parameters for
Evans to worry about, although
the records organization has a
few guidelines for the accom-
plishment: a specific juggling
pattern has to be followed, the
balls have to stay above the
water and the swimmer’s feet
can’t touch the bottom of the
pool. Since Evans opted not to
pay for a Guinness official to
attend the event in person, he
has to submit a variety of evi-
dence, such as reports from a
minimum of three witnesses
and video showing a couple
different angles.
“It’s pretty strict, which is
nice, because it makes it offi-
cial,” Evans said.
For the first several months,
Evans did on-land training,
such as strengthening his core,
breathing exercises and finess-
ing his ability to juggle on his
back. It wasn’t until June 20
that he started practicing in a
pool. The recreation district
staff reserved him a lane for
two four-minute sessions each
week, time which was critical
for Evans to accomplish his
goal.
“I was plateaued at 11 until
July, and then I kind of had
some breakthroughs,” he said.
His hard work paid off,
however, as during the pro-
gram, Evans not only broke the
record but went well beyond
it by completing 101 catches.
He also completed 224 catches
while juggling with four balls
in the pool, which isn’t a Guin-
ness record, but is officially
recognized on RecordSetter.
com. The previous record was
See Swuggling, Page A5
Logging near the Cove prompts concerns
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
A proposal to cut trees
on land below the iconic
slopes of Tillamook Head
has caught city officials
and neighbors off guard.
Though the land is
zoned for forestry opera-
tions and some homeown-
ers say they knew harvest
was a possibility, the real-
ity is proving to be more
complex.
In their notification to
the state, the landowners
propose logging about 87
acres.
The property, bordered
by a subdivision, com-
mercial timberland and
protected state parkland,
sits above the Cove, a
popular surfing spot. The
main access to the parcels
slated for logging is a spur
road nestled among homes
on Evergreen Drive that
people often mistake for
someone’s driveway.
City officials say log-
ging trucks should not
be able to use residential
roads to access the prop-
erty, but the city has lim-
ited oversight.
The
neighborhood
next to the property is
mostly home to full-time
residents, Mayor Jay
Barber said. He noted
that the streets leading
off U.S. Highway 101
to Sunset Boulevard and
See Logging, Page A3
Local fi refi ghters assist in blazes across state
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Local
firefighters
quickly geared up to
join crews fighting fires
throughout the state, Sea-
side Fire Chief Joey Dan-
iels said Tuesday.
They were headed
to the command post at
Chemeketa Community
College to camp on the
baseball field, Gearhart
firefighter Chad Sweet
said.
In
total,
Clatsop
County has about 27 fire-
fighters out of the county
fighting fires.
Firefighters left Sea-
side early Tuesday morn-
ing, led by Div. Chief
David Rankin, and appa-
ratus from Gearhart,
Knappa, Olney Walluski,
Astoria, and Nehalem
Bay in Tillamook County,
Daniels said.
Gearhart
firefight-
ers joined the county
task force, fighting the
See Firefi ghters, Page A5
R.J. Marx
High winds caused this tree to break overnight at a South Columbia Avenue home.