Continued from A12
and residents. She reminds us that “we
are graded as a community and must
concentrate on the ‘we’ rather than the
‘me’,” even if that means we individually
struggle more than we are comfortable
with.
“I think that the county and this town
have respected things more than probably
other places,” said Bijou Theatre owner
Keith Altomare. “I think that people are
very respectful.”
This community has worked together
to donate to businesses, deliver food to
those who do not have it, and because of
our fast, socially distanced responses we
have succeeded as a group in keeping our
infection numbers low.
Another frustration that has been
expressed is that most of Saturday’s rally
included participants from out of our area,
at a time when we are being encouraged
to stay close to home and not travel unless
it is essential. Being a town that relies
heavily on our out-of-town visitors, it has
been a difficult process for many to accept
that a resource they feel should be open
to all — such as our beaches — must be
kept to locals only for the greater well-
being of our community. Even within
our local population, the divide has been
noticeable as those who want to ensure
our tourists always feel welcomed here
are clashing with others who feel we
need to strongly encourage people to stay
away for now. Oregon Women for Trump
founder and Saturday’s event coordinator
Carol Leek expressed that even before
the pandemic locals didn’t seem to want
them (outsiders) here and that, coronavirus
aside, they don’t feel liked by the general
populace of the area. During the course
of writing this series of articles, we have
spoken with many local business owners
and are business owners ourselves. In our
experience, the town welcomes tourists
and their patronage, but as Karla Fisher
points out, the data supports limiting
recreational travel and indicates there is
a direct correlation between our low case
numbers and restricting travel into our
small community from outside areas. The
resounding consensus, no matter which
side of the close-vs.-open debate you
fall on, is that locals want this town to
continue to be a tourist destination that
people flock to when restrictions are lifted.
We have refrained from editorializing
in these articles previously, however, as
business owners we feel as though we
have a personal stake in this disagreement.
We fall somewhere in the middle of the
road, as single moms caring for children
and immune-compromised family, we
ABOVE: LCPD Chief Palmer addresses the
gatherers at the Saturday, May 9, rally. RIGHT:
The Bijou Theatre is selling curbside popcorn
in an effort to generate income until they can
reopen safely.
fully see the need to continue this bubble
of safety we have all managed to place
around our precious home. However,
as business owners who have struggled
through application after application,
and are seeing our reserves run dry with
no government support to date, we fully
understand the pressing need to allow
the roadways leading to the ocean to
reopen to others. Without the tourism
industry, we, along with many other small
businesses you know and love, are going to
disappear. We hope that a compromise can
be reached; one that somehow manages
to prioritize the health and safety of our
residents, friends and family, but also
allows businesses to thrive in a currently
unforgiving economy.
•••
In addition to being professional
photographers, Krista Melone and Rachel
Baird are co-owners of Tah•Lume Curiosities
& Gifts, which offers online commerce at
www.tahlume.com.
oregoncoastTODAY.com • facebook.com/oregoncoasttoday • May 15, 2020 • 13