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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 2015)
$ THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2015 5RERWLFV A ‘sneaky way’ to learn math and science &RQWLQXHGIURP3DJH$ Community College and oth- er colleges and universities Fish said she worked with compete. Warrenton’s second WHS’ technology depart- team, S.S.F.D.R., is one step ment, which she’s a student below in the Navigator class, assistant for, on the design facing off against 11 other of the robot, tweaking many teams; and Team Gold is in of the aspects as the team the entry-level Scout bracket UHDFKHG WKH ¿QDO GHVLJQ LW LV with 16 other teams. taking to North Bend. The mission represents only The Blue Rangers are part of the ROV competition, IDFLQJ RII DJDLQVW ¿YH RWK- with students having to create er teams in the Ranger class engineering reports and presen- of the ROV competition, the tations to an industry panel. highest for K-12 students The students of the Blue and one step below the Ex- Rangers seem aware of the plorer class, in which Clatsop technical concepts in math and physics they’re using to design the robot, such as the physics of its movements through the water or the vec- tor designs used in the cre- ation of some of its parts. “It’s kind of like critical thinking,” Watson said about taking concepts they learn in class and applying it to a re- al-world mission. “It’s a lot more fun.” Teaching WKURXJK67(0 “It’s also a sneaky way of getting them to learn math and science,” Jannusch said of his mission to incorporate more practical applications into math and science educa- tion. The Warrenton-Ham- mond School District has committed itself to spread- ing STEM through every level of school. Davis and Fish, in addition to their own robotics team, are mentors to a First Lego League robotics team — the F1shst1ckz — who recently competed in their own regional competi- tion at Intel in Hillsboro. /HVVRQV School’s secretary steps up &RQWLQXHGIURP3DJH$ 6DUD5\DQVWHSVXS Long Beach Elementary 'LVWULFWZLGHUHYLHZ Principal Todd Carper was on The prank threat also cre- his way back to his building ated an opportunity to review when he was told about the security systems districtwide. threat. In his absence, front “You always review the desk secretary Sara Ryan was in individual buildings after charge of putting the school into something like this,” Super- lockdown. intendent Jenny Risner said. She called 911, the early She met with administrators childhood center next door and and police April 20 to talk WKHQWKHGLVWULFWRI¿FH6KHFRQ- through what happened April tacted the students and teachers 16. “We talked about different who were out at the park on the entry points and that sort of other side of the building and thing and look at what doors told them not to come to the we do have that remain open school, but to cross the street throughout the day. ... Even and take shelter in the Chi- internally, we’re looking at QRRN 2EVHUYHU¶V RI¿FH 7KHQ how we could have stream- she made sure that all students, lined communication.” teachers and other adults in the Since the threat targeted building were accounted for and Long Beach Elementary specif- in locked rooms. ically, it was the only building In the few minutes it took that was supposed to go into Carper to drive from Ilwaco to full lockdown mode with kids Long Beach, Ryan had put the and teachers secure behind school in lockdown and could locked classroom doors. The account for every single stu- other buildings in the district dent. were only supposed to go into “I have to commend Sara PRGL¿HG ORFNGRZQ ZKLFK LV Ryan,” said Risner in a phone ZKHQ MXVW WKH H[WHULRU GRRUV interview April 20. “She knew are locked. Along the way, that where every kid was.” She message was lost, and everyone knew, for example, which kids went into full lockdown. were down in Ilwaco practicing All the principals were in DVDSDUWRIWKHEDQG³6KHMXVW meetings at Ilwaco High School knew right away and we were that morning, interviewing can- able to identify where students didates for the middle school were.” principal position. The band students and other students caught out of classroom were hustled to the nearest areas that could be locked, which, in some cases, meant very cramped quarters. “If the situation happened again, you’d do the same thing,” Risner said. Students out on the grounds would not be marched across campus if there was a secure option nearby — the weight room or a closet, for example. “If there is a shooter, we don’t want to parade kids around outside.” “Unfortunately,” she added, “sometimes that’s not comfort- able.” Carper and high school Prin- cipal Dave Tobin said they were fortunate the lockdown did not ODVWORQJMXVWVKRUWRIWZRKRXUV WRWDO7KH\GLGQ¶WUXQLQWRPDMRU food or bathroom issues, though the district is also now looking into ways it could provide for those needs in the future. Carper WDONHGWRSROLFHRI¿FHUVDERXWD “go bag”-style option: a bucket kept in each classroom that is ¿OOHG ZLWK HPHUJHQF\ VXSSOLHV and can also double as a bath- room if need be. “I’m sure as we continue to UHÀHFWRQLWZH¶OOFRPHXSZLWK more things,” Tobin said. But, he added, “Right now, in my mind, it’s the communication piece that I want to be sure we shore up.” The district’s Technology Director Tom Thompson is looking into mass communica- tions options for the district. Across the district, some stu- dents didn’t take the threat seri- RXVO\ DW ¿UVW DQG D IHZ GLGQ¶W take it seriously the entire time, but most did exactly what they were supposed to do. They got to a safe place and waited pa- tiently and quietly, principals said. 6WXGHQWUHVSRQVH Carper said teachers later provided him with a list of kids who hadn’t taken the threat se- riously. “We didn’t want to come down on them too hard because it was a stressful time for every- one,” he said, but he wanted to make sure he and teachers dis- cussed it with them later. The school’s counselor was also around Friday, Monday and Tuesday to talk with any stu- dents who wanted to visit her or still felt scared. On Friday, some kids stayed home from school. At Long Beach Elementary, Carper said close to 80 students were absent, though not all absences were due to the shooting threat from the day before. “Certainly, it was much higher than normal though,” he said. 6FRWFKEURRP This year has been the quickest removal Chapman Point has seen &RQWLQXHGIURP3DJH$ dunes and spent approximate- ly 100 hours uprooting the Scotch broom from the sandy soil and hauling it away. They also scoured strips of land on the east side of Oak Street. The four men — Snodgrass; Dave Santos, the landscape fore- man; and Miles Lawson and Ryan (last name withheld), both new crew members — covered about 21 acres of affected area, from Chapman Point to the Breakers Point subdivision boundary. In all the years of annual Scotch broom removal, this is the quickest Chapman Point has EHHQDEOHWR¿QLVKWKHMREVDLG Snodgrass, a Chapman Point homeowner. +H¿JXUHVWKDWWKHQHZUHFRUG is the result of the thorough work he and his team did last year, WKHLU¿UVWVKRWDWWKHSURMHFW%H- IRUH0D\KHZLOOGRD¿QDOZDON through of the area. Staying ahead of it If keeping Scotch broom in FKHFNZDVMXVWDPDWWHURIVSRW- ting the bright yellow blooms and plucking the shrub from the earth, then that would be one thing. But, because landscapers want to pull the broom before the plants blossom and scatter their seeds — which usually happens in mid-summer — many of the targeted plants are still relatively small, green and blend into their environment. ³:KHQ LW¶V ÀRZHULQJ LW¶V HDV\EXWWKH\¶UHQRWDOZD\VÀRZ- ering all at the same time,” Sno- dgrass said. “So you really need to be able to see the little foliage amongst the dune grass.” What’s more, the Scotch broom, which elk like to munch on, is competing with at least 100 different types of vegetation, he said. “You don’t really see it until you get right up on it,” said San- WRV ZKR ZRUNHG RQ WKH SURMHFW last year. However, winter on the North Coast was so mild this year that “the plants are about six weeks ahead of where they would be in DGLI¿FXOW\HDU´6QRGJUDVVVDLG so the 7 Dees crew did their work a few weeks earlier than normal. “We’re trying to stay ahead of it,” he said. “We don’t want the seeds to spread.” Even after spreading, Scotch broom seeds can lie dormant for many years — 50 or more, Mc- Quhae said — before they ger- minate, so landscapers may not NQRZ XQWLO \HDUV DIWHU D SURMHFW how well they did, Snodgrass said. µ/LNHZLOG¿UH¶ When the homeowners asso- ciation began the annual Scotch broom maintenance program back in 2003, the Scotch broom in the affected area was huge, “standing 10 feet or so,” said McQuhae, who organizes the Scotch broom eradication and thereby earned the nickname “The Broom Master.” The trail from the Chapman Point subdivision to the beach was basically a tunnel through the broom’s woody foliage, he said. “It’s a shrub that will ma- ture into something more than a shrub,” said Snodgrass, also a Chapman Point homeowner. “It can really get big if let go un- checked.” Scotch broom, which can be seen all along the Oregon Coast Several local groups, including the North Coast Land Conservancy and North Coast Watershed Association watershed councils, hold volunteer work parties every year in May to remove inva- sive Scotch broom from pub- lic and private land. This year, Ecola Watershed Council will focus on the Ecola Creek es- tuary, along Les Shirley Park and the newly designated Ne- Cus Park in Cannon Beach. All volunteers are wel- come. Meet at Les Shirley Park on East Fifth Street, off Laurel Street at the north end of Cannon Beach. Vol- unteers should wear work clothes and waterproof shoes and bring rain gear and a re- usable water bottle. Gloves and tools will be provided. For more information, con- tact Brooke Duling at 503- 468-0408 or northcoastwa- tershedcouncils@gmail.com from U.S. Highway 101, is “ex- tremely aggressive, and it will MXVWFURZGHYHU\WKLQJHOVHRXW´ Lawson said. Once the plant takes root in DQDUHD³LWVSUHDGVOLNHZLOG¿UH´ Snodgrass said. “If we let it go for a couple of years, it would again get out of hand.” Last year, Snodgrass thought he and his crew got rid of it all, but “it fooled me,” he said. “You need to stay after this, ongoing, to interrupt that natural progression of new plants.” Though his task is Sisyphean, Snodgrass takes pride in protect- ing Chapman Point’s oceanfront vista. ³, GH¿QLWHO\ JHW D VHQVH RI HQMR\PHQW DQG VDWLVIDFWLRQ RXW of doing it,” he said. “I’m hoping that the neighborhood and the tourists all appreciate the efforts that are being done here, because LWUHDOO\GRHVEHQH¿WHYHU\ERG\´ If the Chapman Point Home- owners Association will have him back, Snodgrass plans to WDNHXSWKHMREDJDLQQH[W\HDU “So I may be ‘The Broom Mas- ter’ at some point,” he said, smil- ing. into CCC’s ROV Club, led by physics instructor Pat Keefe. Keefe said his ROV Club, which has often placed well at regional competitions despite going up against more well-fund- ed programs, will likely pull back from the competition this year. He added that the club is instead focusing its attention on working with a group of marine anthropolo- gists to possibly explore the Beeswax shipwreck near Nehalem Beach. &DPHUDV Bill’s balancing test is similar to what is applied to other materials under state’s public records law &RQWLQXHGIURP3DJH$ the approximate date and time of an incident, and 2I¿FHUVPXVWDQQRXQFH the video must be edited that a body camera is in to make all faces uniden- use unless doing so would WL¿DEOH MHRSDUGL]H WKH RI¿FHUV¶ Disclosure is still safety or unreasonably EDUUHGLIDMXGJHRUGHUVWKH impair a criminal investi- sealing of records in a spe- gation. FL¿FFDVHRURWKHUZLVHSXWV A defendant can have the video off-limits. access to the video, but On the committee vote, such recordings can oth- Republican Reps. Wayne erwise be used only for Krieger of Gold Beach and law enforcement pur- Sherrie Sprenger of Scio poses. Agencies can use MRLQHG DOO ¿YH 'HPRFUDWV third-party vendors for in favor. Krieger is a re- storage, but the records be- tired Oregon State Police long to the agencies. trooper, and Sprenger is a The bill does provide former sheriff’s deputy. an exception if public in- Dissenters, both Re- terest in disclosure of the publicans, were Reps. video outweighs the need Andy Olson of Albany — to shield it. This balancing a retired Oregon State Po- test is similar to what is lice lieutenant — and Bill applied to other materials Post of Keizer. under Oregon’s public re- The Capital Bureau is a cords law. collaboration between EO But requests must be Media Group and Pamplin “reasonably tailored” to Media Group. For online updates: www.dailyastorian.com Ecola Watershed Council busts Scotch broom CANNON BEACH — Volunteers are gearing up for the fourth annual Cannon Beach Broombuster event at Les Shirley Park from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 2. Originally introduced from Europe as an ornamental plant and for erosion con- trol, Scotch broom is highly aggressive and forms dense stands, which displace native plants and provide poor wild- life habitat. Many people are highly allergic to its pollen. The Ecola Creek Wa- tershed Council is a lo- cal stakeholder group that works to protect and restore wildlife habitat in the Ecola Creek watershed in Cannon Beach and Arch Cape. It is SDUW RI WKH QRQSUR¿W 1RUWK Coast Watershed Associa- tion, which also manages the Nicolai-Wickiup, Skipanon and Youngs Bay Watershed Councils. Jannusch hopes to go for more advanced train- ing with SeaMATE this summer and expand ROV clubs to Warrenton’s mid- dle-schoolers. If his high school teams prevail Satur- day in North Bend, they can qualify for the MATE inter- national ROV competition in St. John’s and Labrador City in the Newfoundland province of Canada June 25 to 27. Principal Rod Heyen said he hopes members of WHS’ ROV teams will feed CMH Primary Care Meet the Team Your Healthcare Team For expert, compassionate care, find your healthcare team at the CMH Primary Care Clinic. Primary care providers are experienced in the treatment of the whole person and help you lead a healthy life through lifestyle management, chronic disease management and preventative care. Meet Our Team Kevin Baxter, DO, is a board-certified osteopathic physician who specializes in family medicine, osteopathic manipulative medicine, hospice and palliative care. Brian Cox, MD, is a board-certified internal medicine physician. He specializes in allergies, diet and exercise, and chronic disease management. 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