NORTH COAST
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2015
3A
City Council moves ahead with citizen survey plan
Questionnaire
could ‘entice
residents to
Cannon Beach’
By DANI PALMER
EO Media Group
CANNON BEACH — The
Cannon Beach City Coun-
cil has narrowly approved a
$30,000 strategic plan that
could guide future policy
choices in Cannon Beach.
According to City Manag-
er Brant Kucera, the National
Citizen Survey relies on citi-
zen input to provide a detailed
analysis and summary of
community viewpoints, and
is used by cities as large as 2
million and as small as a few
hundred.
The survey is administered
by the National Research
Center and the Internation-
al City/County Management
Association, and serves as a
tool for short- and long-term
planning. The survey will
cost $15,000, with another
$10,000-$15,000 for facilita-
tion, Kucera said.
For the price the city’s get-
ting, Kucera said he is “not
sure how it’s a bad deal.” He
said he has administered the
survey in at least six other
communities with successful
results.
“For me, I think that the
ability to cross-tabulate our-
selves with other communi-
ties and from year to year are
very important things to see as
far as how we rank and then
are we having a process of
continuous improvement,” he
said.
He noted that the survey
results could be used to entice
residents to Cannon Beach.
Councilor Mike Bene¿eld
‘That’s what a strategic
plan is: a road map in how
to get from here to there.’
— Wendy Higgins
Cannon Beach city councilor
agreed that attracting more
full-time residents than sec-
ond homeowners should be
the goal for the future of the
town.
Mayor Sam Steidel said
he is more concerned about
the people already living in
Cannon Beach than attract-
ing potential newcomers, and
would rather see a service
needs survey.
Steidel said he did not
like the National Citizen
Survey’s format, which uses
the terms “poor, fair, good
and excellent” which could
be considered subjective. He
noted that he believed the
survey would be a “waste of
time and money.”
Steidel added that he had
no interest in comparing Can-
non Beach to other commu-
nities, because of its unique-
ness. “We are Cannon Beach.
Cannon Beach is us,” he said.
Some in the audience
agreed. In the crowd of about
15, a handful stood up to
speak against the survey be-
fore the strategic plan discus-
sion even began.
Jillayne Sorenson said a
national survey may not be
the best route for a commu-
nity like Cannon Beach with
its speci¿c characteristics.
“I think there are a number
of ways of receiving feed-
back from the community,”
she said, adding the survey
shouldn’t be the only source
of input.
The way questions are
posed could have an impact
on the results, Sorenson said,
and the survey may not be
worth the expense.
Kucera said the questions
can be customized and sug-
gested going with the national
survey to avoid bias. An in-
house survey may inadver-
tently offer leading questions,
he added, noting the national
survey is statistically defen-
sible.
Bene¿eld said he wants
the city to be proactive, and a
strategic plan would assist in
that.
Councilwoman
Wen-
dy Higgins said the survey
would provide an opportunity
for staff and elected of¿cials
to utilize community input
for future plans and budgets.
“That’s what a strategic plan
is: a road map in how to get
from here to there,” she said.
Councilor George Vetter
said he wasn’t sure the sur-
vey was the best way to spend
money and discussed putting
it off.
Bene¿eld countered that
he didn’t see what another
month of rehashing would do.
Councilors Bene¿eld, Hig-
gins and Melissa Cadwallader
voted last Tuesday in favor
of the survey. Mayor Steidel
and Vetter provided the “nay”
votes in the 3-2 decision.
The survey administration
period is estimated to take 17
weeks. Resulting data will be
used to develop a strategic
plan draft before the new year.
North Dakota doctor Massive debris removal begins in Alaska
accused of sex abuse
By BECKY BOHRER
Associated Press
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
A North Dakota doctor is
accused of sexually abusing
a young girl multiple times in
Clatsop County over a two-
year period.
Robert John Gustafson, a
surgeon in the 1,200-person
town of Hettinger, N.D., plead-
ed not guilty Monday in Clat-
sop County Circuit Court to 10
counts of ¿rst-degree sex abuse
and two counts of ¿rst-degree
encouraging child sex abuse.
The alleged abuse occurred
in Clatsop County between Jan.
1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2011, ac-
cording to the indictment. The
sex-abuse charges relate to
Gustafson allegedly touching
the girl, under 14 at the time,
and having the girl touch him.
Gustafson, 46, appeared in
court Monday via video link
from Clatsop County Jail,
where he is being held on
$250,000 bail.
His defense lawyer Paul
Hood said Gustafson plans to
post the required 10 percent
amount of bail to be released
from jail, and return to North
Dakota.
“He is a surgeon at the West
River Health Center in Hetting-
er, North Dakota,” Hood said.
“I contacted the health center
today, they are holding his job
for him. He is the only surgeon
at the facility.”
As part of his release agree-
ment, Gustafson would nor-
Robert John Gustafson
mally not be allowed to leave
the state. However, Clatsop
County District Attorney Josh
Marquis did not object.
“The normal conditions
would prohibit he leave the
state. The defendant is a doctor
apparently licensed in North
Dakota, where he lives,” Mar-
quis said. “The state does not
object to him leaving the state,
but we ask he have no contact
with any children and surren-
der his passport.”
Judge Philip Nelson grant-
ed the release agreement, and
allowed Gustafson to return to
North Dakota. Gustafson is re-
quired to have no contact with
the victim, her family or any
children under 18, unless it is
necessary at the health center
where he works.
His next scheduled court
appearance is an early resolu-
tion conference in September.
Hood will request the court
let Gustafson not appear in
person at the next hearing,
since he will be in North Da-
kota.
JUNEAU, Alaska — A mas-
sive cleanup effort is getting
underway in Alaska, with tons
of marine debris — some likely
sent to sea by the 2011 tsunami
in Japan — set to be airlifted
from rocky beaches and taken
by barge for recycling and dis-
posal in the Paci¿c Northwest.
Hundreds of heavy-du-
ty bags of debris, collected in
2013 and 2014 and stockpiled
at a storage site in Kodiak, also
will be shipped out. The barge is
scheduled to arrive in Kodiak by
Thursday, before setting off on a
roughly one-month venture.
The scope of the project, a
year in the making, is virtual-
ly unheard of in Alaska. It was
spurred, in part, by the mass of
material that’s washed ashore —
things like buoys, ¿shing lines,
plastics and fuel drums — and
the high cost of shuttling small
boatloads of debris from remote
sites to port, said Chris Pallister,
president of the cleanup organi-
zation Gulf of Alaska Keeper,
which is coordinating the effort.
The Anchorage land¿ll also
began requiring that ¿shing
nets and lines — common de-
bris items — to be chopped up,
a task called impossible by state
tsunami marine debris coordi-
nator Janna Stewart.
Pallister estimates the cost
N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A
Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500
Fre
e
as
Est F
ima t t
es
• Residential
• Commercial
•Cedar Roof Treatments
• Interior & Exterior
Over 20 years local experience
503-440-2169
ka is different since the 2011
earthquake and tsunami, which
killed thousands in Japan.
Crews plan to do cleanup
work in the Gulf of Alaska this
summer, which will add to the
material that has already been
cached in heavy-duty bags
above the high-tide line. All this
would be loaded onto the barge.
The logistics are complicated.
Dump trucks are expected to
ferry the large white bags of de-
bris from the Kodiak storage yard
to the barge after it arrives. Tom
Pogson with the Island Trails
SPECIAL EVENT
Network, which worked on the
Kodiak-area debris removal, said
that will be the easy part.
In other locations, the bags
will be airlifted by helicopter
to the barge, which Pallister
expects will be “pretty maxxed
out” when the barge, roughly
the size of a football ¿eld, is ful-
ly loaded.
Debris will be sorted for re-
cycling in Seattle, with the re-
maining debris taken by train for
disposal in Oregon, according to
the state Department of Envi-
ronmental Conservation.
Gu ess w hat d ay it is!
It’s Hump’s Day!!!
AT HUMP’S RESTAURANT
EV ERY W ED N ESD AY 5 -8 PM
14 OUN CE N EW Y ORK
STEAK & BAK ED POTATO
M ust present coupon to server.
N ot va lid w ith other offers. Z
All You Can Eat Chicken & Dumplings
$6.95 Every Thursday 5-8 pm
No reservations, please
$9.95
Video
Just 15 m in. from the Lew is & Cla rk Bridge on H w y. 30
Hump’s Restaurant
50 W. Columbia River Highway Clatskanie, OR. 503.728.2626
a t Fort Stevens Sta te Pa rk H istoric Site
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Jeff Hale,
Contractor
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation/AP
Debris litters the shore on Montague Island, Alaska.
WORLD WAR II
& 1940 ’ s Days
W A NTED
ll
Ca ime
yt
n
A
of the barge project at up to $1.3
million, with the state contrib-
uting $900,000 from its share
of the $5 million that Japan
provided for parts of the U.S.
affected by tsunami debris.
Many of the project sites
are remote and rugged. Crews
working at sites like Kayak and
Montague islands in Prince
William Sound, for example,
get there by boat and sleep
onboard. The need to keep
moving down the shoreline as
cleanup progresses, combined
with terrain littered with boul-
ders and logs, makes it tough
to set up a camp, Pallister said.
There’s also the issue of bears.
Alaska has more coast-
line than any other state. And
Alaska cleanup operations
often are expensive and dan-
gerous, said Nikolai Maxi-
menko, a senior researcher at
the Hawaii-based International
Paci¿c Research Center.
“Even without the tsunami,
Alaska is well-known for being
polluted with all these buoys
and other stuff from ¿sheries
activity and from other human
activities,” he said.
It can be hard to de¿nitively
distinguish tsunami debris from
the run-of-the-mill rubbish that
has long fouled shorelines un-
less there are identi¿able mark-
ings. But Pallister and others
say the type and volume of de-
bris that has washed up in Alas-
LICENSED
BONDED
INSURED
CCB#179131
W EEK EN D O F JULY 1 8 TH & 1 9 TH
Sa turd a y 10a m -4 p m | Sun d a y 10a m -2p m
• In vitin g E VE RY O N E to pa rticipa te in 1930’s-1940’s
h om e-fron t or civilia n dress
• Idea s for h om e-fron t costum es: Civil defen se, loca l
police or sh eriff officers, fire w a rden s, en em y a ircra ft
spotters, Rosy th e Riveter, etc. N O W E APO N S PL E ASE !
• Add to th e a uth en ticity of th e W orld W a r II livin g-
h istory m ilita ry groups th a t w ill be presen t.
• Civilia n a n d h om e-fron t pa rticipa n ts m a y represen t
n a tion s, such a s th e U n ited Sta tes, Grea t B rita in ,
F ra n ce a n d Russia .
• P a rticipa n ts a re even en coura ged to brin g out
a n old-fa sh ion ed picn ic lun ch !
Sponsored by
• An yon e w a n tin g to displa y a 1930’s or
FRIENDS OF OLD
W orld W a r II-era veh icle is a lso
T STEVEN
en coura ged to brin g it out!
S
OR
If interested in dressing up in 1930’s-1940’s-
style clothing and costumes, or displaying a
vehicle, you need to call the event coordinator:
Bill Lu n d , b etw een Ju ly 7-18 d u rin g
d a ytim e ho u rs a t (503) 325-5783
VO L U NTE E RS NE E D E D
Sea sid e Sen io r D in in g C en ter
• The Sea sid e Sen io r D in in g C en ter a t the Bo b C hisho lm C en ter Serves
m o re tha n 13 ,000 m ea ls a yea r to sen io r citizen s. O ver 7000 of those
m ea ls a re d elivered to sen iors w ho a re hom ebou n d or a re u n a ble to cook for
them selves. This cou ld n ot ha ppen w ithou t the help of a d ed ica ted volu n teer
tea m , com m itted to servin g sen iors in the Sea sid e a rea .
M ea ls o n W heels vo lun teers
a re despera tely n eeded right n ow
• Vo lun teer M ea ls o n W heels d rivers n o t o n ly help en sure g o o d
n utritio n b ut a lso check o n o ur sen io r citizen s w ell-b ein g a n d co n n ect
them w ith vita l reso urces in the co m m un ity. O ften tim es, the M ea ls on
W heels d rivers a re the on ly people hom ebou n d sen iors w ill see d u rin g the w eek .
• D rivers m a y use their o w n vehicles a n d receive .5 75 p er m ile
reim b ursem en t o r use the a g en cy vehicle. All d rivers m u st pa ss a crim in a l
ba ck grou n d check a n d ha ve a va lid d river’s licen se prior to sta rtin g w ork . L u n ches
a re d elivered on M on d a y, W ed n esd a y a n d F rid a y a n d ta k e a bou t 2-3 hou rs.
• C o m e jo in o ur cheer ful, “ca n d o ” vo lun teer tea m a t
the Sea sid e Sen io r D in in g C en ter. Ca ll M ichelle L ew is a t
N W Sen ior a n d D isa bility Services a t 503-861-4202 or the
Bob Chisholm Sen ior D in in g Cen ter a t 503-738-9323 for
m ore in form a tion .
F
1863
1947
OREGON’S DEFENDER
TUE. 28TH • CAR-LOAD DAY
Everyone in the ca r ga ins a dm ission for $10
W ED. 29TH • SEN IOR DAY
Seniors (61 a nd up) get in for $1
THUR. 3 0TH • BUDDY DAY
Tw o-for-one a dm ission. Buy one a ll-you-
ca n-ride bra celet get the 2nd ½ price
FRI. 3 1ST •
APPRECIATION DAY
M ilita ry Personnel,
Fire Fighters, Police a nd
Tea chers a nd their
fa m ilies a dm itted for
$1 ea ch
SAT. 1ST • LAST
DAY OF THE FAIR
2014 5
C LATS O P
C OUN TY F AIR
F or m ore in form a tion go to w w w .cla tsopfa irgrou n d s.com
JULY 28
th ru
AUGUST 1