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3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015 Seaside students challenge communities to be prepared Student body leaders seeking new school facilities By KATHERINE LACAZE EO Media Group SEASIDE — What they don’t know can hurt them. That was the message Seaside High School’s student leaders conveyed to the Seaside City Council last week. Leaders of the Associated Student Body are concerned about how unprepared stu- dents and the community are for a catastrophic Cascadia Subduction Zone event. They organized “Don’t Catch This Wave” to spread awareness about the issue and raise funds to help move the school dis- trict’s at-risk campuses out of the tsunami inundation zone. “We decided we wanted to stand up and work to make a change for ourselves, our peers and the students that sit below us in class and are too young to realize that their lives are in jeopardy every single day when they’re at school,” treasurer Jes- se Trott told the City Council. She and co-presidents Taylor Barnes and Whitney Westerholm shared a version of DSUHVHQWDWLRQWKHRI¿FHUVSUH- pared for Seaside High School and other schools across the state. Katherine Lacaze/EO Media Group Seaside High School Associated Student Body officers gave a presentation on their tsunami awareness and fund- raising campaign, “Don’t Catch This Wave,” at the Sea- side City Council meeting last week. Presenters included co-presidents Whitney Westerholm and Taylor Barnes and treasurer Jesse Trott (behind). “Our project is all about tsu- QDPL SUHSDUHGQHVV VSHFL¿FDOO\ focusing on the earthquake and tsunami that are supposed to hit our coastline from the very southern tip of Canada to the very northern tip of California,” Trott said. The hope is to raise funds to relocate Gearhart Elementary School, Seaside High School and Broadway Middle School, which all sit in the inundation zone. Seaside Heights Ele- mentary School also could be remodeled and expanded in the process to house all the ele- mentary students, but nothing is decided. “Relocating our schools LV GH¿QLWHO\ RXU WRS SULRULW\´ Westerholm said. Although it may be lofty, she added, “it’s our goal this year, and even if we don’t reach it, we want to keep this program going.” A safe place to be High school students must walk about 1.6 miles to get to an evacuation site and cross bridg- es in the process. Broadway Middle School students have about 1 mile to walk. Gearhart Elementary students only have a quarter mile, but their route goes west to a site with an elevation of 46 feet at its highest point — likely not high enough. “What these kids don’t know, and a lot of our high school- ers don’t know, is that they are evacuating to somewhere that isn’t going to keep them safe,” said Westerholm, who has a younger brother at Gearhart El- ementary. “That just breaks my heart, to be honest — that we could have had a safe place for these kids to be, and there isn’t.” When the tsunami will hit is uncertain, but there will be hun- dreds of students at risk when it does, and that is Westerholm’s main motivation for helping to spearhead the project, she said. Whether it is the current students or possibly their future children, “the fact of the matter is, it will be a group of 400 kids” that are impacted, she added. The three at-risk schools are not built to withstand an earth- quake, which will be the death of many students. For instance, Barnes said, the high school, built in the 1950s, will likely collapse on those who are un- able to get out. “They will essentially be trapped in the school,” he added. Superintendent Doug Dougherty said the schools do not qualify for any seismic ret- UR¿WWLQJ PRQH\ QRU FDQ WKH\ access those funds to help move the schools because they are in the inundation zone. The 24-minute presentation is accompanied by a silent vid- eo of approximately the same length that shows the high school students walking quick- ly to their evacuation site “in the best circumstances,” Barnes said. That means no earthquake damage, no debilitated or in- jured students, and no devastat- ed bridges. However, according to the students, research shows the community would have only about 15 minutes from the start of an earthquake before a tsuna- mi hits. “That’s not very much time,” Barnes said. In the presentation, the stu- dents discussed the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011. It is predicted WKHHYHQWRQWKH3DFL¿F1RUWK- west will be similar, Barnes said. The water will move swiftly, faster than a human can outrun, and rise to about 80 to 100 feet in elevation. Fundraising for relocation Besides footage and pho- tos from the Japan event, the presentation also included a clip from Oregon Public Broadcasting’s recent doc- umentary, “Unprepared.” In the documentary, Dougherty talked about the 2013 bond measure the school district sponsored to acquire funds to relocate the schools. The price tag was $128 million, and the measure failed. Dougherty has said the district will spon- sor a similar bond measure next year. The students’ fundraising campaign is primarily for contributing to that effort, but they also hope to put some money toward radio commu- nication equipment, natural disaster preparedness kits, pre-assembled food and sup- ply kits, advertising about tsu- nami evacuation routes and immediate disaster relief. 7KHVWXGHQWERG\RI¿FHUVDUH in the process of sending letters to Fortune 500 companies, poli- ticians and celebrities asking for funds. The main goal, though, is to reach out to other students and schools. In the past couple of weeks, they gave their “Don’t Catch This Wave” presentation at Gresham and Scappoose high schools. Gresham High School will dedicate its annual Unity Week to raise funds for the Sea- side project. Westerholm said they will go back to Gresham in a couple weeks to present during the kick-off assembly for Unity Week. The Seaside students also are handing out blue ribbons and asking people to tie them in a visible place to show sup- port and bring awareness to the cause. Additionally, they plan to hold a walk-a-thon, similar to Relay For Life, in the spring. 6WXGHQWV ZLOO ¿QG SHRSOH WR sponsor them to run or walk 1.6 miles, the same distance of their evacuation route. City Councilor Dana Phillips said she was impressed by what the Associated Student Body of- ¿FHUVDUHGRLQJ³RQEHKDOIRIWKH safety of the students.” Councilor Jay Barber agreed. “What we’re seeing here is that our young people really are leading the way for us to wake up to the reality that we live in,” he said. State lawmaker pushes for student threat assessment system assessment system is it will work like a hand and glove go together, a system of giving information to SALEM — A state represen- VFKRRORI¿FLDOVHDUO\DQGDOORZLQJ tative on the Oregon Task Force them to interact in a very effective on School Safety says he will way and have a multidisciplinary, push for legislation next year PXOWLDJHQF\ UHVSRQVH´ 1RYRW- to establish a statewide student ney said. “That is the best practice to deal with threats of violence.” threat assessment system. School representatives on the State Rep. Jeff Barker, D-Alo- ha, the chairman of the House task force said Friday the tip line Judiciary Committee, already ZRXOGVSDZQDQLQÀX[RIWLSVWR submitted a bill for February’s which school staff have no addi- short session that would fund a tional capacity or training to re- statewide student threat tip line, spond. “The data doesn’t speak well where anonymous reports could that we are handling tips as well be made. The threat assessment system as we should. Shootings and sui- and tip line both come from a list cide are happening at (an) accel- of legislative recommendations HUDWHGUDWH´1RYRWQH\VDLG³*HW- WKHWDVNIRUFHPDGHLQ1RYHPEHU ting additional tips and handling to help prevent mass killings at the exact same way we always schools, such as the shooting at have been is probably going to be Umpqua Community College in ineffective.” “I think we are setting up our October. “Without the threat assess- schools and districts for failure if ment, the tip line system would we don’t empower them to know not be as strong,” said task force about how to assess those tips,” PHPEHU 'DYH 1RYRWQH\ VXSHU- said Susan Graves, safety coordi- intendent of Willamette Educa- tion Service District. “The way the subcommittee envisioned the tip line and threat By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau ‘Deadliest Catch’ spinoff set IRU1HZSRUW Associated Press Makers of the popular Dis- covery network series “Dead- liest Catch” are heading south WRD¿VKLQJYLOODJHLQ2UHJRQ for a spinoff. The new series, called “Deadliest Catch: Dungeon Cove,” is set to premiere next fall. It will focus on families involved in the Dungeness FUDE¿VKLQJLQGXVWU\LQ1HZ- port, the network said Friday. The announcement doesn’t mean that the original series, which is set to begin its 12th season in the spring, is wind- ing down, said Joseph Boyle, Discovery’s executive pro- ducer for the show. Discov- ery executives were intrigued by the spinoff proposal from Original Productions, which makes “Deadliest Catch,” he said. The original series, DERXW¿VKLQJERDWVLQ$ODVND¶V Bering Sea, is one of the net- work’s signature programs. 7KHLQGXVWU\DURXQG1HZ- port was interesting to Dis- FRYHU\ EHFDXVH ¿VKHUPHQ UDFHWRFDWFKDVPDQ\¿VKDV they can during a season, as opposed to working with a quota, he said. “It’s every man for your- self,” Boyle said. “They go RXWWKHUHDQG¿VKWKHLUKHDUWV out.” nator for Lincoln County School District. “The consequences can be enormous.” Exact costs unknown Barker’s bill asks for about $300,000 per biennium for a tip line, but an exact cost has yet to be determined. Oregon State Po- lice just put out a request for pro- posals Wednesday for the tip line, said Capt. Tom Worthy. Initial estimates for the threat assessment system are about $1 PLOOLRQ1RYRWQH\VDLG Worthy said the actual cost could exceed that amount, de- SHQGLQJZKHWKHURI¿FLDOVGHFLGH to use existing record systems at the Oregon State Police or state Department of Education or buy a new record system. “A record system will not come cheap,” Worthy said. “That would be a big dollar amount and complicated.” The tip line would have voice, text and mobile application ca- pabilities and might be modeled after a system used in Colorado. The threat assessment system LQYROYHV ¿UVW WLHU VFKRROEDVHG teams to respond to initial threats and second tier community-based threat assessment teams to re- spond to more serious threats. The teams would provide in- terventions to students at risk of committing violence against oth- ers or themselves. Interventions could include mental health coun- seling, mentors and additional su- pervision, among other measures. The task force is set to sun- set in 2017. Members on Friday agreed to ask lawmakers to ex- tend the group’s expiration until 2019. Task force members said they would like to continue their work with a focus on prevention. The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Me- dia Group and Pamplin Media Group. H A C BIT’ S O MING B A CK NEWS TALK FOR THE COAST W A NTED Providing live a nd loca l new s covera ge every da y Y ou could see it ton igh t, rea d a bout it tom orrow or h ea r it live N O W ! Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber 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 The Daily Astorian WILL BE CLOSED AT NOON DECEMBER 24 & ALL DAY DECEMBER 25 We will not be publishing a paper on December 25th so that all of our employees and carriers can spend the holidays with their families. 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