12A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2016
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Members of the Coast Guard explore Fort Clatsop and its uses as a possible shelter in case of an earthquake and tsunami during a drill Monday.
Drill: 6hort distance to park avoids potential hurdles
Continued from Page 1A
Kenne asked what the members consider high
ground. One Guardsman joked, “Anything higher
than what I was walking on.”
As part of the agreement with the national
park, the Coast Guard is stashing an emergency
kit at the park full of tents, sleeping bags, tarps, a
hatchet, shovels and axes. The kit also includes a
water ¿lter, ¿re starter and other essentials.
Before evacuating, members would take a
satellite phone with a connection to the district
of¿ce in 6eattle and handheld radios.
“Our focus is food, water, shelter,” Kenne said.
“We are not really going anywhere for a few days.
We are trying to make sure our people are safe.”
‘Lewis and Clark
had it right’
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Members of the Coast Guard including Skip Dronen, center, and Dave Bartram, center
back, jog to Fort Clatsop as part of a tsunami drill Monday morning.
‘Lewis and Clark had it right. They chose this
location because of its height over high tide.’
Scott Tucker
Lewis and Clark National Historical Park superintendent
6cott Tucker, /ewis and Clark 1ational
Historical Park superintendent, said he was
approached by the Coast Guard about a year ago
about using the park in a Cascadia event.
It’s a natural partnership, Tucker said,
especially because both are federal agencies.
A couple of years ago, the Coast Guard tried
an evacuation drill at Camp Rilea Armed Forces
Training Center in Warrenton, but realized the
center was too far away.
The short distance to the national park avoids
hurdles such as damaged bridges.
Tucker points out the replica Fort Clatsop has
30 beds, if needed.
“/ewis and Clark had it right. They chose
this location because of its height over high
tide,” Tucker said. “Twohundred years later,
the ground is higher than the proposed tsunami
zone.”
The national park and Coast Guard are in the
process of establishing a written agreement to
formally have an evacuation plan in place. Along
with storing goods at the park, Tucker said, the
Coast Guard would be welcome to use the park’s
equipment in its maintenance shops.
“If our role in this is making sure the Coast
Guard can do their job, I can sleep well at
night knowing we are doing our piece for the
community,” Tucker said.
3HRSOH¿UVW
In any emergency situation, Kenne said, the
most critical thing is saving people.
Equipment comes second. If a helicopter is in
the hangar, it’s not going to get out in time. And if
the power is out, the hangar doors would not even
open anyway.
“Our focus is people ¿rst, if we can save
them,” Kenne said.
Along with becoming an emergency head
quarters for the Coast Guard, the national park
is also an of¿cial community assembly area for
residents in the immediate area.
Kenne reminded the group Monday that their
time at the park may be spent assisting their fellow
community members.
“We may have to build shelter, not just for us,
but there may be other folks,” Kenne said. “We
may be helping out folks like we always do.”
Totem: Pole must be OK’d
before the next ¿scal year
Continued from Page 1A
The statue will depict a
member of the 1eCus’ village
extending his arm out in a
gesture of welcoming. Palette
Group members are suggesting
that the pole be placed just west
of the picnic table at 1eCus’
Park in a clearing. The pole
would face toward the ocean,
as 1eCus’ village members did
when they welcomed ¿shermen
and traders approaching the
Clatsop village by dugout
canoe on the ocean.
Although the statue would
be carved from a cedar log,
it would have spots of black,
red and blue paint. Members
of the public arts committee
questioned how intense the
colors would be, and Basch,
who has been in contact with
Capoeman, said he thought
they would be created from
natural pigment.
Arts committee member
Allyn Cantor, of White Bird
Gallery, questioned how well
the pole would wear in the
weather. “Is it meant to be
weatherworn"” she asked.
“Think of old totem
poles you have seen,” Basch
replied. “We could talk to him
(Capoeman) about touching it
up later.”
Basch noted that Capoeman
is carving the statue “as a favor
to me and my family. He would
charge twice the amount if he
did it for another organization,”
he said. “If he were doing it for
other cities, it would be much,
much higher.”
They also questioned what
type of base would be used
for the pole and how it would
be stabilized to withstand
windstorms. City Planner
Mark Barnes, who attended the
meeting, said he would check
with the city building of¿cial
to determine if the concrete pad
would have to be engineered to
provide more stability.
It could cost about $5,000
to install the pole, in addition
to the $10,000 cost to create
it, Kucera noted. That expense
could come from the city’s
budget beginning the next
¿scal year, which starts in -uly,
he said.
Barnes
also
warned
committee members that the
design review board might
want to wait until the designs
for two other interpretive
signs proposed for the park
were submitted or until a
citywide parks master plan is
completed.
However, Barbara /innett,
chairwoman of the Palette
Group, noted that the pole
could be moved to another
location ² perhaps /es 6hirley
Park — if it wasn’t deemed
appropriate in 1eCus’ Park.
Because the funding would
come from a public arts grant
designated for ¿scal year 015,
the pole must be approved
before the end of -une.
“The alternative is not to do
it at all,” /innett said.
Arts committee member
Hank -ohnson noted that the
1eCus’ Park plan calls for
an eventual canoe landing on
Ecola Creek. “This pole ¿ts
nicely with the landing,” he
said.
For many generations, the
1eCus’ village, on both banks
of Ecola Creek, welcomed
visitors who paddled canoes
to ¿sh or trade south around
1eahkahnie Mountain north
to the mouth of the Columbia
River. They would often stop
at 1eCus’ to visit and eat
with relatives in the Clatsop
and 1ehalem tribes before
continuing their journeys,
Basch said after the meeting.
“Many people don’t realize
there were Indians here and
there are still Indians here,”
he said. “This has been a
beautiful place to come here for
generations.
“I think it’s important for
people to realize that there is a
group of people who consider
this our homeland. And I
think it’s always great to see
geography through the eyes of
someone else, especially the
aboriginal people who have
deep, deep roots in this land.”
Submitted Photo
A totem pole designed by Guy Capoeman. A 10-foot-tall welcoming pole in the figure of
a Clatsop tribesman may soon be installed in NeCus’ Park.