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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 11, 2016)
10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2016 Gearhart: Letters to the commissioners are from both sides Continued from Page 1A Proposed rules specify that the use of a home for a vaca- tion rental shall not exceed one rental within seven consecu- tive calendar days, mandate a 24-hour owner representative and notice to neighbors . Since last month’s hear- ing, letters to the commis- sioners range from “leav- ing regulations as they have been” to “stick to your recommendations.” “We will comply with rea- sonable new regulations, but request that property owners be allowed to continue sharing their homes with law-abiding vacations,” Walter and Jenni- fer Baumann wrote. Bob and Clare Carson of Gearhart said the proposed standards that prevent some owners from renting are a “tak- ing,” denying a property right without fair compensation. David and Susan Kenney, however, said they are con- cerned about the prospect of homes being owned primarily as rental properties. The Kenneys asked for lim- its on short-term rentals and limits on the maximum num- ber of rental nights, among other conditions. Correspondence from rent- ers was entered into the record. Marla Kenneick of Bea- verton asked the commission “not to restrict rentals.” “Please don’t take away our tradition of long weekends in Gearhart in our favorite vaca- tion home,” Kenneick wrote. Former Planning Commis- sion Chairman Matt Brown and former commissioner Bill Berg asked for short-term rental properties to be grand- fathered, but to limit addi- tional short-term rentals. “No new STRs will be permitted, and the illegal practice will be reduced to an increasingly manageable number through gradual attri- tion,” Brown and Berg wrote. George Osgood offered a plea for unity. “Half of Oregon’s small towns are dying,” Osgood wrote. “We all are lucky that we as homeowners can enjoy and build Gearhart together and not make this about the Hatfields and McCoys, which was the feeling I had left with from the (April 14) meeting.” R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian Residents fill the Gearhart firehouse at the end of April to share their thoughts on short-term rentals. Gap: Oregon spends about $13 per person per year on public health Continued from Page 1A sectors to address social, envi- ronmental, or economic deter- minants of health.” Mahoney said the public health system is not set up to properly treat the rise in chronic diseases. As for the social aspects, he said, public health needs to have the view that it is not just a personal resource but a community-based resource. Upstream concept In Clatsop County, the public health self-assessment revealed some chronic disease rates. • Stroke deaths in the county are 52.8 per 100,000 popu- lation, which is higher than the national median of 46 per 100,000. • The cancer rate in the county is 491.2 per 100,000, which is higher than the national rate of 448.7. “We are healthier. We are living longer, and yet, we have been developing more chronic diseases,” Mahoney said. “We have to set up a health system that prevents chronic diseases in the way that would have a lot of return.” Mahoney said public health departments use a metaphor “upstream, downstream” to describe how preventing ill- ness early, or upstream, can save funding downstream. Every dollar spent on prevention, he says, saves $5.60 in health care spending. “Many of our community health problems start further upstream,” Mahoney said. Cost savings is a major goal, especially since funding has been lackluster in the state. On average, Oregon spends about $13 per person per year on public health. That equals slightly more than $1 per person per month. The average for all Some of the medications available at the Clatsop County Public Health Department. Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Brian Mahoney, Director of Public Health in Clatsop County, speaks during an interview at the Clatsop County Public Health Department office. ‘We have to set up a health system that prevents chronic diseases in the way that would have a lot of return.’ Brian Mahoney Information available at the Clatsop County Public Health Department. director of public health in Clatsop County states is $27 per person per year. Washington state spends $41 per person per year, and Idaho spends $90. “Healthy communities and citizens are worth far more than $1 per person per month,” Mahoney said. The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners is expected to approve an increase in the public health budget to fund an extra part-time nurse. Three full- time positions are being illed on a rotating basis by six nurses working one to ive days a week. Mahoney describes their sched- ule as playing musical chairs. The Board of Commission- ers has also indicated it will advocate for more dedicated and adequate state funding. Mahoney said his staff is capable of serving the com- munity, but the department is lacking certain functions. The self-assessment found the department is missing oral health care, expertise in emer- gency management and an epi- demiologist to study patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease in a population. process more than three years ago. Last month, the department hosted a site visit for members of the national Public Health Accreditation Board. The board will meet in August to review the site visit report. It will then either approve the county’s accreditation or rec- ommend additional steps. Mahoney said the accredita- tion process has improved the way the department approaches work each day. The department had to develop a community health improvement plan, a stra- tegic plan and complete a com- munity health assessment. Once accredited, the work will not stop. “Already we are work- ing much better with our com- munity partners,” he said. “It’s making us improve ourselves.” Accreditation Similar to universities and hospitals, public health depart- ments seek accreditation. The county’s public health department began the lengthy Celebrating )PTQJUBM8FFL Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian A statue of a Native American stands outside of Warrenton High School, fused togeth- er with 1,000 smaller metal warriors made by students in the 1970s. The statue will be placed in storage until the district decides what to do with it. Mascot: District staff will design a new logo with community input Continued from Page 1A Smaller changes Over the past ive years, the district has moved away from the more cartoonish depictions of Native Amer- icans. The Midwest-themed Native Americans in head- dress came off of the high school’s helmets and mer- chandise. The district replaced a cartoonish mural of a Native American drib- bling a basketball, his feet stuck in gum, with a mural of Clatsop-Nehalem tribal members rowing a canoe with Saddle Mountain in the background. Jeffery has said the cost is minimal to remove the remaining vestiges of Native American mascots, including some stickers on football hel- mets, a bench and some old gym pads he added needed replacement anyway. He said the purple Native American statue, comprised of 1,000 miniature Native American caricatures welded together by students in the 1970s, will be taken down and put in storage until the district ig- ures out what to do with it. The mascot issue in War- renton has attracted rela- tively little vocal interest. At a school board meeting last month, several commu- nity members came to tes- tify in support of abandoning Native American imagery, a smaller number asking to move away from the War- rior name altogether. Jeffery said he received some com- ments from people who did not want to abandon the mas- cot, but added that keeping the Warrior name was more important than the imagery. With input from the com- munity, district staff will design a new logo. “My own personal opin- ion is a ‘W,’” Jeffery said. “I don’t think the alphabet police will be after us.” )FBMUIDBSF'SPNǰF)FBSU his year’s National Hospital Week runs from May 8-14. CMH caregivers are invested in caring from the heart every day of every year. Join us in thanking the many caregivers who give their all to their neighbors. From providing medical care in our facilities to running vital programs in our community, we are committed to supporting the health and well-being in and around Clatsop County. People Centered, Quality Driven & Service Focused. 2111 Exchange St., Astoria, Oregon tXXXDPMVNCJBNFNPSJBMPSH