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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
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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.”
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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
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