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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2017
Heroes: ‘It’s been challenging, but it’s been rewarding’
Continued from Page 1A
Community
recognition
The winners were each
short on words after being
paraded through an applaud-
ing, largely flannel-clad crowd
at the lumberjack-themed ban-
quet. Afterward, though, each
spoke of the satisfaction at
being honored for their work
behind the scenes.
“I’ve always felt like I
was in the background, and to
have this recognition is huge,”
Bruner said.
After retiring as secre-
tary at Astoria Middle School,
Bruner took a lead role in col-
lecting holiday meals for hun-
dreds of local families as part
of the Christmas Food Bas-
ket Program. Bruner volun-
teers with the Clatsop Cruise
Hosts, Scandinavian Midsum-
mer Festival Association and
First Lutheran Church, while
she and her husband deliver
for the Meals on Wheels pro-
gram. Bruner deferred to the
larger corps of volunteers
around her.
“There are a lot of people
out there doing things that are
unsung heroes,” Bruner said.
“I know that’s a silly term,
but you can’t put on an event
without backup.”
Meyer, co-owner of Com-
pleat Photographer with her
husband, Chuck, for more
than 30 years, has amassed an
extensive volunteer resume
since moving to Astoria in
1971. She has volunteered
for The Harbor, which com-
bats domestic violence, and
local schools, the Ameri-
can Association of Univer-
sity Women, Clatsop County
Health District, the chamber,
Astoria Downtown Historic
District Association, Astoria
Riverfront Trolley and a state
commission on youth, among
other endeavors.
“Community is really spe-
cial,” Meyer said of the vol-
unteerism in Astoria, “and
it takes volunteers to make
community.”
Flavel famous
Newenhof, a co-owner
of City Lumber, volunteered
with the Astoria Regatta,
Rotary, school district and
other groups. But Newenhof
stayed largely under the radar
until he purchased and began
restoring the Flavel family’s
dilapidated mansion at 15th
Street and Franklin Avenue
last year.
“I don’t know who people
are, but they know who I am,”
Newenhof said of his new-
found notoriety.
Chamber Executive Direc-
tor Skip Hauke, presenting
Newenhof’s award, said he’d
originally come into the man-
sion as a volunteer with the
Clatsop County Historical
Society, but fell in love with
the building.
“Since he bought the home,
this individual has poured
blood, sweat, tears, time,
elbow grease and just a little
money into bringing this stun-
ning building back to life,”
Hauke said.
Warming Warrenton
In her day job, Warren is an
agent with Farmers Insurance
in Warrenton. Outside work,
she serves with the Warren-
ton Business Association,
Warrenton-Hammond School
Board, Kiwanis Club of War-
renton and nonprofit Warren-
ton-Hammond Healthy Kids
Inc., among other groups.
Recently, after volunteer-
ing with the Astoria Warm-
ing Shelter and hearing about
the need for such a service
in her home city, Warren and
several others helped start the
Warrenton Warming Shelter,
which this winter started tak-
ing in the homeless at Cal-
vary Assembly of God on
Main Street during inclem-
ent weather and temperatures
below 38 degrees.
“It’s been challenging, but
it’s been rewarding,” Warren
said. “Our biggest challenge,
probably, has been pulling
together volunteers.”
Warren said the center has
40 to 60 volunteers, but proba-
bly needs a pool of about 150.
“We need 10 to 12 people a
night.”
Photos by Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
LEFT: Greg Newenhof, co-owner of City Lumber, was honored with a George Award, As-
toria’s citizen-of-the-year honor, for his volunteerism and restoration of the Flavel man-
sion on 15th Street and Franklin Avenue. Presenting the award was lumberjack-themed
Skip Hauke, director of the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce. RIGHT: Com-
munity volunteer Myrle Bruner was emotional coming through the crowd to collect her
George Award, Astoria’s citizen-of-the-year honor.
LEFT: Sara Meyer, left, was honored for her prodigious volunteerism with a citizen-of-the-
year George Award, presented by Astoria Mayor Arline LaMear. RIGHT: Kelsey Balensifer,
right, who organized her third Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce banquet
a day after her birthday, was honored by former chamber board President David Reid.
Q&A: ‘We’re facing
housing challenges’
Continued from Page 1A
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Friends, family and community members gather at Warrenton City Park for a candlelight vigil Sunday.
Vigil: ‘He was there to protect everybody’
Continued from Page 1A
mother. “He was there to pro-
tect everybody. I still expect
him to wake me up at night
and say, ‘Mom, someone
needs help.’”
Secord’s friends, who
played football and baseball
and also wrestled, echoed his
mother’s sentiments.
Ethan Johnson, a 17-year-
old from Seaside, remembered
one occasion when Secord
came down to comfort him.
“No matter what your issue
was, he’d be there to help,”
Johnson said. “He would carry
the world on his shoulders and
he still wouldn’t break. I just
hope that everybody remem-
bers him the way I do, as that
little kid with a smile on his
face.”
Lizabeth
Rehnert,
a
15-year-old Warrenton High
School student, organized the
vigil.
“It was just to find hope,”
she said. “No one wants to be
alone for these kinds of things.”
Rehnert met Secord a few
years ago when they were stu-
dents at Warrenton Middle
School. She remembers him as
a great athlete, a funny person
and a good friend.
“He was really nice to
everyone,” she said. “Everyone
just loved being around him.”
Brenda McKune, Sec-
ord’s grandmother, remem-
bered his chivalry as a young
boy. She coordinates an annual
scrapbooking, crafting and
card-making event in Warren-
ton called Scrap Hunger. Each
year since he was 9, Secord
would insist on carrying wom-
en’s tote bags for them.
“He’d tell them, ‘You’re a
Originally from Michi-
gan, Sullivan moved to Clat-
sop County in 2007. She
has been active in a number
of local groups such as the
Astoria Budget Committee
and the Astoria Visual Arts
Board and was a leader in the
campaign against the Oregon
LNG project in Warrenton.
Sullivan, who represents
the eastern portion of the
county, sat down Thursday
for a conversation with The
Daily Astorian
Q: Were you politically
active in Michigan, before
you moved out here?
I’ve always tried to keep
up with current events. I think
my activism against the (Ore-
gon LNG project) was pretty
much the start of it. I learned
a lot about public meeting law
and regulations and regula-
tory bodies and how citizens
can make change.
Q: What is it that
prompted you to take this
on?
Some people go horse-
back riding; I do other
things. I go to meetings; I
like hearing ideas. A lot of
the things that I’m going to,
I would probably go to even
if I wasn’t county commis-
sioner. But I am going to
these things because I’m a
county commissioner also.
Q: Over the next four
years, what are the major
goals that you have set
in mind that you’d like
to bring to the countyas
commissioner?
I’ve lived in this commu-
nity for probably about 10
years. It’s a real special part
of the world, and I would
like us to maintain a quality
of life here in the different
ways that we do that. We’re
facing housing challenges.
We’re facing transportation
problems. In the summer-
time, sometimes we have
gridlock here in Astoria, Sea-
side, Cannon Beach. What
are we going to do about
that? We also need to get our
communities prepared for a
possible major earthquake
and tsunami. I didn’t know
about that when I moved
here. How do you prepare
a population for something
like that?
Q: What was your
mindset going into that
meeting?
Yeah, it was quite a first
meeting. I’ll say that. That
lawsuit had been out in the
public eye for almost a year,
and I was elected in May. So,
it’s something that I’ve been
paying attention to even
though I wasn’t in office.
That was my first meeting,
but I have four years ahead
of me that I want to learn
as much as I can and be as
helpful as I can, because
I believe the government
belongs to us. We’re priv-
ileged in this county with
home rule that citizens can
run for office. We don’t
have to be millionaires. We
don’t have to be attorneys.
So I feel honored to be in a
position like this and I take
it very seriously.
Duncan: Official hopes to
make people more aware
of public health issues
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Students place their candles on the ground during a candlelight vigil to remember the
life of Trevor Secord on Sunday at Warrenton City Park. Secord, a 15-year-old Warrenton
student, died late Thursday after he was struck by a car near Gearhart.
lady. You shouldn’t be carry-
ing those heavy bags,’” McK-
une said.
Oregon State Police said
Friday they were investigating
whether alcohol contributed to
Secord’s actions.
McKune said she has filed
numerous complaints to War-
renton Police in recent years
about adults providing alcohol
to underage drinkers. She said
she made her latest complaint
Thursday night a little more
than three hours before Sec-
ord’s death.
“These adults have got to
stop feeding our kids alcohol
because things like this hap-
pen,” she said.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
A memorial for Trevor Secord is outside the Warrenton
Post Office on Friday in Warrenton.
Continued from Page 1A
food quality — as at least
equivalent to advancements
in medicine for the overall
health of a population. “The
main reason a population has
good health or bad health
is public health,” he said.
“The high-tech stuff is fun,
but most of the big gains in
a general population have all
been through public health.”
Duncan’s
contribu-
tions, for which he receives
a $100 monthly stipend,
are extremely valuable to
the county, Public Health
Director Michael McNickle
said.
“We’d have to hire a
consultant to review all this
stuff,” McNickle said. “I bet
it would be difficult to find
someone who does what he
does for $100 per month.”
Compared to some other
countries in the world, pub-
lic health in the United
States is stable, Duncan
said. As a result, the topic of
public health usually only
arises when a major health
crisis occurs.
“It’s tough to talk to peo-
ple who are well-dressed,
well-fed and well-housed
about public health,” he
said.
As he continues his role
as health officer, Duncan
hopes to make residents
more aware of public health
issues.
“We’re like mothers.
Everybody likes their moth-
ers, but they don’t get them
anything until Mother’s
Day.”
— Jack Heffernan