DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017
144TH YEAR, NO. 202
ONE DOLLAR
ALL HAIL
Athletes battle elements
in ‘Daily A’ Invitational
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Astoria Armory Executive Director
Robyn Koustik points to a section of
the Armory roof that was damaged
during a windstorm on Friday in Astoria.
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
Opponents of Gearhart’s RV zoning
change said visitors could set up at
Bud’s or Venice RV Park in Seaside.
Storm
damages
roof of
Armory
Gearhart
OKs RV
holidays
Resident’s plea is
heard by council
Gallons of rainwater
leaked into building
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
GEARHART — It’s not often that a
city resident can float an idea at a public
meeting and have it become law.
Gearhart’s Jim Schultz went before
the City Council in 2015 asking for a
way to host friends
and family in recre-
ational vehicles on
his property. To do
so would require a
change in the city’s
zoning code.
Last week, city
councilors adopted
an amendment to
permit occupancy
Jim
of an RV for up to
Schultz
four days, twice a
year.
According to terms of the amendment,
the RV must be parked at a residence off
the city right-of-way. The permit may be
revoked at any time.
Photos by Damian Mulinix/For The Daily Astorian
Warrenton’s Tyler Whitaker won the boys triple jump Saturday with a distance of 39-feet-7.
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
Legislative remedy
“I guess I’m the guy who started it,”
Schultz told the City Council at Wednes-
day’s public hearing. “We would have
friends come down and bring a trailer
and go to the Fireman’s Ball and spend
Memorial Day weekend, or I’d have my
trailer parked there and the grandkids
would want to go for pizza and we’d have
boys’ night out in the trailer.”
When Police Chief Jeff Bowman
advised Schultz his family time in the RV
was against city rules and liable to receive
a $500 fine, Schultz sought a legislative
remedy.
“So, going on two years now I’ve been
going to City Council to change it to see
if we could stay in the trailer one or two
nights and use it as such,” Schultz said.
S
EASIDE — Welcome to high school track
and field on the North Oregon Coast.
The 29th annual Daily Astorian Invi-
tational had a little bit of everything Saturday
afternoon … on the track, in the field and in the
skies above Seaside High School.
Less than 24 hours after a major windstorm
swept through the area, a weather system from
the south kept things hopping in Saturday’s meet.
Alternating weather
A 10-minute sample:
At 1:10 p.m., sunshine and a slight breeze,
with some very dark clouds offshore, followed
by (at 1:15), a hailstorm of near-biblical pro-
portions. And finally, at 1:20, it was back to a
Bob Marley song — the sun was shining and
the weather was sweet.
And that’s how it was Saturday, as the
clouds, wind, rain and sunshine alternated
every 15 minutes. Through it all, the athletes
were running, jumping and throwing their per-
sonal bests.
Had the meet been scheduled for Friday, it
would have been canceled, said Seaside coach
Jeff Kilday. As it was, meet organizers were not
able to set up for things until Saturday morning.
See INVITE, Page 10A
Opposition
Current city code allows the storage of
up to two parked RVs on a homeowner’s
property.
Opponents of the change pointed to
the availability of nearby RV parks and
the difficulty of enforcement.
“Parked RVs on small city lots will
give the city an image of an RV park,”
resident Leena Riker wrote in a letter to
the council. “Is that what full-time Gear-
hart residents really want?”
See GEARHART, Page 4A
Getting ready for Friday’s skate night,
Astoria Armory Executive Director
Robyn Koustik said she got a call from
one of her volunteers.
“The volunteer got here before I did,”
she said. “She’s like, ‘It’s raining in the
armory.’”
A large area of the building’s tar paper
and shingles had ripped off and started
fluttering in the high winds Friday, let-
ting water seep through the roof boards
and onto the court and the lobby, where
volunteers from the Armory and the U.S.
Coast Guard were nearing completion of
a remodel.
“It was raining as hard outside as it
was inside the building,” Koustik said of
the surreal scene inside the community
center.
Koustik said she and local contrac-
tor Randy Stemper went to City Lumber
to buy 1-by-4-foot boards. Stemper and
two others then ascended the roof of the
Armory in high winds to nail down the
tar paper. She said nearly 10 volunteers
showed up throughout the night to help
mop and vacuum an estimated 100 gal-
lons of rainwater, preventing the gym
floor from being damaged. A hole had to
be cut in the lobby’s roof to allow water
to drain from the VIP mezzanine above,
after which fans were set up to air out the
building.
Group got lucky
Mike Davies, president of the non-
profit Friends of the Armory volunteer
board, said the group got lucky that some-
one noticed the issue early.
“It was surprising, because obvi-
ously that roof has been through a lot of
storms,” he said, adding the roof had been
repaired in 2013 to prevent leakage.
Early this week, he said, the Armory
will bring in contractors to assess roof
and water damage to the lobby.
Events are canceled for the coming
week. Koustik said the goal is to reopen
by Skate Night Friday.
The Armory had to shut down the
basement earlier this year after tes-
ters found lead residue in several loca-
tions exceeding federal health thresholds.
The Armory tested after The Oregonian
released a story about lead contamination
Astoria senior Cole Olson won the boys pole vault by clearing a height of 9-feet-6 at Satur-
day’s meet in Seaside. More photos from the invitational online at DailyAstorian.com/sports
See ARMORY, Page 4A
Jack’s Country Store in Ocean Park is a family affair
Downer learned
from his parents
O
YSTERVILLE, Wash.
— Tom Downer was 16
when his family moved to
Ocean Park, Washington, from
Longview in 1969. His folks,
Jack and Lucille Downer, had
recently purchased Henrich-
son’s Grocery in Ocean Park
— a store with a long family
history on the north end of the
Long Beach Peninsula.
Soon a new sign read
“Jack’s Country Store” and the
Downer family was making its
own brand of history on the
eninsula and beyond.
Though its name and loca-
tion have changed more than
once since it was established
as Morehead & Co. General
Merchandise store in 1885
when Washington was still a
territory, Jack’s is now recog-
nized as the oldest continuous
retail business in the state.
After graduating from
Ilwaco High School, eventual
ownership of his parents’ store
was the furthest thing from
Downer’s mind. “But,” he
said, “my four years at Seat-
tle University gave me a life-
time’s fill of city life.”
Over the next quarter cen-
tury, Downer worked along-
side his father, absorbing his
distinctive business philoso-
phy “Actually, philosophies,”
Downer said. “He had sev-
eral.” He shares some of his
dad’s notable character traits,
as well.
More than one customer
has noticed Downer picking
up litter in the parking lot in
the early mornings “just like
Jack did every day.” And, it
seems a given that advice or
instructions are a freebie with
or without a purchase in the
hardware department.
“Jack was a firm believer
in stocking what other sellers
didn’t carry. He kept a list of
customer requests — things
they hadn’t been able to find
‘anywhere’ and soon those
items would appear on the
shelves. He also felt it wiser
to put his money into building
inventory rather than spending
it on advertising,” according to
Downer, “and he often added
to his stock by purchases at liq-
uidation sales.”
— Sydney Stevens
Tom Downer followed his
parents into business at
Jack’s Country Store in
Ocean Park, Wash.
Sydney Stevens/
For EO Media Group