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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2017)
9A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2017 Cannon Beach: ‘People ... make it special’ Continued from Page 1A searches related to traveling, like booking flights or reserv- ing rooms. The company looked at those trends and compared it with the annual baseline, which sifted Cannon Beach into the top five with other destinations like Aspen, Maui, Shenandoah Valley and the Rocky Mountains, TurnKey CEO T.J. Clark said. Cannon Beach is no stranger to winning travel-re- lated accolades for its nat- ural beauty and village-like feel. While those are import- ant factors in attracting visi- tors, Clark said, what made a location more popular in this study was the relationship the city had with the regulation and availability of vacation rentals. “A lot of what makes a loca- tion successful is how friendly the location is for visitors, and that can mean whether vaca- tion rentals are allowed in the area,” Clark said. “Those trav- Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian From left to right: Adam Miller, Emily Herndon, Christi- na Herndon and Kevin Miller pose for a group photo at the Lewis and Clark Fire Department Station 2. Tradition: Department includes 29 firefighters and two stations Continued from Page 1A the walls, but were not able to hear anything. Suddenly, they saw a large man come out of a bedroom and race toward them. “All I see is some dude booking it down the hall- way,” said Christina, who joined in telling the story after some pause. “I turn around and my face was like — white.” Christina and Emily ran out of the house. It turned out the man was simply check- ing on his mother in another room. The woman was fine; she likely rolled over on the medical help button in her sleep. But the story is a hit at family gatherings. The Miller-Herndon clan is a large presence in the Lewis and Clark Fire Department, which includes 29 firefighters and two sta- tions. Kevin Miller super- vises the firefighters — including his family — at the Logan Road station. Having multiple gener- ations of one family join a volunteer department is a much more common occur- rence on the East Coast than out West, former Asto- ria Fire Chief Leonard Han- sen said. For volunteer fire departments, that line of suc- cession can play a key role in the organization’s health. “They’re a huge pres- ence,” Hansen said of the Millers. “You don’t see it that much out here.” Kevin, whose experience includes 25 years with the Astoria Fire Department and a stint at Medix, has been a staple with the Lewis and Clark Fire Department for 45 years. His mark can be seen immediately after walking into the Logan Road station, where his firefighting-re- lated murals, including one of the American flag being raised above ground zero after 9/11, are on the walls. “As a Christian, I believe we’re all given specialties,” Kevin said. “I believe the Lord made me for emer- gency services. The desire was there to help people in need.” While Kevin leads, Christina serves as an emer- gency medical responder, Adam drives trucks and Emily — a junior at Astoria High School — is a cadet. Adam, who also provides some medical and engineer- ing services, said he appre- ciates “just seeing the dif- ferent things that they’re able to do that I’m not able to do.” When asked about why they joined, Miller’s chil- dren and granddaughter offered a similar sentiment. They all said that, once they became interested in joining, they did not think too long or prod Kevin with questions. “It’s just natural, feels natural,” Emily said. As the family sat around the firehouse, Haylee Hern- don, Christina’s 12-year- old daughter, wandered past them. When asked if she was interested in becoming a cadet in the future, Haylee immediately nodded her head in approval. elers are looking at vacation rentals, and this city has been friendly to vacation rentals.” Studies like the one done by travel market research company Phocuswright sup- port this logic, finding 34 per- cent of U.S. travelers in 2015 used private accommodations, compared to less than 10 per- cent in 2010. Cities that restrict vacation rentals, like Portland, did not rank as highly in the TurnKey study, Clark said. On the North Coast, resi- dents in Gearhart are divided over the city’s new regula- tions on vacation rentals and will vote in November on a repeal. In Astoria, some have called on the City Council to take action to contain legal homestay lodging and illegal rentals. Even in Cannon Beach, the issue has had its ups and downs. Sixty percent of Cannon Beach housing units are sea- sonal or vacation rentals, with about 200 vacation rental licenses issued by the city as of July, according to census estimates. In a citizen survey con- ducted last year, 59 percent of respondents reported it was important that the city reduce the number of short-term rent- als in residential neighbor- hoods to preserve a quiet, local feeling. City councilors consid- ered suspending new licenses for vacation rentals last year, but decided against the move. Cannon Beach still has some of the strictest vacation rental regulations on the North Coast, with a lottery system that keeps five-year rental per- mits capped at 92 and build- ing inspection requirements as strict as those enforced on new projects. Court Carrier, the exec- utive director of the Can- non Beach Chamber of Com- merce, said he thought the city’s regulations played a large role in people wanting to travel to Cannon Beach. “We have a strong vaca- tion rental culture here with well-defined ordinances to encourage the process,” Car- rier said. “We can take pride in long-term property manage- ment companies putting peo- ple in the right places.” While Carrier said he was happy to see the regional and national interest for Labor Day weekend, it does not sur- prise him. The chamber does not invest a lot of advertis- ing for Labor Day travel, and instead is pushing for more visitors to book rooms in the slower season between Octo- ber and April. “Because of our lack of advertising for this time, the power of word-of-mouth is a good indicator of our popu- larity,” he said. “When people talk about how special Can- non Beach is, they’re talking about the businesses maintain- ing their properties, the city enforcing design review, all of these things. We’re special because there are lot of peo- ple out there trying to make it special.” Monuments: White House reviewing recommendations Continued from Page 1A the president’s opponents, who warned that vast public lands and marine areas could be stripped of federal protection. But significant reductions in the size of the monuments or changes in what activities are allowed on them could trigger fierce resistance, too, including lawsuits. In an interview with The Associated Press, Zinke said he is recommending changes to a “handful” of sites, includ- ing unspecified boundary adjustments, and suggested some monuments are too large. He would not reveal his rec- ommendations for specific sites but previously said Utah’s Bears Ears National Monu- ment needs to be reduced in size. The White House said only that it received Zinke’s recom- mendations and is reviewing them. Conservationists and tribal leaders responded with alarm and distrust, demanding the full release of Zinke’s recom- mendations and vowing to challenge attempts to shrink any monuments. Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, called Zinke’s review a pretext for “selling out our public lands and waters” to the oil industry and others. Jacqueline Savitz, senior vice president of Oceana, which has been pushing for preservation of five marine monuments included in the review, said that simply saying “changes” are coming doesn’t reveal any real information. “A change can be a small tweak or near annihilation,” Savitz said. “The public has a right to know.” Legal fight Mike Noel, who has pushed to rescind the designation of Bears Ears as a monument, said he could live with a roll- back of its boundaries. He called that a good com- promise that would enable continued tourism while still allowing activities that locals have pursued for generations — logging, livestock grazing and oil and gas drilling. “The eco-tourists basically say, ‘Throw out all the rubes and the locals and get rid of that mentality of grazing and utilizing these public lands for any kind of renewable resource such as timber harvesting and even some mineral produc- tion,’” Noel said. “That’s a very selfish attitude.” A tribal coalition that pushed for the creation of the 2,100-square-mile Bears Ears monument on sacred tribal land said it is prepared to launch a legal fight against even a slight reduction in its size. Republican Utah state Rep. Other sites that might see changes include the Grand Staircase-Escalante monu- ment in the Utah desert, con- sisting of cliffs, canyons, nat- ural arches and archaeological Cascade-Siskiyou sites, including rock paintings; Katahdin Woods and Waters, 136 square miles of forest of northern Maine; and Cas- cade-Siskiyou, a 156-square- mile region where three mountain ranges converge in Oregon. The Washington Post reported that Zinke recom- mended reducing the size of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Gov. Kate Brown said in a statement that she is “deeply concerned” about potential changes to the monument. The governor said any reduc- tion “could have devastating impacts on health of the old- growth forestlands and incredi- ble array of species that rely on the land’s habitats.” Brown said she would call on state Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to “consider all legal options necessary to defend our Oregon values, and to be ready to challenge any overreach of executive power.” Clatsop Community College Presents Its 4 th Annual Conference on Crash: Repairs could take months Continued from Page 1A Astoria Parks and Recreation Department, said the 91-year- old monument — listed in the National Register of His- toric Places — sustained major damage. The crash sent a small light post flying about 20 feet, cracked concrete edges at the base of the monument and left truck parts sprawled across the ground. Another lamp post was also taken down after it was damaged, and there was significant cracking above the door to a restroom below. “We’ll work as quickly as possible, but it’ll likely be a few months before the monu- ment is repaired,” Cosby said. “It’s sad to see a really import- ant monument to our veterans damaged, but our concern is with the man involved in the crash and his well-being.” Cosby said the city will be working on an estimate of the damage and a repair plan after specialists examine the site. Renovation work on the mon- ument that had been sched- uled for early September will be delayed. Corbit said he and other firefighters were driving west on Marine Drive to complete a separate errand when they Extraordinary Living for people 50+ came upon the crash scene. Kim Lament, who lives just up the hill and has a view of the Astoria Bridge from her house, said she heard the sound while she was inside. “I looked up at the bridge and thought, ‘Oh, maybe that was metal,’” she said. Quality Work at Affordable Rates • • • • • • � Repairs Remodels Generators New Construction Add Circuits or Lighting Panel Changes/Upgrades Call us for your next electrical project! 503-739-7145 1616 S. Roosevelt Drive � Seaside, OR Monday-Friday: 8 am -5 pm www.jjelectricservice.com � Free Flu Shots Lunch Provided Make Fitness Fun SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 TH 9 AM ؏4 PM Clatsop Community College·New Patriot Hall $10 Suggested Donation FREE In-home Consultation | FREE Cordless Keynote address from Dr. Chris Breitmeyer, Clatsop Community College President Register by Sept. 8: Contact Evy at 503-338-2566 or eberger@clatsopcc.edu or register online at www.clatsopcc.edu/communityed 12 informative presentations in three breakout sessions. 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