145TH YEAR, NO. 161
ONE DOLLAR
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2018
No tax
hike for
Cannon
Beach fire
Extra money
would have paid for
firefighter paramedics
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH — The Cannon
Beach Rural Fire Protection District will
not propose a tax increase on this year’s fire
chief levy to pay for firefighter paramedics.
Residents will vote in May whether to
renew the levy that pays for the fire chief’s
salary, expenses and training at the rate of
$0.1488 per thousand of assessed property.
This rate will again bring in about $141,469
to the fire district over five years.
Fire Chief Matt Benedict had suggested
increasing the rate up to $0.35 per thousand
of assessed property and modifying the fire
chief’s levy into an operational one to allow
funding for two firefighter paramedics.
But after a month of discussion, the fire
district board came to a consensus that vot-
ers were unlikely to pass another tax increase
after passing the $99.7 million bond in 2016
for the new Seaside school campus. While the
rate will remain the same, the board did vote
to modify the levy so that revenue can be used
for all operational and staffing needs, rather
than just costs associated with the fire chief.
“I think wording is important,” said board
member Bob Cerelli. “This shows we have
more options for this money that can be
helpful with the overall needs of the district.”
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Cannon Beach Fire Chief Matt Benedict holds up the department’s new drone for search-and-rescue operations.
EYES IN THE SKY
Cannon Beach starts drone program following dramatic dog rescue
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
C
See TAX, Page 4A
Hospitality
leader known
for design work
Martin was ‘matriarch
of Cannon Beach’
ABOVE: The fire department in Cannon Beach recently acquired a drone to aid
in emergency operations. BELOW: The DJI Mavic drone folds up and is easy to
transport. See more photos online at DailyAstorian.com
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH — Janice Kay Mar-
tin, who co-founded Cannon Beach’s Steve
Martin Management Co. with her late hus-
band, died Saturday at her home in Palm
Desert, California, after a battle with cancer.
She was 77.
The 40-year-old company, which has
been renamed Martin North, manages sev-
eral Cannon Beach prop-
erties, including the Steph-
anie Inn, Surfsand Resort
and Wayfarer Restaurant.
Martin’s
husband,
Steve, died from cancer in
2000. She is survived by
daughter Stephanie Sny-
Jan
der, Stephanie’s husband,
Martin
Ryan Snyder, and their two
children. Ryan Snyder and
his wife have operated Martin North and its
properties since 2004.
ANNON BEACH — Two months
after a drone from a neighboring
fire department aided in a dramatic
rescue of a dog off a cliff at Ecola State
Park, the Cannon Beach Rural Fire Pro-
tection District has a drone of its own.
Last month, the fire district voted
to adopt a drone program that would
assist in a variety of fire calls, a grow-
ing trend among both small and large fire
departments.
The drone, which acts as a remote-con-
trolled video camera, could aid in search-
and-rescue calls, survey house fire dam-
age and provide aerial footage of car
accidents, Fire Chief Matt Benedict said.
Cannon Beach will join Hamlet and
Knappa as among the first fire depart-
ments in Clatsop County to have drone
capabilities.
“We want to keep up with technol-
ogy. We don’t want to become stagnant
as a district with the same tactics,” Bene-
dict said. “This is just another tool in our
toolbox.”
The idea of starting a drone program
came out of a Special Districts Associ-
ation of Oregon conference Benedict
attended last fall, which encouraged spe-
cial districts of all kinds to take drone
classes for surveying and safety purposes.
But the urgency to adopt a program
came after a drone from Hamlet Fire
Department played an integral role in
identifying and rescuing a dog stranded
on the side of a cliff near Indian Beach in
See DRONE, Page 4A
‘THE PR AND THE RESULTS WE GOT OUT OF THE DOG
RESCUE WAS WORTH THE $1,000 INVESTMENT.’
Mark Mekenas | a fire district board member
See MARTIN, Page 3A
Western snowy plover’s Gearhart return proves elusive
Central, south
coasts more
inviting to bird
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Oregon Coast Aquarium
The western snowy plover is a threatened species.
GEARHART — Too much
foot traffic and too many pred-
ators have made Gearhart’s dry
sand less inviting to one rare
visitor.
The western snowy plover,
a threatened species, last nested
on Necanicum Spit in 2002.
Without any recent sightings,
the area schoolchildren dubbed
“Birdy Beach” in 2014 will no
longer be kept as an active bird
management site and seasonal
restrictions will be lifted.
In 2013, the City Coun-
cil agreed to assist the state in
developing a shorebird con-
servation area meant to help
the recovery of the species
and enhance the habitat for
other shorebirds. By limit-
ing seasonal access, officials
hoped the western snowy plo-
ver would return to traditional
nesting sites.
While Nehalem Bay State
Park saw the hatching of a
western snowy plover chick
last May for the first time in 30
years, most nesting sites on the
North Coast, including Gear-
hart, haven’t seen the species
in a “very long time,” Lau-
rel Hillmann, an ocean shores
specialist with the Oregon
Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment, told the City Council on
Wednesday.
Less-trafficked areas on the
central and southern coast are
more inviting, she said, and
will be the focus of future nest-
ing protections.
The restricted area makes
up about 25 percent of the
77-acre beach area between
Gearhart and the Necanicum
River.
Gearhart’s
seasonally
posted signs advising of snowy
plover habitat will no longer
be posted, Oregon State Park
See PLOVER, Page 3A