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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
Founded in 1873
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
Wheel Fun gets on track in Seaside
F
ormer Signal columnist Claire
Lovell would be happy. Lovell,
who often lamented the passing
of what she lovingly referred to as “old
Seaside,” wrote in 2015: “Why doesn’t
the person who owns the little train on
Broadway either fix it up or remove it so
someone else can use the space?”
Lovell, of course, was the long-run-
ning columnist and chronicler of old
Seaside. Lovell died at age 96 in 2017.
“I see little children with their fingers
clasped in the fence, look longingly at
the little choo-choo and wish they could
take a ride,” she wrote.
“Now there are the car-
ousel, bumper cars and
a bucket on the beach.
Whoopee!”
Recalling Claire, I
think that was a sarcas-
tic “whoopee” on her
R.J. MARX part.
But her longing for
the return of the miniature train, which
ran for years on Broadway on the site
of the former Strand Theatre, will soon
become a reality.
Patrick and Denise Duhachek are
redeveloping their South Holladay Drive
property and adding a quarter-mile min-
iature ridable railway.
“It makes you feel like you’re 13
again,” Patrick said in early June.
“It’s Pat’s hobby,” Denise added. “He
loves it. He has so much fun restoring
stuff.”
Patrick Duhachek
Trains get a makeover for their return at the new Wheel Fun Rentals facility coming to Seaside.
18-foot glass-paned garage doors for
public viewing, will offer surrey bikes,
bicycles, mopeds and motorized electric
golf course, along with a small shop for
bicycle repairs.
The storage area will shelter train cars
at night, along with boats, surreys and
other vehicles.
Family affair
All aboard!
In years past, visitors to Seaside
enjoyed classic rides like the Octopus,
Rock-O-Plane, an ornately decorated
carousel and a roller coaster called the
Wild Mouse.
The Duhacheks purchased the half-
acre South Holladay Drive property on
Avenue C from the estate of Denise’s
father, Jimmy Rogers. Rogers owned
Wheel Fun for 25 years before his death
in 2013.
Now the couple plan to build a storage
barn and retail facility, adding the min-
iature train — purchased from Mark and
Marci Utti, owners of the Times Theatre,
Finn’s and Twisted Fish among other
downtown properties — as an added
amusement.
Designs show a motorized vehicle
rental and storage facility, along with the
outdoor amusement ride.
With Planning Commission approval
in early June, the Duhacheks now have a
go-ahead.
The showroom will be one of four
Wheel Fun locations in Seaside. Their
two downtown shops offer pedal-pow-
Wheel Fun’s newest venture will join
a surge in local amusements, from the
Seaside Inverted Experience, the Seaside
Shootout and the laser tag arena at the
Seaside Carousel Mall.
The Duhacheks hope to open next the
new facility next summer. “I have a lot
of people who are grown-ups now and
remember riding the train, and they’re
excited to have their children ride it,”
Patrick Duhachek said.
For the rest of us, whether we
remember “The Little Engine that Could,
“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” or “Thomas
and Friends,” the train will be a nostalgic
nudge to put us all on track.
“We’re excited to get going, to have
a new building,” Patrick Duhachek said.
“We’re excited with the support from
friends and support from the city.”
He would get a nod of approval from
our former Signal columnist.
“I always believe old Seaside was a
lot more fun,” Lovell wrote in 2015.
R.J. Marx is The Daily Astorian’s South
County reporter and editor of the Seaside
Signal and Cannon Beach Gazette.
Eve Marx
Wheel Fun Rentals construction is well underway on South Holladay Drive.
ered vehicles: surreys and bikes “and
stuff that goes on the beach.”
Another location offers paddle boats
on the river.
While the train will attract the kiddos,
the surreys remain Wheel Fun’s most
popular attraction.
“We rent more of the double surreys
with the two bench seats than anything
else,” Patrick Duhachek said. “There are
some specialty bikes each offers, but each
has a niche of what they might offer.”
Working on the railroad
To learn the ins and outs of rail-
roading, Patrick Duhachek has been
taking his studies seriously by visiting
amusement parks with similar attractions,
participating in online railroad forums
and reading specialty publications.
At its former location, the train ran on
aluminum track. The new rails will be
made of steel.
“I still have a bit of a learning curve
for putting down train track,” he said.
“I’m learning as fast as I can.”
Duhachek is not sure yet what the
scenery around the track will look like,
whether it be old Seaside — or whatever.
“We know we have to have a tunnel,”
he said. “There will be some landscaping,
a water feature — we’re kind of making
it up as we go along.”
The battery-operated train will be
followed by six cars and a caboose.
The conductor will sit in the second car
and run the train around a quarter-mile
track. The new showroom, with three
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Don’t single out
lodging for taxation
he Clatsop County Commissioners
voted 3 to 1 to allow another 1 percent
tax on lodging. This new countywide tax
— of which only 30 percent can be used for
non-tourism promotion — is slated to be used
for operations at the new jail.
This is unfair to implement a tax when
the reason for the tax has not been voted on
by Clatsop County voters. The vote by the
commissioners was done with county staff
approval, but without consulting the lodging
community.
Also, why is The Daily Astorian taking
sides with the commissioners who voted yes
(“Who should pay to operate new jail?” July
31), and going after the only commissioner,
Lianne Thompson, who actually wanted to
have the discussions with lodging about ways
to be fair in taxing businesses in the county,
who all benefit from tourism.
The staff seemed to be demonizing lodging
by saying that many times police and/or the
sheriff’s department were called to lodgings
in the county to combat crime. While I don’t
doubt there were calls, it is a fallacy to say or
imply that 30 percent of the people in jail are
because of calls made to lodgings.
Tourism employs over 7,000 in Clatsop
County, and nearly all of those live here, as
well. They spend money on goods and ser-
vices. Lodging guests spend between $100
and $200 on restaurants, bars, retail, etc. Why
single out lodging to tax?
One commissioner voted to be fair, and to
seek a fair tax, not just the easy tax.
DON WEST
Astoria
T
Who is in danger —
the right or reporters?
egarding the letters “Trump-focused edi-
torials will not change the world” and
“Biased news is now obvious everywhere”
R
(The Daily Astorian, Aug. 1): With Trump
catching the headlines on a daily and dramatic
basis, any newspaper that pretended nonsense
doesn’t exist would be guilty of dereliction of
duty.
The Daily Astorian does cover local prob-
lems consistently.
I don’t understand how bias is displayed
on the part of a news organization that merely
reports that Trump stated something one day
and the exact opposite the second day, or that
Trump stated something that is so blatantly
untrue that even the most biased observer can-
not be unaware of the attempted deception.
I think political bias is frequently per-
ceived when something is printed or stated
in the media that you do not agree with. The
Associated Press has a well-deserved reputa-
tion for non-ideological accurate reporting.
It is beyond abominable how Trump has
turned honest reporters, in the view of his fol-
lowers, into the enemy with his rhetoric to the
point that many reporters fear for their safety.
Without the press and other truth seekers we
would live in an even more dangerous ugly
world.
Please, free press, deliver us from that.
JEAN HOOGE
Astoria
Limit fireworks to July 4th
have loved city fireworks displays all my
life. But this year fireworks began in Astoria
neighborhoods just after noon July 3, and con-
tinued sporadically for a week from morning
to night. As the City Council considers types of
allowable fireworks, how about also looking at
permitted days for setting them off within city
limits?
I have one of the 40 percent of dogs said to
be outright terrified by loud booms and the loud
cracking sound of fireworks, nail guns and car
backfires. Not something they can help, and no
comforting works. My Bassett Hound, Moose,
spent several pitiful days this year trembling,
panting, drooling and hiding in an alcove in the
bathroom, and when on leash, tried in a panic to
I
get away from the fireworks, without anywhere
safe to go, hurting us both. His nervous system
sensitized by that week of fireworks, he contin-
ues to startle at sudden loud noises, then refuses
to walk, and tries to bolt back home to safety.
I’ve never been one to support curbing
enthusiasm, but may I appeal to Astorians to
be kind to the nervous among us? May I sug-
gest limiting fireworks in neighborhoods to July
4th? I note that for evening displays, some cities
are using “boomless” fireworks.
I can’t imagine how it is for combat veter-
ans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
but I do know that all our dogs with this ter-
ror response can really use the consideration,
and we dog lovers wouldn’t have to dread the
annual celebration.
FLORENCE SAGE
Astoria
Astoria planning to limit
river views
hose interested in what Astoria will look
like between 2nd Street and 16th Street,
as well as whether you will see river from
T
the riverwalk or while driving along Marine
Drive, should attend this Tuesday’s 6:30 p.m.
Planning Commission work session on the
Riverfront Vision Urban Core plan.
The agenda shows the plan uses little red
dotted lines between large structures built
over the river to indicate where people will
need to walk to view the river. They call these
“river trail extensions and viewpoint.” This
allows them to try to convince us that the
urban core’s guiding principles to “promote
physical and visual access to the river” and
“enhance the river trail” are being honored.
I find it hard to believe most Astorians
want these limited views. I hope the Plan-
ning Commission chair allows those who are
able to attend to express their thinking this
Tuesday.
The city will tell you that what is currently
allowed along our riverfront is worse than this
proposal, but that doesn’t mean we need to
accept everything that the Riverfront Vision
Urban Core proposal would do to our river
views. Does anyone else see the irony of call-
ing it the “riverfront vision” plan?
GEORGE (MICK) HAGUE
Astoria