The daily Astorian., September 12, 2018, Page 3A, Image 3

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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
Bigfoot’s Steakhouse in Seaside
will close after lease dispute
The owner
announces
‘sad’ decision
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Thousands
of visitors have posed in
front of the namesake Big
Foot statue and have enjoyed
steaks, prime rib and smi-
ley-face fries for the kids at
the iconic Bigfoot’s Steak-
house on Roosevelt Drive.
After more than 20 years
in business, the restaurant will
close its doors after failing to
come to a lease agreement
with the landlord, accord-
ing to owner Janis Riesterer.
“I think everyone is very,
very sad,” she said. “Word is
spreading very fast.”
Riesterer, originally from
Minnesota, conceived and
operated the restaurant with
her husband, John, who died
in 2013.
This was the Riester-
ers’ first go at the restaurant
business. They found the
statue of Big Foot at a Sea-
side curio shop, and used the
huge wooden Sasquatch as a
theme. The restaurant opened
in March 1998 as Bigfoot’s
Pub ’N Grub Steakhouse on
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
A Sasquatch has welcomed thousands of visitors to
Bigfoot’s Steakhouse.
the site of what used to be a
used car dealership.
The restaurant won fans
far and wide for its food,
cocktails and welcoming
family atmosphere. “We did
it with the concept ‘build it
and they will come,’ and it
worked,” Riesterer said.
Residents will never for-
get the generosity of the
restaurant’s owners during
the Great Coastal Gale of
2007. While other restaurants
were shuttered, Bigfoot’s
continued to serve through-
out the week. “My husband
had a big generator and for
that entire week, we fed all of
Cannon Beach, all of Seaside,
a lot of Astoria and Warren-
ton,” Riesterer said. “They
just kept coming day after
day, and they were so thank-
ful we were open. Everybody
was so happy to be here.
Because everybody was out
of power.”
During the storm, restau-
rant staff scoured the county
to find “all the stuff we
needed,” as highways were
closed and deliveries were at
a standstill.
When a driver crashed into
the iconic statue, an enter-
prising photographer sold the
picture to Maxim Magazine.
Bigfoot’s Steakhouse has
22 employees, Riesterer said,
including Matt Colburn, who
has been with the steakhouse
since its inception.
Riesterer said she would
not be reopening elsewhere.
“At 70, I couldn’t do that
again,” she said.
She plans to stay in Sea-
side, but said she hasn’t yet
figured out what she will do
next.
As the final days of the
restaurant tick off, Riesterer
thanked the community for
their support. “We’re going
to miss everyone and all my
staff is going to miss every-
one,” she said.
Chuck Overton/Windermere Realty
A lake on the Palmberg property in Gearhart.
New subdivision
proposed in Gearhart
Owners seek a
zoning change
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
GEARHART — One of
the last large parcels of land in
Gearhart could be converted
into a subdivision.
The 29.5-acre project on
McCormick Gardens Road
will go before the Planning
Commission on Thursday for
a zone change from rural agri-
cultural to medium density res-
idential, which would include
single-family and multifamily
homes.
Because of wetlands and
a freshwater lake, Winder-
mere real estate broker Chuck
Overton, who is representing
the property owners, said he
anticipates between 4 and 7
acres will be buildable pend-
ing rezoning approval, with a
potential of 25 to 40 lots.
Homes could sell in the
$300,000 range. “We’re not
trying to build $800,000
homes,” Overton said. “We’re
trying to fill a need.”
The site is the former Palm-
berg Paving Co. The owners
have put the property up for
sale for $2.5 million.
The project could be an
opportunity to bring affordable
housing to Gearhart, Over-
ton said, although the pric-
ing would be up to the devel-
opers. “The big demand is
the $350,000 price range and
down,” he said.
With wetlands, soil, geo-
logic and traffic studies com-
plete, if the property is rezoned,
the developer could come right
in and build, he added. “It’s a
perfect scenario. The demand
is really high. If we can get
somebody to come down here
and build this out, it’s going to
be a success.”
Dead hiker in Welches likely killed by cougar
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Author-
ities say a dead hiker whose
body was recovered this week
was likely killed by a cougar,
marking the first fatal attack
by a wild cougar in Oregon
and the second in the Pacific
Northwest this year.
Search and rescue teams
found the body of Diana Bober,
55, on Monday off a trail in the
Mount Hood National For-
est in Welches, about 40 miles
southeast of Portland. Her
body was several miles from
where searchers found her car
last week near a ranger station.
Bober, an avid hiker who
often trekked in the Mount
Hood and Columbia River
Gorge area, was last heard
from by family and friends
on Aug. 29. She was reported
missing on Friday and it’s still
unclear when she started her
hike, said Sgt. Brian Jensen of
‘This is an unprecedented
event in Oregon.
We don’t know what risk
it poses to the public.’
Brian Wolfer,
watershed manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife
National Park Service
A cougar is suspected of
killing a hiker in Welches.
the Clackamas County Sher-
iff’s Office.
Her body had injuries con-
sistent with a cougar attack
and a medical examiner ruled
out the possibility that she
was mauled after she died of
another cause, Jensen said.
DNA samples collected at the
scene were being flown by the
Oregon State Police to a U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service lab-
oratory for further analysis, he
said.
Authorities warned a local
school district of the attack and
advised other hikers to stay out
of the area.
Oregon wildlife officials
are attempting to find and kill
the animal, he said.
“This is an unprecedented
event in Oregon,” said Brian
Wolfer, watershed manager
for the state Department of
Fish and Wildlife. “We don’t
know what risk it poses to the
Olympia woman falls and dies while
hiking near Snoqualmie Pass
Choate grew up
in Oysterville
By LOGAN STANLEY
The Olympian
OLYMPIA, Wash. — An
Olympia woman and Moutain-
eer member died Sept. 5 while
hiking near Snoqualmie Pass,
according to Sgt. Ryan Abbott,
a spokesman for the King
County Sheriff’s Department.
Laurie Choate, 64, had
gone up to a portion of the
Pacific Crest Trail and spent
the night there with a friend,
Abbott said. On their way back
on the Kendall Katwalk, Cho-
ate slipped and fell 300 feet
below. Choate’s friend called
911, and a helicopter from the
King’s County Sheriff Depart-
ment was brought in.
However, conditions were
too risky to make an attempt
to reach her, Abbott said. Para-
medics arrived on the scene
about 20 minutes later, and
pronounced Choate dead.
According to The Moun-
taineers, a local nonprofit
group for hikers and those pas-
sionate about the outdoors,
Choate was an active member
and volunteer leader with the
Olympia branch.
Choate, who grew up near
her family’s oyster farm in
Oysterville, is a former direc-
tor of nursing and allied health
at Clatsop Community Col-
lege. She also was a longtime
member of the Astoria School
Board.
A service for Choate will
be held at 1 p.m. on Thurs-
day at First Lutheran Church
in Astoria.
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public.”
Cougar sightings are rela-
tively common in Oregon, par-
ticularly in more rural areas,
but Bober’s death appears to
be the first fatal attack.
There are about 6,600 cou-
gars — also commonly called
mountain lions or pumas —
throughout Oregon. State
wildlife officials get about
400 complaints about the ani-
mals each year, according to
authorities.
Cougars can be killed by
landowners or law enforce-
ment officials when they pose
a threat to human safety or
cause damage to livestock or
agricultural crops. They also
can be hunted.
Over the past decade, about
20 cougars have been killed
each year in the wildlife man-
agement area where Bober’s
body was found.
In May, a mountain biker in
Washington state was killed by
a cougar on a trail east of Seat-
tle, the first fatal attack in that
state in 94 years.
2018-19 | 29TH SEASON
COLUMBIAFORUM
September 18, 2018 • 6 p.m.
The Blob, El Niño
and Climate Change:
Looking for a Hot Time in the Pacif ic Northwest?
Much of the oceanic and atmospheric conditions that have occurred in the
Pacific Northwest recently have been quite warm. Speaker Nick Bond’s talk will
address those events considered in the long-term context of the past and future
climate of the region. Some effects will also be discussed, with examples ranging
from the marine ecosystem to human health, including efforts to improve
predictions of climate variations and their impacts.
Nick Bond
University of Washington College
of Atmospheric Sciences
Nick Bond is a principal research scientist
with the Joint Institute for the Study of
the Atmosphere and Ocean of the
University of Washington and affiliated
with NOAA. A Climatologist for Washington
since 2010, Nick’s research focuses on
the weather and climate of the Pacific
Northwest and it’s link between the climate
and marine ecosystems of the North Pacific.
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Next: The Blob, El Niño and Climate Change: Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. • RSVP by: Sept. 14
Olney Grange
BEEF BAR-B-QUE
Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018 • 12:30 - 5:00 p.m.
Adults $ 14 00 • Children under 10 $ 8 00
Beef $ 8.50/lb.
Highway 202, Astoria • Public Welcome
For reservations, to become a
member or be added to contact list:
Contact Holly Larkins
at 503-325-3211x227
or forum@dailyastorian.com
Forum to be held at
(new location):
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175 14th St., Ste 100,
Astoria
Foot of 12th St.
Use back-in parking