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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2019
Chamber: Merritt recently honored for volunteerism
Continued from Page A1
George Award
Merritt and Holen were
presented the George Award,
named after the tongue-in-
cheek phase “Let George do
it.”
Merritt, a former teacher
for 25 years, serves on the
board of the Astoria Down-
town Historic District Asso-
ciation and leads its Design
Committee. He regularly
helps with banners, holiday
decorations, tending planters,
installing sidewalk tiles and
cleanups. He also serves on
the board of Astoria Visual
Arts, spent almost 30 years
on the board of Coast Com-
munity Radio, helps orga-
nize the FisherPoets Gather-
ing and records Astoria City
Council meetings.
Merritt was recently hon-
ored for his volunteerism by
Oregon Main Street, a down-
town development program
run through the State Historic
Preservation Offi ce.
Holen, co-owner of sea-
food
restaurant
Baked
Alaska with her husband,
Christopher, has been exec-
utive director of United Way
of Clatsop County since
2016 and helped organize its
annual fundraiser, the Iron
Chef Goes Coastal cooking
competition. She has served
on the board of the downtown
association, was a co-cre-
ator of its Pacifi c Northwest
Brew Cup fundraiser and has
been involved in Astoria’s
Parent-Teacher
Organiza-
tion, Astoria Regatta Associ-
ation, Astoria School District
Facility Committee and other
groups.
Richard Ford Award
The Littles were presented
with the Richard Ford Dis-
tinguished Service Award,
named for a former building
inspector, fi re chief and local
volunteer.
Albert Little, a Navy vet-
eran from the Vietnam War
who spent more than 20
years with the Army National
Guard at Camp Rilea, retired
from Foss Maritime and
taught seamanship for Clat-
sop Community College’s
maritime science program.
He is the quartermaster
for the Fort Stevens Veter-
ans of Foreign Wars Post, an
active member of the Gate-
way Masonic Lodge 175, a
board member of the War-
renton Warming Center, a
member of the Warrenton
Parks Planning Committee
and a regular volunteer with
the Warrenton Senior Center
lunch program.
Albert and Debbie Little
are overseers of Cub Scout
Pack 509 in Warrenton for
boys ages 6 through 11. Deb-
bie Little has run the conces-
sion stand at Quincy Robin-
son Park during games, has
served as secretary with War-
renton-Hammond Healthy
Kids Inc. and is active in the
VFW auxiliary.
She helped write a grant
The Daily Astorian
Ray Merritt, right, helps make adjustments to an antenna before connecting it to Coast Community Radio’s translator. Merritt
was given the George Award on Saturday by the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce for his volunteer eff orts.
for a new veterans memo-
rial near the Dairy Maid in
downtown Warrenton and
with her husband helped get
the monument approved,
raise money, collect names
of local veterans for display
and transport pieces back
and forth to the artist’s home
in Seaside to a foundry in
Damascus.
“They poured their souls
into this project as a way to
recognize all the men and
women who have served our
nation and our community,”
Warrenton Mayor Henry
Balensifer said Saturday
before presenting the award.
From left, Albert
and Debbie
Little were
presented the
Richard Ford
Distinguished
Service Award
Saturday by
Warrenton
Mayor Henry
Balansifer at
the Astoria-
Warrenton
Area Chamber
of Commerce’s
annual banquet.
Kelsey Balensifer
Offi cer: ‘I like the feeling of getting involved, being in service’
Continued from Page A1
said. “I like the small-town
environment.”
Over the course of 10
years,
Thompson-Kiefer
worked in Cannon Beach
in retail and property man-
agement . But she couldn’t
shake her law enforcement
dream.
“I realized I could be
doing more to help peo-
ple and the community,”
she said. “I decided to fi n-
ish what I started a long time
ago. It was a professional
goal, but in a lot of ways it
was also a personal goal.”
So she decided to move
to Grants Pass to start her
education and be closer to
her family. She then moved
back to the coast, where she
transferred to Portland State
University and completed
her criminal justice degree
online.
Soon after completing her
degree, Thompson-Kiefer
— through luck and circum-
stance — saw the job post-
ing for Cannon Beach’s code
enforcement offi cer pop up
on her Facebook news feed
after a mutual friend liked it.
She sent in an application.
“It just seemed like a
good fi t … a good way in,”
she said.
As the code enforcement
offi cer, Thompson-Kiefer
hopes to use her position to
educate and inform people
about the city’s codes, rather
than being seen as “the bad
guy.”
“I’ve gotten a lot of com-
ments about being the most
hated person. I don’t think it
has to be that way,” she said.
“I think people often are
unaware that they are break-
ing rules. I think articles like
this will be good to let peo-
ple know that there is some-
one out there looking out for
that stuff.”
Though there are a lot
of unknowns, Thomp-
son-Kiefer is excited for the
challenge.
“I’m drawn to law
enforcement because you
never know what you are
going to be dealing with in
a day … and you’re helping
your community,” she said.
“I like the feeling of getting
involved, being in service.
I’m excited to work for Can-
non Beach.”
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