A2
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2021
IN BRIEF
Fire destroys utility shed
at Seaside Golf Course
SEASIDE — A fi re Tuesday afternoon at the Sea-
side Golf Course destroyed a utility shed and vehicle.
No one was hurt in the blaze, Seaside Fire Chief
Joey Daniels said. The fi re likely started in the shed,
where fuel for the golf course is stored.
A GMC pickup truck and equipment inside and out-
side the shed suff ered extensive damage. A house next
to the shed sustained minor damage.
“Immediately there was a huge puff of black
smoke,” Mayor Jay Barber said.
The mayor, who lives across from the golf course,
described a series of booms coming from the golf
storage area. “I thought, man, somebody has set off a
bomb,” he said. “It was loud and you could almost feel
the compression of it.”
Firefi ghters from around Clatsop County responded
to the scene.
“It could have been a lot worse because we had a
lot of fuel and pesticides here when we fi rst got here,”
Daniels said.
Astoria man arrested after chase
An Astoria man led law enforcement on a chase
Tuesday night on U.S. Highway 101 through Seaside
and Gearhart.
Oregon State Police arrested James Robert Neikes,
29, after the Clatsop County Sheriff ’s Offi ce threw
down spike strips.
Neikes was charged with driving under the infl u-
ence of intoxicants, reckless driving, reckless endan-
germent and attempting to elude law enforcement.
Vancouver man arrested
after Warrenton burglary
WARRENTON — Police on Wednesday arrested a
Vancouver, Washington, man, who, with another suspect,
was seen burglarizing L&D Race Tech on Marlin Avenue.
Witnesses saw the suspects hauling items into a
white van, later discovered to be stolen from Ilwaco,
Washington. Police arrived and followed the vehicle,
which went into a drainage ditch near Fast Lube & Oil.
The driver, Denis Yurencov, 31, was apprehended.
Yurencov, who also had felony warrants in Wash-
ington state and Montana, was charged with multiple
counts of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, bur-
glary, theft, possession of stolen property and eluding
law enforcement.
After the crash, another suspect took off on a stolen
motorcycle, which was later recovered and returned to
L&D Race Tech. Police returned three other motor-
cycles stolen from L&D Race Tech. Police describe
the missing suspect as a white adult male with a dark
hoodie, black shorts, gray shoes, red gloves, blue face
mask and black ball cap.
Vehicle break-ins reported in Warrenton
WARRENTON — A series of vehicle break-ins
took place on Tuesday morning.
According to police, one occurred at about 4:45 a.m. at
Pacifi c Rim Apartments on Snowberry Lane. Surveillance
footage captured a Honda CR-V roll into the parking lot.
Suspects then broke into vehicles. In addition, a Toyota
pickup in the lot — stolen that morning from Rod’s Auto
& Marine — was found damaged and burgled.
Around the same time the Toyota was stolen,
another vehicle break-in occurred at TJ’s Auto Repair,
police believe.
A male suspect used a stolen debit card at Fred Meyer.
He was wearing a mask and could not be identifi ed.
— The Astorian
MEMORIALS
Friday, July 23
Memorials
KOSKELA,
Lempi
Katri — Celebration of
life at 3 p.m., Peace First
Lutheran Church social
room, downtown cam-
pus, 564 12th St. All are
welcome.
Sunday, July 25
HERNANDEZ, Linda
Marie — Celebration of
life and potluck at 1 p.m.,
Cullaby Lake north shel-
ter, at the end of Haw-
kins Road, off Cullaby
Lake Lane, in Warrenton.
Those attending should
not feel obligated to bring
anything but memories.
ON THE RECORD
Criminal
DUII
On trespassing
the Record
• Todd Michael-Kee
•
Sheena
Dawn
Pitcher, 37, of Dayton,
was arrested at Alameda
Park on Sunday for crim-
inal trespassing.
Schooler, 47, of Asto-
ria, was arrested Friday on
Marine Drive and Franklin
Avenue for driving under
the infl uence of intoxicants.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
THURSDAY
Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce Council, noon,
(electronic meeting).
Cannon Beach Planning Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall,
163 E. Gower Ave.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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ALBACORE
LAND
Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
Ilwaco Landing’s Jake Martin offl oaded tuna from the F/V Lady Sheya on Saturday. The commercial albacore tuna season has
opened off the coast.
A vision for the Sunset Recreation Center
Advisory group
hears from
stakeholders
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
SEASIDE — The team
that will help set the Sunset
Recreation Center’s course
convened last week with
the goal to establish a clear
vision and key objectives for
the project.
Evan Eleff , a partner at
Sports Facilities Advisory,
a Clearwater, Florida-based
company, came to Seaside
with Suzanne Fisher Reeder,
a fi nancial consultant, and
architect Scott Edwards.
“This is really one of the
most important meetings that
will happen,” Eleff said in a
planning session at the rec-
reation center. “Our goal for
this planning session is to
really defi ne the parameters
of the project, make sure that
we’re all moving in the same
direction, understanding your
roles.”
Sports Facilities Advisory
and Scott Edwards Architec-
ture, a Portland-based archi-
tectural fi rm, were chosen
based on fi rm size and struc-
ture, project understand-
ing, fi rm experience, work
plan, proposed staff and fee
proposal.
“Our goal is to have as
Evan Eleff , of Sports Facility Advisory, leads a session with
community leaders at the Sunset Recreation Center.
much interaction as possi-
ble,” Eleff said. “And the best
thing for us would be to have
constructive diff erences of
opinion. What we really hope
is to get a 360-degree per-
spective of the opportunities
and challenges relating to this
project.”
The consultants will be
working from a 20-week
timeline, from the project
kick off to the fi nal report.
The park district pur-
chased the former Broadway
Middle School for $2.15 mil-
lion in January. The school,
along with Gearhart Ele-
mentary and Seaside High
School, was among Seaside
School District properties
relocated to the new Spruce
Drive location outside of the
tsunami inundation zone.
Since the purchase, the
park district has hosted the
Pacifi c Basketball League,
child care programs and
leased a portion of the space
to the Northwest Regional
Education Service District,
which moves in in early
August .
“In a design sense, the
fl exibility component is
more critical than trying to
defi ne what could happen in
the space,” Cannon Beach
Mayor Sam Steidel said.
Although Cannon Beach
residents are not members
of the park district, many use
the Sunset Pool, and he envi-
sioned future partnership
opportunities.
He asked the planners to
“leave themselves as open
as possible” to potential
building uses using a phased
approach to determining
community needs.
In talking to community
stakeholders, Monica Steele,
the assistant Clatsop County
manager, said “the topic that
comes up every time is child
care.”
Steele asked the advisory
group to consider the build-
ing for child care or a “place
to get them out of the house,”
particularly at the age where
children are vulnerable to
depression and self-harm.
Eleff said child care was
a likely phase one goal. “It
would be shocking to me if
we don’t come back with that
as a key component,” he said.
“It’s a primary need. And it’s
probably the fastest way to
use this building eff ectively.”
The recreation center’s
future is “exactly our mis-
sion” of improving the health
and economic vitality of
communities through sports,
recreation and wellness, he
said.
“We want to understand
fi rst what you want to do,
and what the opportunity is,”
Eleff said. “Second, how that
can and should work from
an operational perspective
on the fi nancial feasibility of
covering the cost of operating
and whatever else there needs
to be.
“It’s meant to really lay
the groundwork and set the
foundation,” he added. “We
don’t want to produce a study
— we want to produce a path
forward.”
New camp director sees opportunity in Seaside
Reding used to
lead Lil’ Sprouts
By KATHERINE
LACAZE
For The Astorian
SEASIDE — Sunset
Empire Park and Recreation
District’s summer camp pro-
gram is back in session under
the direction of new y outh
p rograms c oordinator Erin
Reding.
Reding joined the park
district in June , in time to
open the nine-week summer
camp program that started in
late June and runs through
late August .
“I didn’t have any major
overarching goals coming
in,” she said. “My goals are
getting to know staff , get-
ting to know how things
have functioned in the past,
and exploring how we can
improve and make them
better.”
She was drawn to the
position — previously held
by Shelly Owen — because
of her passion for early
childhood education and the
community.
Reding was born and
raised in Seaside, and she
recalls learning to swim at
the Sunset Pool and attending
middle school in the build-
ing that now houses the Sun-
set Recreation Center . After
graduating high school, she
went to Whitworth Univer-
sity in Spokane, Washington,
to get her teaching degree.
A few years later, she
moved back to the area, tak-
Katherine Lacaze
Erin Reding is the new youth programs coordinator for the
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District.
ing up a position with the
Boys & Girls Club of the
Long Beach Peninsula and
then transitioning to her
most recent job running
the Astoria Parks and Rec-
reation Department’s Lil’
Sprouts Academy. When the
youth programs coordinator
position opened, she saw an
opportunity to work closer to
home, as her family lives in
Seaside.
“I really want to be a part
of the community where my
kids will be growing up,” she
said. “It was a good fi t in that
respect.”
Her new job involves run-
ning the summer camp, pre-
school and after-school pro-
grams, which is similar to
what she’s done in the past
and the type of labor she
fi nds rewarding.
“Regardless of the age
group you’re working with,
you’re doing important
work,” she said.
While child care is a crit-
ical piece, she strives to take
her responsibility — and that
of the staff — a step further.
More than simply off ering
a safe place for youth , she’s
also focused on building
relationships and enriching
lives, whether the children
are 3 or 12 years old.
“We’re molding them for
what our society is going to
look like in the future, and
who they’re going to be as
citizens,” she said. “Giv-
ing them a healthy, positive
place to be and a healthy start
is really important.”
This summer, the recre-
ation district is operating the
Summer Explorers camp for
children in preschool and
kindergarten and the Sum-
mer Adventure camp for
children in fi rst-through-
fi fth grade. Because fami-
lies sign up on a per week
basis to accommodate work
schedules and vacations, the
number of campers can vary
between 45 to 55 any given
week, Reding said.
Each week has a diff er-
ent theme, such as Dinosaurs
and Dragons, Under the Sea,
Bubbles! and Olympics,
that guides the activities and
daily routines. Campers also
get to use the pool weekly,
and lunch and snacks are
provided.
“With summer camp, it’s
fun to make it a little bit dif-
ferent than the normal after-
school program or the nor-
mal preschool program, and
I think our themes help with
that,” Reding said.
Even though summer
camp is more focused on
fun, however, doesn’t mean
there’s not an underlying
educational component, as
well.
“When things are done
right, kids are having fun
but they’re actually learning
quite a bit at the same time,”
Reding said. “It just doesn’t
feel like school.”
As COVID-19 restric-
tions ease, the park dis-
trict has additional ability
to provide a more laid-back
environment. According to
Reding, they are still con-
tact tracing and doing daily
health screenings. Parents
and guardians are drop-
ping off at the door, rather
than entering the building.
Mask-wearing has become
optional.
“It’s exciting and scary
at the same time, when you
think about restrictions being
lifted,” Reding said. “We just
hope we don’t have to go
through another shut down
kind of thing.”