4A • January 16, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Take time to refl ect before plunging into a new year
B
eing the news junkie that
I am, at the beginning of
every January, I can’t help
but wonder what the biggest news
stories of the upcoming year will
be.
Unfortunately, most all of the
national and international stories
topping the list at year’s end are
bad news: natural disasters, wars,
serial murders, plane crashes and
celebrities gone awry.
Even in our own region, the
top stories in Cannon Beach and
Seaside were bad news.
In Cannon Beach, taking top
spot was the murder of a 2-year-
old girl and the attempted murder
of her 13-year-old sister, alleged-
ly by their mother.
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sea star wasting disease at Hay-
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of a charter for the Cannon Beach
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too.
• The South County Communi-
ty Food Bank successfully found
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open house will occur soon. This
was a story about the coopera-
tion between the Seaside School
District, which gave away two
portable buildings from the for-
mer Cannon Beach Elementary
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create a permanent location for
the pantry.
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non Beach Food Pantry found
itself in the same position: It had
to move from its present loca-
tion. Once again, the school dis-
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helped out, and the Cannon Beach
pantry is busy remodeling anoth-
er portable building at the former
school site and will move in soon.
• While the retirement and depar-
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
Cash, the would-be K-9 offi cer.
well-known residents, including
Cannon Beach Book Co. owner
Val Ryan, also were among those
stories on the list.
In Seaside, the recent death
of another 2-year-old girl and an
accident last spring when a fam-
ily nearly drowned after their car
went off a boat ramp and into the
Necanicum River headed the “top
story” list.
Other stories include an effort
to recall Gearhart Mayor Dianne
Widdop, a controversial adoles-
cent sexuality conference and the
inundation of anchovies onto the
banks of the Necanicum River.
But there were happier stories,
ture of former Seaside Police Chief
Bob Gross was a sad occasion for
many, the city made an easy tran-
sition by promoting Seaside police
Lt. Dave Ham, who has been with
the department since 1995.
• The city of Seaside is antic-
ipating other changes in the fu-
ture, with a 20-year “visioning”
campaign completed and the pur-
chase of a former church building
that could become another event
space.
• Cannon Beach’s Sandcas-
tle Contest celebrated its 50th
anniversary. Or was it the 50th?
There may be more to this story
in 2015....
Uncorked Ramblings
Impressions
By
NANCY
McCARTHY
We refl ect on the
past year, take a
deep breath and
plunge into the
next year, ready
to explore what
comes next
But there are stories that
resonate personally with me
that wouldn’t necessarily make
the Top 10 list or any list for
that matter:
• The invasion of elk in Gearhart
and Seaside. Photos emailed to me
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especially, Gearhart administrative
assistant and treasurer Gail Como
generated more than 30,000 hits
from all over the world on the Sea-
side Signal Facebook page.
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a small story that captured the inter-
est and imagination of news outlets
across the country.
• The tussle over ownership of
the south half of the Cannon Beach
Elementary School property. The
school district owns it, and the Can-
non Beach City Council wants to
buy it, but not for the $1.2 million
the district is requesting. There was
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district chairman and the Cannon
Beach mayor, then (apparent) si-
lence.
• It wouldn’t make anyone’s list
of top news stories, but when Can-
non Beach reporter Erick Bengel
decided to accompany City Planner
Mark Barnes on a bicycle ride from
Seaside to Cannon Beach, I also
had to take the trip — by car — to
take photos. I didn’t know whether
to laugh at Erick’s attempts to climb
the Cannon Beach hill or worry that
the 25-pound backpack he was car-
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Then there are experiences that
aren’t stories but are pretty memora-
ble for me, anyway:
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Jazz Festival allowed me to listen to
wonderful music and watch dancers
get into the “beat.”
• I appreciated the sense of peace
and true connection felt through-
out the room during the “Welcome
Home Salmon” celebration in Can-
non Beach.
• There was the thrill when the
Seaside Signal staff was awarded the
Seaside Chamber of Commerce’s
“Business of the Year” award.
• I very much enjoyed the enthu-
siastic performance of “Grease” put
on by Seaside High School students
last spring. There are truly talented
youth — and instructors — on the
North Coast.
• It was fun to be part of the ca-
maraderie among friends at the
Seaside Downtown Development
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of Commerce morning breakfasts
throughout the year. If you want to
know what’s going on in the South
County, that’s where to go.
Every day we are on the lookout
for news, seeking stories that in-
trigue, entertain, inform and inspire.
Then there are the stories that take
us by surprise, that overwhelm us,
disappoint, alarm and bring us to
despair.
Sometimes we become so in-
undated with the news and with
deadlines that we don’t have time to
pause and take a look back. I guess
that’s what the turn of the calendar
page on Dec. 31 enables us to do.
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deep breath and plunge into the next
year, ready to explore what comes
next.
Nancy McCarthy covers South
County for The Daily Astorian and
is the editor of the Cannon Beach
Gazette and the Seaside Signal.
JEFF TER HAR PHOTO
Looking to make a goal, an elk herd spends time munching the grass
near the goal post at Seaside High School Jan. 31.
CONTRIBUTED BY DIEDRE FEINAUER
Seaside High School’s spring musical, “Grease,” drew a stand-
ing-room-only crowd. Members of the cast are pictured.
STEVEN SINKLER
Puffi n Wines bring home platinum and gold medals
Most of you know by now
that in addition to owning
The Wine Shack, Maryann
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When we bought them both
from Dean Reiman in 2012,
we gave him our sincere
promise to take good care of
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to grow the wine brand he
created.
Recently, we were invited
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Wines — our 2013 pinot gris
and our 2010 pinot noir — to
the Platinum Wine Judging
competition held in Kenne-
wick, Wash.
It’s truly an honor to
participate in this particular
competition. Here’s why:
With most wine competi-
tions, you decide whether
your wine is a participant by
paying an entry fee, sending
your wine in and crossing
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get into the Platinum Wine
Judging, your wine must be
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the wine must have won a
gold medal at a competition
in Oregon, Washington,
Idaho or British Columbia
during the year.
From this initial list, the
judges then select the wines
they invite to compete. We
were elated to receive an in-
vitation!
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for the event, I put each pre-
cious bottle into the shipping
box and wished them good
luck. I know that it’s kin-
da weird to talk to bottles of
wine, but I tend to do this
more often than you’d think.
Fortunately, they haven’t
talked back to me yet.
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west were tasted and evaluat-
ed by a panel of nine highly
experienced judges. Based on
their evaluation, the judges
could award a wine with one
of three designations: a plati-
num medal, a gold medal or
no medal.
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the judges gave the wine a
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email with the Platinum Wine
Judging results.
I furiously read the email.
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Gris won a platinum medal!
I jumped up and hollered to
Maryann, “Pinot gris won a
platinum”! We were over-
joyed at the result.
How big of a deal is this?
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STEVEN SINKLER
not gris wines to be awarded
a platinum medal. I quickly
platinum medal, the wine re- sent off an email to winemak-
ceived a “double platinum” er Ray Walsh, congratulating
award. Likewise, a “double him for making such a deli-
gold” medal would also be cious wine.
awarded if all the judges gave
But wait, what about Puf-
a gold medal to a wine.
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I began to anticipate the an- not Gris winning a platinum
nouncement of the results. medal, I had forgotten that
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the judges are exceptional. I was also in the competition. I
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cellent, but how would they ed that it hadn’t won a plati-
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wines throughout the entire to the results.
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say that I was a little nervous 1RLUZDVWKH¿UVWZLQHOLVWHG
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Angels in heaven
or be afraid. Kids shouldn’t
have to be put through any
To the editor,
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They say our children they are just kids.
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God took two little an-
them as God’s angels. Chil- gels home and will be their
dren are the bright spot in protector when they were
the world, but recently two too young to protect them-
of those bright spots went selves.
out.
Give your little angels all
Two little angels were the love and protect them
taken away in an unspeak- from all the bad. Please
able manner and will never don’t let another angel be
have all the chances and taken away.
happiness they deserve.
Jenny McCollister
Children look to parents to
Seaside
keep them safe, guide them
and most of all love them
always. Children should al-
To the editor,
ways be made to feel they
Gearhart is very fortunate
are the most important gift
and never feel pain, neglect to have a mayor and a council
Public ‘pout’
that will defend the laws of
the community as they have
been put in place by genera-
tions of caring citizens.
Now one man and his
clique are mounting an extend-
ed and expensive campaign to
override some of these laws
and allow them to do what
no other citizens would be
allowed to do. This effort can
only be recognized and treated
as an extended public “pout.”
Dianne Widdop, his target,
is a public treasure — she’s
honest, fair, open-minded and
kind as anyone who knows
her is happy to verify. Count
your blessings that she is de-
fending Gearhart!
Sally Mannex
Gearhart
in the double gold medal sec-
tion. Yes!
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so proud of our pinot noir as
well. Double gold. I sent an-
other congratulatory email,
this time to winemaker Sean
Driggers, and thanked him
for a job well done.
Two wines submitted, two
medals won. We couldn’t
have asked for a better out-
come. Those two wines that
I wished good luck represent-
ed themselves and the entire
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rock stars they are.
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seller at The Wine Shack,
but since the results were
released two weeks ago,
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the shelves with even great-
er velocity. In fact, we are
now sold out of the 2010
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we have plenty of the 2012
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even more delicious than
the double gold medal win-
ner. We still have some of
the platinum-winning 2013
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but it, too, is in very short
supply now — partially be-
cause Maryann pulled three
cases aside to pour at our
daughter’s wedding next
month, and I don’t think
I can get it back from her.
The good news, though, is
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Gris will be available in
about 45 days.
If you haven’t tried a Puf-
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The results speak for them-
selves. Oh, and I think we’ve
kept our promise to Dean.
Don’t forget that we are
still donating a portion of the
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Friends of Haystack Rock to
support the great work they
do on the beach.
Please remember to drink
responsibly.
Steven and Maryann Sin-
kler own The Wine Shack in
Cannon Beach. His column
appears every month.
OBITUARIES
Dennis Michael ‘Mike’ O’Brien
Feb. 9, 1935 — Dec. 25, 2014
Dennis
Michael
“Mike” O’Brien, 79,
of Cannon Beach, Ore.,
died on Dec. 25, 2014,
at Nehalem Valley Care
Center in Wheeler, Ore.
He was born Feb 9,
1935, in Cusick, Wash.,
to Harry and Beatrice
O’Brien. He graduat-
ed from Newport High
School in Newport,
Wash., in 1953.
He served in the U.S.
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orably discharged in
1959.
Mr. O’Brien is sur-
vived by his wife of
nearly 51 years, Dar-
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stepchildren,
Randy,
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great-grandchildren.
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his ashes is planned in
Newport, Wash.
Ocean View Funeral
& Cremation Service of
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the arrangements, and
an online guest book
may be signed at www.
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DENNIS MICHAEL