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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (July 17, 2015)
4A • July 17, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com Communities need ‘skin in the game’ One aspect of the tsunami threat is undeniable. Kids in our schools are at risk. The Oregon Coast can anticipate an earthquake offshore will generate a tsunami similar to the March 2011 earthquake in Ja- pan. The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries — DOGAMI, rhymes with “tsunami” — offers inundation maps that show whole “downtown areas of Cannon Beach and Seaside as being prone to complete inundation.” Last month Seaside School Dis- trict Superintendent Doug Dough- erty said the district is considering a new bond to move Seaside schools — Broadway Middle School, Sea- side High School and Gearheart El- ementary School — to safer ground. It was tried in 2013 to the tune of $128.8 million, and soundly defeat- ed by voters. The physical threat remains the catalyst: “There are four schools along the Oregon Coast in the inundation zone, and we have three of those,” Dougherty said. “Our goal is to have students out of every one of these schools as soon as possible.” Dougherty said he expects a bond to be presented within a year and a half or later, because the economy here “has not fully bounced back.” In addition, the district still has to pass a local option levy in Novem- EHUWRPDLQWDLQVWDI¿QJOHYHOV6LQFH two initiatives, one to replace school buildings and one to maintain staff- ing, are unlikely to pass in one year, the clock will have to wait on need- ed safety measures, or “physical ret- UR¿WV´DVJRYHUQPHQWRI¿FLDOVFDOO them. Same issue, new bond, only three years later? Sell that to voters. Many At the Library Cannon Beach residents are still miffed at the way Cannon Beach El- ementary School was shuttered. Before all the horses and all the king’s men have to put Hump- ty-Dumpty together again, citizens, civic leaders and government of- ¿FLDOVRIJRRGIDLWKPXVWZRUNWR gether so the next bond won’t be a failure. Planning should begin now. At a breakfast meeting of the Seaside Downtown Development Association July 9, state Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scapoose, responded to an audience member who asked how the district could replace Sea- side’s schools without breaking tax- payers’ backs. “We need to move our high school and middle school up to a safer location,” Johnson said. “On the face, it seems so simple: Get our kids out of danger. But it is actually a very complex question. “Part of the problem is, it’s not as easy as ‘let’s move the school,’” Johnson said. “Seaside has a two- part whammy. When your last bond failed so dramatically, you didn’t have property or site control, and the site you chose created addition- al costs in the architectural require- ments because it was odd terrain. <RX KDYH WR ¿JXUH RXW KRZ WR JHW ownership of the land.” Land-use architecture, urban growth boundaries and site loca- tion are critical to provide options for school siting, Johnson said, all of which require a “breathtaking amount of money.” Johnson has been through this SURFHVV EHIRUH DIWHU ÀRRGLQJ LQ 2007 destroyed three schools in Ver- nonia. C ANNON S HOTS By R.J. MARX Clearly any steps in the future will require a coalition of local, state and federal entities. “A lesson I learned from rebuild- ing three schools in Vernonia after a natural disaster: The community has to have skin in the game,” Johnson said. “It can’t just be, ‘Let’s go to the state and get them to pay for it.’ First, we can’t. It cost us $40 million to re- build three schools in Vernonia. The costs are so dramatic.” The urgency is growing, and will shape policy in Salem not just in terms of natural disaster funding in our region, but through every future capital project. “It was actually the presence of Seaside and some other coastal schools in the tsunami zone that caused me to be so adamantly op- posed to the Senate president’s pet project of rebuilding the Capitol building, to the tune of $350 mil- lion,” Johnson said. “When he was in trying to break our arms to get us to vote for that, I said, ‘I cannot, Mr. President, go back to my coast- al communities with any modicum of integrity and look parents in the eye and say, “I took care of a box full of politicians before I took care of a box full of kids.”’ That was not what he wanted to hear.” There is some hope in Salem as legislators show a growing aware- ness of the threat and its immedi- acy. The Senate considered two bills this year to address seismic dangers. State Senate Bill 778 gave the state’s geological arm, the Depart- ment of Geology and Mineral Indus- tries, DOGAMI, the power to require mitigation measures for buildings, with the aim of reducing risk to the public. What legislators didn’t like and why the bill ultimately failed was the bill would also give DOGAMI the power to block development if it decided a building could not be made safe. “Nobody wanted DOGAMI to be in charge of anything,” Johnson said, citing a history of bad manage- ment and overreach by the agency. While that measure failed, the Senate did pass Bill 447, with $125 million that will allow schools in certain situations to apply to the state to move certain facilities or allow VFKRROVWRDSSO\IRUVHLVPLFUHWUR¿WV The bill establishes grant pro- gram to provide matching fund grants to school districts for capital costs of school districts. Johnson calls it a “pathway” to upgrades in Seaside and Cannon Beach. According to Johnson, the rules for implementation have not been R.J. MARX/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Sen. Betsy Johnson speaking before members of the Seaside Downtown Development Associ- ation July 9. determined. The bill is currently awaiting the governor’s signature. Whether or not Superintendent Dougherty can use the proposed state funds remains to be seen, but money was made available, Johnson said. Clearly any steps in the future will require a coalition of local, state and federal entities. Whether the school district and its voters have the stomach to approach this again after only three years remains to be seen. The cities may also look to include other stakeholders including educa- tional foundations and environmen- tal organizations when developing a potential site. Any new building effort will require not only school board, city and state participation, but grassroots support and a capital commitment on the part of our com- munities. CARLA O’REILLY A thank-you to all those who helped with book sale and sometimes having to enter the library by detour- ing through the bank park- 6XPPHU LV GH¿QLWHO\ ing lot for access while our happening at the Cannon project was in full swing! Beach Library! A dedication ceremony First of all, since we was held Thursday, July 9. DUH D QRQSUR¿W OLEUDU\ ZH Thanks to everyone who at- need to work hard on our tended! fundraisers each year. Our But the big news at the Fourth of July book sale is library is our newly up- one of our most important and-running Library2Go ²KDUGZRUNEXWGH¿QLWH eBooks program, whereby ly a fun way to get together active patrons can access as a community and also thousands of books and meet some of our wonder- digital audiobooks online. ful visitors. We are delight- Even those of us who were ed to report that this year’s GH¿QLWHO\ DURXQG EHIRUH July Fourth sale was a very computers were a factor enjoyable and successful in daily life will be able event. to learn the process easily Those of you who (and without asking grand- weren’t able to attend the children for assistance!) book sale simply must Stop in at the library soon stop by and see the newly and receive your written in- installed Sroufe Memori- structions. al Fountain in front of the Some of our children library! The fountain is become bored in the sum- beautiful, and along with mertime — even by July! Beth Holland’s amazing A good option to computer landscaping vision, it has games and texting friends added much to enhance the is available at the library appearance of our library. right now. The summer Many thanks to Beth and reading contest, named also to Tracy Sund of Can- “Catch a Dragon by the non Beach Public Works Tale” this year, is available for all the hard work. We to children, tweens, and would also like to thank teens. Packets are avail- our visitors and patrons for able at the front desk; they dodging heavy equipment contain sheets for track- By Carla O’Reilly Cannon Beach Gazette CARLA O’REILLY ing each child’s progress, an explanation of how the process works, and info on the grand prize, which will be announced on Aug. 24 for each age level. Ongo- ing prizes will also be giv- en each child as he or she reads books. It’s not too late to sign up! Also, please visit our newly improved library in- teractive website, with im- proved design, quality and function. Patron accounts can be accessed from any- where in the world in order to place holds, track check- outs, and access our newly launched online eBooks. Visit www.cannonbeachli- brary.org. Other library events Cannon Beach Reads will meet on Wednesday, SUBMITTED PHOTO Timmy, a book sale customer, discovered books on how to build wooden boats. July 15, 7-8:30 p.m. at the library. The group will be reading and discussing “Things Fall Apart,” by Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian author. The novel follows the life of Okonkwo, an ,JERLQWKH¿FWLRQDOYLOODJH RI 8PR¿D DQG LV IRFXVHG on British colonialism and Christian missionaries and their effects on the Igbos community. As always, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Edison will be missed at Cannon Beach Food Pantry ture she saw to it the pantry functions in accordance to all rules and regula- WLRQV LV ¿QDQFLDOO\ VWDEOH DQG IHHGV At their June 15 meeting, the board the hungry in a loving and compas- of the Cannon Beach Food Pantry was sionate manner. handed something most unexpected: Thank you, Molly, for your years, the retirement letter of Molly Edison. your caring, and your devotion. The board accepted her announce- Carla O’Reilly ment in stunned surprise. We under- Cannon Beach Food Pantry VWDQGWKHGLI¿FXOW\RIKHUGHFLVLRQWR Board of Directors retire from the pantry and we honor her decision. Molly’s almost seven years of experience in our pantry will be missed. Many members of the Cannon Under Molly’s leadership, the pan- try has progressed from an idea to a Beach community are anticipating well-organized effort. Our pantry pro- the publication of the second edition vides food and essentials to those who of Peter Lindsey’s “Comin’ in Over pass through our doors every Wednes- the Rock: A Storyteller’s History of GD\6KHOHGXVLQWRRXU¿UVWSDQWU\DW Cannon Beach.” The second edition the Cannon Beach Bible Church and will be graced with a forward by Pe- then to our new home in the vacated ter’s old friend Karl Marlantes, au- Cannon Beach Elementary School. thor of the best-selling Vietnam War The devotion and attention to de- novel “Matterhorn.” Rainmar Bartl, tail she provided cannot be overstat- Cannon Beach’s retired city planner, ed, Molly is the face of our pantry. has dedicated himself to this project She is well-respected throughout the and enlisted several of Peter’s friends region. She had a smile for everyone to proofread “Comin’ in Over the and a shoulder for every care. Words Rock” and make corrections that were are not adequate to express the high PLVVHGLQWKH¿UVWHGLWLRQSXEOLVKHGLQ esteem we hold for Molly. 2004. Her departure from the pantry There has been one impediment leaves a void. One thing it does not to this process, and it is coming from do is bring about the end of our pan- the Cannon Beach History Center. try. The pantry board and volunteers When Peter was gathering material KDYHEHHQDEOHWRPRYHHI¿FLHQWO\WR IRUWKH¿UVWHGLWLRQWKH+LVWRU\&HQ take up Molly’s work load, a tribute to ter gladly lent him photos which he Molly’s leadership. Before her depar- copied and promptly returned. Some Recognize eff orts of historian Peter Lindsey of the historical photos now available at the history center were donated by Peter and his family. Over the years the history center has used Peter as a resource, calling him when they need information about the history of Can- non Beach. This time, the board of directors is asking Peter to pay $30 for each scan, an unaffordable sum for a volunteer effort. Sometimes an organization does not recognize a feather when it’s tickling its nose. Were the History Center to help Peter with the photos for the second edition of “Comin’ in Over the Rock,” Peter would acknowledge the center fully DV KH GLG LQ WKH ¿UVW HGLWLRQ 7KDW LW would be good publicity for the center seems to have been overlooked by the board of directors when they insisted that Peter pay for the photos. Our dear Professor Lindsey is not without fans in Cannon Beach. He is our eyes and ears. He is a local trea- sure, an icon. He’s the mayor of Bill’s Tavern. People love Peter! The Can- non Beach History Center should, too. He is our history! But here’s the added insult: After denying Peter the photos to be scanned gratis when the center gladly helped him free of FKDUJHIRUWKH¿UVWHGLWLRQZRUGKDVLW that they would like to have Peter vol- unteer to speak at one of their fund- raising functions. There’s a feather for you, but they didn’t put it in his hat! Rex and Diane Amos Cannon Beach new members are wel- come! The quilt drawing is ongoing and will be until December. Drawing tickets are selling for $1 each or six for $5. The quilt is on display at the library and also will be displayed at the Cannon Beach Farm- ers’ Market, Aug. 18, 1-5 p.m. The drawing will be at our holiday tea in Decem- ber, and the lucky winner — who need not be present to win — will be contacted and will receive the quilt by shipment. So pay a visit to our li- brary soon. Sit outside on the bench to enjoy the sun- shine and access our free Wi-Fi or come on in and learn how to operate the eBooks program or check out our ongoing book sale! South from Alaska, Dani Palmer joins the Gazette Dani Palmer joined the Cannon Beach Gazette this week as the city’s lo- cal news reporter. Palm- er will be covering city government, features and breaking news. Her work will appear in the Gazette and The Daily Astorian. Palmer most recently served as full-time report- er for the Petersburg Pilot, in Petersburg, Alaska. Pri- or to that she was a report- er for the Newport News- Times, where she covered education, the cities of Toledo and Siletz, and the news of Lincoln County. She attended University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, and graduat- ed with a degree in jour- nalism. She is originally from southern Indiana. Palmer won second place, nondeadline news reporting, for her sto- ry package “Staggering debt,” from the Indiana Associated Press Media Editors in 2013. She also won second place from the Society of Profes- sional Journalists for best Reporter Dani Palmer joined the Cannon Beach Gazette this week. education reporting in 2013, also for her series on student debt. She won the University of South- ern Indiana Senior of the Year for Journalistic Excellence and Achieve- ment 2011, and numerous awards from the Indiana Collegiate Press Associ- ation. “I’m excited to be back in Oregon and covering Cannon Beach news,” Palmer said. Palmer invites story ideas and tips. She can be reached via email at dpalmer@cannonbeach- gazette.com, or at 503- 738-5561.