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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 2015)
INSIDE: School levy results on 3A NOVEMBER 6, 2015 • VOL. 39, ISSUE 23 WWW.CANNONBEACHGAZETTE.COM COMPLIMENTARY COPY Council seeks grant for pedestrian safety bridge Pedestrian bridge provides safety, lower cost, offi cials say By Dani Palmer Cannon Beach Gazette Trying to ensure resi- dents and visitors survive the “Big One” that could strike at any time, the Can- non Beach City Council vot- ed Tuesday night to pursue a Connect Oregon VI grant for a new pedestrian bridge over Ecola Creek. The city’s current evac- uation plan directs pedes- trians south because of the likelihood of a bridge col- lapse over the creek. Public Works Director Dan Grass- ick said the Fir Street bridge is “woefully inadequate” when it comes to seismic and resulting tsunami activ- ity. From downtown, where many shop, the trip south to high ground is a longer route that could waste pre- cious time. “The creek is a physical barrier that will cause a lot of deaths if you don’t have some way to cross it,” Gras- sick said. “Scores of people will lose their lives trying to escape the tsunami.” The Emergency Pre- paredness Committee devel- oped options and asked per- mission to seek the grant in the amount of $1.8 million. If awarded under Connect Oregon’s multimodal trans- portation funding program, the city will have to provide a 30 percent match. Of¿ cials set aside $100,000 from the roads re- pair and replacement fund in 2013 to build a new bridge. If Cannon Beach receives the grant, Grassick suggest- ed the city use OBEC Engi- neering Consultants to build upon its 2011 bridge study and help select the specif- ic design and location. The Emergency Preparedness Committee closely exam- ined locations near Fir Street and NeCus’ Park. Grassick said the pedes- trian bridge would have to be no less than 30 feet away ‘WHOSE MOVE’ from the traf¿ c bridge, 10- feet wide to accommodate the mass of people who would cross it and would likely be built with 100-feet- deep piling ¿ lled with con- crete to withstand sand liq- uefaction. Mayor Sam Steidel and Councilor George Vetter asked about replacing or ret- ro¿ tting the current bridge. See Bridge, Page 6A Swedenborg says he’ll serve six months as fi re chief Still few details on former chief Balzer’s departure By Dani Palmer Cannon Beach Gazette DANI PALMER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Steidel releases his fi rst children’s book From a family of teachers, out pops an artist By Dani Palmer Cannon Beach Gazette T The bell overhead chimes as a wom- an in a yellow raincoat steps inside Steidel’s Art, a smile on her face as she tells her friend “You have to see this. I’ve bought some of his pieces. I love them.” Bill Steidel is well-known for his art, but that isn’t all he does. Culmi- nating a decades-long work in prog- ress, Steidel released his ¿ rst pub- lished children’s book this fall titled “Whose Move.” The book is a story about a boy and dragon, acompanied and en- hanced by Steidel’s illustrations. “The stories have been around for years and years,” he said. Steidel, 88, has drawn since he was in elementary school. His third-grade teacher would let him in class, where he’d focus on fairy tale themes. A junior high teacher encouraged him to enter contests he won consecutive years and went on to encourage him to go to college for art, which he did at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. His parents were academicians. Many in his family, including sib- lings, became educators. “All of a sudden out pops a child that doesn’t want to do anything but draw pictures,” he said. “They told me they didn’t know what to do with me.” But they “backed me up” when he chose a different path. After college, he illustrated his ¿ rst book with Simon and Schus- ter. Eventually, with “itchy feet,” he ended up out west for the long-haul, including a short stint at Disney, and used his GI Bill to go back to school. He was “scared to death” of his English course. It wasn’t his strong subject in high school. His ¿ rst as- signment was a composition. With encouragement from his wife, he used his art with words to tell the tale. The spelling was atrocious, his teach- er told him, but the story was good. He used his storytelling skills to calm a bus full of unruly children during his time as a bus driver. He’d tried songs ¿ rst and got the kids sing- ing along, but received complaints from parents about the noise. Then he began telling the stories. He told one that stretched on and on with cliff-hangers. It lasted eight months and enthralled the youth. “Everything leads up to this book,” he said. Steidel dedicated his book to those who waited for it. “Whose Move” is about an orphan named Timothy who lives in a des- olate village plagued by a dragon. It comes annually during harvest time and destroys everything. Eventually the villagers send the orphan out in suit of armor to face the beast. Timothy challenges it to a game of tic-tac-toe that he wins, sending the dragon away. Every year they play the game, Timothy winning each time, making the village one of the nicest in the kingdom. Then the dragon ¿ nally wins. Readers interested in ¿ nding out what happens ne[t can ¿ nd “Whose Move” at Steidel’s Art, Goodreads, Amazon and Barnes and Noble. There are a limited 100 hardbacks signed with a special hand drawing inside. The Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protec- tion District Board and Interim Fire Chief Frank Swedenborg agreed the district needs to ¿ nd a permanent leader sooner rather than later during a special meeting Monday evening. On Monday, he asked the board for di- rection. “I just need to ¿ nd out what’s cru- cial, what has to happen,” he said. “My biggest concern is the betterment of the ¿ re department and the ¿ re¿ ghters.” Former chief Mike Balzer was relieved of his duties in mid-October because of on- going personnel issues, according to Board President Sharon Clyde. At Monday’s special meeting, Sweden- borg said he is willing to ¿ ll in as chief until March. There was discussion of bringing in an outside interim chief, perhaps a retired ¿ re chief, to give the board more time to ¿ nd a permanent leader, but Swedenborg said the department feels the instability of a second interim wouldn’t be for the best. “We don’t feel that’s the correct option,” he said. “I think that just mixes the pot for the ¿ re¿ ghters.” The owner of The Waves in Cannon Beach has served as Cannon Beach’s assis- tant ¿ re chief for 18 years and as a volun- teer ¿ re¿ ghter for roughly 35. “I felt it’s important to be a part of the community you live in and the ¿ re depart- ment sounded like a good area,” Sweden- borg said. “It was just a good ¿ t for me.” While Swedenborg said he enjoyed the camaraderie of the department, he is ready to retire and not looking to ¿ ll in perma- nently for the ¿ re district. He now works three to four hours per day four days a week. Captain Matt Gardner has stepped up to help in daily operations. The Cannon Beach Rural Fire Pro- tection District provides ¿ re¿ ghting and emergency service to the North Coast com- munities of Cannon Beach, Arch Cape and Falcon Cove. The ¿ re chief also serves on the Emer- gency Preparedness Committee. Either Swedenborg or Gardner will take Balzer’s place on the committee on a temporary ba- sis. PAID PERMIT NO. 97 ASTORIA, OR PRSRT STD US POSTAGE See Chief, Page 7A You can look all you want, but please don’t climb the rock Some visitors just can’t stifl e the urge By Dani Palmer Cannon Beach Gazette Haystack Rock is an iconic symbol of Can- non Beach that draws thousands to the small coastal town each year. But members of the Haystack Rock Awareness Program want the public to know the 235-foot-tall rock — pro- tected as an Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge and Marine Garden — is more for looking than for touching. Haystack Rock is what drew Jason Phelps, 35, of Vancouver, B.C., and his girlfriend, Abbey, to Cannon Beach during a trip to Or- egon. “We’ve seen tons of photos and had to stop DANI PALMER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE by to see it for ourselves,” Phelps said. “She’s a big fan of ‘The Goonies,’ too, so that’s a Children play alongside Haystack Rock, where a sign per- mitting visitors from entering its protected areas stands. plus.” Like Phelps, visitors come for that adven- ture; others are there for wedding or senior pictures. But a few just can’t resist an urge to reach out and touch, or even climb. “Sometimes they get tunnel vision,” HRAP Coordinator Melissa Keyser said. “It’s just not an environment they’ve been in be- fore — they want to check it out.” “A lot of times it’s an honest mistake,” she added, but she also believes people should know the rules of the places they visit. Even with the presence of program staff, signage and information, the number of peo- ple climbing the rock is high, she added. From February to September, Haystack Rock Awareness Program staff intercepted more than 1,200 people trying to climb the rock. That was just during beach shifts, each a few hours a day. See Rock, Page 10A Take 5 Minutes to meet HRAP’s new education coordinator, Lisa Habecker PAGE 10A
