4A • May 6, 2016 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Views from the Rock
Will Cannon Beach
voters ‘feel the Bern’?
Authors star at
Cannon Beach
Library events
F
L
eel the Bern” is as much a part
of Cannon Beach and Manzanita
as clamming. Manzanita had
a “cupcakes for Bernie” last
weekend, bringing families out
for frosted treats.
In Cannon Beach at Cheri’s Restaurant
there’s even a “Trump-Free Zone,” where
Bernie’s supporters gather for their photos
under the sign, very much like tourists in
New York City visit Katz’s deli to sit at the
table where Billy Crystal’s Harry met Meg
Ryan’s Sally.
The appeal of Bernie is no surprise, as his
roots in Brooklyn and Vermont are a parallel
universe to the city of Portland and the state
of Oregon.
CANNON SHOTS
R.J. MARX
Both states boast green-and-white colors
and are distinguished by their evergreen
forests.
In both places could you say “It’s another
beautiful day in paradise.”
There are probably more potters per
square mile in both states than anywhere else
in the union.
Both states could get a Socialist candidate
elected.
Vermont is the place, Donald Trump once
said, where people who like squirrels should
move.
Meanwhile, when Bernie was in Portland,
a bird came and landed on his podium.
Council resolution
Cannon Beach’s fi ercely independent
streak, began, by all accounts, by the
string of hippies and beachcombers who
emigrated here from California, the East
Coast and all points beyond or between.
The city’s folk heroes are iconoclasts
who fl ew kites and ride bikes with rakes to
make pictures in the sand.
“The reason for the progressive streak
in Cannon Beach is quite straightforward,”
said former City Councilor Jay Raskin
via email from Portland. “There is a long
history of people believing they can make a
difference and a tradition of the citizens of
Cannon Beach paying attention.”
Raskin added: “If it is a good idea about
something they care about, they are willing
to do it. They care about people and the
environment, which is at the heart of pro-
gressive thought. Since city councilors are
nonpartisan, you talk about issues on their
own merits.”
Impeachment resolution
Cannon Beach jumped to national
attention in early 2008 when the City
Council ratifi ed a call to ask Congress to
impeach President George W. Bush and
Vice President Dick Cheney. It was a late-
in-life plea for Gainor Minott, picked up
by Rex and Diane Amos and like-minded
residents. Minott had encouraged Rex
Amos to write letters on her behalf.
Two-hundred twenty-seven signatures
from residents of Cannon Beach sought a
congressional call for impeachment, citing
the Iraq War, covert domestic surveillance
and the keeping of prisoners at Guantana-
mo Bay.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The City Council passed the resolu-
tion 3-2. Councilors Jay Raskin, Jerome
Rex Amos of Cannon Beach makes his po-
Arnold and Sam Steidel voted in favor
litical preferences known at Cheri’s Cafe.
while Mayor John Williams and Councilor
Nancy Giasson opposed it.
“Bernie is
Cannon Beach was the fi rst city in Or-
a determined
egon to issue the impeachment resolution, leader in
and among 88 other cities nationwide to
taking on the
do so.
concentration
“It was a real study in democracy,” Rex of campaign
Amos said at the time.
cash from the
“I was a supporter of the impeachment
mega-wealthy
vote,” Michael Capper of Cannon Beach
that is
Bernie Sanders
said this week. “Think global, act local,
corrupting
right?”
the vision of
opportunity embedded in our Constitution,”
‘Moonbats’ unleashed
Merkley wrote.
The resolution wasn’t without conse-
Sen. Ron Wyden was in town last week to
quence.
get a sense of our region’s safety and warning
After the news of the resolution hit
needs in case of tsunami. “I like both candi-
Portland and national talk radio, the Gazette dates,” Wyden said.
reported “at least 200 people said they
“I’m not going to knock anyone,” he said,
wouldn’t be spending money in Cannon
but pointed to health care proposals from
Beach anymore.”
Clinton he thinks can make a difference.
The action was duly noted by Fox News’s
Wyden voted with Sanders to oppose U.S.
Michelle Malkin, who labeled Cannon
funding of the Iraq War and as member of
Beach a “moonbat enclave.”
the Senate. “I was one of 22 or 23 who voted
How hard Cannon Beach tourism was
against the Iraq war,” Wyden said. “I sure
impacted is hard to say, but in the weeks
wish my vote had been the majority position,
after the resolution, then Chamber of Com-
because we would have had hundred of bil-
merce Executive Director Kim Bosse said,
lions of dollars for this kind of life-and-death
the city was “pretty lucky” the response was priority.”
relatively small.
Sanders tsunami?
“There was little or no actual fallout,”
We haven’t heard Bernie Sanders speak
Raskin said last week. “Right-wing radio in
on the subject of tsunamis, but we imagine he
Portland tried to start a boycott of Cannon
too would like to have those Iraq War billions
Beach, yet the number of visitors actually
back to fund a national safety programs.
increased following the vote.
So — is Cannon Beach fi rmly in the
“Did people who supported this vote
Bernie camp?
outweigh the loss of people who didn’t?
We did spot a car pulling onto Highway
“Maybe, but I doubt it,” Raskin said.
101 last week with an “Old People for Ber-
“People like coming to the beach to enjoy
nie” bumper sticker. But on Sunday, trying to
themselves and don’t really pay that much
get a photo for this column, we couldn’t fi nd
attention to local politics.”
a single Bernie bumper sticker. Not too many
Hillary or Bernie?
Bernie lawn signs either.
Cannon Beach’s passion for Bernie is con-
Rex Amos’s theory is: “The Milkenites
sistent with blue state politics here in Oregon. who thought their decision to keep money
Jeff Merkley, in an op-ed published in The away from Cannon Beach did nothing but
New York Times, offered “Why I endorse
make other people come here in droves.”
Bernie Sanders.”
Cannon Beach could be subject to the
Merkley lauded Sanders for “boldly and
same gentrifi cation dividing Portland and
fi ercely addressing the biggest challenges
other Oregon cities. Trulia lists the city’s
facing our country.”
median home price at $659,000 — a very
“He has passionately advocated for pivot-
discouraging number for beachcombers and
ing from fossil fuels to renewable energy to
vagabonds.
save our planet from global warming — the
As for Gainor Minott, the woman who
greatest threat facing humanity. He recog-
inspired the impeachment resolution, Amos
nizes that to accomplish this we must keep
said she “possibly would have voted for Ber-
the vast bulk of the world’s fossil fuels in the
nie, but since Bernie now says he’ll vote for
ground.”
Hillary, she probably would too.”
ibrary friends, if you haven’t been to visit
us recently, you will be pleasantly surprised
by some physical changes we’ve been
making! First of all, when you come in the front
door, you just can’t miss our spacious new desk.
The old
desk had
seen better
days and AT THE LIBRARY
just was no CARLA O’REILLY
longer quite
big enough
for the
daily activities involved with checking in and out
the larger volumes of books we’ve been handling
lately. You also can’t miss our new LED lighting,
gone are the days of our fl ickering fl uorescents.
We’re in the process of reconfi guring our
shelves and seating area. As you enter the
library, DVDs, fi ction, and non-fi ction books
are all to the right, while mysteries are all to the
left. We’ve also cleared a larger area for our pa-
trons to come in and read local newspapers —
or just to relax a bit in the comfortable setting.
Scheduled events
Our last author for the Northwest Author Se-
ries for this season will be speaking on Saturday,
May 14, when we’ll be pleased to welcome au-
thor Lois Leveen, whose latest novel is entitled
“Juliet’s Nurse.” The novel reimagines the story
of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet from the
point of view of the nurse. Leveen, who lives in
Portland, also writes creative nonfi ction, critical
essays, and poetry. Her talk will begin at 2 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public.
Then Wednesday, May 18, from 7 to 8:30
p.m., Cannon Beach Reads group will meet to
discuss”Go Set a Watchman,” which they’ve
been reading this month. Written by famous
author Harper Lee, who also wrote “To “Kill a
Mockingbird,” the book actually was written
in the mid-50s. It was issued as a “sequel” to
“To Kill a Mockingbird,” however, it eventu-
ally was confi rmed as a fi rst draft of the earlier
novel. Both books are set in the American
South. Harper Lee died on February 19 at age
89. The discussion on May 18 will be led by
group member Kathy Bell. All are welcome!
As part of the Spring Unveiling Art Festival,
hosted by the Cannon Beach Gallery Group, the
Cannon Beach Library will be having a special
sale of art and music books through May 13.
The books, most of which are previously owned,
are in good shape and will be priced fairly.
The library quilt committee is busy at work on
the beautiful 2016 quilt for our annual quilt draw-
ing held during our Holiday Tea. Quilt drawing
tickets will be available soon. We will be selling
them at the Cannon Beach Farmers’ Market,
which begins June 14. They also will be available
for purchase at the library during business hours.
We also have reached that time of year when
donations of books to the library are strongly
encouraged! Most of us have books stored
under beds or in closets. Your pre-loved books
will be an important part of our Fourth of July
book sale on July 2, 3 and 4. All donations are
tax-deductible, and all the money raised by
selling the books goes to support our library.
Keep those book donations coming — the
sooner the better!
On the wine cruise: Nice work if you can get it
M
aryann and I recently
returned from a “work
trip” — a week-long Wine
Cruise with Un-Cruise Adventures.
We soaked in the beauty of a sail on
the Columbia and Snake Rivers, ate
like kings and queens and the wine
was pretty darned good too.
This is the second year we’ve
worked with Un-Cruise Adventures,
a small ship cruise line based in
Seattle. We sailed out of Portland on
the S.S. Legacy, a replica of an early
1900s steamer that has a maximum
capacity of 80 passengers. As we
pulled out of town, we toasted the
upcoming journey with sparkling
wine and waves to those watching
from shore. An indulgent journey of
wine and food was about to begin.
One of my offi cial duties as the
on board “Wine Host” is to deliver
a daily wine-related presentation
for the passengers. I led off talking
about tasting room etiquette, includ-
ing “dos and don’ts” in the tasting
room. After operating The Wine
Shack’s tasting room for the past
four years, I am truly in an expert on
this topic. It’s an important topic and
I try to use some humor to keep the
subject light. “Ladies, I know you
like to smell all pretty for your man,
but take it easy on the perfume!
I want to smell chardonnay, not
Chanel.”
Publisher
Steve Forrester
Editor
R.J. Marx
Reporter
Lyra Fontaine
Advertising Manager
Betty Smith
Production Manager
John D. Bruijn
Circulation Manager
Heather Ramsdell
Advertising Sales
Laura Kaim
UNCORKED RAMBLINGS
STEVE SINKLER
The next day we visited Spring-
house Cellars and Mt. Hood Winery,
in Hood River. Both wineries are
charming in their own way, Spring-
house, in the ruins of an old fruit
cannery has a rustic feeling yet a very
young, though third generation wine-
maker, while Mt. Hood Winery has a
more modern feel and epic views of
its namesake.
On Day Three we stormed Walla
Walla! The ship docks at the beautiful
port of Burbank (that’s an inside joke
for anyone who’s ever been there)
and from there we journeyed into
wine country. We visited Basel Cel-
lars and Castillo de Feliciana before
spending the afternoon at the “wine
incubators” located near the airport.
The Walla Walla incubator project
was set up by the Port Authority and
the local business community to give
deserving and aspiring winemakers a
low cost place to begin making wine.
There, we tasted at Walla Faces, J &
J Cellars and Palencia, my favorite of
the bunch. Palencia has hit the market
with amazing wines, earning a “Best
of Show” at last year’s Columbia
Gorge Wine Competition for their
rosé and a “Best of Class” this year at
the same competition for their Alba-
rino. They are also thinking outside
the bottle and are putting their Vino
la Monarcha Cabernet Sauvignon,
merlot and chardonnay in Astropaqs,
a plastic pouch with a tap. Initially,
I was unsure about this as I usually
fi nd the quality of wine in alterna-
tive packaging to be below average.
Surprise! These are really nice wines.
The lightweight and unbreakable
packaging makes them perfect to
take along when camping, hiking or
biking.
We didn’t visit a winery on Day
4, but instead, we visited Palouse
Falls and then took a jet boat ride
on the Snake River after lunch. That
afternoon, I was settling into a comfy
chair, when I was suddenly paged
to Captain Scott’s poker tournament
over the ship’s intercom. I’m not a
sailor, but I know that when the cap-
tain pages you by name, you need to
show up. As I entered the saloon and
walked up to the poker game, it was
clear Captain Scott wanted revenge.
You see, last August, things didn’t
go so well for the captain and he was
the fi rst player out of his own poker
tournament. Scott was determined to
put me away. Not being much of a
poker player, I helped seal my own
fate. During one of my last hands,
I proudly laid down my cards and
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announced I had won with a straight.
The only problem was that it was a
straight of four, not fi ve. Loser. Short-
ly after that debacle, I was bounced
out of the poker tourney and Scott
had his revenge. Clearly, I need to
go to poker camp before our October
cruise.
We also visited Terra Blanca win-
ery in Prosser, Maryhill Winery and
Sunshine Mill Winery in The Dalles.
The guests enjoyed the wines and
never seemed to slow down. If there
were wines to taste, this group was up
to the challenge!
On Day Six, we docked in Astoria
at the Maritime Museum and got on
a bus heading for Cannon Beach. It’s
strange to drive into the town you live
in on a bus fi lled with tourists. The
group was headed for wine tasting
at The Wine Shack! After a week of
hanging out together with the guests,
it is so rewarding to pour the Puffi n
wine lineup for each of them. They
seemed to have a great time in our
tasting room and it’s hard not to, con-
sidering the delicious wine we pour
combined with the chill beach vibe.
The group left and took about 15
cases of Puffi n wine with them. They
also spent about two hours walking
through town and I saw a number of
the guests with bags from local shops.
Maryann and I were joined by
Marlene Reynolds (Maryann’s mom),
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Copyright 2015 © Cannon Beach Gazette. Nothing can
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Julie Sackett, who owns a Breaker’s
Point condo and Joan Stubblefi eld,
who lives in Tolovana. These three
kept the group laughing with their
antics and demonstrations of massive
fermented beverage consumption. I
can’t say anything more about their
activities as I was sworn to secrecy.
I need to mention the food. Each
evening, Chef Aletha served three
delicious entrées, consisting of a fi sh
entrée, an entrée for meat lovers and
a third for vegetarians. Because I was
working, I regularly asked for a sam-
ple of each, so I could speak on the
food-wine pairing. Remember, I’m a
professional and this was hard work.
Last winter, Un-Cruise Adven-
tures won a major international award
for “Best Small Cruise Ship Food.”
It’s easy to see why as every meal
was over-the-top delicious. Even the
box lunches the kitchen staff made
for us when we were off the ship at
lunch time were delicious. The box
lunches included gourmet sandwich-
es, with Cobb salads or quinoa salads.
Not your typical box lunch fare.
Maryann and I will be back on the
S.S. Legacy on Oct. 22 for another
amazing week-long wine cruise and
we can’t wait. If you’re interested in
joining us, you can check out the itin-
erary and the prices at www.uncruise.
com. Just be ready, I’m practicing my
poker.
THE NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING