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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 2017)
February 10, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 9A A look at county’s timber decision Clatsop only county to opt out of class- action suit By Edward Stratton EO Media Group Clatsop County contains nearly one-quarter of state-run forestlands involved in a law- suit brought by Linn County against the state over timber revenue. But Clatsop was the only one of the 15 counties cov- ered by class action to opt out. Linn County’s lawsuit claims the state violated a contract to maximize sustain- able harvests on land deeded by counties in the 1930s and ’40s. The lawsuit claims state polices from emphasizing rec- reation and conservation have cost the counties a total of $35 million a year in timber reve- nue since 2000. It also seeks future payments of $35 mil- lion a year to account for the lost revenue. Deemed a class action by a Linn County Circuit Court judge, the lawsuit grew to in- clude 15 counties and approxi- mately 130 taxing districts, all of which stood to gain sizable settlements were the lawsuit successful. AP PHOTO/JEFF BARNARD Dense forest on a steep slope on U.S. Bureau of Land Management land outside Ruch. ‘It’s a matter of cost-sharing. Should rural Oregonians be the only ones who pay for the cost of a policy that benefits all?’ John DiLorenzo, lead lawyer for Linn County The governing bodies of the affected counties and taxing districts had until Jan. 25 to let the court know if they wanted out. Most did nothing, by de- fault staying in the lawsuit. An outlier According to a filing last week by lawyers for Linn County, five of the nine tax- ing districts that opted out were in Clatsop County. Four — County Rural Law Enforcement, Road District No. 1, the coun- ty affiliate of Oregon State University’s 4-H and Exten- sion Service programs and the Clatsop County Fair — were automatically removed as plaintiffs by the county Board of Commissioners’ de- cision. The board of directors for Sunset Empire Parks and Recreation District voted last month to opt out. Michael Hinton, chairman of Sunset Empire’s board, said the group didn’t agree with the change in forest practices that might result from the lawsuit, and that the district’s budget doesn’t rely on timber revenue. “I think we made the right decision,” Board of Commis- sioners Chairman Scott Lee said about the county’s de- cision last month to opt out. “And of course I’m disap- pointed other taxing districts didn’t opt out. I still think I made a right decision.” The county will still po- tentially be a big recipient of any settlement from the lawsuit. Of the 30 taxing dis- tricts in the county receiving timber tax revenues, 25 re- mained involved. The board of Jewell School District, a timber tax-funded K-12 school in the middle of the Clatsop State Forest, took no action. The Port of Asto- ria Commission was the only major taxing district to vote publicly to stay in. Clatsop Community Col- lege’s board voted 4-3 the day before the deadline to opt out. But board member Esther Moberg’s vote to opt out, submitted via email af- ter she declined to attend the meeting and vote via telecon- ference, was rescinded as a violation of voting rules. The vote was ruled a tie, and the college was left in the law- suit. No sense in opt-out John DiLorenzo, the lead lawyer for Linn County in the case, said all Clatsop County did was give up money and any influence over the outcome of the $1.4 billion lawsuit. “It just makes no logical sense to me,” he said. “But hey; you know what? It’s their right to do it.” DiLorenzo said there’s a misconception that the case is about changing timber poli- cies, which he said would ul- timately involve an extensive rule-making process or legis- lative action requiring public input. “I know that passions are … very much present as part of this debate,” DiLorenzo said. “But believe me; this case is all about money.” DiLorenzo said environ- mental and timber policies are created by and seen as benefi- cial to the entire state. But the costs of such policies not max- imizing timber revenues, he said, fall more on rural coun- ties that can least afford it. “It’s a matter of cost-shar- ing,” he said. “Should rural Oregonians be the only ones who pay for the cost of a poli- cy that benefits all?” Local grad rates remain stagnant Red Cross seeks to Seaside sees a 1 percent drop By Edward Stratton EO Media Group WARRENTON — Over the past five school years, Warrenton High School has steadily climbed from the worst to nearly the best in Clatsop County at graduating students in four years. Since 57.9 percent of the class of 2012 graduated in four years, the worst mark in the county, the school has seen continual gains, with more than 63 percent in 2013, 66 percent in 2014 and more than 69 percent in 2015. Last year, more than 74 percent of Warrenton students graduated on time, nearly the highest rate among the county’s three larger school districts. Over the same period of time, Astoria High School has increased from less than 60 percent to a nearly 73 percent four-year graduation rate. Seaside, which has his- torically had a stronger grad- uation rate, increased from 69 to 74.4 percent over the past five years. Knappa, which boasted the second-highest graduation rate five years ago at more than 72 percent, fell off into the mid-60s for three years, but built graduation back above 70 percent last year. The state as a whole has in- creased graduation from 68.4 percent in 2012 to 74.8 per- cent last year. More support “I do think it’s the work we’ve done in my time here that we’re starting to see the effects of,” Warrenton-Ham- mond Superintendent Mark Jeffery, in his sixth year with the district, said of the dis- trict’s continual increases. “We’re hoping to see it to continue to improve.” Jeffery said Warrenton has increased staffing for re- medial support and focused strengthen ties with Cannon Beach on making sure eighth-grad- ers are ready to enter high school. “I’ve put a lot of empha- sis in math over the last five years,” Jeffery said. “That’s one area that the majority of kids will struggle with com- ing into high school.” Principal Rod Heyen said Warrenton brought in retired math instructor Kate Gru- etter part time to work with students, and provides af- ter-school opportunities for students to make up home- work and tests. “That has become really beneficial and become part of our culture here.” Red Cross from Page 1A Green, yellow, red Each year, Heyen com- piles a list of seniors, label- ing them the color green if on track to graduate, yellow if one or two credits behind and red if more. “My goal is to get everybody in the green and everybody in the yellow over the hump,” he said. Heyen said he will try to counsel students in the red into a fifth year of high school, or even toward the GED exam if more realistic. “Then I try to get them into college classes as an incentive to get back into school,” he said. “We’re real- ly, really trying to push that. I sit down and show them some of the numbers of money I’m spending on them (in subsi- dized tuition), and present it as a scholarship.” Part of the challenge, Hey- en and Jeffery said, is how small Warrenton is. The dis- trict awarded 47 diplomas last year, out of a class of 66. Ev- ery student equals 1.5 percent of the group, meaning grad- uation rates can significantly fluctuate based on very few students. Bringing them in Heyen said he gets many of his ideas from other dis- tricts, including Principal Lynn Jackson at Astoria High School, who, he added, is good about pulling in kids who might be falling through the cracks, regardless of the effect on the graduation rate. Astoria regularly takes stu- dents from around the county into the Gray School Campus Alternative Education Pro- gram, a self-paced, largely online school for students who need to recover credits on their own schedules. Yoga festival comes to Cannon Beach Yoga from Page 1A Right Brain” and “Restorative Yoga” among other classes. A third of the attendees are teachers themselves, Allsop added. Allsop’s parents bought a home in Cannon Beach in 1978. Her husband, Mark Allsop, is the owner of North Coast Mechanical. Daughter Lauren Allsop — known as Lolly — teaches yoga at the studio. “When my husband and I moved here 25 years ago, our daughter went to Fire Moun- tain School, then Broadway and Seaside High School.” A yoga teacher for 15 years, Allsop opened Cannon Beach Yoga in 2011. “Yoga’s grown so much over the last 10 years, now there’s actually a chance to sus- tain a yoga studio year-round,” she said. The studio on North Hem- lock will offer a central hub for all of the festival activities and a shuttle bus available to bring attendees to and from events. “It’s really an honor and a privilege to be able to have an opportunity to produce this event in Cannon Beach,” All- sop said. “I’m proud our com- munity can put something like this together. It’s really pretty special.” For registration and infor- mation, visit www.Cannon- BeachYogaFestival.com or call 503-440-1649. Heyen said he recently consulted with a fifth-year se- nior, living on her own with a job, who had been to several different high schools with- out finishing, but wants to try again. “Behind the grad rate, you have a kid walking in the door saying he wants to try,” Hey- en said. “You’ve got to go af- ter that.” well-prepared,” Dugaw said. “We want to make sure we tap into that preparedness and strengthen our community partnerships by offering Red Cross training and engaging individuals who are already prepared themselves.” The Cascades region helps an average of three families each day who are affected by disasters, such as home fires and storms. After a recent home fire, the Red Cross opened a shelter so that 30 individuals displaced from their homes could have access to food, water, show- ers and an overnight stay. The Red Cross will train Cannon Beach volunteers on disaster action, preparedness and sheltering displaced peo- ple after an emergency, such as a tsunami. Disaster response train- ing might include deploying to scenes like home fires to assist families with food, shelter, clothing, mental health resources and other immediate basic needs. Pre- paredness education trains residents to deliver presen- tations within their commu- nity, install smoke alarms, put together disaster supply kits and other actions that in- crease readiness. Dugaw said the Red Cross will form relationships with Medical Reserve Corps and CERT. “The more people that we have cross-trained in disaster response and recovery, the more resilient communities can become for disasters of all kind,” Dugaw said. “I think for our little rural communities, we all need to be cross-trained to do every- thing,” Wiedenhoft said. “If something happens, it might take awhile for help to arrive. Any community can train volunteers to do the stuff that we did.” After the tornado, which damaged 128 structures, Wiedenhoft remembers seeing downed trees and power lines and planned to help with medical response. When he learned no one was hurt, he switched modes to taking care of people who were displaced from their home. He helped relocate them to a safe place and eventually to the local Red Cross shelter at Calvary Bi- ble Church. Though Wiedenhoft has responded to disasters in oth- er locations, he said it was different responding to an emergency that affected his community. “He immediately went down to where help was needed the most and found out what he could do to as- sist,” Dugaw said. “That kind of on-the-ground knowledge of your community is price- less.” Wiedenhoft, who leads some trainings, said Cannon Beach residents are welcome to participate in the emergen- cy corps of Nehalem Bay’s exercises. To volunteer WHAT: Red Cross general recruitment session WHERE: Cannon Beach Chamber Hall WHEN: Thursday, March 30, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. COST: Free PHONE: 503-284-1234; WEB: www.redcross. org/local/oregon/ volunteer EMAIL: volunteer.cas- cades@redcross.org Cannon Beach’s Best Selection of Oregon and Washington Wine! UPCOMING TASTINGS Shack Hours Daily 11am to 5:30pm Tasting Room Hours Saturdays • 1 to 5pm Feb 11 • Wines for Romance Feb 18 • Urban Wines Feb 25 • Wine Shack Favorites Mar 4 • Puffi n Wines Mar 12 • Charles Smith Wines (2:30-4pm) Mar 18 • Storm Large Pre-show Party “Best Wine Shop” - 2016 Reader’s Choice Award 124 N. Hemlock, Cannon Beach - 503.436.1100 - www.thewineshack.wine
