4A • August 11, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Views from the Rock
A visit with the Chief
C
annon Beach Police Chief Ja-
son Schermerhorn is a model
of community law enforce-
ment. A former Seaside police
offi cer, Schermerhorn was selected as
Cannon Beach chief in 2012 out of a
fi eld of 40 candidates. His involvement
with citizens and the community — be
it as emergency preparedness leader,
volunteer fi refi ghter, Rotary member,
participant in “Shop with a Cop” and
“National Night Out” or mentor for
youth, he is visible, vocal and avail-
able for residents as a go-to for those
in need.
His latest role is an interim one, fi ll-
ing in for former City Manager Brant
Kucera, who left to take a similar job
in the city of Sisters. We caught up with
Schermerhorn at his offi ce at police
headquarters.
Q: So much is going on with you in
this dual role of police chief and city
manager. Is it doable?
A: It is doable. The great thing with
Cannon Beach is that we have great
employees. In the last three weeks,
there have been times when each of
the department heads have been gone
and their crews just pick up after them
and do what they need to do.
Of course I am biased, but it is
great for me to step away from the
police department and have everything
still going smoothly here. Everybody
down the line does a great job.
Q: What are the big issues you are
addressing?
A: As city manager, we have a new
building offi cial. The charter school
is the big thing now. We are working
with the academy on building permits.
There are a lot of things that keep
popping up. They’re on a time crunch
to get ready.
Q: Do you see timed parking as
inevitable here?
A: I don’t know. It was all based on
the survey for the strategic plan, and
that was one of the solutions that came
up. It never hurts to try something, but
the hard thing with that was, it was a
rush. That upset the citizenry as well
as the business owners because they
said, “We want some involvement in
this.” That’s always important.
Q: In the past years I have seen you
go through some extraordinary trag-
edies. The killing of a 2-year-old and
attack on her 13-year-old sister, Alana,
by Jessica Smith in 2014; and the
death of your friend, Seaside Police
Lieutenant Jason Goodding, shot by
Phillip Max Ferry in February 2016.
You have been through more in three
years than most cops go through in a
lifetime. Talk to me about that.
A: You are right. It has been a
career of dealing with different trag-
edies. The last three years have been
very extreme. That’s where it falls
down on your coworkers, and your
family and your friends, being able to
have that and separating yourself from
the events. I think dealing with the
homicide and Alana was very diffi cult
for me, because the children were
around my kids’ ages. You personalize
that and put yourself in that situation.
Q: How did you cope?
A: It’s been a career of different
tragedies, but the last three years have
been extreme. That’s where it comes
with your coworkers, your family
and your friends. Having my kids and
being able to carry on and spend time
with my family …
Cannon Beach is such a great town
in dealing with those things.
We got so much assistance from
our citizens here and our council. Our
different department heads were very
EVE MARX/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Summer reading at Sandpiper Square.
ERICK BENGEL/EO MEDIA GROUP
Cannon Beach Police Chief Jason Schermerhorn at a press conference in 2014
aft er 40-year-old Jessica Smith attacked her two children, one of them fatally.
CANNON SHOTS
R.J. MARX
helpful and gracious in working with
us. That was great.
But also working with the other
agencies, when you’re looking at that
homicide and Jason’s homicide, the
amount of support was amazing. That
was a great resource for us. It’s really
something.
I think about Jason every day. Just
quirks and things that he does and his
daughter J.J. — Jayden is my daugh-
ter’s best friend. She is my daughter’s
age, and she is the spitting image of
her dad.
Jason was my fi rst recruit in Sea-
side. When he fi rst came in he was as-
signed to me fi rst. We were very close.
We helped them move down into town.
Our kids have grown up together and
my wife and Amy (Goodding) have
been very close.
All those memories were good
memories. And what a great offi cer he
was.
Those are the things that I think
about, the positive things.
Q: Has it affected the way you
approach your duties?
A: Absolutely. You always have
that police paranoia when you are deal-
ing with different things, whether it’s
a traffi c stop or other things. You get
those situations where the hair kinds of
jumps up on the back of your neck.
Phil Ferry was somebody I had
dealt with many, many times when I
was in Seaside and on the drug task
force where we had fought with him
and he didn’t have a gun. He had
physically fought with us and resisted
arrest, but we had not contacted him
with a fi rearm before. That just shows
you how easily available weapons are
for people.
Q: I know in a very general sense
there is a concern about crime in rural
parts of our county.
A: There are certainly locals distrib-
uting drugs and using drugs. When I
was on the drug task force, we had the
highest amount of drugs per capita in
the state of Oregon, based on our coun-
ty and the population. So much of it is
going back and forth from rural areas.
You also have Highway 101 which
stretches from Canada to Mexico.
People do not want to go the I-5 route
because they know there is more law
enforcement out there, bigger agen-
cies. They think they can take this
back highway here and they’ll be
free. That’s what’s great about having
(Gunner) the canine here. We’ve had
that three-and-a-half, four years. He is
a great tool to have out there.
Q: In Cannon Beach you are about
to get some recreational cannabis
shops. Is that a concern?
A: It is certainly something not
something support, but I do not see it
as being a concern. We have responsi-
ble business owners. We have a good
City Council that is working on the
regulations for our town. What is going
to be the need down here? I think
(Councilor) George Vetter said it best:
We don’t have a McDonald’s because
we don’t have a need. Is there going to
be a need for a marijuana shop? It will
be interesting to see.
Q: Will you be issuing tickets peo-
ple smoking marijuana in public?
A: Absolutely. There will not be a
warning period. The law has been in
place for a while.
Q: What would you say is the
police department’s biggest need right
now?
A: That is a good question. Right
now we are trying to fi ll one of our
positions. We lost (Sgt.) Josh (Greg-
ory) to Seaside. Filling that position
is probably our biggest need, just
for manpower. It’s hard on offi cers.
They’re working longer hours. They’re
covering shifts. That’s what’s harder
with me splitting both roles. It takes
me out of the equation. I’ll cover when
I can, but it doesn’t open me up to
working a whole lot of extra hours.
Q: The city of Cannon Beach has a
reputation of being far ahead of many
other cities for tsunami and emergency
preparedness.
A: We have a great CERT (Com-
munity Emergency Response Team)
program. We have 42 CERT members
now and 21 Medical Reserve Corps
members and we’ve recently added
Red Cross in the last six months. We’re
moving forward in building shelters.
It’s really good. But we still have a
lot of work to do. A lot of that will be
our South Wind project, of adding a
shelter down there and getting funding
for it. That is something our emergency
management consultant Stacey (Burr)
is working on and will be bringing to
the council in the next few months to
get us started so we can get federal
funding. We need to have a shelter up
there so we can begin getting grant
money.
Q: How can the community provide
you with what you need to do your job
better?
A: Just showing support. They’ve
done that. They’ve gone above and be-
yond. I think we’re going to do another
round to raise money for the canine.
Those are ways they can show it. Also
by thanking the offi cers when they see
them and helping out when they can.
Th e peculiar
pleasures of
reading and
people-watching
I
had time to kill while waiting for a friend, so I took
the book I’ve been reading for my book group over to
Sandpiper Square. The book is “The Curious Charms
of Arthur Popper,” a novel by Phaedra Patrick. It’s about
a recently bereaved 69-year-old bloke (it’s a British
novel) named Arthur Popper who lives a pedestrian
and narrow life. A retired locksmith, he spends his time
making cups of
tea and eating
sad, solitary
VIEW FROM
meals cadged
THE PORCH
from casseroles
EVE MARX
and cakes his
recently widowed
herself neighbor
lady brings him. (He fi nds her an intrusive pain.)
Forcing himself to sort through his late wife’s things, he
discovers a valuable charm bracelet. While hunting down
the story behind each charm, he learns before they met
and married, his wife had exotic adventures, a famous
lover; and lived on a great estate where pet tigers freely
roamed.
I sat reading on a bench for about a quarter of an hour.
It turns out “The Curious Charms of Arthur Popper” is
an ideal beach or bench book. The whole time I was read-
ing, I was also able to eyeball and eavesdrop. Although
clever and well enough written, the novel is not terribly
deep. You can easily read it while taking in other things.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spied what I took to be
a pair of honeymooners strolling by.
I overheard a tall red-headed woman speaking loudly
into her phone.
“Yesterday we saw rabbits,” she said. “Today we saw
deer.”
A middle-aged man walked by with some very serious
cameras hung around his neck. No iPhone images for
him. A vintage Mustang convertible rolled down Hem-
lock Street. I totally eyeballed that.
Moments later, an enormous mobile home rumbled by
with Nevada plates. Have you noticed how many tourists
this summer hail from Nevada? They must come to beat
the desert heat.
A pair of women sat on a bench outside Duebers
enjoying an old-fashioned catch up. They were very jolly.
Their happiness did not extend to two grumpy men on an
adjacent bench wearing fl oppy hats and carrying walking
sticks.
A man in his 30s hurried past, bearing a large and
wobbly cake box. The expression on his face was pure
concentration as he struggled not to drop it. Skipping
along at his side was an exuberant young boy. “Do you
think Mom will like the cake?” the child asked.
His father responded, “It’s supposed to be a surprise,
so help me think where we can hide it.”
Having reached a tiresome passage in my book where
the protagonist is feeling very sorry for himself, I pulled
out my phone to check the time. It was time to skedad-
dle. I stood up and placed a bookmark in my book. The
moment my butt left the bench, a group of fi ve freckled
teenagers rushed in to grab it. And why not? Sandpiper
Square is a super spot for people watching. You don’t
even need a beach book to hide behind.
Assiduous study pays off bigtime with an advanced wine degree
‘P
assed with Merit.” I
read those words with
an overwhelming
sense of relief, disbelief and
accomplishment. After three years
of studying and wine tasting, I am
now a WSET Level 3 (Advanced)
Sommelier.
In 2014, I thought it would be
a good idea for me to study wine
to increase my knowledge about
various grapes and the world’s
classic wine regions. Later that year,
I registered for the Court of Master
Sommeliers Level 1 Class and that
September Maryann and I traveled
with Ringo, our pitbull mix to Van-
couver, British Columbia, for my
weekend intensive class and exam.
I passed the multiple-choice exam
Publisher
David F. Pero
Editor
R.J. Marx
Circulation
Manager
Jeremy Feldman
Production
Manager
John D. Bruijn
UNCORKED RAMBLINGS
STEVEN SINKLER
and earned the title “Introductory
Sommelier.” It’s a great start, but
the title it isn’t all that impressive.
“Yes sir, I’m an introductory som-
melier,” it’s hardly awe inspiring.
More than anything, the title
indicates a basic understanding of
wines from around the world. Of
course, the journey had to contin-
ue; I wasn’t satisfi ed with being an
introductory somm.
I decided to change sommelier
programs and moved from the Court
Classifi ed Sales
Jamie Ramsdell
Advertising Sales
Holly Larkins
Chris Olson
Staff writer
Brenna Visser
Contributing
writers
Rebecca Herren
Katherine Lacaze
Eve Marx
Nancy McCarthy
of Masters Sommeliers to the Wine
and Spirit Education Trust because
they offered more local classes, in-
cluding classes which matched my
work schedule. So in early 2015, I
jumped right into WSET’s “inter-
mediate” level 2 program and took
a couple of classes in Seattle pre-
paring for the exam. The program
change required me to update all of
my study materials because WSET
has a slightly different emphasis
than “the Court.” WSET is focused
on wine, with little to no emphasis
on distilled spirits or table side ser-
vice. I took the WSET 2 exam only
three days after my dad’s memorial
service. That was rough. I complet-
ed most of my studies before fl ying
back to Green Bay for the service,
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but I listened to podcasts on the
plane and was confi dent as I sat for
the exam. As you would expect, the
level 2 exam is substantially more
diffi cult than a level 1 exam, but I
passed “with merit” and became a
WSET intermediate sommelier.
Last fall, I decided to enroll in
WSET’s advanced program while
talking with a couple other level 2
somms. In fact, we all decided to
pursue level 3. My level 3 studies
started last fall and I knew it was
going to be a challenge. The level 3
exam places emphasis on regional
growing conditions such as climate
and soil which results in a wine
from the same grape tasting differ-
ently from one region to another.
For example, we would need to
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discuss factors which make a pinot
gris from Alsace taste different than
a pinot grigio from Fruili.
So, now it’s offi cial, I’m a
WSET 3 Advanced Sommelier.
There’s only a handful of us
around. In my class of 15, there
were only two Oregonians. I’m not
aware of any other level 3 somm
anywhere on the Coast. I want to
thank everyone who asked me about
the test and provided their support
during the eight weeks between tak-
ing the test and getting my results.
Your words of support and encour-
agement were very much appreciat-
ed. I also want to thank the group of
friends who joined the celebration
at The Wine Shack. Bubbles and
balloons!
THE NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING