4A • October 6, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Views from the Rock
Severe stress and
domestic violence
a
tunne
e
l
th
I
of
Li
h
t
e
t
e
a
n
t
d
h
g nd inside
Wood lining of the tunne in 1940.
LEFT: Tunnel construction on the south portal, circa 1937. CENTER: Construction at the north portal. RIGHT: Tunnel
at a 2010 site visit.
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
A
RCH CAPE — “One of the many projects
on the books,” is how Oregon Department of
Transportation Northwest Area Project Leader
Michael Schroeder described replacement of
lights and fixtures at the Arch Cape Tunnel
during a Sept. 25 information session at the fire station.
Once upon a time Arch Cape was at the end of a wagon
road from Seaside. The 1,230-yard long tunnel on U.S.
Highway 101 connected the North Coast to Manzanita.
The lights were probably the easiest part of the origi-
nal construction
project.
According
CANNON SHOTS
to “Arch Cape
R.J.
MARX
Chronicles: The
History of Arch
Cape,” some
of the rock was
sandstone while other rock was a much harder basalt.
Sandstone is less stable than basalt and when exposed to
air, immediately becomes soft and crumbles like dirt. Tim-
ber beams were necessary to prevent a cave-in.
During construction workers stayed on the ocean side of
the north entrance at the Arch Cape Hotel. Carbon monox-
ide poison and gas fumes felled the men, who rarely lasted
longer than a few months on the job.
Tunnel worker Charles Haddock said in a 1993 inter-
view that while the brakes of his International Harvester
truck were good and the cab kept out of the rain, “I can
recall no other comforts by today’s standards.”
The project was delayed by heavy rains, mud, inexpe-
rienced supervision, improper equipment and transport
woes.
Seventy-mile per hour winds battered workers and
lashed unheated cabins in what laborers described as “wild
country.”
Construction began in early 1936. Completion was ex-
pected by year-end, but weather, inexperience and equip-
ment delays extended the completion date until 1938. It
wasn’t until March 1940 that work was completed with the
laying of asphalt, gutters and curbs.
Arch Cape was no longer isolated. ODOT estimates the
tunnel receives about 5,000 vehicles a day.
Let there be light
The original lighting used mercury bulbs and PCB bal-
lasts, Schroeder said, using a chemical banned in 1976 and
phased out in years to come due to their toxic effects.
A multimillion dollar 1998 construction project replaced
the tunnel’s rotting timber linings with steel-reinforced
concrete. Engineers swapped lighting fixtures with halogen
lamps. The reopening was celebrated on May 15 with the
“crashing” of a paper barrier by three jeeps.
The state’s tunnel inspection program selected the Arch
Cape Tunnel
as one of three
(of nine tunnels
managed by
ODOT) for “in-
depth” 10-year
inspections.
Two have
been performed,
in 2000 and
2010, with reg-
R.J. MARX/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
ular inspections
Project manager Walter Bartel and
every two years
Michael Schroeder of the Oregon De-
and drainage
partment of Transportation at an open
cleaning twice
house introducing the new lighting
per year.
system for the Arch Cape Tunnel.
Inspections
focused on the
tunnel’s entrances, liners and lighting.
Since that time, while they’re all working, they require
“a lot of power” and frequent repair, Schroeder said.
Galvanized aluminum harnesses have rusted out, and
while not in danger of dropping off the ceiling “anytime
soon,” in five to 10 years they could become a danger to the
motoring public.
Energy friendly
About two years ago, ODOT applied for a federal grant
to replace the lamps, seeking about $1 million for the proj-
ect.
The Federal Highway Administration saw the need and
approved funds to replace the system. The state will also
receive a rebate from the Energy Trust of Oregon.
The lighting project is slated for a 90-day spring con-
struction schedule.
Materials will be stainless steel, except for the lights,
which will be ceramic. High-lifts will take the system
down and drill the bolts to hang the hangers. Lights will
be epoxy-bolted in a concrete liner drilled into solid rock
before wiring through a conduit.
Most of the work will be done at night. The new lights
will be built next to the existing ones so there will be no
interruption of service.
During installation, one lane will be closed and a pilot
car will lead a single-lane of traffic.
When complete, LED lighting will reduce electrical
costs by 56 percent, Schroeder said.
The lights will be managed by a timer in a controller
cabinet, Bartel said.
Bike-warning lights will also be enhanced to protect
cyclists heading through the tunnel.
Maybe next on the tunnel modification agenda will be
a genuine bike lane. Right now, it’s a daunting proposition
for anyone on two wheels.
t’s just a little more than a year since Jessica Smith
was sentenced to life in prison. She was sentenced
at the Clatsop County courthouse on Aug. 25, 2016.
You remember Jessica. She’s the mom from Vancouver,
Washington, who came to Cannon Beach and rented
a hotel room where she killed one child and critically
injured another.
It’s hard to forget the story. The discovery of the crime
and then the trial itself dominated local news for a long
time. A detail of the case, Smith’s note that might be
construed as a suicide note, “We’ve decided to opt out,”
haunted me. Her assertion after her arrest that she had
“little or no memory” of her crimes was also disturbing.
Smith’s lawyers felt she was mentally unfi t to stand trial,
an assertion objected to by Clatsop County District Attor-
ney Josh Marquis. Smith pleaded not guilty.
Prior to her acts of familial violence, the family was
undergoing severe stress. Jessica and her husband, Greg,
were divorcing.
Greg claimed
Jessica had had an
VIEW FROM
affair, although the
THE PORCH
two reconciled for
EVE MARX
awhile. Greg sued
for full custody;
when he thought
Jessica was going to take the children out of state, he
fought back with a restraining order. He said Jessica was
suffering from post-traumatic stress as a result of abuse
she had suffered earlier. She retaliated by fi ling a petition
for an emergency anti-harassment temporary protection
order, citing her husband had subjected her to daily mental
and emotional abuse, bullying, neglect, and physical and
verbal abuse of their pets. After drugging and drowning
the toddler, and slashing her teenage daughter’s throat,
Smith fl ed. Her daughter told police Jessica was going
to the woods to kill herself. Before that could happen, a
Coast Guard helicopter located her on a logging road off
Highway 26.
Domestic violence and abuse is not a talked about
crime. In 2013 the Journal of Family Violence published
a report on familicide, the formal name for when a family
member kills themselves after killing other family mem-
bers. The study, which covered the period between 2000
and 2009, reported familicide occurs in the United States
about 23 times a year. The majority of the perpetrators are
male, committing the offense with a fi rearm. Women also
commit familicide. When I taught creative writing in a
maximum security prison for women, I learned the great
majority of women who took the lives of their spouses
or their children were themselves victims of domestic
violence.
Seaside resident Shannon Symonds, a part-time ad-
vocate for victims of domestic and sexual assault and the
author of the novel, “Safe House,” noted at a recent meet-
ing of the Seaside Branch of the American Association of
University Women the most deadly type of abuser is the
one who has no prior documented history of abuse. “There
may be no red fl ags,” she said.
Women of means are the least likely to report domestic
violence. “The more you have to lose, the less you tell,”
Symonds said.
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness
month. Symonds publisher, Cedar Fort, has partnered to
discount “Safe House” e-book or kindle version to 99
cents for the month of October. Eight copies are also free
as a giveaway for the month of October on Goodreads.
“Safe House” takes place in Seaside.
Margie Nugent, a domestic violence survivor who
speaks nationally on the subject, said, “Everyone asked me
why I just didn’t leave. It’s because most women get killed
on the way out. Domestic violence is not a low income
issue. It’s not an uneducated issue. It’s a power issue I
speak on the subject whenever I’m asked because silence
is deadly.”
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Monday, Oct. 9
163 E. Gower St.
Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protec-
tion District, 6 p.m., 188 Sunset,
Cannon Beach.
Thursday, Oct. 26
Tuesday, Oct. 10
Cannon Beach City Council, 7
p.m., work session, City Hall, 163
E. Gower St.
Tuesday, Oct. 17
Cannon Beach Public Works
Committee, 9 a.m., City Hall, 163
E. Gower St.
Seaside School District Board of
Directors, 6 p.m., 1801 S. Franklin,
Seaside.
Thursday, Oct. 19
Cannon Beach Parks and Com-
munity Services Committee, 9
a.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St.
Cannon Beach Design Review
Board Meeting, 6 p.m., City Hall,
Cannon Beach Planning Com-
mission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 163 E.
Gower St.
Friday, Oct. 27
Cannon Beach Emergency Pre-
paredness Committee, 9 a.m.,
City Hall, 163 E. Gower St.
Monday, Nov. 13
Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protec-
tion District, 6 p.m., 188 Sunset,
Cannon Beach.
Tuesday, Nov. 21
Seaside School District Board of
Directors, 6 p.m., 1801 S. Franklin,
Seaside.
Monday, Dec. 11
Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protec-
tion District, 6 p.m., 188 Sunset,
Cannon Beach.
LETTERS
Commissioner to
abstain on budget
In my work and volunteer expe-
rience, we always had performance
measures. As workers, line staff,
administrators and board members,
we always held ourselves account-
able in a collaboratively developed
and defi ned way.
I’ve been asking for board work
Publisher
David F. Pero
Editor
R.J. Marx
Circulation
Manager
Jeremy Feldman
Production
Manager
John D. Bruijn
sessions or a board retreat to do
this. I want us to develop an ac-
countability system for this board
so that we can collaborate, all of us
together, in defi ning our intended
outcomes and the work we’ll do to
achieve them.
We also require resources to
achieve them: our time, staff time,
travel money and so on.
This is work only we can do.
Classifi ed Sales
Jamie Ramsdell
Advertising Sales
Holly Larkins
Staff writer
Brenna Visser
Contributing
writers
Rebecca Herren
Katherine Lacaze
Eve Marx
Nancy McCarthy
Because we have not yet done
this work, my conscience dictates
that I cannot vote to approve the
budget.
The rest of the budget stands on
its own, so I will not vote against its
approval. I will vote to abstain and
hope this moves us forward to act.
County Commissioner
Lianne Thompson
Arch Cape
CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
The Cannon Beach Gazette is
published every other week by EO
Media Group.
1555 N. Roosevelt, Seaside,
Oregon 97138
503-738-5561 • Fax 503-738-
9285
www.cannonbeachgazette.
com • email:
editor@cannonbeachgazette.com
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Annually: $40.50 in county,
$58.00 in and out of county.
Postage Paid at: Cannon Beach,
OR 97110
Thank you to Betsy Johnson
Columbia, Clatsop and Tillamook
counties are truly fortunate to have
a powerful and compassionate advo-
cate in Sen. Betsy Johnson. Because
of her tireless commitment to meet
our needs, Oregon lawmakers made
decisions that protect and provide
resources for our most vulnerable
neighbors.
Community Action Team staff
POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to Cannon
Beach Gazette, P.O. Box 210,
Astoria, OR 97103
Copyright 2017 © Cannon Beach
Gazette. Nothing can be reprinted
or copied without consent of
the owners.
and board members wish to express
deep gratitude to Sen. Johnson for
asking the hard questions, seek-
ing our input regarding community
needs and for carrying that informa-
tion to the legislative arena.
Senator, please accept our many
thanks for your unshakable loyalty
in serving all of us.
Leanne Murray
St. Helens
THE NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING