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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 2017)
NOVEMBER 17, 2017 • VOL. 41, ISSUE 23 From Longboat Key to Cannon Beach WWW.CANNONBEACHGAZETTE.COM COMPLIMENTARY COPY ONE FLAG AT A TIME St. Denis was a town manager in Florida By Brenna Visser Cannon Beach Gazette After a four-month hiring pro- cess, Bruce St. Denis will start Dec. 1 as the new city manager of Cannon Beach. St. Denis, a manager at a private devel- opment company, is a former town man- ager for the coastal city of Longboat Key, Florida, and holds a master’s degree in man- agement from the University of South Florida. His salary will be $130,000, along with a $1,200 Bruce St. Denis, monthly housing Cannon Beach’s incentive. new city manager. He was chosen over two other fi- nalists — Peter M. Jankowski, former city manager of Cave Creek, Arizona, and Kevin Greenwood, former general manager of the Port of Newport. Thir- ty-three people applied for the position. “I’m looking forward to working with the people. Everyone I interacted with in Cannon Beach was great,” St. Denis said. “Everywhere I went, wheth- er it was city hall, in the restaurants, on the street, it was impressive.” St. Denis is a manager at the Devel- opment Planning & Financing Group, a private development company in Tampa. During a community forum, St. De- nis highlighted his experience with emergency management after Hurricane Charley hit his region. Dozens of people came with questions about community engagement, tourism and emergency preparedness Nov. 6 for the three final- ists for Cannon Beach city manager. In an executive session Wednesday morning, city councilors considered feedback from staff and department heads, as well as comments from two panels comprised of community leaders and regional government officials. “We are confident that he will do an excellent job,” Mayor Sam Steidel said in a special meeting Nov. 8. “We had highly qualified candidates.” City councilors also considered com- ments and evaluations made by dozens of people who came to the public forum Monday night, who asked the finalists questions about community engage- ment, tourism and emergency prepared- ness. “We took many factors into account. We had two very qualified candidates, and it was a very difficult decision,” City Councilor George Vetter said. “And so the community knows, if something is to happen, our second choice is equally as impressive,” Steidel added. Story and photo by Brenna Visser Cannon Beach Gazette O ne by one, members of Cannon Beach’s Amer- ican Legion Post 168 mounted flags along Hemlock Street on Friday morning in honor of Veterans Day. With about 30 flags laid back in a truck, members of the legions puttered block by block to hop out, grab the ladder and install a flag into each stand. The tradition has happened for years, and serves as a subtle reminder for the community to think of those who served, Vice President Jack Kerwin said. “We’re still in war, and I don’t think we think about it,” Kerwin said. “We live in a great country, and we’ve got to support them.” Eric Peiter from the American Legion Post 168 mounts a flag with Jack Kerwin watching on Hemlock Street for Veterans Day. Cannon Beach Academy seeks volunteers Academy reaches out to provide student services By Brenna Visser Cannon Beach Gazette Three months in, the Cannon Beach Acad- emy is operating much like the other schools in the region. Parent teacher conferences are around the corner, and the students are gearing up for the winter holiday program. But unlike most, many functions of the charter school are done by volunteers. And currently, the lack of volunteers is creating stress for the academy’s four full-time staff members, said Amy Moore, the executive di- rector of the academy, at the board’s Nov. 9 meeting. “This is a source of anxiety for me,” Moore said. In order to adequately serve the school’s 21 students, Moore needs at least one person in the morning and one in the afternoon for breakfast and lunch five days a week. But the number of volunteers and how much time they can donate varies each week, often leaving Moore with running the breakfast service on her own. “Volunteers have been difficult to secure for many reasons, including scheduling. Af- ter the children’s center closed our volunteers found other organizations to support,” Moore said in an email. “Also many folks don’t know that we are truly open. We are working on our marketing this fall and winter.” Having teachers and herself running food service operations cuts into time Moore and her staff uses to prep for the day’s lessons. Without more volunteers, Moore said the school may have to cut breakfast service. See Academy, Page 7A ‘AFTER THE CHILDREN’S CENTER CLOSED OUR VOLUNTEERS FOUND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS TO SUPPORT. ALSO MANY FOLKS DON’T KNOW THAT WE ARE TRULY OPEN.’ Amy Moore, executive director of the academy PAID PERMIT NO. 97 ASTORIA, OR PRSRT STD US POSTAGE See Manager, Page 7A Artists find their muse in Cannon Beach Nature, art merge into a creative festival of magic to anyone who asked. Any collector, supporter or first-time buyer would be inspired by the collection of art represented. By Rebecca Herren Plein-air painter Anton Pavlenko is no stranger to the Oregon coast weather — fair or foul. Working in oils, his brushstrokes are bold and vibrant. He is a self-taught painter who creates paintings not so much from what he sees, but what he feels. “I strive to capture the essence of the landscape by working from a state of flow, where every stroke is effort- less.” Pavlenko’s plein air landscapes and cityscapes are based more on observation than on a visual snap- shot, preferring the changing, raw scenes of the outdoors. His still life, figurative and abstract works are also expressive depictions of nature, Cannon Beach Gazette REBECCA HERREN/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Oil painter Anton Pavlenko works on a new piece titled “Valencia Oranges” at DragonFire Gallery in Cannon Beach during the Stormy Weather Art Festival. The first weekend in November transforms art and the forces of na- ture into a magical festival of cre- ativity where artists, writers and mu- sicians gather at the annual Stormy Weather Arts Festival. For three days galleries, shops and churches are filled with visitors ready to brace the elements. There were new works of art from paint- ings to mixed media, bronze, glass, metal and woodworking. Visitors could catch an artist giving a talk or painting a new piece — and all were willing to discuss their process Anton Pavlenko oftentimes leaving the viewer with the role of interpreter. His new piece “Valencia Oranges” is filled with light, color, bold strokes of texture and pure expression. His work can be seen at Dragon- Fire Gallery. “I love DragonFire,” he said. “They make the work very ap- proachable.” Jeffrey Hull When you see art that offers a truly different perspective, it is dif- ficult not to notice. Jeffrey Hull nev- er ceases to impress. He constantly explores different techniques and approaches to the medium. Whether it is a watercolor or oil, each piece reaches new heights with a fresh twist. Hull is rarely far from the ocean’s edge where he finds inspiration from See Artists, Page 7A