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4A • November 17, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com Views from the Rock Conversations over eggs Benedict et’s go to Cannon Beach and pretend to be tourists, I said to my friend, Sandy. Some of my Gearhart friends enjoy an outing to Cannon Beach. It’s an interesting thing, but even though Cannon Beach, Seaside, Gearhart, and Warrenton all are part of the South County, each community has a distinctive social identity ranging from dead quiet to boisterous. Some of my Gearhart pals enjoy the sights, sounds, and feel of Cannon Beach’s glam beach buzz, as well as its restaurants and its galleries and shops. It always amuses me how fatigued they seem after only a few hours, happy to return to their peace and quiet and their elk. Sandy is my pal most game for adventure. We’ve only known each other a few years, but I get the impression she and her late husband spent a lot of time in Cannon Beach. Whenever we drive through town, she recalls VIEW FROM time they spent THE PORCH at the American EVE MARX Legion, or taking her mother out for breakfast at the Pig ’N Pancake. So when I blew it and the coffee shop I’d sug- gested we go to had a “Shut” sign on the door on a winter Wednesday, Sandy immediately suggested we go to the Wayfarer. It’s 11:30 a.m., she said. We could get breakfast or lunch. She was a little disappointed we didn’t score a window seat since I’d never been there before to appreciate the view, but the view is still pretty spectacular from most of the main daytime dining room. We were handed menus for both breakfast and lunch. While a very nice server went to get our coffees, Sandy and I considered food. I was torn between the lunch choice of a pumpkin squash risotto, or two of the breakfast items, eggs Benedict, or house-made granola with yogurt and fresh fruit. Sandy had her mind set on crab Benedict. After the server assured us the chef’s Hollandaise is the most delectable on the coast, I went for the eggs. I figured between the English muffin and the ham and the poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce notwith- standing, this dish would serve as my main meal for the day. It drives our 30-year-old son crazy, but his father and I have reached that metabolic point in our lives where we require only one big meal a day. You know, Sandy said, as we waited for our food, once upon a time John and I were having lunch here and right out the window, we saw a man taking off all his clothes. He came out of the water and just peeled off his bathing suit. He was so relaxed and natural, we figured he must be European. No American does that. He didn’t think it was a nude beach? I asked. Our food arrived and Sandy pointedly ignored the beautifully poached eggs that came with her meal and went straight for the crab. I should have told them to hold the eggs, she said. This is a waste of food. Go on, I said. I want to hear more about the naked man. Well he wasn’t naked for long, Sandy said. But for a minute or so while he air-dried, he was naked and so relaxed. It was a nice thing to see, she added. Someone acting so natural and confident about their body. How old was he? I asked. I don’t know, Sandy said offhandedly like she hadn’t really paid any attention to something like that. In his 20s or early 30s maybe. I thought I detected in her eye just the tiniest gleam. So he had a nice body, I said. Well, she said. It’s not like I looked the other way. The check came. As usual, we fought a little over it before she agreed to split. On the way out to the parking lot, Sandy asked if I’d enjoyed my meal. I certainly did, I said. And what an amazing view of the beach and Haystack Rock. It’s a million-dollar view. Thanks for sharing. And I absolutely loved your naked man story. L FILE PHOTO High waters ran through downtown streets in 2007. FACING THE TEST y natural disaster moment Church. Bob Neroni and Lenore Emory was in 1999 when of EVOO cooked a meal for volunteer Hurricane Floyd rode up firefighters as they made countless the Northeast coast. It emergency runs. came in on a Wednesday afternoon — Rose Mays and Cathy Willyard our newspaper’s deadline was Thursday knocked on doors at Elk Creek Terrace — and dumped 19 inches of rain on our to let residents there know about the small town. As the rain was bucketing community shelter at the church. In down, our office, on a hill, overlooked Tolovana Park, Bradley Linstedt joined a stone-and-masonry lot. The street — with others to cut away trees blocking turned into a fast-flowing basin — was roads. already too deep for a concrete truck to Restaurants and stores with get through. The police scanner — we perishable food were giving it away, still had power then — scratched out McCarthy recalled. The owners of the FILE PHOTO stories of stranded motorists, downed Driftwood barbecued on the Driftwood Headlines from the Gazette after the wires and closed roads. I ended up deck. Everybody checked in with their “Great Coastal Gale of 2007.” spending the night in the office, neighbors. People brought meals to the sleeping on the floor, using a cardboard church. box as a pillow. Human stories And yes, the paper did make its CANNON SHOTS deadline. Like the valor and bravery we R.J. MARX Nancy McCarthy’s moment came 10 witnessed time and again at Hurricane years ago. McCarthy, my predecessor Katrina, fighting wildfires, and this as editor at the Gazette and now a city year’s series of natural disasters, it is councilor, had moved to Cannon Beach these human stories we remember. lower than the top gusts of 147 at Radar fulltime earlier that year. December “I remember a neighbor of mine Ridge, west of Naselle, Washington. 2007 was her first winter. “I told myself came over with a bottle of wine to see What caused the most damage to if I could survive the first winter in how I was,” McCarthy said. “We sat at trees, power poles and buildings were Cannon Beach, I’d continue to live my kitchen table in the dark, with only the sustained winds that started Sunday here. So, the ‘Great Coastal Gale’ be- our headlamps on, drinking wine and came my test,” she told me this week. and didn’t end until Tuesday. talking into the night.” “The “Great Coastal Gale” was a When a roof truss came crashing The “Great Coastal Gale” had sev- eral lasting effects, but the major result euphemism for the hurricane we actual- through the roof of the home of the ly had,” McCarthy recalled. was the wake-up call it sent to the family of Craig Shepherd — hanging The wind reached 120 mph in some cities and counties on the North Coast. perilously over 18-year-old Ian Shep- herd — firefighters braved the high areas of the North Coast. “It reminded us that the tsunami “We didn’t have power for about winds to clear debris. isn’t the only emergency we should six days,” McCarthy said. “I remember Peter Shepherd, 16, and Julia, 13, prepare for,” McCarthy said. “In Can- non Beach, there was a huge push to hearing that 72 transformers had col- scrambled down the home’s narrow lapsed all up and down the coast.” create more preparedness committees, staircase, filled with so much debris Thousands of trees fell along the organize and train shelter volunteers, they had to jump from the stairs to the highway. hire an emergency consultant, develop living room. They waited in a back hall The wind and rainstorm blew into emergency plans and work with other under a door frame as the wind blew town for three days, from Dec. 2 to cities and especially the county.” out windows throughout the house. Dec. 4. In New York, in 1999, I remember To get to the scene, firefighters had McCarthy recalled that there was similar scenes, including the dramat- to cut through and remove three trees ic rescue of a father and son from a no means of communication with the from Elkwood Mountain Road, where basement filling with water outside world for several days, while power lines remained until a ham radio operator from ‘I TOLD MYSELF IF I COULD SURVIVE THE live. The risks were as Seaside could get to Cannon Beach. FIRST WINTER IN CANNON BEACH, I’D great for first responders “City officials thought they as for those in the rapidly CONTINUE TO LIVE HERE.’ could use their satellite radio, submerging waters. but that didn’t work, and the The next night, as NANCY McCARTHY | former editor of Cannon Beach Gazette cell towers were down, and, of damage and debris was course, the landlines weren’t surfacing, I remember one available,” she said. “The city couldn’t particularly poignant moment. The rain the Shepherds lived. Nearby trees even communicate with county officials was pouring and a house had virtually snapped constantly while crews sawed for a few days. That lack of ability to been washed away. But homeowner through huge logs. “I felt like a sitting communicate came as quite a surprise Larry Farrell was getting into his car, duck,” firefighter Matt Gardner said at to city officials.” holding a trombone case. He might not the time. have known how he was going to make After the winds settled and clearing ‘Worst storm’ it, but he was scheduled to play in the of debris, McCarthy wrote on the edito- “It’s the worst storm we have on rial page: “Through the darkness, all of pit orchestra for a Broadway musical. recent record that has hit our service the stars shine here in Cannon Beach.” “I’d love to talk,” he said to a re- porter. “But I’ve got a show to do.” area on the North Coast in terms of She recounted example after exam- ple of human kindness. duration and distance,” Mark Sampson The Daily Astorian and Cannon Mariner Market stayed open and of Pacific Power said in the Gazette at Beach Gazette are preparing a 10-year served coffee to drop-ins, while the time. More than 470 crews from all over anniversary special edition commemo- local restaurants provided free cof- Oregon and from as far away as Walla rating the storm of 2007. Please share fee and meals, she wrote at the time. Walla, Washington, and Utah, worked your memories of the 2007 storm with The restaurants operated by Martin to restore power from Tillamook to us. You can find us on the Cannon Hospitality — Wayfarer, Lumberyard, Astoria. Winds in Cannon Beach Stephanie Inn and Surfsand Resorts Beach Gazette Facebook page, or email “only” reached 80 mph, significantly rmarx@cannonbeachgazette.com. — brought meals to the Community M EVE MARX/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Brunch at the Wayfarer offered terrific views, great food and a place to meet a good friend. LETTERS Unprofessional treatment I am writing in response to the headline story in which the Clastop County Commission chairman, Scott Lee, calls for the resignation of Commissioner Lianne Thompson (“Lee calls for Thompson’s resignation,” The Daily Astorian, Oct. 26). Interim Publisher Heidi Wright Editor R.J. Marx Circulation Manager Jeremy Feldman Production Manager John D. Bruijn In all my 30-plus years of public service, never have I seen such unprofessional and inappropriate use of power in a locally elected board as that of the Clatsop County Commission for the past few years. I say this from a posi- tion of personal knowledge, having served as a Clatsop County commissioner in the late 1980s. I served with two Classified Sales Jamie Ramsdell Advertising Sales Holly Larkins Staff writer Brenna Visser Contributing writers Rebecca Herren Katherine Lacaze Eve Marx Nancy McCarthy other commissioners under the general law form of gov- ernance. When I was on the board of commissioners, if we didn’t agree on something we were at least respectful of each other’s right to an opin- ion or stand on an issue. We did not play out our disagree- ments in the local newspaper by calling out each other’s 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 transgressions. If a policy was breached, we discussed it like adults, and I do not remember any such public displays of disagreements or chastising one another. I am baffled as to why, if the county does not intend any disciplinary action, there was a public chiding of Commis- sioner Thompson at a board meeting. Upon reading the ar- 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 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. ticle, it appeared to this reader that she was being criticized for just doing her job. It is in- cumbent upon commissioners to keep up with the demands of the job of making policy, something I have known Commissioner Thompson to have done since she came on to the county board. She has been religious in attending conferences and summits that are of great importance to Clatsop Coun- ty. Her attendance this past summer at Pacific Northwest Economic Region did not go unnoticed. And, this group is not a “mutual admiration society not relevant to county business.” I have represent- ed Oregon on PNWER for See Letters, Page 6A THE NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING