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4A • May 18, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com Views from the Rock What we’ll be eating after a tsunami f the Big One hits, make friends with the chefs. Perhaps this wasn’t the lesson I was supposed to derive as a judge for the Blue Barrel Challenge on Saturday, but after tasting what could be made from just freeze-dried and foraged food by the right people, the competition showed me a post-tsuna- mi Cannon Beach could be down- right delicious. The cook-off was part of a larger Coastal Community Festival in Can- non Beach, a first-time event which centered around promoting public safety and emergency preparedness. The actual message of the cook-off was meant to promote the impor- tance of the blue barrel program in Cannon Beach, which encourages residents to store extra supplies — like food — out of the tsunami inundation zone. The competition included three chefs: Will Leroux, the head brew- master at Public Coast Brewing Co., John Sowa, reigning Iron Chef Goes Coastal champion and owner of Sweet Basil’s Café, and Mayor Sam Steidel, who, while not a profession- al chef, is known for his ability to cook with a cast iron skillet during Civil War reenactments. Each chef was given a pantry full of items that you would either find in an average blue barrel, such as canned foods, MREs and boil-in-a- bag rice, as well as items that could be foraged for in the area — which in this case was rainbow trout and a variety of edible leaves. For utensils? A cast-iron skillet, a wooden spoon I LIFE AT THE BEACH BRENNA VISSER and a Swiss army knife. Oh, and just in case that wasn’t difficult enough, it all had to be cooked over an open flame. This was my first time ever judging a cooking competition — so please take all of my food critiques with a grain of salt. But as I tast- ed incredibly intricate dishes like quinoa-crusted trout and a corn salsa with MRE peanut butter, I couldn’t help but think about how well we could fare given enough tools and resources — and how many modern amenities (like regular knives and dishware) we take for granted. Bob Neroni, owner of EVOO Cannon Beach Cooking School, organized the competition to try and drive home this point in a light-heart- ed way. “The seriousness of (a tsunami) scares us. When you can bring a little levity to a serious subject, it’s easier to digest,” Neroni said. A slow boil In 2012, Cannon Beach became the first city in the county to institute the blue barrel program. The blue barrels were promoted as a way to store and protect valuables out of the tsunami inundation zone. The program came out of some safety fo- rums held after 2011 Japan tsunami, Will Leroux, brewmaster at Public Coast Brewing Co., plates a filet of trout for the dish he created during the Blue Barrel Challenge at the Coastal Community Festival Saturday, May 12. Josh Archibald, executive chef for the Wayfarer Restaurant & Lounge, carries in the secret in- gredient used for the Blue Barrel Challenge. when a passion for emergency pre- paredness was reignited. The barrels went in tandem with town’s effort to establish general cache sites filled with critical medical and survival supplies. While Saturday’s competition focused on food storage, it also suggested people store items like extra clothing, copies of important documents, personal medicines and more. There are about 60 different barrels stored across three cache sites — a solid number, but one that has stayed relatively stagnant since the program’s inception. house is in the Pacific Ocean you still have those things,” Emergency Man- agement Consultant Stacy Burr said. “It’s especially important here, with no-notice events like Cascadia.” At the end of the day, the dishes made by Leroux and Sowa ended up tying for first place, with each getting a portion of the $350 raised during the event sent to the charities of their choice as awards. Maybe not everyone can cook like professional chefs in a post-di- saster world. But if this competition taught me anything, putting in a little more thought into emergency food storage can go a long way. BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Mayor Sam Steidel saw the competition as a way of bringing the program back into the public eye. “I looked at it as a good way to get the message out and have some fun at the same time,” Steidel said. While Cannon Beach is far from the only the community that has done work to relocate supplies and services out of the inundation zones, blue barrel programs are something specific to the Pacific Northwest. “A go-bag is just a backup — what you would need if were truly left on your own. The barrel on the other hand should have blankets in there, personal mementos, so if your Dear Dogsitter, please read carefully D ear Dogsitter, First and foremost, I’m so grateful you said yes! It’s so hard to get a pet-sitter around these parts. I know you’ve got a waiting list. Meanwhile, welcome to our mayhem. And thank you again for agreeing to take care of this crew. First, a refresher of their names: The ancient, blind, black and white tiny one is Rinaldo. The fluffy lame one is Basil. The beautiful little cinnamon-colored one is Lucy. She’s young, quite young. The other two are old, quite old. They eat breakfast around 8 a.m. No need to be exact, although Basil will bark at you until you feed him. They have their dinner around 4 p.m. Again, you don’t have to be exact. Their bowls are on the open shelving on the side of the refrigerator. The food is in a bag inside the pantry. There’s a scoop inside the bag. Basil gets two scoops; Rinaldo and Lucy each get one. You’ll have to put a piece of torn-up salami (in the fridge in that meat drawer) and mix it up with Basil and Rinaldo’s food. Lucy gets hers bare. Feed her first and then use a treat (also on the shelving with the dog dishes) to lure her into her crate. I just say, “Crate!” and she dives in. Give her a treat and shut the door. Don’t let her out until the others are finished or she will shove them off their food. We have a fenced-in yard so there’s no need to walk them out. As far as “out” give them ample opportunities to mosey around the back yard. If PUBLIC MEETINGS MONDAY, May 21 Ecola Creek Watershed Council Meet- ing, 4:30 p.m. City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. WEDNESDAY, May 23 VIEW FROM THE PORCH Cannon Beach Budget Committee, 5:30 p.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. EVE MARX THURSDAY, May 24 it’s nice and you want to leave the sliders open, you can all just hang out. Seriously, don’t walk them. They’re not that easy to walk and Lucy may not go anyway without Basil and she can’t be walked off leash or she will bolt. Long story short, don’t walk them. They’ll be fine. Lucy is playful; you could throw a ball around for her, although she’s lousy at bringing it back. If she gives you a hard time coming back inside the house, just yell “Treat!” and she’ll come running. Obviously you have to give her a treat or she’ll know she’s been lied to and won’t come the next time. She’s clever like that. Rinaldo should be picked up and carried around. Please ignore his nasty, growling, mean Chihuahua sounds. He has no teeth in any case. He does like to wander around the kitchen look- ing for crumbs. That is his primary activity. He goes outdoors, but mostly uses wee-wee pads. Very annoyingly, he only will use them once, which is very wasteful, but what can you do? He’s old. Sometimes he misses. That’s where the paper towels come in. There’s plenty on the counter. If you have any questions or problems, call or text me although I expect this party we’re going to will be rather loud and I might not hear my phone. Cannon Beach Planning Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. TUESDAY, June 5 Cannon Beach City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. MONDAY, June 11 Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection Dis- trict, 6 p.m., 188 Sunset, Cannon Beach. TUESDAY, June 12 Cannon Beach City Council, 5:30 p.m., work session, City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. THURSDAY, June 14 EVE MARX Cannon Beach Academy, 5:30 p.m. 3718 S. Hemlock St. Instructions can get pretty complicated. TUESDAY, June 19 I’ve left you some teabags, and the mugs are in the upper cabinet just left of the stove. The dogs drink a fair amount of water, by the way. Sometimes when you wonder what Rinaldo is doing, he’s just walking around, looking for the water. Don’t mind if he barks a lot. He’s just talking. Hope you enjoy your time at my house! Thanks again so much, and notice I’ve left you the Wi-Fi password. Thank you! Cannon Beach Public Works Commit- tee, 9 a.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. Seaside School District Board of Di- rectors, 6 p.m., 1801 S. Franklin, Seaside. TUESDAY, June 21 Cannon Beach Design Review Board Meeting, 6 p.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. THURSDAY, June 28 Cannon Beach Planning Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. LETTERS A vote for blackbird Attend foredune meeting Not many days before learning that the red-winged blackbird was being considered as the Cannon Beach city bird, we had walked to the post office early one morning. As we lingered along the new side- walk by the wetlands on Spruce, we delighted in the symphony of sound from the orchestra of red-winged blackbirds. At the time we thought, “What a gift to live in a city where such an experience is possible!” Normally, we walk the beach every morning and have never seen a puffin. Granted, we can go to Hay- stack Rock during mating season and be fortunate to have a puffin pointed out, but it would be a rare opportunity rather than a readily experienced part of the city. Because of their distinctive flash of red and simple, melodious song, red-winged blackbirds are easy to spot, so even the inexperienced can have the pleasure of recognizing them. Please count us as supporters of choosing the red-winged black- bird to represent the city of Cannon Beach. Diane and Rex Amos Cannon Beach Publisher Kari Borgen Editor R.J. Marx Circulation Manager Jeremy Feldman Production Manager John D. Bruijn Cannon Beach’s process for updating the Foredune Management Plan has been hijacked by a small minority of beachfront homeowners. This self-concerned group has hired a Portland attorney and threatened litigation against the city unless they get their own way. And guess what, their tactics are working! Let me show you how. At the April 26 planning com- mission meeting, city planner Mark Barnes, stated that the sole purpose of the DOGAMI study was to update the perimeters for dune grading for view enhancement. Quoting from the meeting’s audio, “If we were going to shut it (dune grading) down we would not have spent the money on the Allen report. You don’t need to have an updated report if you’re going to end the program.” This news was shocking to me and many others. As a second-generation Cannon Beach property owner, who has been following dune-grading requests and practices for years, I am truly worried for our beach’s future. A small, vocal minority of beachfront owners looking to restore their views, at the expense of turning our pristine beach Advertising Sales Holly Larkins Classified Sales Danielle Fisher Staff writer Brenna Visser Contributing writers Rebecca Herren Katherine Lacaze Eve Marx Nancy McCarthy into a permeant construction zone, are now unduly influencing planning policy. At the same meeting, Barnes re- vealed he had made numerous chang- es to the CREST planning report without direction from the Planning Commission or City Council. When pressed by Commissioner Kerr as to why, Barnes responded, “Once there was testimony from, ah, Breaker’s Point representatives that the num- bers we had in a previous document was not going to be enough to, ah, break even with the accretion rate. So, I boosted that number.” Why are Breaker’s Point represen- tatives dictating — literally — Can- non Beach’s Foredune Management Plan’s numbers? Why would the city spend the money on the Allen report if they were only going to take dictation from Breaker’s Point representative to establish their new dune manage- ment plan? This new plan will decide the future of our beach for years to come. This task requires a city planner who isn’t taking dictation from Breaker’s Point or any other small vocal group. Last year we celebrated Tom Mc- 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 Call’s Beach Bill’s 50th anniversary. The bill gave all of us equal rights to enjoy 380 miles of glorious coastline. At the bill’s signing Tom McCall said, “No local selfish interest should be permitted, through politics or oth- erwise, to destroy or even impair this great birthright of our people.” The next Planning Commission meeting is at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 24, at Cannon Beach City Hall. Please join us in demanding the most rigorous protection of this, our collective birthright. Dianna Turner Cannon Beach North Coast awakens It is with great pleasure that we should applaud the many candidates who are seeking elected office. There are two major issues for candidates to get their arms around. First, by any measure, is the area’s preparedness for a Cascadia event. With FEMA projections of several thousand area deaths, most of them in Seaside, Warrenton, and Gear- hart, elected leaders should start to discuss midtown tsunami escape shelters. While evacuation maps POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cannon Beach Gazette, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Copyright 2018 © Cannon Beach Gazette. Nothing can be reprinted or copied without consent of the owners. draw escape routes, none of them point out that evacuation into the hills is just not physically possible for most by foot. Unless they are an Olympic sprinter, the time available between the earthquake and the tsunami is not sufficient for many residents and visitors. State, county, and city governments seem to be aware that many existing bridges will be destroyed by the earthquake, rendering many of the designated escape routes unfeasible, but instead, spend their time and treasure on planning new rec centers, better jails, and bigger convention centers. There appears to be little appetite for planning for the period after a Cascadia event by any agency of government. “Well I survived and I still have a house,” but Pacific Pow- er is three to six months away from providing you any power. Welcome to Puerto Rico West. The second major issue is afford- able housing. The North Coast has been the beneficiary of the growth that has taken place in the Northwest and therefore the increased demand for beach recreation. Many say that See Letters, Page 5A THE NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING
