VOL. 42, ISSUE 11
WWW.CANNONBEACHGAZETTE.COM
New staff
positions
drive up
budget
JUNE 1, 2018
A MEMORIAL DAY TRADITION
View from
the bridge
Transient room tax
revenues projected to
rise by 7 percent
By R.J. Marx
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
Cannon Beach Gazette
eterans, their families
and visitors stood in si-
lence shortly after 11
a.m. Monday to remem-
ber men and women of the armed
forces who served at home and
abroad.
Post member Jack Kerwin
served in the U.S. Marine Corps
1966 to 1969. He urged a remem-
brance not only of those who gave
their lives, but all who suffered in
the line of duty. “We have so much
to be grateful for, because of peo-
ple who were in the service, es-
pecially those who gave their life.
But there were so many wounded,
and we tend to forget about those,”
V
Emergency management is a full-time
job, City Manager Bruce St. Denis said in
presenting the city’s $18.6 million 2018-19
budget, about an 18 percent increase from
last year.
Cannon Beach would be the first city to
have a manager other than the county man-
ager, Tiffany Brown. In the past, St. Denis
noted, not having a full-time position has
resulted in less continuity in training. He
hopes a full-time person can put more effort
toward building a recovery plan in the event
of a major disaster.
“I think it’s important to have a full-time
position,” St. Denis said. “Emergency man-
agement can’t be done as a side job.”
R.J. MARX
Flowers thrown into the creek in honor of the
men and women fallen in war.
Kerwin said.
American Legion Commander
Dan Boehm has been attending
the ceremony on the Fir Street
bridge since 1979. “Over the years
it keeps getting bigger and bigger,”
he said, as the color guard headed
from Cannon Beach Elementary
School across the road to the Fir
Street Bridge.
A presentation and moment of
silence was followed by the play-
ing of taps, as participants cast
their flowers into the water below
to honor their loved ones. “It is
a remembrance worth making, a
tribute to those who uphold all that
America stands for,” Boehm said.
See Budget, Page 6A
Excavators
win $17.4M
construction
contract
Environmental permits
await approval
By R.J. Marx
Cannon Beach Gazette
The first bid package for the new Sea-
side Middle and High School site and util-
ities — storm, sanitary and water — was
awarded to Coffman Excavation of Clacka-
mas, according to project construction man-
ager Cary Bubenik.
Coffman’s base bid of $17.4 million
represents about 20 percent of the total con-
struction cost, senior project manager Jim
Henry said at the Tuesday, May 15, meeting
of the Seaside School District’s board of di-
rectors. “That’s a great milestone and gives
us a clear sense of where we’re going and
we’re on the right path.”
Coffman’s contract amount will be fi-
nalized over the next month as the design
is completed. “We are also working with a
local subcontractor on the electrical utilities
scope, however, that has not been award-
ed,” Bubenik said.
Dan Boehm plays Taps on
the Fir Street Bridge.
Permits await
The new campus, part of the existing
Seaside Heights Elementary School with
a property addition of about 50 acres to
the east, is located at 2000 Spruce Drive.
The 140,000-square-foot K-12 project will
include doubling the current elementary
school’s size to double the student capacity,
and a new middle and high school building
EVE MARX
“
‘We have so much to be grateful for, because of people who were in the service,
especially those who gave their life. But there were so many wounded,
and we tend to forget about those.’
—Jack Kerwin
American Legion post member who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, 1966 to 1969
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See School, Page 7A
Fans, friends turn out for Maggie Kitson fundraiser
More than $4,000 raised for
Maggie’s cancer treatment
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
More than $4,000 was raised in donations Satur-
day, May 19 during a concert held at Sweet Basil’s
Cafe Saturday, May 19, to benefit longtime local
musician Maggie Kitson.
Owner and chef John Sowa organized the benefit
concert, which featured four different bands, to raise
funds to help pay for surgery costs associated with
Kitson’s cancer diagnosis.
“I was shocked, I really was, at the amount of
money,” Sowa said. ‘It’s gratifying when something
like this turns out the right way. I’m an old city boy
from Brooklyn, so it just pleases me when I see a
small community like this come together.”
Sowa met Kitson when he moved to the area
in 1999. She and her band, Maggie and the Katz,
would play at his former restaurant, Little Bayou, in
PHOTOS BY BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Friends and fans were invited to sign a card for
local artist Maggie Kitson, who is battling cancer,
at Sweet Basil’s Cafe.
The Jackson Andrews musical duet plays at a
benefit concert for local artist Maggie Kitson at
Sweet Basil’s Cafe.
Seaside. Since then she has played in his restaurant
every Friday night.
Betsy Ayres, a longtime listener and friend of Kit-
son, was one of the many who came out to support
the cause Saturday. She first met Kitson “forever
ago” in town, and was enraptured by her singing tal-
ent and energetic, exuberant spirit.
“Cannon Beach used to be a really small place
and someone with a voice like that, you don’t over-
look her,” Ayres said. “She likes to have fun and
bring people together. She can bring a crowd to their
feet.”