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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (July 13, 2018)
VOL. 42, ISSUE 14 WWW.CANNONBEACHGAZETTE.COM JULY 13, 2018 Bacteria spikes in water outfalls Higher levels at Chisana Creek, Ecola Court By Brenna Visser Cannon Beach Gazette BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Sierra Shea glues on a piece of paper onto her collage at the visual arts camp hosted by the Cannon Beach Arts Association. MediumCool More than 100 participate in 16th annual visual arts camp By Brenna Visser Cannon Beach Gazette E very nook and cranny of the Cannon Beach Com- munity Church was filled with some form of art Monday afternoon. By the sanctuary, students silently and mindful- ly painted designs with watercolors. In the nursery, children decoupaged mushrooms out of cardboard, colorful paper and shreds of old book pages. Down in the basement, teenagers rolled clay in their hands until their fingers were dyed a rainbow of colors in preparation to make stop motion videos with clay figurines. These activities were the start to a week long visual arts camp hosted by the Cannon Beach Arts Association. In its 16th year, about 100 kids and adults from all across the North Coast signed up to take a variety of painting, crafting and movement classes. “This is something I look forward to all year,” arts edu- cation director Meagan Sokol said. “Just seeing these kids blossom at the end of the week in incredible. I see how they are transformed by art.” This year, several new classes were added, including a songwriting and portfolio workshop with local musician Evan Jiroudek, a collage clothing class, a mixed-media painting classes that uses recycled materials and a tutorial on how to create a stop-motion video. But one of the most noticeable difference at this year’s camp was the age of some of the participants. “Parents and guardians have been able to join their kids in classes before, but this is the first year we’ve had adult camp,” Sokol said. “Some parents just wanted a space all to themselves to do art. So now they can drop off their kids and head off to their own projects.” At the end of the week, students will be able to share their creations at the camp’s first ever pop-up show at the gallery, “By the Sea, Art and Me.” Sokol felt it was important to have a formal gallery showing. When she was a child at art camp, she said being able to show her work played a large role in leading her to a career in art therapy. “It led me to do this with my life, and I wanted the kids to have that same experience,” she said. Bacteria levels in late June at the Chis- ana Creek outfall near Tolovana State Park that measured more than three times what is considered safe by the U.S. Environmen- tal Protection Agency are now back to safe levels. Routine sampling conducted through the Oregon Beach Monitoring Program found readings at two freshwater outfalls to ex- ceed the state’s recreational water standard of 130 mpn, or most probable number, a testing method used to estimate the number of colony forming units of bacteria in water samples. The Chisana Creek outfall registered at 465 mpn. The Ecola Court outfall pipe hit 134 mpn. See Water, Page 6A Tourism grant causes controversy Cannon Beach pulls money for bike trails By Brenna Visser Cannon Beach Gazette BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Jasper Lycette shows Meagan Sokol, the Arts Education Di- rector at Cannon Beach Arts Association, a booklet he made during a book binding class during the visual arts camp. BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Sierra Shea and Jocelyn Johnson work on decoupaging a mushroom at the visual arts camp hosted by the Cannon Beach Arts Association. In a rare move, the Cannon Beach City Council has pulled grant money the city’s Tourism and Arts Commission had recom- mended for a controversial trail project. The Northwest Trail Alliance wanted the grant for a network of bicycle trails on pri- vate timberland near Klootchy Creek Coun- ty Park off U.S. Highway 26. But city councilors and others were con- cerned the request was not related to the arts, was not within city limits, raised legal questions, and had no measurable benefit to the local lodging community. In a 3-2 vote, the City Council moved the $12,143 into a reserve. It is rare for the council to break from the commission’s rec- ommendation. “We hate to go against the committee’s recommendation, but (the project) just didn’t fit,” City Councilor Mike Benefield said. “If we’re going to fund trails, let’s en- hance trails in Cannon Beach rather than spending money out in the county.” Matthew Weintraub, the vice president of the Northwest Trail Alliance, said the al- liance is disappointed in the decision. “It is disappointing for the Tourism and Arts Commission, as it undermines their work and expertise they put into evaluating the proposals and presentations,” he said. PAID PERMIT NO. 97 ASTORIA, OR PRSRT STD US POSTAGE See Tourism, Page 6A Marine life is a passion for this Miami native Bilingual outreach at Haystack Rock By Brenna Visser Cannon Beach Gazette For as long as she can remember, Andrea Suarez has had a passion for marine life. As a child living in Miami, Florida, much of her childhood was laced with days on the beach, exploring seaweed patches, or enjoying the occasional day trip to Sea World. She remembers a news broadcast of a bottlenose dol- phin that had washed ashore. She cried to her parents, begging for them to take her to the beach, so she could help push the dolphin back into the sea. While Suarez wasn’t able to save the dolphin that day, she will have the chance to protect sea life as a new coordinator for the Haystack Rock BRENNA VISSER Andrea Suarez is the new bilin- gual coordinator at Haystack Rock Awareness Program. Awareness Program. In a newly-cre- ated position, Suarez will manage the beach wheelchair program and take the lead on all bilingual interpretation — two new endeavors for the 33-year- old program. “When they offered me the job I couldn’t believe it,” Suarez said. “Be- ing on the beach, helping people … You’re going to pay me money for this?” As a student at Miami Dade Col- lege, Suarez originally went into hospitality and tourism management. “Because that’s the way you get to work on the beach in Florida,” she said. But Suarez’s interest in marine life and science refused to wane. Her ma- jor gradually drifted away from hos- pitality and more into marine science, until she eventually ended up with a general associate degree with a focus in science. “It’s a passion I’ve always come back to,” Suarez said. Suarez moved to the North Coast about three years ago with her partner at the time, who was stationed in Asto- ria with the Coast Guard. They eventu- ally split, but Suarez had already fall- en in love with the beauty of the area. She found an opportunity to volun- teer with the awareness program, and eventually was promoted to be a paid, lead interpreter. A few months ago, Pooka Rice, the program’s outreach coordinator, talked to her about using her dual language skills to translate signs and educational materials into Spanish. Overall, the goal is to make the program more inclusive to the Lati- no community by developing more programs and classes in Spanish over time, Suarez said. But Suarez has already noticed the difference being bilingual can make on the beach. See Suarez, Page 2A