2A • February 6, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
Side Rail  JON RAHL
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Have you taken a va-
cation or day trip through
Oregon recently or simply
sought out information at
a visitor center? If not in
Oregon, perhaps in another
neighboring state?
As I’ve written before,
one of our primary respon-
sibilities is managing a vis-
itor information center that
sees around 20,000 patrons
walk through our front
door each year.
Visitors are the lifeblood
of our community and of
many Oregon communi-
ties, for that matter. Many
times they are Oregonians
heading to other parts of
the state they call home,
but quite often they are
travelers from Washington,
Idaho, California or farther.
It’s becoming more and
more common for some
of those visitors to come
from another country. All
of them have questions and
the desire to experience
Oregon, which generally
translates to dollars spent in
our communities.
A critical way to assist
many of these visitors is
through the myriad visi-
tor information centers we
have across Oregon. From
Astoria in the northwest
corner to Ontario on the
eastern border, Lakeview
in the south central sec-
tion and Brookings in the
southwest corner, travelers
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operating for at least a por-
tion of every year through-
out the state.
That’s a pretty astound-
ing number when you stop
and think about it, and a
lot of places you can ask
for help when you need it.
It’s even more astonishing
when you consider that
many of the centers staff
volunteers that simply love
to talk about their home-
towns and all of the things
you can do there.
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ters have the distinguished
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Welcome Center, selected
and run through Travel Or-
egon. These nine strategic
locations are found at key
entry points across the state
(see graphic), and starting
in May, Seaside will be-
come one of the nine.
This is a great honor for
JON RAHL
the Seaside Visitors Bureau
and something we are very
excited about. While we
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ilization when one drives
across the Astoria Bridge,
bringing people from
Washington to Oregon, we
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centers people come across
once they head south along
U.S. Highway 101 from
that bridge. And with this
new role, we’ll carry close
to 100 more brochures than
we have in the past, making
our center that much more
of an asset and resource to
visitors and locals alike.
To help accommodate
SUBMITTED GRAPHIC
Oregon Welcome Centers listed in numerical order are: Seaside, Portland International Air-
port, Oregon City, Brookings, Ashland, Klamath Falls, Lakeview, Umatilla and Ontario.
this new role, we’ll be add-
ing a set of new brochure
racks later this spring and
have plans to install a new
kiosk in early summer that
will show inspirational
videos and help educate
visitors about many ac-
tivities. We believe it’s a
win-win for the state and
for Seaside. We’re a proud
organization that loves to
assist our many visitors,
and the state gains a part-
ner that can’t wait to get
started.
If you haven’t used our
center before, what are you
waiting for? Beginning
May 1, consider us your
one-stop resource for all
things Oregon!
Have a thought or
question about tourism
in Seaside, or maybe an
idea for a future column?
Send an email to jon@
seasideor.com. Jon Rahl is
the director of the Sea-
side Visitors Bureau and
assistant general manager
of the Seaside Civic &
Convention Center.
Scene and Heard  CLAIRE LOVELL
Movie showcases the courage of a prisoner of war
One Saturday, we were
guests of Dan and Catherine
Sellars for the movie, “Un-
broken.” It was a true story
of an Olympic athlete, Lou-
is Zamperini, who was a
prisoner of war in Japan. He
and his companions crashed
into the sea and were adrift
for close to two months,
starving and dying and eat-
ing some atrocious things.
We have no conception
of or appreciation for the
many actions of our service
men and women to protect
us, both then and now. We
should be thankful for them
every day. This soldier — I
think he was a bombardier
— returned from the service
to run in the Olympics one
more time. Many details of
the prison camp I can’t re-
call, but it happened, and
the movie was well worth
seeing. Angelina Jolie pro-
duced the movie because
she was so impressed by the
protagonist’s story, and he
approved the movie.
had only three meetings —
probably four by the time
you read this, so it’s still
possible to join in.
Name change
Old isn’t bad
At the Methodist Church,
some of us are enjoying a
seven-week course of stud-
ies and discussions on the
last third of life, its prob-
lems, solutions and atti-
tudes. Ron Crandall, former
Methodist pastor, conducts
the lively group, and we’ve
discovered that getting
old is not so bad. Sessions
CLAIRE LOVELL
are held in the Fireside
Room of the church every
Wednesday at 3 p.m. The
only charge is $9 for the
textbook — good reading
at any time. So far, we’ve
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WINTER HOURS (JANUARY-MARCH):
SUNDAY-THURSDAY 10-6, FRIDAY-SATURDAY 10-8
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Visiting doe
On Jan. 27, my little doe
friend visited again. This
is at least the fourth time
for her of which I’ve been
aware. She has grown so
much and was then rest-
ing against my back fence,
watching me and, of course,
understanding what I said.
The next phase is to give
her a name.
Super soup
Super Bowl turned up
several ways to use avoca-
dos and I’m trying the one
that says drop several chunks
into a bowl of chicken noo-
dle soup. Sounds like fun.
Laugh line
A 10- year-old under the
tutelage of her grandmother
was becoming quite knowl-
edgeable about the Bible.
Then one day she astonished
her grandmother by asking,
“Which virgin was the mother
of Jesus? The virgin Mary or
the King James vergin [sic]?”
(Borrowed from church.)
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SEASIDE FACTORY
OUTLET CENTER
When I was growing up,
there was the Astoria Hotel
and the Astor Column. Now
it seems to be turned around
to the Astor Hotel and the
Astoria Column. There
should be a vote or some-
thing in print. I’m sorry,
folks. Whenever I see that
monument on the hill, it will
always be the Astor Column
to me. Anything less sounds
so generic. Does anyone
ask, “Who was its name-
sake? Mr. Astoria?”
I had already written
these observations about
it when the paper arrived
with the “In One Ear” ex-
planation. Whatever is the
true name, I still prefer As-
tor Column. How could the
word “Astoria” represent
Lewis and Clark and all
the rest of history’s heroes?
Besides, those two guys be-
long to us.
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