4A • August 21, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
SignalViewpoints
BiJ shRes tR ¿ ll at the YRlleyEall tRXrnaPent
S EEN FROM S EASIDE
L
ongtime Seaside Cham-
ber of Commerce events
coordinator Doug Barker
will step down from his pivot-
al role with the Seaside Beach
Volleyball Tournament. Not that
he hasn’t tried before — this is
considered his “third annual re-
tirement.”
According to chamber mem-
bers, Barker’s title of events co-
ordinator doesn’t begin to cover
his role in the tournament’s suc-
cess.
“We can never replace Doug
Barker,” Seaside Chamber of
Commerce President Susan
Huntington said at the cham-
ber’s weekly breakfast at Twist-
ed Fish, Friday, Aug. 14. “Hon-
estly, if we were going to split
Doug, we’d need a couple other
people.”
When a visitor stepped on
glass, it was Barker who re-
sponded, she said.
When workers were needed
to break down tents, he found
helpers from the fire depart-
ment.
“Doug was everywhere at the
volleyball tournament,” Bruce
T. Smith of North Coast Records
added. “He was ¿ [ing electrical
stuff. He was handing out salt
bags. When the wind kicked up,
he personally buried those pole
tents. Doug, thank you.”
“This town has gotten spoiled
by him,” Huntington said.
“Would we be e[pected to ¿ nd
B Y
R.J.
MARX
Keeping the event running
smoothly has ‘been a
beast, like having an
electric eel in your hand,’
chamber president Susan
Huntington said.
R.J. MARX PHOTO
Ken Heman, Sandy McDowall, Doug Barker, Chuck Minor, Cyndi Mudge,
Bruce Smith and Susan Huntington, key organizers for the 2015 volley-
ball tournament, the largest amateur beach volleyball tournament in the
world.
somebody who’s also an EMT
and a ¿ re¿ ghter"”
Behind the scenes
Barker’s retirement comes on
the heels of one of the most suc-
cessful tournaments in its history.
“We had a few hiccups, but
overall it was the best I’ve seen,”
volunteer Sandy MacDowa-
ll said. MacDowall, along with
Cheryl Barker managed the reg-
istration tent.
On Saturday, winds kicked
up, blowing sand. When sudden
showers hit, spectators used um-
brellas, sweatshirts and jackets
for cover.
The dou-
bles duo
of Ramsey-
Hinkley
is doused
after their
victory in
the Women’s
Open Cham-
pionship
Saturday,
Aug. 8.
“But nobody left their seats,”
he said.
When
one
construction
crew was short-handed, Barker
coa[ed three members of Sea-
side Fire and Rescue to help out.
Barker said the crew was “the
best I’ve had. Tents were set up
in record time.”
Organizers had original-
ly contracted the services of a
Portland-based commentator to
provide play-by-play for main
events, but quickly discovered
he was unprepared for the event.
Radio production director Ken
Heman of Ohana Media Group
and Bruce T. Smith of North
Coast Records were pressed into
duty.
“We were literally looking at
Wikipedia, ‘What’s the differ-
ence being a dig and a save"’”
Smith said.
Despite unfamiliarity with the
¿ ner points of the sport, chamber
members heard reports that their
effort was the best commentary
the tournament has had.
front-loader, getting courts set
up and taken down.
As for play-by-play, Smith
and Heman are eager to step
back into the announcers’ booth.
Smith told chamber members he
had already purchased a beach
volleyball rules book to help
prepare for ne[t year’s tourna-
ment.
Along with a new events
manager and announcers, the
chamber will be awarding a new
contract to a volleyball associa-
tion to manage the sports aspect
of the event.
JEFF TER HAR/FOR EO MEDIA GROUP
The stats
A record 1,509 teams came to
Seaside for the tournament,
the largest amateur event of
its kind.
Divisions ranged from par-
ent-and-child to Masters 55+,
along with Men, Women and
Co-ed Open Divisions that
featured current and retired
Associated of Volleyball Pro-
fessional ranked players.
The team of Ramsey-Hinkley
won the Women’s Open
Championship Saturday,
followed by a victory for
Matt Lebourdais and Jonny
Wiskar in the Men’s Open title
match.
Wait till next year!
JEFF TER HAR/FOR EO MEDIA GROUP
In 2016, chamber member
Glen Rogers will assume many
of the duties previously handled
by Barker, including driving the
The chamber’s three-year
contract with North Paci¿ c
Beach Volleyball Association
e[pired this summer. The cham-
ber is considering bids from
NPBVA and groups throughout
the Northwest, including Port-
land and northern California.
Chamber members also antic-
ipate an increase in vendors and
sponsorships. This year many
vendors were so successful they
ran out of product, Huntington
said.
With corporate sponsors
like Budweiser, Rite-Aid, Clif
Bar and the National Guard,
Huntington said she anticipat-
ed that list would grow. “Our
goals wrap around not only hav-
ing hundreds more teams than
we’ve ever had before, but to
keep running a smooth opera-
tion, trying to incorporate into
the community,” she said. “It’s
been a beast, like having an
electric eel in your hand.”
Matt Lebourdais, right, tries to stuff
a kill attempt in the Men’s Open
Championship Saturday in the Sea-
side Beach Volleyball Tournament.
Astoria’s Noelle Lund and
Danielle Moyer fi nished in
the top 16 out of 43 teams in
the Women’s BB doubles di-
vision, while the tournament
draws players from around
the state, the Pacifi c North-
west, and usually a number
of competitors from Canada.
Scene and Heard CLAIRE LOVELL
1RstalJia IRr the thrillinJ rRPantic days RI the Sast
They’re beginning to
talk on TV about the an-
niversary of Israel becom-
ing a state. I can remem-
ber when that happened in
1948. Young people from
all over the world traveled
there and began to make
the desert bloom. Life mag-
azine wrote all about it. The
young Jews formed kibbut-
zim, marked off sections
of land, raised gardens and
formed a communal soci-
ety. They worked very hard
building a new life. In to-
day’s world, I’m sure one
could Google the article
and bring that period back.
No doubt I’m wrong on
some details.
There was a lot of nos-
talgia in the stories about
Tourist No. 2 ferry in re-
cent days. The article was
concerned with her being
in Bremerton where my
daughter Robin lives. Rob-
in’s dad Skip Hill worked
aboard the ferry comman-
deered as a mine planter in
the Columbia during World
War II. She was kind of a
tub at the time, so it was
dangerous duty. Skip was
stationed at Fort Stevens
then as a staff sergeant
in the harbor defenses of
the Columbia. He mostly
worked in communications
in the radio shack. He was
there when the Japanese
sub ¿ red on the fort. Those
were thrilling and romantic
days, scary, too. It was a
time when I learned Morse
code myself. We had a key
so I was able to practice
sending for a while, but
never got pro¿ cient enough
CLAIRE LOVELL
to copy e[cept random
letters. Sometimes I wish
I’d gotten my ham radio
license.You may have sus-
pected that I’m one of those
“stop the world; I want to
get off” people. I never ap-
preciated that they changed
perhaps all the names of the
Obituaries
JoAnn Helen Walker
Sept. 9, 1936 — July 28, 2015
JoAnn Helen Walker was
born in Brainerd, Minn., to
her parents, Earl and Alma
(Carlson) Walker. She at-
tended Warrenton Schools.
She married Edwin
Brown, with whom she
raised her ¿ ve children in
Gearhart, Ore. She later
married twice more, Donald
Forrester and Herbert (Ed)
Berg. She spent the major-
ity of her life on the North
Oregon and Southwest
Washington coast.
JoAnn worked for many
years at Public Market, lat-
er Thriftway grocery store,
in Seaside, Ore. She and Ed
Berg also owned and oper-
ated Faraway Farms in Sea-
side.
JoAnn is survived by her
daughter, Sally Brown (Joy
Martin); sons, Steve (Val-
erie), Scott (Debbie) and
Jeff (Gloria) Brown; two
JoAnn Walker
grandchildren, Brenda and
Adam Brown; and the light
of her life, great-grandson
Jered Rovario. Surviv-
ing brothers include Da-
rald (Darlene) and James
(Rutha) Walker, as well as
numerous nieces, nephews,
and friends. She was pre-
ceded in death by her hus-
bands; son, Jerry Brown;
DEATHS
Aug. 6, 2015
brothers, Orville, Robert,
Jack and Jerry Walker; and
her sister, Shirley Shelton
(Walker).
JoAnn spent her last
few years in Ilwaco, Wash.,
close to family and friends.
She was always interested
in what others were do-
ing, had a fond memory of
the past while enjoying the
present, and was known for
her love of family and her
many friends.
Her passion was her yard
and gardens, with begonias
as her favorite. She was an
avid collector, but it was in
her yard and with her À ow-
ers where she would be
found, knees in the dirt and
a smile on her face.
As per her request, there
will be no formal service,
but rather the encourage-
ment to enjoy your family,
friends and À owers.
GLEESON, Pauline Lenore, 89, of Astoria, died in Gearhart. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton
Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
code letters, for instance.
What good did that do"
One evening when I
took a walk, Roger Thomp-
son was in his yard to give
me a little advice. He said
I should walk faster, ha. I
also sort of met his neigh-
bor’s dog Belize, who often
barks as I go by. Belize,
also known as “B,” likes to
chase sticks and is ¿ ne if
you get to know him. Rog-
er also told me that some
family on 11th Avenue had
a bear in their yard one day.
According to the proposed
e[tension of Seaside’s
growth boundaries farther
into the hills, (egad) we
may e[pect more cougars
and other wild animals to
come down and visit, too.
Why do we need more
growth anyway" There are
lots of houses for sale. No
one seems to be able to let
well enough alone.
I was interested in Jor-
jett Strumme’s letter to the
editor. In Depression times,
sweeping the street before
the beginning of the busi-
ness day was what every-
one did in front of his store.
That was also the time when
merchants e[changed a few
words with each other.
Friday afternoon, Al-
vis Porter took me along
to the ice cream social at
the new food bank on N.
Roosevelt. Specialty of the
day was black cherry ice
cream — really good with
hot coffee. We arrived late
so there weren’t many peo-
ple but obviously they had
served a lot of visitors. A
duo of guitar-harmonica
and bass playing Western
tunes pepped up the crowd.
E[cept for too much wind
blowing through, it was a
nice, sunny time and the
new food bank is a great
addition to our services.
/aXJh lines
A fellow swiped a can of
peaches in a grocery store
and ended up in front of a
judge. “How many peaches
are in the can"” asked the
judge. “Five” was his re-
ply. “OK, that will be ¿ ve
months in jail for each piece
of fruit or 25 months,” said
the judge. “Wait a minute,
judge,” offered his wife.
“He stole a can of peas,
too.”
When did an aileron
become a À aperon" Or are
they the same"
Zumba night benefi ts
Campuzano family
REX AMOS/FOR THE CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Victor and Carmen Campuzano with Father Nicholas Nilema at the Zumba fundraiser
for the Campuzanos. While traveling to Mexico in January, the family suff ered a theft of
two vehicles and personal items. The fundraiser was held at Seaside High School Friday,
Aug. 7 and raised more than $1,000 for the family.
