Merry Christmas
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM • COMPLIMENTARY COPY
OUR 109th YEAR • December 25, 2015
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City Council approves budget
changes to coincide with audit
By Katherine Lacaze
Seaside Signal
The city of Seaside recently was audit-
ed for ¿ scal year - and the city¶s
¿ nances are in Jood shaSe accordinJ to
city staff.
'urinJ the 0onday 'ec. Seaside
&ity &ouncil PeetinJ 5ichard 3roul[ of
3ortland-Eased .ern ThoPSson cer-
ti¿ ed SuElic accountants Sresented the
results of an audit of the city¶s ¿ nancial
statePents froP the - ¿ scal year
endinJ -une . The audit was coPSleted
in 1oYePEer.
.ern ThoPSson reYiewed the ¿ nan-
cial statePents of Seaside¶s JoYernPental
actiYities Eusiness-tySe actiYities each
PaMor fund and the aJJreJate rePaininJ
fund inforPation ³to oEtain reasonaEle as-
surance aEout whether the ¿ nancial state-
ments are free from material misstate-
ment´ the reSort states. The audit also
eYaluated the aSSroSriateness of account-
inJ Solicies used and the reasonaEleness
of siJni¿ cant accountinJ estimates made
Ey city manaJement in addition to the
oYerall Sresentation of the ¿ nancial state-
ments accordinJ to the reSort. The audit
was done accordinJ to federal standards.
See Audit, Page 6A
WENDY RICHARDSON
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of Wendy
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Seaside Signal
KATHERINE LACAZE/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Seaside resident Kristi Israel is a huge Christmas fan. Her holiday spirit is evident in the
display of lights, decorations and music at her home on Skyline Drive.
Israels give Skyline Drive home a holiday makeover with elaborate decorations
By Katherine Lacaze
Seaside Signal
KATHERINE LACAZE/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Seaside resident Kristi
Israel, pictured with her
7-year-old son Kane, is a
huge Christmas fan.
easide resident .risti ,srael loves
the &hristmas season. Her Sen-
chant for the holiday is made ev-
ident if Ey no other means throuJh her
Eeautifully decorated home on Skyline
Drive.
S
Since movinJ in aEout ¿ ve years aJo
and also at her Srevious residence ,sra-
el has celeErated the season Ey swathinJ
her home in liJhts inÀ ataEle snowmen
illuminated candy canes and more.
“,¶m a EiJ &hristmas fan´ ,srael
said. “, always have Eeen.´
See Lights, Page 9A
&ommunity memEers Eusiness lead-
ers and co-workers at The Daily Astori-
an and Seaside SiJnal mourn the sudden
loss of :endy 5ichardson. 5ichardson
a :arrenton resident was a lonJtime
South &ounty adYocate and had Eeen an
adYertisinJ reSresentatiYe for SuElications
since .
5ichardson suffered an aneurysm Sun-
day afternoon. She was À own Yia /ife
)liJht 1etwork to 3roYidence 3ortland
0edical &enter and was remoYed from life
suSSort Sunday niJht at S.m. accord-
inJ to family memEers. She died 0onday
afternoon.
³,t is immensely sad this morninJ to
reSort that :endy 5ichardson died this
weekend´ (2 0edia *rouS 3uElisher
SteYe )orrester said 0onday. ³:endy was
widely admired and loYed in Seaside and
she was well known in &annon %each
where she owned a Eusiness years aJo.´
5ichardson is surYiYed Ey her hus-
Eand Al 5ichardson to whom she was
married for years and three children
Ali[ Andie and 1ick . They
recently moved to Warrenton after many
years in *earhart.
+er mother Dorie Shannon died in
.
+er father 5oJer Shannon survives
her. She is also survived Ey three Erothers
-eff Scott and 5andy Shannon and two
steSdauJhters Tiffany +unt and *retchen
Teevin and ¿ ve Jrandchildren.
Wendy Shannon was Eorn 0arch
in San -uan 3uerto 5ico where her
father served in the 8.S. &oast *uard.
5oJer Shannon served three &latsoS
&ounty tours with the 8.S. &oast *uard
and retired in Astoria.
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
See Wendy, Page 8A
Homelessness doesn¶t take a holiday
Helping Hands raising
awareness, funds to
assist those in need
through the winter
months
By Katherine Lacaze
Seaside Signal
As the end of the year
aSSroaches accomSanied
Ey a slew of annual holi-
days +elSinJ +ands 5e-
entry 2utreach &enters is
encouraJinJ the communi-
ty not to forJet those whose
season is not all too merry
and EriJht.
The
Seaside-Eased
nonSro¿ t orJani]ation is
runninJ its third annual
Homeless For the Holidays
camSaiJn to raise aware-
ness and funds to suSSort
homeless individuals and
families throuJhout the win-
ter months. The camSaiJn
started 1ov. .
Already in the or-
Jani]ation has Srovided
services to more than
women men and children.
The niJhtly need increases
in DecemEer and -anuary
and conseTuently the or-
Jani]ation¶s e[Senses ³Must
aEout douEle´ as it tries to
assist everyone accordinJ
to &hief ([ecutive 2f¿ ce
Alan (vans. (sSecially with
the recent storms across the
3aci¿ c 1orthwest SeoSle
¿ nd themselves disSlaced
and with nowhere to Jo.
“Now is the hardest time
of year for everyEody´ (v-
ans said. “We always reach
out for helS from our suS-
Sorters hoSinJ that you will
donate your end-of-the-year
Jift to HelSinJ Hands. The
oEstacles SeoSle are facinJ
to stay aÀ oat are devastatinJ
and the stories are real.´
/isa &hamEers of
Astoria can relate.
This time last year she
was JoinJ throuJh HelSinJ
See Homeless, Page 9A
KATHERINE LACAZE/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Lisa Chambers, of Astoria, is enjoying a holiday season with
her 8-year-old son Zar. A year ago, the two were separated
and Chambers was going through Helping Hands’ reentry
program.