4A February 5, 2016 Seaside Signal seasidesignal.com
SignalViewpoints
When clam diJJers stepped in
to save the Necanicum Estuary
Scholarship set
up in memory
of Wendy
Richardson
Student who demonstrates excellent
community service will be awarded
By Katherine Lacaze
Seaside Signal
NEAL MAINE/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL
Rocks hauled in during the 1960s remain littering the estuary.
S
easide’s Neal Maine still remem-
bers the battle over development in
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
Sunset Cove in Seaside. He sees the
R.J.
MARX
results of it every day. A sand berm built
by developers is ¿ nally breaNinJ doZn.
5oFNs and debris dumped in the estuary
almost a half-Fentury aJo Fontinue to litter
tion from the Army Corps of EnJineers
the shoreline.
³:e’re still livinJ Zith the roFN that 2reJon Attorney *eneral Robert 7horn-
Zas put there in ´ Maine said. ton charJed seven heavy eTuipment oper-
³:e’re still livinJ Zith it and it’s basiFally ators and the project superintendent Zith
FontaminatinJ the estuary for the rest of “Zanton Zaste of ra]or clams.´
time.´
“Some old codJer remembered some-
7he -aFre site Zas purFhased from Zhere in the ¿ sh and Jame laZs that it Zas
the Fity in and by faFed the re- aJainst the laZ to drive on clam beds´
vieZ proFess. ,t Falled for homes Zith Maine said. “7he ¿ sh and Jame Zardens
streets seZers and underJround ZirinJ on Zrote the driver up.´
a sand spit above the Necanicum Estuary
NeiJhbors and clam diJJers demanded
over *earhart. /ots ranJed from a mini- that the ¿ ll be removed and the ¿ rm forced
mum of to sTuare feet.
to pay a penalty of for “Zanton
7he proMect had some inÀ uential propo- damaJe to the clam beds.´
nents includinJ 5ep. :illiam Holmstrom
,n a district court demanded the
of *earhart 3resident of the Sunset Cove removal of the construction rocN hoZ-
Corporation and a member of the 2reJon ever a federal appeals judJe modi¿ ed
House of Representatives.
the decision to “re-
Despite
ob-
Tuire the removal of as
jections
from
much of the riprap as
neiJhbors en-
Zill permit nature «
vironmentalists
to taNe its course.´
and the Army
%y nature
Corps of EnJi-
had already taNen
neers a Clatsop
its course. EiJht
County
Circuit
property oZners in
Court judJe 2.ed
north Seaside faced
a mininJ permit to
losinJ their homes
move sand from
after the estuary’s
the estuary and re-
diverted
Zaters
place it Zith rocN.
beJan eatinJ aZay
7here Zas a dif-
The plan made headlines in 1968.
at their homes. The
ferent mind-set bacN
homeoZners Zere
then Maine said ³,f it maNes another reTuired to add additional rocN retaininJ
bucN then do it.´
Zalls to protect their properties.
Construction creZs Zent to ZorN
Despite the rulinJs and damaJe to the
brinJinJ in rocN and ¿ ll as Sunset Cove nearby homes the developer returned to
e[cavated the channel and built a rocN re- the planninJ table this time Zith an -
taininJ Zall alonJ a sand spit at the mouth home plan for the estuary.
of the Necanicum River. An island of rocN
The Army Corps of EnJineers Zas
and sand Zas created betZeen November joined by )riends of 2reJon the
and -anuary .
Necanicum River 3rotective Association
³7hey Jot a mininJ permit to scrape the and members of the Seaside 3lanninJ
sand off the beach to Neep ¿ llinJ ¿ llinJ Commission all of Zhom opposed the
¿ llinJ´ Maine said. ³3eople Zere out- developer’s plan to build homes on an ac-
raJed by it. ,t Zas totally boJus.
tive foredune in violation of state land use
³7hen they started armorinJ the rocN´ Juidelines. Maine in opposinJ the project
he added. ³7hey brouJht in enouJh rocN at the time told Clatsop County planninJ
to raise a Zall -feet deep.´
commissioners in the proposal Zas
8ltimately the developers piled up still “basically bad.´
cubic yards of sand on the -
%y that time land use rules Zere in
acre site to build it up from the beach.
effect and there Zas Jreater ecoloJical
:hen a storm Zashed some of that aZareness. Maine and others recoJni]ed
aZay the builders put riprap on the ocean the value of the estuaries to man and Zild-
side to prevent further erosion.
life and natural beauty of the land.
“Within really just months it started
Sunset Cove ,nc. brouJht their case to
ZipinJ out the entire banN of *earhart´ the 8.S. Court of Appeals Zhich demand-
Maine said.
ed an after-the-fact permit from the build-
A Jroup of clam diJJers Zas able to ers for unauthori]ed ¿ ll.
accomplish Zhat opponents Zeren’t stop
The ne[t sprinJ the appeals court af-
the ’do]ers in their tracNs. With interven- ¿ rmed that the Sunset Cove area Zas pro-
tected as “naviJable Zaters´ and the proj-
ect stalled after the U.S. Supreme Court
failed to hear the developers’ appeal.
Lessons learned?
As a berm created by ¿ ll from the ’s
crumbles in the estuary’s Zaters Ze are
ZatchinJ “the last little pieces of this histo-
ry´ Maine said.
“,’m not interested in relivinJ it´ Maine
said this month. “, thinN the story is hoZ
important the decision-maNinJ process is
because there are leJacies that are unfore-
seen. <ou have to have a process.´
<et he mourns the ineradicable chanJ-
es to the inlet Zhere rocN Zill remain and
channels Zere chanJed forever. “This cov-
ered over tidelands Zhich are the most pro-
Can rock be turned
to profit?
While nature will break up the island of
i ll in the estuary, thousands of pounds of
rock dropped as i ll in the 1960s remains.
“Rock put there in the ’60s and ’70s —
we’re still living with it and it’s basically
contaminating the estuary for the rest of
time,” Neal Maine said. “We did talk to
some folks about recovery, because the
value of rock is high enough.”
Bulldozers and dump trucks could re-
move the rock, he suggested. “You could just
sell it, and that would get it out of there.”
ductive in the Zorld´ Maine said.
,f the developers had never started the
process Maine said “,t Zould have been
the estuary that it has been for the past
years. ,t Zould have just done its
thinJ every year. The ¿ sh Zould have come
in and Jone out.
“The estuary is one of only on the 2r-
eJon Coast´ he continued. “,t’s a JateZay
to hundreds of thousands acres of Zater-
shed.´
Maine maNes a connection betZeen then
and noZ and issues a call to action.
“, hear the natural Jas discussion in War-
renton but , don’t really hear the Warrenton
people talNinJ about a revieZ process´ he
said. “<ou have to Juarantee to the ne[t tZo
or three Jenerations that these resources are
JoinJ to be there. There has to be an identi-
¿ able revieZ process so years later Ze
don’t say µMy *od Zhat did Ze do"’
“, don’t thinN this Zould happen today
but other thinJs could´ he added. “NoZ
2reJon has a very speci¿ c Juidelines for
estuaries. The land use planninJ process
Zas just JettinJ started then. %ut here Ze
are JettinJ involved Zith the Columbia
River estuary Zith /N*.´
Seaside Scholarships ,nc. is manaJinJ a
neZ scholarship created in memory of lo-
cal resident Wendy Richardson Zho died
in December.
The Wen-
dy Richard-
son Memorial
Scholarship
is the brain-
child of sev-
eral Zomen
Zho
NneZ
Richardson
and
Zhose
sons
par-
ticipated in
sports Zith
Richardson’s
son
NicN
noZ . The
S e a s i d e JEFF TER HAR/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Wendy Richardson
Scholarships
board aJreed
to manaJe the memorial scholarship.
The scholarship Zill be aZarded to a
student based on the criterion of excellent
community service a characteristic associ-
ated Zith Richardson accordinJ to board
member Sally LaCoste.
“That is hoZ everyone thinNs of Wendy
hoZ involved she Zas in the community´
LaCoste said.
The monetary amount aZarded for
the scholarship is unNnoZn at this time
she said. ,t Zill depend on the hoZ much
is contributed by the community for the
scholarship.
Seaside Scholarships is a nonpro¿ t or-
Jani]ation that raises money used for its
oZn achievement scholarships and also
manaJes numerous memorial and other
scholarships for local businesses and in-
dividuals. The objective is to maNe it easy
for Seaside HiJh School seniors to submit
a sinJle application that Zill be considered
for all TualifyinJ scholarships.
The Wendy Richardson Memorial
Scholarship Zill be aZarded startinJ Zith
the hiJh school’s class of .
To maNe a tax deductible donation send
a checN or money order to Seaside Schol-
arships ,nc. 3.O. %ox Seaside OR
or visit the orJani]ation’s Zebsite
at ZZZ.seasidescholarships.comdonate.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Monday, Feb. 8
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989
Broadway.
Friday, Feb. 12
Seaside Convention Center meeting, 5 p.m.,
Convention Center, 415 First. Ave.
Monday, Feb. 16
Seaside School District, 6 p.m., 1801 S. Franklin St.
Monday, Feb. 22
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989
Broadway.
Tuesday, March 1
Seaside Planning Commission, 7 p.m., City Hall,
989 Broadway.
Monday, March 14
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989
Broadway.
DEATHS
Jan. 21, 2016
WESTERHOLM *erald Ray of
*earhart died in Seaside. HuJhes-Ransom
Mortuary in Seaside is in charJe of the ar-
ranJements.
Jan. 24, 2016
%ADER William LoJan of Sea-
side died in Hammond. HuJhes-Ransom
Mortuary is in charJe of the arranJements.
Saying farewell to an old friend at the Elks Lodge
n -an. , attended the funer-
al service for -ohn %eneNe
at the Seaside ElNs /odJe.
,t Zas almost standinJ room only.
HavinJ been out of circulation for
a Zhile there Zere perhaps a cou-
ple do]en present of those , actual-
ly NneZ. , had a conversation Zith
Russ Earl alZays a friend a feZ
Zords Zith .y Weed -enninJs
my publisher and À eetinJ contact
Zith -ohn Morris -oan %eneNe and
some others. ,’m so Jlad , Zent.
-erry /ounsbury E[alted Ruler
led the ElNs ritual of the ¿ rst part
of the service. This Zas folloZed
by treasurer and past Exalted Ruler
-an -acNson Zith her revelatory and
affectionate euloJy of -ohn. ,t Zas
Tuite lonJ but Zas done so smooth-
ly and Zith such attention to detail
O
SCENE & HEARD
CLAIRE LOVELL
that , Zas sorry , didn’t NnoZ -ohn
better as an adult. He evidently had
a Jreat sense of humor alZays a
plus. A toast Jiven by -ohn’s son-
in-laZ Simon 3estridJe folloZed
-an’s encouraJement of recol-
lections. His remarNs Zere also
lenJthy full of humor and fondness
for his Zife’s father. One could eas-
ily tell he enjoyed beinJ part of the
family.
/ast Saturday the biJ neZs Zas
for excessive snoZfall in the east
and south. After a ZalN , Zas pret-
ty much Zorn out Zhen someone
NnocNed at the door. %y the time ,
made it to ansZer he Zas already
Jone. , had seen him approach the
porch and had tried to hurry. Out-
side , noticed a business card on
the bench. ,t Zas and old callinJ
card for %ill Hoffhines a late Meth-
odist minister at Seaside Methodist
Community Church in the s. ,
Zondered if it miJht have been Ed-
die %ill’s second son. ,’m so sorry
, missed him. His mother Darlene
and , ZorNed toJether for a Zhile.
There Zere at least tZo cats
and a Deere on Holladay betZeen
th and nd Avenues Zhen , tooN
my ZalN. They had duJ biJ holes
in the street set in huJe round and
sTuare containers and Zith the bacN
up noise of the eTuipment there
Zere a confusion of activity. The
aTua pipes Zere almost too pretty
to bury ha.
,f your neiJhbor told you he Zas
JoinJ to “hone in´ on somethinJ to
correct him Zould be rude. HoZev-
er if tZo neZspapers let the expres-
sion Jo by repeatedly it’s time for
a vocabulary lesson! To hone is to
sharpen. When one centers on some
particular thinJ he “homes´ in on it
² as a hominJ piJeon does deliv-
erinJ his notes. NoZ Ze all NnoZ
better ² and certainly , feel better.
, hope this doesn’t become another
“%roadZay Street´ episode.
SprinJ comes early at the sea-
shore. )or the ¿ rst time , ZalNed
on the east sideZalN south of Safe-
Zay. Where the earlier Jardens
Zere planted many of the plants
are beinJ encroached by blacNber-
ry JroZth. , should thinN someone
could beJin to cut them out of the
À oZerinJ red and blue hedJe plants
before they taNe over everythinJ.
Many camellias are in bloom about
toZn as Zell.
Laugh Lines:
A couple called *eorJe and
Mary Zere sittinJ on their front
porch and saZ a man and Zoman
come out of the house across the
street. As they Zatched the man
turned and Jave the Zoman a re-
soundinJ Niss.
“Oh *eorJe´ said Mary Zist-
fully to her husband. “Why don’t
you do that"´
“Why honey´ replied *eorJe
“, don’t even NnoZ that lady!´