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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (May 13, 2016)
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM • COMPLIMENTARY COPY OUR 110th YEAR • May 13, 2016 ’ l o o h c S d l O ‘ g n i o G Memories fl ow at Seaside High School By SUSAN ROMERSA For Seaside Signal M emories fl owed as alumni from past de- cades joined students for a centennial celebration of Seaside High School. The school began as Seaside Union High School on the same property it stands on today. Steve Phillips, class of ’66, remembers muscle cars being the “in” thing. “We had never heard of a tsunami,” Phillips said at the Saturday afternoon event. In 1943, there were about 45 students in her class in the Cen- tral School, Gloria Linkey recalled. Her grade was the fi rst to play on Broadway Field — and claimed a number of upset victories for their football team over rival Astoria High School. They didn’t have computers or cell phones in those days, and some students did not have tele- phones at home, Linkey said. But they did have something special — they had friends. See Centennial, Page 10A Seaside Union High School in an undated photo. SEASIDE SIGNAL/SUBMITTED PHOTO School district eager to launch new bond plan Superintendent ‘optimistic’ about bond By R.J. Marx Seaside Signal PAID PERMIT NO. 97 ASTORIA, OR PRSRT STD US POSTAGE When U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden paid a visit to Seaside last month, his goal was to help the school district move schools in the tsunami inunda- tion zone to safety. That will require passage of a new bond, three years after a $128.8 million plan failed with voters. State and federal assistance will be critical to its passage, Seaside School District Su- perintendent Doug Dougherty said Monday. “One of the pieces we heard over and over again was our community wanted to have R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL Doug Dougherty, Ron Wyden and Don Larson hope to relo- cate Seaside’s endangered schools. some type of help from the state and federal government to offset local costs,” he said. Dougherty and the school board intend to put the bond on the November ballot to pay for the relocation of Seaside High School, Gearhart Ele- mentary School and Broadway Middle School. “What we’re looking at is a school that will eventually be expanded in one direction or another, then build another elementary school or middle school up the hill to the east,” Dougherty said. “We’re still discussing plans and com- ponents.” As Dougherty and offi - cials seek funds from state and federal sources, they’ll also ask the community to as- sess local enthusiasm. A 2013 poll was conduct- ed by telephone, Dougherty said, but components of this year’s polling have yet to be determined. Feedback could determine the scope of the bond, he said. Three community forums in 2013 were attended by par- ents, students and community members who brainstormed about what should be includ- ed in the campus, and other forums, involving district faculty and staff members and Seaside High School stu- dent leaders, also were held. Dougherty said “there is no specifi c plan as yet,” but the most important goal, dis- cussed in a board subcom- With roadwork paid for, Seaside builds reserves City’s 2016-17 budget proposal boasts a 20 percent reduction By R.J. Marx Seaside Signal Seaside was slammed by three major inci- dents in the last year: a power failure on the Fourth of July, a signifi cant storm in August for Hood to Coast and the tragic loss of a police offi cer killed in the line of duty in February. The city’s preliminary budget recognizes the impacts of those incidents. “It wasn’t so much of a fi nancial standpoint,” City Manager Mark Winstanley said Thursday. “More it’s the impact on staff and how they handle things. These are major, major events. Having any one of them would have been the kind of challenges that cities have once every 10 years, and we’ve had three in one year.” Seaside’s pro- posed budget calls for revenues and ex- penditures of $18.6 million, an almost 20 percent reduction from this fi scal year’s budget of almost $23 million. The reason is completion of work on North Holladay R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL Drive. “Next year we City Manager Mark don’t have a North Winstanley explains Holladay project, so the 2016-17 budget. the amount of expen- diture is going to go down by $3.4 million.” Winstanley said. See Budget, Page 5A mittee, is to get schools out of the tsunami zone. Preliminary plans Along with a plea for fed- eral support, Dougherty shared preliminary plans to relocate at- risk schools. The district intends to de- velop property east of Seaside Heights Elementary School owned by Weyerhaeuser , the same site proposed in 2013. “We have had many geo- techs evaluating that hillside,” Dougherty said. “They strong- ly believe that is the very best piece of property to relocate the school district.” No new roads would need to be built, he said. A major tsunami wave driv- en by a megathrust quake could reach 90 to 120 feet. Elevation at the proposed site rises from 80 feet at the bottom edge to several hundred feet. The property would need to be purchased and placed with- in the urban growth boundary, Dougherty said. Dougherty said the district is still in process of negotiating with Weyerhaeuser for the land and a purchase price has yet to be determined. “I signed a nondisclosure agreement so I can’t say where we are in the process,” Dough- erty added. If the bond is approved by voters in November, Dougherty estimates it will take four years to move all students to safety. The district has not de- termined the move would be phased in or done all at once. “It will likely take time to move kids from each school,” Dougherty said. Students to serve up ‘Breakfast Club’ By Katherine Lacaze For Seaside Signal Three Seaside High School seniors are using their Pacifi - ca Project as an opportunity to produce a stage version of the iconic 1980s movie, “The Breakfast Club.” Under the direction of siblings Bridgette and Jake Malone and Chloe Kincaid, a 10-member cast will put on John Hughes’s classic coming-of-age tale, at 7 p.m. May 19, 20 and 21 at the high school. The story follows fi ve students, each representing a different stereotypical high school clique, who fi nd them- selves thrown together in all- day detention on a Saturday. After hours of talking, and slowly opening up to one an- other, the students discover they share important similar- ities, despite their varying so- cial status. “I really like that we chose ‘The Breakfast Club,’ just be- cause it is about high school,” Bridgette Malone said. “It’s about kids from different walks of life coming together and realizing that, hey, they can be friends and it can work out.” Jake Malone agreed. See Play, Page 10A