4A • September 16, 2016 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
SignalViewpoints
Why fl y cross-country
when you can bike?
Geese taking
fl ight a harbinger
of fall season
I
O
f Forrest Gump crossed the country running today,
he would have no lack of sponsors.
On the fi rst day of summer, Bob Quick, from
Roy, Utah stood along the Pacifi c Ocean in Tolovana
before mounting his bike for his second cross-coun-
try ride. Quick, the only cross-country rider with 16 heart
stents and a defi brillator, hopes to raise awareness for health
and fi tness. Quick fi rst made the cross-country trip in 2013
in 91 days, starting in
San Diego.
Last year, Tom
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
Baltes of Camas,
R.J. MARX
Washington started
in Seaside and cycled
an incredible 4,000
miles to Portland,
Maine, in less than two months to fi ght rheumatoid arthri-
tis and promotes physical fi tness.
In Cannon Beach, employees of Bristol-Myers Squibb
launched their Cycle Coast 2 Coast 4 Cancer on Sept. 7,
for cancer research.
They left from Tolovana State Park last week, aiming
for Hood River the fi rst day. Eighty riders will pedal a
combined total of 2,800 miles.
Mindy Ahler and Ryan Hall of the Citizens Climate
Lobby launched their ride from Seaside on Aug. 27, desti-
nation Washington, D.C., to raise awareness of their orga-
nization’s carbon-fee strategy to reduce global warming.
A rangy young woman from Edina, Minnesota, Ahler is a
veteran of hundreds of long-distance bike rides. She sees
climate change as a message worth taking to the road.
“My goal on this bike ride is to spread hope and pos-
sibility in the face of this daunting problem,” Ahler said.
“Oh, and I also have a passion for biking and have set a
goal to cross the country before I’ve reached the age of
50. Since I’m 47 now, I fi gured I might as well give it a
try.”
Mapping the way
The Adventure Cycling Association offers route maps
for the long-distance cyclist, starting at a mere 250.5 miles
from Santa Barbara to Imperial Beach, California to the
4,228-mile TransAmerica Trail from Astoria to Yorktown,
Virginia.
Ahler and Hall mapped their coast-to-coast based on
the association’s Lewis and Clark route.
The road from Seaside retraces the expedition route
ends in Hartford, Illinois and is described by Adventure
Cycling as “made up of paved roads, bike paths, and un-
paved rail-trails, with occasional short sections of gravel
roads. Conditions vary from rural to urban and include
windy stretches lacking in shoulders.”
The journey roughly follows the 1804-05 path of
explorers Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
along the Missouri and Columbia rivers and Clark’s 1806
eastbound return along the Yellowstone River in Montana.
“Occasional rough roads, narrow to nonexistent shoulders,
and sparse services make this one of our more challeng-
ing routes,” advises the Adventure Cycling Association, a
nonprofi t whose mission is to inspire bicycle travel.
If a route has historical signifi cance, it is somewhat
easier to plot, the association’s communications director
Lisa McKinney said in an email.
“For example, on the Lewis and Clark Bicycle Trail,
we already knew where the route would go,” McKinney
said. “We just had to decide which side of the Missouri and
Columbia rivers had better bicycling conditions. And we
knew where to go once reaching the Rocky Mountains.”
ne morning early, I heard a formation of geese go
over, honking toward the south. There’s something
reassuring about the magic of an instinctive move
toward the fall. Every now and then when foraging is easy
and weather pleasant, a fl ock will stay put and ignore travel
but generally
they succumb to
nature’s call and
hit the high road. SCENE & HEARD
It’s wonderful!
CLAIRE LOVELL
As things always
seem more so
when one is
young, I remem-
ber this as geese passing over a lot, not just once in a while.
A serendipitous event happened to me the other day.
I was gathering a couple of cups from the coffee table to
wash. When I raised up, my balance was off a little and I
staggered backward a couple of steps. I fully expected to
fall on my back and hit my head, having no way to catch
myself. Instead, I found I was sitting on the padded, com-
fortable footstool beside my rocker. I think it was because
of those angels who have charge over me to keep me and to
bear me up in their hands. Except for a little bruise on my
arm, I was fi ne and able to be thankful for a happy ending.
After roasting on our 100-degree day, the Hills took me
on my favorite ride — over the Lewis and Clark Road to
Astoria. We had lunch at the Wet Dog Café on the water-
front — my fi rst experience. The place was full of sum-
mertime visitors. The food was good. I especially liked the
vegetable soup although I would prefer carrots rather than
sweet potatoes for color, but that’s just me. There was one
jarring note, in my opinion. The maitre d’ or whatever his
job was, sounded like he’d make a good hog caller when he
announced the name of the next customers to be seated; and
this happened often. It would be much more pleasant if he
were to have a hand mic and use a softer modulation for his
announcements.
After he retired, John Raniero used to reprint old pic-
tures for the Seaside Museum. I came across a 30s some-
thing view of Broadway among my souvenirs. It showed a
time when I was a teenager, needless to say. A great time in
my memory book.
The building that caught my eye was Frank Kan’s
Hangkow Chop Suey Inn on the corner of Broadway and
N. Edgewood. It was just a little out-of-plumb cottage then,
but how the locals loved it! The tradition after a movie
at the Strand was to go to the Hangkow for your favorite
Chinese treat. It usually took about an hour before you got
your food because Frank was so meticulous, but it was well
worth the wait. The customers were always having a good
time and for sure, you weren’t hungry an hour later. I could
do with a bowl of Frank’s pork chow mein right now.
Another fun thing about the Hangkow Inn were the kids
in the operation. From the time they were knee high to a
Peking duck, they were working at the cash register and
taking your money. Warren, Irene, Arnold, Alice and Ellen,
some barely able to see over the counter, were fi guring
what you owed and counting out the change in your hand.
It was fantastic. Frank Kan was a local businessman of
great repute and owned lots of real estate. Son Warren
followed in his footsteps and became our own local tycoon
and a great conversationalist. We miss him.
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
“Being involved with Citizens Climate Lobby, we need poli-
cy, federal policy that puts a price on carbon,” Mindy Ahler
said before she and Ryan Hall began their bike journey
from Seaside to Washington, D.C.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Lewis and Clark Trail launches in Seaside and serves
as a popular route for those undertaking a long-distance
bicycle trip.
Adventure Cycling’s staff contacts local cyclists or
cycling clubs to “road-truth” alternates.
“The philosophy we use as a guide is our routes should
be designed to follow ‘corridors of attraction,’ i.e., scen-
ery, cultural/historic points of interest, varieties of geogra-
phy, terrain, and inhabitants,” McKinney said.
Plan on around three months (give or take) for the
crossing — more if you want to sightsee.
On the road
Cyclists Ahler and Hall cycled out of the Nez Perce
Clearwater National Forest in Idaho; they were in Mis-
soula on Sept. 12. They plan on celebrating their arrival in
Washington, D.C., with a bottle of Oregon pinot noir.
On Sept. 5, Bob Quick posted photographs of himself
along Lake Michigan. He observed 9/11 with fi rst re-
sponders in Suttons Bay Michigan. He still has a way to
go before he gets to his fi nal destination of New York’s
Montauk Point Lighthouse.
Tom Baltes, who rode 4,000 miles last year, is planning
to do it again this fall. This time he’ll take the southern
route. He’ll also be riding in the seven-day Annual Bike
Classic Oregon, from Sept. 17-24 , a 363-mile, six-day
bicycle tour from Astoria to Brookings.
I can make it to Brookings in seven hours, 22 minutes
in my 2004 Audi, according to Google maps. But then, I
might be missing something.
“You are the driver of your own life,” Quick posted.
“Don’t let anyone steal your seat.”
Laugh Line
Q: What did everybody say when Chuck Wagon cooked
nothing but one beet for dinner?
A: That beet’s all.
A summer well spent: Challenging families to read
W
e may have had the kind of
summer if you blinked you
missed it, but at the Library
in Seaside this summer, we spent
the longer summer days the best
way possible, by challenging kids,
teens, and adults to read! In fact, we
also challenged the Astoria Library
and Warrenton Library in our fi rst
ever Summer Community Reading
Challenge. In the challenge Warren-
ton Library took the lead throughout
the summer and earned fi rst place!
Congratulations to the very serious
readers in Warrenton! The Seaside
Library had a very respectable sec-
ond place with a total of 2,267 hours
read, and we look forward to the
challenge again next summer!
Reading logs were available all
summer long for kids, teens, and
BETWEEN
THE COVERS
ESTHER MOBERG
adults. Yes, you heard that right,
even adults get to get in on the
fun and turn in reading logs for a
chance to win some fun prizes. We
expanded our program for kids and
teens this year to allow them to turn
in multiple reading logs through
the end of August, and based on the
success, I am sure we will repeat this
next year. Kids read a total of 915
hours this summer and teens read
787 hours!
Our theme this year was “On
your mark, get set, read!” Our focus
this summer was on being active
through health and fi tness. Many of
our summer reading programs had
physical activities as well as brain
developing skills for all ages. We
also looked at nutrition with our
local guest farmer Teresa Retzlaff.
She was a big hit at story time, and
all the kids got to talk about their
favorite veggies. We had 39 library
programs focused around our theme
with over 1,207 attendees. There
was always something fun happen-
ing at the library all summer long!
Puppet shows, Leapin’ Louie, bubble
making, and an ‘Olympic’ obstacle
course were just a few of the events.
Teens got in on the fun too with a
series of cooking events including
making their own sandwiches, pasta
salad, and fruit kabobs. They then
held an indoor picnic while discuss-
ing their favorite books at the library.
One of the highlights of our adult
programs this summer was Ruth
Wariner, author of “The Sound of
Gravel,” the true story of one girl’s
coming-of-age in a polygamist
family.
Ruth Wariner was the thirty-ninth
of her father’s 42 children. Growing
up on a farm in rural Mexico, Ruth
lived in a ramshackle house without
indoor plumbing or electricity. At
church, preachers taught that women
can only ascend to heaven through
polygamous marriage and giving
birth to as many children as possi-
ble. After Ruth’s father—the man
who had been the founding prophet
of the colony—is murdered by his
brother in a bid for church power,
her mother remarried, becoming the
second wife of another congregant.
The family was carted back and forth
between Mexico and the U.S. and
Ruth came to love the time she spent
in the states. She also began to doubt
her family’s beliefs but struggled to
balance love for her siblings with the
determination to forge a better life.
At the age of 15, Ruth left Colo-
nia LeBaron, and moved to Califor-
nia. After earning her GED, she put
herself through college, eventually
becoming a high school Spanish
teacher. She remains close to her
siblings and is happily married.
Listening to an author relate their
life stories and also talk about the
book that came from it is just one of
the ways the Seaside Library brings
books to life through author talks.
LETTERS
Help still needed
The South County Commu-
nity Food Bank, a food pantry,
continues to need your help.
For more than 31 years we have
been feeding the hungry and as-
sisting the needy in our commu-
nities. In recent years, thanks to
the assistance of the Bank of the
Pacifi c, the Oregon Community
Foundation, the Seaside Cham-
ber of Commerce and hundreds
of residents and friends in south
Clatsop County, we have been
helping an average of 1,100
people per month.
We have a new building.
We have new partners, as we
serve the needy. The need is
great. Summer is ending, which
means some employed will lose
hours or face layoffs and need
more help. The new building is
fi nished, but we still have ex-
penses to pay for on the build-
ing and improvements. We al-
ways need fi nancial support and
donations of food to continue
our mission of hope.
You can fi nd us at 2041 N.
Roosevelt Drive in Seaside for
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
David F. Pero
R.J. Marx
food donations or to visit our
pantry. The hours are 2 to 4
p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thurs-
day and Friday. Our mailing ad-
dress is P.O. Box 602, Seaside,
OR 97138.
Please remember us as win-
ter approaches. Thank you.
James C. Casterline
Gearhart
Pay down debt
Regarding the Seaside
school bond, I would like to
believe that the majority of our
county’s citizens recognize the
ADVERTISING
MANAGER
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
Betty Smith
John D. Bruijn
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Heather
Ramsdell
Carl Earl
ADVERTISING
SALES
Brandy Stewart
need to not only replace, but
to move our schools to high-
er ground. As a home owner, I
was quite pleased to note that
the school district has managed
to pare down the previous bond
request from $128.8 million to
$99.7 million (“Q&A: Dough-
erty looks beyond the bond,”
The Daily Astorian, Sept. 2).
As I read through the article,
however, my developing en-
thusiasm for becoming an am-
bassador — touting to all why
they should support the new
bond proposal — was defl ated
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
Katherine Lacaze
Claire Lovell
Eve Marx
Esther Moberg
Jon Rahl
Susan Romersa
considerably by the superinten-
dent’s remarks, which failed to
state that the existing schools
were going to be sold to pare
down the bond indebtedness;
rather, he raised the possibility
that they might be sold to fund
additional expansion of a new
campus.
While I applaud the school
board’s work in reducing the
cost of the school moves, it
would be tragic if this bond at-
tempt were to also fail, simply
because there was no commit-
ment by the school board to sell
Seaside Signal
Letter policy
The Seaside Signal
is published every
other week by
EO Media Group,
1555 N. Roosevelt,
Seaside, OR 97138.
503-738-5561
seasidesignal.com
The Seaside Signal welcomes letters to the
editor. The deadline is noon Monday prior to
publication. Letters must be 400 words or less
and must be signed by the author and include a
phone number for verifi cation. We also request
that submissions be limited to one letter per
month. Send to 1555 N. Roosevelt Drive,
Seaside, OR 97138, drop them off at 1555 N.
Roosevelt Drive or fax to 503-738-9285.
Or email rmarx@seasidesignal.com
the existing properties to pay
down the indebtedness in order
to further minimize the property
tax burden.
Perhaps the school board has
persuasive arguments as to why
they are choosing not to reduce
the property tax burden created
by passage of this bond by sell-
ing the existing properties for
that purpose. I will be listening
to hear them, but at the same
time worrying that any such ar-
guments could distract from the
See Letters, Page 5A
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