SEASIDESIGNAL.COM • COMPLIMENTARY COPY
OUR 111th YEAR • January 6, 2017
Seaside boys are top-ranked team in state
WE’RE
NUMBER
ONE!
Pearl
plan gets
a fresh
start
Revised proposal wins commission
consensus for height variance
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
The hurdles that stalled a luxury hotel
plan on the Prom appear to have been over-
come as the Planning Commission granted
a variance to allow the proposal to move
ahead.
Owner Antoine Simmons of Pearl Coast
Lodgings LLC and architect David Vonada
appeared Tuesday night with revised plans
eliminating the most contentious parts of
the Pearl of Seaside project that was struck
down by the City Council on appeal last
summer.
Simmons, with his wife, Rocio, owns
and operates four boutique hotels in Seaside
and Cannon Beach, including Seaside’s
Gilbert Inn and the Inn at the Prom.
Plans for the Pearl called for three sto-
ries, a penthouse fl oor and tower roof.
A two-level parking garage on Beach
Drive with 41 inside spaces would have
been supplemented with an additional 10
outdoor spaces on Avenue A.
But minimum stall lengths, back-out
and lane widths required a variance from
the Planning Commission. Simmons also
See Pearl, Page 8A
Rock for
the arts
Tillamook Head Gathering supports
high-school arts programs
By Katherine Lacaze
DAMIAN MULINIX/FOR EO MEDIA GROUP
Attikin Babb makes the move against a Newport defender in the Gulls 87-54 win. Babb is playing a bigger role for
the Gulls, as Seaside continues to cruise past the competition.
By Gary Henley
EO Media Group
T
he Seaside boys basketball team had not played in seven days, had very little practice time, two
players recovering from illnesses, and they were hosting a 5A team Dec. 28 at the Gulls’ Nest.
And they still scored 93 points.
For right now, there’s no stopping these Gulls, as the gap continues to widen between the
state’s No. 1-ranked team and everybody else, as Seaside scored a 93-62 win over former Cowapa
League foe St. Helens.
Seaside scored over 20 points in every quarter, and left the Lions in the dust in the fi nal period, out-
scoring St. Helens 23-6 in the fourth.
“Our guard play wore (the Lions) down a little,” said Seaside coach Bill Westerholm, whose team
improved to 8-0.
The Gulls had fi ve players score in double fi gures, led by Jackson Januik’s 24 points. Payton Wester-
holm added 19, Chase Januik had 18, followed by Hunter Thompson (15) and Duncan Thompson (12),
who were both recovering from illnesses.
For Seaside Signal
Arts education programs are often the
fi rst thing to be cut at local and state high
schools facing a budget crunch. The Tilla-
mook Head Gathering, a fundraiser to en-
rich the arts at Seaside High School, seeks
to reverse that trend with a program featur-
ing local talent.
“It’s important for kids to know there’s
more to life than just if you can pass a test
or not,” said Michelle Wunderlich, owner
of Seaside Coffee House and one of the
committee members behind the event.
The third annual Tillamook Head Gath-
ering will take place Saturday at the Sea-
side Civic and Convention Center. Doors
open at 6:30 and the program starts at 7
p.m. Through ticket sales and the silent art
auction, the fi rst two years of the gathering
each raised about $6,000 for arts enrich-
ment at the high school. The money goes
into a fund, and teachers or students who
See Seagulls, Page 10A
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
See Gathering, Page 6A
How salt saved the Lewis and Clark Expedition
When saltmakers came to Seaside
By Katherine Lacaze
For Seaside Signal
Salt was not only a critical part of the Lewis and
Clark Expedition. “I’m going to say it saved them,”
historian and retired National Park Service ranger
Tom Wilson said.
The Corps of Discovery’s harrowing expedition
more than 200 years ago was the focus of Wilson’s
presentation, “A Convenient Situation,” during the
Seaside Museum and Historical Society’s History
and Hops event Thursday at Seaside Brewery.
The story would not be complete, according to
Wilson, without the mention of salt-making in pres-
ent day Seaside.
“This expedition and these saltmakers did change
the course of American history, and world history,”
said Wilson , who draws most of his information from
“The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,” as
printed by the University of Nebraska Press.
Wilson, dressed in period garb, opened his pre-
sentation by sharing different ways salt has contrib-
uted to human history and survival.
In ancient Greece, slaves were traded for salt,
which gave rise to the phrase “worth one’s weight
in salt.”
The word “salary” also is derived from the Latin
word “salarium,” which has the root “sal,” or salt, in
reference to the allotment paid to Roman soldiers to
purchase the commodity. Salt also played an import-
ant role in both the Revolutionary and Civil wars.
A bushel of salt
Before the 1860s, Wilson said, salt wasn’t mined
in the United States; rather, it was harvested from the
ocean and natural salt deposits and salt licks.
As the Corps of Discovery prepared for its west-
ward journey, they gathered supplies, including three
bushels — or about seven barrels — of salt, leaving
Wood River, Illinois, with more than 64,000 pounds
of supplies.
For the expedition, Capt. Meriwether Lewis as-
sembled “arguably the best team,” including what
Wilson calls “The Fab Five”: Lewis, Second Lt. Wil-
liam Clark, Clark’s slave York, Sacagawea and Lew-
is’s dog Seaman.
See Salt, Page 6A
KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL
A sample of unprocessed ocean salt, as would
have been harvested by members of the Corps of
Discovery during the Lewis and Clark Expedition
about 200 years ago.