May 26, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 5A
Statements on short-term rentals were misleading
T
he false and misleading
statements in the article
published in The Daily
Astorian on May 16, 2017, entitled
“Short-term Rentals Rules Under
Fire,” cannot go unchallenged.
The article begins by stating, “The
City of Gearhart misrepresented a
challenge to new short-term rentals,
a Clatsop County Court judge has
ruled.” This statement is not only
false but misleading. The written
“ORDER” published by Judge
Dawn M. McIntosh makes no such
statement and there is no known
oral statement made by the judge.
We suggest The Daily Astorian
publish the order issued by the court
to allow citizens to reach their own
conclusion.
The article goes on to state that
“A summary of a ballot initiative to
‘repeal and replace’ the legislation
underwent signifi cant changes as
a result of the decision, issued by
Judge Dawn McIntosh on May 4.”
This statement is also not only false
GUEST COLUMN
JEANNE MARK
but misleading. A comparison of
the summary of the ballot prepared
by Gearhart’s city attorney with the
summary set forth in the court’s
order show that the changes made
by the court were minor, insignifi -
cant and few. The court cleaned up
some grammar and combined certain
portions of the original summary into
one sentence that were originally
more then one sentence. All material
statements in the original summary
were left intact.
Given the above stated truths,
why would Gearhart property owner
David Townsend declare, “This is a
huge win. What we’ve said solidly
from Day One is that the current
regime at City Hall is very solidly
against vacation rentals. The city
was trying to completely manipu-
late the language. The judge agreed
with us, that they were 99 percent
wrong. I’ve been doing this a long
time and it’s the fi rst time I’ve seen
a judge completely rewrite and take
everything from one side.” David
Townsend made this statement in
order to mislead the reader into
believing that it took a court of law
to protect the residents of Gearhart
from its own City Hall. The fact
is City Hall is not solidly against
vacation rentals, The city did not
try to manipulate the language, and
the court did not agree with them 99
percent. This was merely an attempt
by Mr. Townsend, to use his word,
to manipulate public opinion against
City Hall’s intention.
You may ask, who is David
Townsend? He is not a resident of
Gearhart, but resides in Sacramento,
California. If you were to Google
him you would fi nd that David
Townsend is the founder and presi-
dent of Townsend Raimundo Besler
& Usher. For more than 35 years he
has created and directed winning
multimedia, communications, po-
litical and public affairs campaigns.
He provides strategic consultation
to corporations, statewide coali-
tions, elected offi cials and trade
associations in addition to directing
state and local issues and candidate
campaigns. It is diffi cult for one
to believe that a person with Mr.
Townsend’s vast experience would
state “it’s the fi rst time I’ve seen a
judge completely rewrite and take
everything from one side.” But then
that is what a political consultant/
strategist would be paid to say.
So what else is known about Mr.
Townsend? If you check with the
Oregon Secretary of State you will
fi nd that Mr. Townsend has regis-
tered a political PAC to support his
opposition against the short-term
rental regulations. He calls it “Gear-
hart Citizens for Fair and Reason-
able Government.” Who are these
“Gearhart Citizens” who support this
OBITUARIES
Larry Lee Haller
Dan Michael West
April 25, 1934 — May 21, 2017
Feb. 22, 1952 — April 17, 2017
Larry was born in Sweet
Home, Oregon, to Alma and
Joseph Haller.
He graduated from Mil-
waukie High School. He re-
ceived a bachelor of science
degree from Oregon State
University, and a master’s
degree in administration from
the University of Oregon.
He married Joyce Cum-
berland in 1956. In 1960,
he moved with his family
to Seaside, where he taught
and coached at Seaside High
School until he retired in
1989.
Larry devoted his life
to community service. He
served on the Seaside City
Council for 22 years. He was
a member of the Seaside Kids,
Jaycees, Rotary, Miss Oregon
Pageant, Masonic Lodge,
Providence Seaside Hospital
Board, Seaside Convention
Center Board, and the Cham-
ber of Commerce. During
these years he received many
Larry Haller
honors and awards.
He is survived by his
wife, Joyce; daughter, Kris-
ti; son-in-law, Todd Shaffer;
son, Scott; daughter-in-law,
Cheryl Harrison; a brother,
Bill; and several nieces and
nephews.
A celebration of life is
planned for later this year.
Donations may be made to
Seaside Kids, P.O. Box 275,
Seaside, OR 97138.
June Elizabeth Sellers
Feb. 6, 1932 — May 14, 2017
June Elizabeth Sellers, age
85, passed away peacefully
at home on May 14, 2017, in
Astoria, Oregon.
She was born on Feb. 6,
1932, in Afton, Tennessee, to
Joseph F. and Nancy Grace
Childress, the youngest of
seven children. She was
raised in West Virginia until
the age of 12, and then her
family moved west to Ore-
gon. She graduated from high
school in Vernonia, Oregon,
and then trained as a nurse at
Good Samaritan in Portland,
Oregon.
She married Bobby Elton
Sellers on Aug. 5, 1950. June
devoted her life to taking care
of people, whether it was her
family, or as a caregiver to the
elderly and ill. She attend-
ed Grace Community Bible
Church in Astoria.
June will be remembered
for her quiet strength and self-
less love for her family. Her
generous, sweet, and kind
nature made everyone feel
special. She could make you
laugh with her quick wit and
sense of humor. She loved
cooking and telling stories, so
you never left her home with-
out a full stomach and a full
heart.
She is survived by her
three children, a daughter and
son-in-law, Barbara and Bar-
ry Craft of Long Beach, a son,
John Sellers of Warrenton,
Oregon, and a son and daugh-
ter-in-law, Joseph and Teresi-
ta Sellers of Knappa, Oregon;
fi ve grandchildren, Eric and
his wife Stefanie, Amy, Sarah,
Hillary and Shawn; and six
great-grandchildren, Tristan,
Lucas, Aiden, Elise, Kae-
lyse and Shamus. She is also
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Wendy Rundel of Ashland,
Oregon; grandsons Henry and
Jack Chamberlain of Portland,
Oregon; and a son-in-law, Bill
Chamberlain of Portland, Ore-
gon.
Private family graveside
services were held at Ocean
View Cemetery in Warrenton
on April 29.
The family suggests that
contributions in his memory be
made to the Seaside Public Li-
brary, 1131 Broadway, Seaside,
OR 97138.
Ocean View Funeral & Cre-
mation Service of Astoria han-
dled the arrangements.
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LETTERS
Letters from Page 4A
June Sellers
survived by an uncle, Harry
Childress of West Virginia
and children; a sister-in-law,
Clarice Sellers of Orlando,
Florida; and numerous nieces
and nephews whom she loved
dearly. She was preceded in
death by her husband of 60
years, Bobby.
A memorial service will
be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday,
May 27, 2017, at Grace Com-
munity Baptist Church, 1195
Irving Ave. in Astoria, Ore-
gon. A reception will follow.
Her interment will be with
her husband at Willamette
National Cemetery in Port-
land, Oregon.
The family would like to
extend their gratitude to Mr.
and Mrs. Croos and family
for providing attentive care
and comfort over the past few
years.
Remembrances may be
made to Lower Columbia
Hospice in Astoria.
Hughes-Ransom
Mor-
tuary in Astoria, Oregon,
is handling the funeral ar-
rangements.
Visit www.
hughes-ransom.com to leave
a message and/or sign the on-
line guest book.
30 MINUTES
on
Dan Michael West, 65, of
Seaside died on April 17, 2017
in Seaside.
He was born in Dallas, Or-
egon, on Feb. 22, 1952, the
son of Dan and Irma (Pisila)
West; his parents both unfor-
tunately passed away when he
was a young child, and he was
lovingly adopted by Don and
Thelma (Koski) Rundel.
Raised in Bellevue, Wash-
ington, he was a 1970 graduate
of Bellevue High School, and
then attended Eastern Washing-
ton University. In 1973, he en-
tered the U.S. Navy, and served
as a broadcast journalist aboard
the USS Jouett until honorably
discharged at San Diego, Cali-
fornia, in 1977.
During his career, he worked
for Northwest Paperbox for 15
years, and prior to that for Run-
del Products for two decades.
Dan moved to Seaside from
Portland in 2008, and has been
an area resident since that time.
He was a member of the Sea-
side American Legion, and
was a devoted fan of both the
New York Yankees and Oregon
Ducks. He had a quick wit and
a great laugh, for which he will
be remembered.
He is survived by his daugh-
ter, Rhiannon West Chamber-
lain of Portland, Oregon; his
brother, Mark Rundel of Se-
attle, Washington; his sister,
PAC? Public records show that that
there has been a total of $14,962.50
contributed to the PAC either by
cash or by in-kind contribution. The
records further show that $2,487.50
has been contributed by people
living in Oregon and $12,475.00 has
been contributed by people living
outside the state.
The opposition to the short-term
rental regulations is not a residents-
based opposition: per City Hall re-
cords, 109 permits were applied for.
Of that 109, four were from Gearhart
residents. The remaining 105 were
from non-residents, mostly from
Portland, Washington, California,
Idaho, Alaska, Minnesota.
Those opposing the current reg-
ulations are doing so to protect their
for-profi t investments. We don’t be-
lieve the actual residents of Gearhart
want their city turned into a commer-
cial investment property community
where “short-term rental property
owners” become known as “for-profi t
investment property owners.”
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development on north Wa-
hanna and pushing forward
a zoning change to allow a
40 (!) unit housing project as
an example of the political will
needed to provide affordable
housing. The punch line is
“every time there is a re-zone
or up-zone where there are
single family dwellings, we’re
going to face lots of opposi-
tion,” according to our newly
minted mayor.
Count me among the nim-
by’s because life is already too
cheap on the Wahanna-bahn.
Gary Durheim
Seaside
Ordinance makes sense
A group of short-term
rental owners are attempt-
ing a voter initiative on the
November ballot to alter the
STR regulations adopted by
the Gearhart City Council in
September 2016. It is import-
ant for voters to understand the
changes that would be made if
the initiative passes.
• Twenty-four–hour repre-
sentative and neighbor notice:
This change would eliminate
neighbors being given the
owners’ and their represen-
tatives’ contact information,
and the requirement that the
representative respond to
the vacation site within 30
minutes.
• Parking: This change
would eliminate the require-
ment that there be one outside
parking place per bedroom on
the property.
• Septic capacity inspec-
tions and cesspool prohibi-
tions: This change eliminates
the requirement of the prop-
erty owner to demonstrate the
existence of a working septic
system.
• Remove the limitation
on the number of STRs: This
would lead to unlimited rentals
throughout Gearhart.
• Increase the maximum
occupancy: Currently, occu-
pancy is limited to two persons
over the age of 2 per bedroom.
This change would allow two
persons per bedroom, plus an
additional three persons over
the age of 12, and an unlimited
number age 12 and younger.
There is no residential septic
system in Gearhart designed to
handle this occupancy load.
The city’s complete
short-term rental ordinance is
available on the city website or
at City Hall, and a copy of the
STR owners voter initiative
is also available at City Hall.
Please take the time to look
these before you consider
signing in favor of getting this
initiative on the ballot.
Dianne Widdop
Gearhart
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