4A • June 9, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
SignalViewpoints
Surrey on down
oly cow, will you look at that!” I said in
amazement to Elaine, my friend back east. Elaine
and I talk on the phone at least two times a week.
There are weeks where we talk every day. We were really
good friends in New York for 20 years; physical distance
has not altered that. We say everything, which is why I
blurted out my surprise seeing not one but two surreys
making their way down my street.
“I didn’t think they came this far south, “ I said. “The
rental places are all at least a mile north. But it is a nice
day for a surrey ride.”
Surreys were one of the many surprises I encountered
when we fi rst came
to Seaside. As a
kid growing up
VIEW FROM
in Atlantic City,
THE PORCH
N.J., another major
resort town, a lot of EVE MARX
people who visited
bikes, big trikes,
and tandem bikes to ride on the famed boardwalk. You
could also rent a rolling chair, which was an upholstered
pram contraption set on caster wheels; locomotion was
provided by a man (usually older and sorry looking) who
pushed. As a child I felt a deep sorrow for the rolling chair
operators who often pushed with both arms fully extended
and their heads down. Their faces were often dripping with
sweat and they looked like oxen being driven. The chairs
themselves were heavy and the passengers often quite
large; frankly the whole thing looked like a lot of work for
little money; although I’m sure some riders tipped better
than others. Who knows? But there was no such thing to
rent like a surrey, a self-propelling novelty of Seaside.
When we fi rst arrived on the North Coast, my hus-
band was attempting to have a phone conversation with
someone regarding something to do with his work. I didn’t
mean to, but I was eavesdropping. The other party must
have used the word “surrey.” I never knew the context.
What I do recall is my husband mangling the pronuncia-
tion or not understanding the other party’s word.
“Sorry?” he said. And then a moment later, “Suri?
Siri?” The other party became exasperated.
“You haven’t been here very long, have you?” she
apparently scoffed.
Soon after they both got off the phone.
Whenever I hear the word ‘surrey’ my mind automat-
ically goes to the 5th Dimension tune written by Laura
Nyro, “Stones Soul Picnic,” which in 1968 was No. 2 on
Billboard’s R&B chart and was, for awhile, the No. 3 pop
song in the country.
“Can you surry, can you picnic /
Red yellow honey/
Sassafras and moonshine/
Can you surry.”
I read an interview with the song’s composer who said
“Surry” wasn’t “surrey,” and that the word didn’t mean
anything. “It’s just a nice word,” is what she said.
When some folks hear the word “surrey” they think
of the song from the musical “Oklahoma,” “Surrey With
a Fringe on Top.” Something about that phrase always
makes me think of maraschino cherries. I don’t know why.
I haven’t noticed the surreys rented in Seaside having
fringe. I have noticed people seem to love them. Whole
families ride around, the adults doing the legwork while
the little kids perch in front. It seems a fun way to get
around if you want to check out broad swaths of the city
and not walk. Of course you could always take the Trolley
Street Car, which runs every Saturday and Sunday May 27
through Sept. 30.
There are three places to rent surreys in Seaside if
you’re so inclined. You don’t have to be a tourist to rent
one although tourists seem to enjoy them. Wheel Fun
Rentals has two locations, one on Avenue A, the other on
S. Holladay. The Prom Bike Shop rents surreys at their
12th Avenue shop.
H
SEASIDE AQUARIUM/SUBMITTED PHOTO
Seals and their winning ways make them top attractions at the aquarium.
For 80 years, Seaside Aquarium
entertains crowds, aids marine life
The Seaside Aquarium celebrates its 80th anniversary this
year. The May 30, 1937, Memorial Day weekend opening —
“unmarred by any accident or diffi culty” — was described by
the Signal “far above the level of the corresponding weekend
of the previous years.” The aquarium’s “unusual attractions”
included “an electric ray fi sh capable of gathering enough
electricity to provide a shock.”
Keith Chandler, the fourth general manager of the aquari-
um, is a Seaside native who started his career at the aquarium
in 1978 at the age of 21. The aquarium has been attracting
visitors to Seaside
since the time founder
George Smith and
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
others expanded their
R.J.
MARX
aquarium business
from Depoe Bay to
Seaside.
Smith bought the
former swimming pool on the Prom, remodeled it and re-
opened it as an aquarium.
Entry was priced at an admission families could afford at 10
and 15 cents. It was a time before television and most Ameri-
cans had little acquaintance with marine life. Local fi shermen
brought in deep sea creatures as exotic as the magical worlds
of Jules Verne and adventure novelists. There was no Jacques
Cousteau or his underwater cameras. The octopus, wolf eel and
anemones were among the aquarium’s fi rst attractions.
But it is the seals people remember most, so popular “Feed
the seals!” is the motto of the aquarium on a billboard on the
south side of town.
“We don’t train our seals, the public does,” Chandler said.
“The seals train the public to feed them.”
Although baby seals don’t live with their parents after being
weaned, they stay with the same colony, up to 250 or 300
seals. “We have 11,” Chandler said. “They all have different
personalities. Some are more friendly, some are more aggres-
sive, some are timid. It’s just like having 11 cats.”
The life span of a seal in the wild is about 15 years; in cap-
tivity about 20. He admits he likes some some seals more than
others — “but I’ve liked them all.”
One named Jenny, who lived to a venerable 27 years, came
to mind as a special bond. Jenny was expert at taking and
hiding things from Chandler.
Four generations of seals have been born and raised in the
aquarium. And, of course, they all have names: today’s cast
includes Casey, Pinni, Damian, Frankie, Shireen, Vivian, Rea-
gan, Lewis, Cosmo, Scully and Greta.
Brotula and greenlings
Along with the seals, the aquarium is home to a veritable
encyclopedia of Pacifi c Coast marine life.
As recited by aquarium staff member Tiffany Boothe, the
list includes, to name only a few, blue perch, vermilion rock-
fi sh, wolf eels, New England lobster, brown rockfi sh, copper
rockfi sh, red-tail perch, white perch, urchins, keyhole limpets,
sand sole, English sole, kelp greenling, (“She’s a ‘meanling,’”
Boothe said) and brotula (“He’s the coolest.”).
As other worldly as these animals appear, Chandler is an
expert at identifi cation.
In his fi rst years Chandler acknowledged he was baffl ed a
few times, but with experience and the internet as a tool, he
was able to determine even the most exotic marine life, like the
fi sh brought to the aquarium by local fi shermen in the wake of
the Japanese tsunami.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Area covered by the aquarium as part of the Northwest Ma-
rine Mammal Stranding Network.
Chandler is the go-to guy for marine life identifi cation,
Boothe said.
“There was a time visitors reported this huge, long, fl at
fi sh,” she said. “I had no idea what it was. I called Keith and
said they’re right, this is a very strange fi sh. Even now I don’t
know how to describe it.”
She told Chandler the fi sh “is really long and has a big eye.”
Chandler identifi ed it as a “king of the salmon,” a 6-foot
ribbon fi sh, so named by Native Americans for the way they
“led” salmon heading into rivers to spawn.
Stranding network
Aquarium staff play a critical role in the health and protec-
tion of vulnerable sea creatures.
The aquarium’s range with the Marine Mammal Stranding
Network stretches from Arch Cape to Long Beach, Washing-
ton.
These include high-profi le whale rescues, rare turtles and
seals.
When a whale washed ashore in Cape Falcon this year,
aquarium staff were there.
When olive ridleys were stranded along the coast last year
the team helped arrange transport for specialized medical care
at Sea World in San Diego.
In February, when a loggerhead turtle was swept onto the
beach near Chapman Point, aquarium staff member Tiffany
Boothe hiked a mile and a half before wading into water and
with the help of a volunteer, Mollie Schmidt, carried the turtle
down the beach and over the dunes. When the tide came in,
Boothe found herself swimming with the turtle through the
icy-cold winter sea water,
“Swimming through the cave was not part of the original
plan,” Boothe laughed in the aftermath. “A lot of times you can
walk around Chapman Point. That was what we were planning
on doing. The tide was out we could get it up a steep path or
a little sea cave seemed like a great idea. It was a little deeper
than I thought.”
The aquarium is located at 200 North Prom, Seaside.
Admission is $8 for adults and $4 for children 6-13. Children
under 5 are free. For more information visit seasideaquarium.
com.
Q&A with Keith Chandler
Q: What type of people volunteer at the
aquaurium?
CHANDLER: People who love animals.
Q: How do you select animals?
CHANDLER: They select us.
Q: How do you get your fi sh?
CHANDLER: Local fi sherman. We have
some pretty exotic fi sh right off our
coast.
Q: What was your most diffi cult chal-
lenge?
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
David F. Pero
R.J. Marx
CHANDLER: In 2007 we had to stay here
24 hours to keep the gas pumps going.
It was quite an experience that i never
want to do again.
Q: What would you do in the case of a
tsunami?
CHANDLER: There’s not much we can do if
it’s the big one. Our plan is, like everyone
else, to head for the hills. We’d leave the
garage door open so the seals could get
out. Fish won’t be as much as an issue.
I’m more worried about the earthquake.
ADVERTISING
MANAGER
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
Betty Smith
John D. Bruijn
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Jeremy Feldman
Carl Earl
ADVERTISING
SALES
Brandy Stewart
STAFF WRITER
Brenna Visser
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
Rebecca Herren
Katherine Lacaze
Eve Marx
Esther Moberg
Jon Rahl
LETTERS
No need to expand growth boundary
The preliminary population forecast for Clatsop County
cities has just been released by Portland State University.
The State of Oregon has designated that public agencies are
to use this estimate for land planning purposes over the next
14 years. On a county basis, Clatsop County with a present
population of 38,100 will only add 4,000 people over the
next 50 years; a sizable reduction from numbers prepared
earlier by the county.
This is a very small population growth with Astoria
and the unincorporated areas having almost no growth and
Warrenton having almost all the future growth. Seaside,
Gearhart and Cannon Beach will each only add several
hundred new residents over the next 50 years.
Hopefully, this should put an end to plans by the City of
Seaside and the Seaside School District to expand the urban
growth boundary of Seaside. There is no need for additional
land outside the existing urban boundaries for hundreds of
new homes and businesses in Seaside.
There is also no need to expand the Seaside urban
boundary for the new schools. There is a perfectly good
solution to protecting the students from tsunamis and pro-
viding new upgraded school facilities that doesn’t require
changing the urban boundary.
Why should, we the taxpayers, pay $40 million for stu-
dent capacity growth when it’s not coming?
The State Land Use planning laws have successfully
limited urban sprawl by making sure that growth boundaries
are not ignored. Don’t let the City and the School District
proceed with these misguided attempts to destroy the area’s
farms and forests.
John Dunzer
Seaside
Pollution results from converters
Administrative Assistant
Tiff any Boothe and General
Manager Keith Chandler
I have recently become interested in an uncerti-
fi ed-by-Oregon wood burning stove. Research has shown
See Letters Page A5
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