SEASIDESIGNAL.COM • COMPLIMENTARY COPY
OUR 111th YEAR • November 10, 2017
Gearhart residents say no to rule repeal
Measure is decided by voters, 77 percent to 23 percent
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
After months of debate and near-
ly fi ve years of discussion, voters on
Tuesday night decisively rejected a
ballot measure that would have re-
pealed Gearhart’s vacation rental
rules.
The measure was failing 77 per-
cent to 23 percent with most votes
counted.
“I am just ecstatic,” Jeanne Mark,
an opponent of the measure, said.
“This defi nitely tells me where the
town is and what they want. We made
it happen.”
Mark, along with more than 100
other residents who campaigned
against the repeal, fi lled a room at Mc-
Menamins Gearhart Hotel and shared
their moment of victory.
“All of us did this together,” May-
or Matt Brown said. “This was a true
grassroots movement like nothing I’ve
ever seen. I think this was really the
epitome of the community coming to-
gether to fi ght for what I think is right:
a sustainable, residential Gearhart.”
City Councilor Sue Lorain was
also happy about the vote. “This vote
means we will continue to have our
residential feel. It is a win — and it is a
win for all of Gearhart for trusting their
local offi cials.”
As of Oct. 1, 81 vacation rental per-
mits have been issued under the ordi-
nance enacted last fall, 57 of which are
COUGAR ALERT
Predator is reported to have
snatched neighborhood cats
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
easide Heights Elementary School moved
all student activities inside Monday, Oct.
30, after a reported cougar sighting.
Staff escorted students home and monitored
crosswalks. Residents of Creekside Village
Apartments are being warned their small pets
could be in danger.
S
Superintendent Sheila Roley said a neighbor
reported to Principal John McAndrews “that she
believed she had seen a cougar in the neighbor-
hood last weekend.”
Roley consulted with an Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife fi eld biologist for guidance.
Seaside police, Clatsop County and Oregon
State Police have all been notifi ed of the sight-
ing.
Seaside Signal
See Cougar, Page 3A
GOOGLE MAPS
Creekside Village Apartments in Seaside.
There’s history there
In 2007, the elementary
school was also put on alert
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
• Cougars typically are out at
dawn and dusk.
• Cougars avoid lots of noise.
• Males have a very large
territory of up to 50 square
miles and move throughout
it. Females have a territory of
about 10 square miles.
• It is rare to have a cougar
stay in the same area for
more than a few days before
moving on unless they are
near a good supply of live-
stock who are out at night.
• It would be extremely
unlikely that a cougar would
approach a playground full of
children during the day.
Cougar
Puma concolor (Felis concolor)
The cougar, which is also commonly
referred to as a puma, mountain
lion or panther, is the fourth biggest
feline in the world.
Food bank
aims to meet
holiday need
By R.J. Marx
The alert came after residents of the
Creekside Village Apartments witnessed a fi ght
that left a house cat dead or missing at the hands
Information provided by the
Seaside School District from
the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife :
See Rental rules, Page 6A
Despite split, board
does not anticipate
interruptions in service
Animals gone missing
Cougar watch
complete and processed, according to
the city administrator.
The ballot measure would have
changed limits on permit transfers
and maximum occupancy and re-
pealed special regulations imposed
on vacation rentals. The rules cover
off-street parking, residential ap-
pearance, garbage service, septic
When neighbors reported a possible cougar in Seaside
last week, Seaside Heights Elementary School responded
by moving all student activities inside. Pet owners at the
nearby Creekside Village Apartments were advised to keep
their pets safe and on leashes after several cats were report-
ed missing.
This week, the district is back to normal activities, based
on advice from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife,
Principal John McAndrews said.
“I also have not heard of any sightings since our last re-
port.” he said Monday.
The risk of danger to students at school was very low,
Seaside School District Superintendent Sheila Roley said.
“Cougars move through areas in a few days as they roam
their territory,” she said.
See Sightings, Page 3A
Cougar tracks
• Do not generally
include claw marks
because cougars have
retractable claws.
• The heel pad has three
distinct lobes at the
base of the heel pad,
forming an “M” shape.
Dog tracks
• Tracks will usually
include claw marks.
• Tracks of dogs’ rear
pads are more rounded.
The South County Community Food
Bank is expected to reopen Tuesday , less
than two weeks after the former manager
and volunteers were ordered to relinquish
their keys and locked out of the Roosevelt
Drive building.
Board President Darren Gooch said
“ideological differences between the board
and key volunteers” guided the decision to
interrupt service.
“We as a board are tasked with being
good stewards of the resources we are giv-
en,” Gooch said. “Future sustainability of
the food pantry is the primary driving force
of the board.”
Former regional manager Karla Gann
blamed the closure on board mismanagement
and said it could jeopardize holiday meals
and leave thousands of dollars in Christmas
gifts undelivered.
Gann, an unpaid volunteer, had served
since 2013.
Gooch declined to address specifi cs of
the incident.
“Anytime that people choose to part
ways, there will always be some fallout, and
we anticipated that,” Gooch said. “It’s nev-
er easy to sever a relationship with people
and our silence about it was out of respect
for those parties. To me, it’s not something
that should be shared in the media.”
Gooch and other members of the board
said there would be no gaps in service to
clients. During the temporary closure, pa-
trons may use food banks in Gearhart and
Cannon Beach. Any perishable items were
used for meals at Helping Hands Re-entry
Program in Seaside.
More than 90 percent of the pantry’s reg-
ular clientele had already been served for the
month of October, leaving less than 10 percent
to have to turn to one of the area’s other three
pantries for their food boxes, Gooch said.
Changes at the food bank will come
in terms of hours, items offered to clients
and special Christmas boxes with food and
gifts.
Boxes delivered in years past will no
longer be offered, he said, as they require
additional donations of food and money.
Gooch said it could be “heartbreaking”
for those left out if distributed on a fi rst-
come, fi rst-served basis.
The new service model among food pan-
tries is to add holiday items to every client’s
regular food box for the months of Novem-
ber and December, Gooch said.
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
See Food bank, Page 6A
Author shares the life and legacy of Crazy Horse
Descendants dispel misconceptions, share story of their family ancestry
By Rebecca Herren
Seaside Signal
COURTESY EDWARD CLOWN FAMILY
According to Floyd Clown, Sr.,
no photographs were ever taken
of Crazy Horse. A migrant artist
sketched this drawing from a
description given to him by Iron
Cedar, half-sister to Crazy Horse,
who upon seeing the drawing
cried at the resemblance.
Dozens of books have been written
about Crazy Horse rife with miscon-
ceptions and inaccuracies, fi lled with
fi ction and myths passed on as fact from
book to book in the annals of American
history. These sources often stress regi-
mented beliefs about indigenous people
and their culture.
Through 14 years of documented
oral history as told to author William B.
Matson, members of the Edward Clown
family: Floyd Clown, Sr. and Doug War
Eagle joined Matson at a book discus-
sion and signing of “Crazy Horse: The
Lakota Warrior’s Life & Legacy” held
Nov. 1 at the Book Warehouse.
Matson began by answering the one
question he is always asked, “How did
you come to work with the Crazy Horse
family?”
He said it began with a promise
he made to his father who was dying
from lymphoma — a promise to fi n-
ish a project Matson’s father started
years earlier.“My story starts before I
was born when my dad was in the 7th
Cavalry of George Armstrong Custer
during World War II. They used to ask
him, ‘Who won the Battle of the Little
Bighorn’ and he answered, ‘the Indians
did.’ And, that was the wrong answer.”
Though his father never elaborated
further, he was punished for his response.
After the war, Matson’s father dedicat-
ed his time researching the Native Amer-
ican side of history and wanted to write
a book through the Native voice about
what really happened at Little Bighorn,
Matson said, “but life got in the way.”
Matson’s father died before he got
that chance.
Matson, who intended to make a
documentary of his father’s project,
met with hard lessons about American
history and the culture of Native Amer-
icans. His research led him to Eugene
Little Coyote, who told Matson during
a phone conversation he did have sto-
ries to tell about Little Bighorn. Matson
went to Montana to meet Little Coyote,
but before he would share the stories,
he took Matson to the library and said,
“Read these,” and walked away.
And so he read, from a historical
point of view. Matson noted what he
See Crazy Horse, Page 6A