SEASIDESIGNAL.COM • COMPLIMENTARY COPY
OUR 111th YEAR • November 24, 2017
$15M bonds will fund convention center upgrade
Renovation will add
10,000 square feet
to Seaside facility
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
In June, the city put the financial
framework in place for renovation
of the Seaside Civic and Conven-
tion Center. Bonds for the conven-
tion center renovation will be sold
for $15 million, then transferred to
construction funds.
On Monday, Nov. 13, the City
Council unanimously voted to au-
thorize issuance of those bonds.
The bonds will be paid back by an
increase in the city’s lodging tax,
approved last November.
“This is the next big step in the
project,” Mayor Jay Barber said.
The project will add about 10,000
square feet to the 62,000-square-
foot facility, and renovate more than
13,000 square feet of the space.
“This signals to the financial
market that you are going to be out
there and issue those bonds,” City
Manager Mark Winstanley said. “It
also instructs staff to tell the public
the council is looking to issue $15
million of bonds, and if they have
questions they can refer those ques-
tions to the council.”
Earlier this year, the conven-
tion center selected Portland-based
Holst Architecture and Conver-
COURTESY SEASIDE CIVIC AND CONVENTION CENTER
Rendering of the renovated convention center.
gence Design of Kansas City for the
contract to design the renovation
and expansion of the 45-year-old
facility.
This fall, the convention center
added O’Brien and Co. Construc-
tion to the project team.
The renovation’s design phase
could take six months and construc-
tion up to two years. Work is expect-
ed to be complete in the spring of
2019.
“Thank you for the sale of the
bonds,” Russ Vandenberg, general
manager of the convention center,
said Monday. “It’s very exciting to
move forward with this project. It’s
going along very nicely as we are en-
tering the design phase.”
Vandenberg plans to present an
update on construction progress at
the council’s Nov. 27 meeting.
In addition to the renovation, he
said, the convention center has up-
dated its website at seasideconven-
tion.com.
“It’s refreshed. It’s interactive.
It’s beautiful,” Vandenberg said.
“It’s got many features the other site
didn’t provide.”
A salute
to Hamlet
Fire Chief
Bill Boone
Boone, 66, dies after
battle with cancer
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
COURTESY NEAL MAINE
Elk with netting in Gearhart.
Elk harvested after shucking net
Gearhart elk incidents
draw response
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
R
esidents were distressed after seeing
elk encumbered by a tomato cage
and a volleyball net over the past few
weeks, enough so to contact Oregon De-
partment of Fish and Wildlife to find a
remedy.
A bull with a volleyball net on its horns
and a cow with the metal cage were re-
ported and photographed throughout the
community.
The elk with the tomato cage appears
to have shucked it free, wildlife biologist
Herman Biederbeck of the Oregon De-
partment of Fish and Wildlife said Friday.
“We can’t seem to find an elk with that
thing on it anymore.”
The bull with the volleyball net trans-
ferred the remnants of the net to anoth-
er bull, which was subsequently legally
harvested by an elk hunter with a Saddle
Mountain tag, the department reported.
The bull that originally had the net in its
antlers is now walking around free of any
adornments.
“It appears like we have no more is-
sues,” Biederbeck said.
‘WE CAN’T SEEM TO FIND AN ELK WITH THAT THING ON IT ANYMORE.’
ODFW wildlife biologist Herman Biederbeck
The firefighting com-
munity is mourning the
loss of Bill Boone, who
served as Hamlet’s fire
chief for many years.
Boone, 66, died Nov. 4
after a battle with cancer.
Hamlet Fire Chief Matt Hamlet Fire
Verley remembered Boone as Chief Bill
a chief, teacher, mentor and Boone
friend.
“Countless people are alive today be-
cause of Bill’s efforts,” Verley said. “Even
after decades on the department, Bill was
often the first person to the station when the
pager sounded at 2 a.m.”
Boone spent most of his life in Hamlet,
running his general contracting business
and serving the Hamlet fire department for
more than 30 years. He was the husband of
state Rep. Deborah Boone, who represents
House District 32.
“It’s a huge loss for Hamlet community
and the county,” Gearhart Fire Chief Bill
Eddy said. “He did a lot for the communi-
ty. I’ve known him for probably 15 to 20
years. He never got excited, took every-
thing in stride, was proficient at what he
did and if he had a question, he’d ask.”
Seaside Fire Chief Joey Daniels battled
many blazes alongside Boone.
“He was a great man, and he was a men-
tor to all of us, especially to all of us fire
chiefs,” Daniels said. County Commission-
er Lianne Thompson, who represents Ham-
let, was a longtime friend.
“Bill Boone was salt of the earth,”
Thompson said. “Forty years with the
Hamlet fire department, staunch supporter
of Debby — he was a big man you could
absolutely trust. He loved life and life loved
him right back. He was just a fine person.”
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Looking for adventure
Gearhart resident celebrates 95th birthday
By Rebecca Herren
Seaside Signal
REBECCA HERREN/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Bob McEwan, who turned 95
Sunday, Nov. 12, celebrated his
birthday with a gathering of fami-
ly members and friends at the
Sweet Shop in Gearhart.
Bob McEwan turned 95 years
old Sunday, Nov. 12. He celebrated
his birthday at a gathering of fam-
ily and friends. Among the chatter
and well wishing, McEwan was
relaxed, smiling often. Guests were
treated to a display of meats, chees-
es, fruits and vegetables, cupcakes
galore and a caked baked by local
resident Shannon Smith.
Smith, along with a collective
group of family members, neigh-
bors and friends who met regularly
for coffee, organized the birthday
party at the Sweet Shop in Gear-
hart.
Recovering from back surgery
in August, McEwan looked fit and
happy, enjoying the company of 50
or so people from around Clatsop
County who came to celebrate the
birthday of their longtime friend,
one of the oldest residents of Gear-
hart. McEwan has lived in this
oceanside town for more than half
a century.
Conversations centered, among
other things, on McEwan and his
much anticipated buggy rides in
the Fourth of July parades, and
the sight of him driving his bug-
gy around town led by his trusting
donkey Pancho and accompanied
by his black lab Pearl who always
rode shotgun.
The sleigh bells tied to the bug-
gy were a regular sound around
Gearhart. Upon hearing them, resi-
dents would often come to the edge
of their yards and wave as the trio
rode by, or if McEwan stopped, as
he often did, they would excitedly
approach McEwan for a chat and
give Pancho a loving pat on the
neck.
After McEwan blew out his can-
dles, he smiled thankfully and gra-
ciously accepted a piece of cake —
chocolate, of course — his favorite.
Boone grew up in Portland and joined
the fledgling Hamlet Rural Fire Depart-
ment in 1975, a year after he moved to the
area.
He did not have prior firefighting expe-
rience, but joined the department because
he was a young man looking for adventure
in his life.
Boone stuck with it because he had “a
personal conviction that everyone needs to
give back to their community in some way
or another,” he said in a 2015 interview
with the Seaside Signal’s Katherine Laca-
ze. “I volunteered with them at that point,
and then I just stayed with it.”
Boone was chairman of the Hamlet
Rural Fire Protection District board in the
1980s, a position he relinquished when he
was promoted to chief in 1991.
During his time as chief, Boone over-
saw the construction and remodeling of
buildings, firefighter training, and the pur-
chase of vehicles and equipment, among
services to the community.
“Under his guidance, the department
saw tremendous growth in equipment, fa-
cilities, and personnel,” Verley said.
In 2008, he was among those recognized
by the Clatsop County Board of Commis-
sioners for his “significant contributions”
See Boone, Page 5A