SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
OUR 112th YEAR • April 13, 2018
NATURE’S
SCULPTURES
In between storms, blue skies and sunshine
illuminated nature’s driftwood sculptures.
R.J. MARX
Elk culling Bond likely for new rec center
an option for
public safety
Plan holds at
least $15 million
price tag
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
New pilot
program offers a
pathway
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
A new state pilot program
intended to control the urban
deer population could help
cities like Gearhart cull the
elk herds that roam the North
Coast.
Cities that declare deer a
public nuisance can petition
the state Department of Fish
and Wildlife for help to re-
duce population levels start-
ing next January.
“It’s not specifically about
elk,” Doug Cottam, the state
wildlife division administra-
tor, said at a Gearhart City
Council meeting Wednesday,
April 4. “It lays out a very
good pathway for a communi-
ty like this when considering
something as controversial
as lethally removing animals
from an urban area.”
The state has to adopt rules
for how deer would be tak-
en, but the law that created
the pilot program specifies
that darts or lethal injection
are prohibited. Any deer har-
vested would be shared to the
extent feasible with local food
banks or other charities.
JOHN DUDLEY
The Sunset Empire Park
and Recreation District is
readying a $15 million to $18
million bond proposal to go
before voters.
“Our timeline is for a No-
vember election,” Skyler Ar-
chibald, executive director of
the district, said Monday at
a board workshop. “We still
have several months — but
we do ourselves a disservice
if we wait too long to gath-
er community input, answer
questions that might come,
SEPRD
Sunset Pool facility on Broadway in Seaside.
and also hopefully develop a
group that can generate a lot
of support.”
The district’s board of
directors met to determine
whether to bring an expan-
sion plan to the ballot, and if
so, how to finance it.
If placed on the ballot, the
bond would be voted on by
residents of the independent
taxing district, who include
most residents in the Seaside
School District, excluding
Cannon Beach and Gearhart.
Last May, district board
members discussed the pos-
sibility of expansion, either
funded through a bond or
system development charges
— the fees paid by builders
to the city for essential infra-
structure. Over the past three
years, the district has invest-
ed about $60,000 to consul-
tants for building expansion.
The district’s base expan-
sion plan would add a second
level to the aquatic facility
on Broadway in Seaside. The
plan would create a new en-
trance, more efficient office
layout and a gym.
Two preschool rooms, an
administrative office, lobby
expansion, party room and
storage would also be includ-
ed.
See Bond, Page 6A
Gearhart and other cities are
concerned about elk.
“In this case, it’s designed
to have the cities have their
own agents kill the deer in
their own way or manner to
have the deer salvaged for
charity so they don’t go to
waste,” Cottam said.
City Attorney Peter Watts
said the pilot program could
be an “advocacy opportunity”
for opponents or proponents
of culling elk.
Department of Fish and
Wildlife officials came to
Gearhart last week at the
city’s request amid growing
concerns about elk.
“We want to get as much
specific information as possi-
ble to continue to educate and
mitigate some of these safety
See Elk, Page 7A
Jon Rahl named assistant city manager
Rahl to report to
Mark Winstanley
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
The city of Seaside named
Jon Rahl as the city’s assis-
tant city manager, antici-
pated to begin in July. The
announcement came Friday,
April 6, and was officially
presented to the City Council
at Monday’s meeting.
Rahl will work with City
Manager Mark Winstanley.
“I’m extremely excited
about the new opportunity
and challenge this position
Jon Rahl
offers,” Rahl said Monday.
“It’s been a privilege and
pleasure to serve in the tour-
ism capacity for nearly eight
years. I’m grateful for the
trust the city and community
has placed in me and I look
forward to getting started.”
The job contains elements
of human resources, finance
and “everything that has to
take place,” Winstanley said.
“Jon now is responsible for
all those things, but reports
to me.”
Rahl was named director
of tourism and marketing for
the Seaside Visitors Bureau
in 2010. He moved to the
position of assistant general
manager of the visitors bu-
reau and the Civic and Con-
vention Center in 2013. He
has served as the city’s public
information officer since that
time.
He will continue to serve
in that role, Winstanley said.
Once a replacement is
named as tourist director,
Rahl will assume his new
post at City Hall. The job
was posted this week and
Winstanley said he hoped the
position would be filled by
June.
Prior to joining the city,
Rahl worked for the Deseret
News in Salt Lake City, Utah.
He is a graduate of the
University of Utah with a
bachelor of science degree.
Rahl is married with two
children and enjoys coaching
youth baseball, playing golf,
softball and traveling.
From Sedona to Seaside, acupuncturist offers services
Acupuncturist
opens clinic in
downtown Seaside
By Eve Marx
For Seaside Signal
:EVE MARX
Acupuncturist Katharine Stewart.
Suffering from allergy, mi-
graines, eczema, PMS, sciatica,
carpel tunnel, fibromyalgia? These
common complaints, among oth-
ers, can be effectively and pain-
lessly treated by the ancient Chi-
nese medicine technique known as
acupuncture.
Katharine Stewart is a graduate
from the Santa Barbara College of
Oriental Medicine and Acupunc-
ture. A founding faculty member
at the Phoenix Institute of Herbal
Medicine and Acupuncture, the
first accredited acupuncture college
in Arizona, and a professor of Chi-
nese medicine, Stewart served as
clinic dean, acupuncture chair, and
clinical supervisor. After years of
private practice in Sedona, Stew-
art recently relocated to Seaside
to open her new business, Ancient
Health And Healing on North Hol-
laday Drive.
“I missed the coast and wanted
to come back to it,” Stewart said. A
California native, she said that after
being so long in Arizona, she had
tired of the desert.
Acupuncture is a modality of
Eastern medicine. Although indi-
vidual practitioners may use a vari-
ety styles and techniques, acupunc-
ture mostly consists of inserting
fine needles into the body at specif-
ic points. These points, called acu-
points — and there are over 1,000
of them — have been mapped by
the Chinese for 2,000 years.
How acupuncture works is actu-
ally a bit mysterious.
“Traditional acupuncture is
based on ancient Chinese theo-
ries,” Stewart said. “It’s based on
the flow of qi, a fine, essential sub-
stance which nourishes and con-
structs the body through distinct
channels, somewhat like nerves
and blood vessels.” According to
these theories, acupuncture adjusts
the flow of qi, leading it to areas
where it is insufficient, and drain-
ing it from areas where it’s stuck
or superabundant. “Acupuncture
restores the harmonious balance
of the body and its parts,” Stewart
said. “In Chinese, there is a saying,
‘If there is pain, there is no free
flow; if there free flow there is no
pain.’ Acupuncture promotes and
reestablishes qi’s free flow.”
Although Stewart offers clients
private sessions, one of the goals
for her clinic is group acupuncture.
See Stewart, Page 7A