6A • August 3, 2018 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
Gathering protests
Russian interference
Oregon House
candidate
Tiffiny Mitchell
addresses
Seaside crowd
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
Spurred by events this
week in Helsinki, Finland,
more than 60 people turned
out in front of the Seaside
Visitors Bureau in a rally
against government corrup-
tion.
The event, organized by
North Coast Indivisible,
aimed to safeguard Oregon’s
election process and elimi-
nate foreign influence in the
federal government.
Seaside resident Russ
Mead, a law professor at
Lewis & Clark College in
Portland, said Americans
must safeguard the election
process.“We know that Or-
egon was targeted and we
need to be on top of this,”
Mead said.
“We have a dishonest
president, and he’s meet-
ing in secret with Vladimir
Putin,” rally organizer Eric
Halperin said. “We’re hop-
ing to rally people to vote
in the next election who
elect Democrats to oversee
a president who seems to be
working on his own agenda,
not the people of America.
People in this nation have
to stand up and understand
what’s going on at the high-
est level of government.”
Tiffiny Mitchell, Demo-
cratic candidate for House
District 32 and a member
of North Coast Indivisible,
called the Seaside rally a
“strong turnout.”
“I think a lot of people
are really tired of what’s
going on, especially at a na-
tional level, even horrified
by the comments the presi-
dent made in Helsinki, and
really want to come out and
make their voices heard,”
Mitchell said.
Libraries in Clatsop County receive
grants totaling over $40,000 in July
Seaside Signal
Pacific Power Founda-
tion has awarded a grant
for $1,000 to the Libraries
Reading Outreach in Clatsop
County program. This pro-
gram serves all rural youth
ages 0-19 outside the city
limits of Astoria, Seaside,
and Warrenton and provides
free library cards for those
children at their closest pub-
lic library. The program was
established in 2009 and con-
tinues to grow, with support
from Pacific Power, Clatsop
County, the city of Seaside,
and other private and public
donors. The goal of the pro-
gram is to provide access for
library services to all children
in Clatsop County regardless
of their geographical location.
The Pacific Power Founda-
tion is part of the PacifiCorp
Foundation, one of the largest
utility-endowed foundations
in the United States. The
foundation’s mission, through
charitable investments, is to
support the growth and vi-
tality of the communities
served by Pacific Power and
Rocky Mountain Power. For
more information, visit www.
pacificpower.net/foundation.
The Seaside Public Library
and Warrenton Community
Library were awarded a joint
$36,800 grant from the State
Library this July. Funded by
the Institute of Museum and
Library Services and Technol-
ogy Act grant, the grant will
allow the Warrenton Commu-
nity Library to become fully
automated, update their library
web page, provide digital
e-books and audiobooks, and
have a shared library catalog
with Seaside. The grant also in-
cludes finishing the remaining
portion of the Seaside Library’s
Radio Frequency Identification
book circulation project.
The Seaside Public Library
was also awarded a Library
Services and Technology Act
mini-grant of $3,000 to pro-
SEASIDE LIBRARY
Jessica Augustus, Community Partnerships Advisor with Pacif-
ic Power and Esther Moberg, director of the Seaside Library.
vide a book collection refresh,
Knappa Elementary School
and Jewell schools. The As-
toria Public Library also re-
ceived a separate $3,000 grant
from the state grant to refresh
their children’s library collec-
tion.
How tsunamis past have carved our local environment
Tsunamis from Page 1A
The confluence of the Ne-
canicum River, the Neawanna
and Neacoxie creeks are an im-
portant area of ecological and
cultural significance since the
first settlers thousands of years
ago. Clear cutting of the forest
happened here at least twice in
100 years, with the most recent
occurring in the 1950s.
A Native American village
once existed in the distance.
Under the 1851 Treaty of Tan-
sy Point, this property was
intended for tribal ownership;
however, Congress never rati-
fied the treaty. The area is still
considered sacred land to the
Clatsop-Nehalem Tribe, and
only by permission can visi-
tors walk onto this land. Dis-
covered artifacts date back to
the early 1800s and as early as
2,500 years ago for the ancient
village.
Development
Neawanna Point was once
in jeopardy of a proposed con-
dominium development in the
COLIN MURPHEY/THE DAILY ASTORIAN
Smooth rocks left over from a tsunami that hit hundreds of
years ago lay in a creek bed in a marshy area near Seaside.
1990s. Architects of the devel-
opment envisioned the area to
include tennis courts and park-
ing lots with upwards of 95
condominium units. After sev-
eral years of exploring options
and discovering evidence of
ancient village sites, the prop-
erty owners transferred owner-
ship of the land to be stewarded
What’s ahead at the
historical society
History from Page 1A
trips to the museum so the
kids could have a onsite,
hands-on experience,” said
Wright.
The historical society
also sponsors the History
and Hops lecture series at
Seaside Brewing on the last
Thursday of the month from
September through May.
“I had attended one His-
tory Pub program at Mc-
Menamin’s Edgefield before
moving to Seaside and loved
the idea,” said Wright. “I
found that Jimmy Griffin at
Seaside Brewing had an in-
terest in history, and as his
business was located in one
of Seaside’s historic build-
ings (the old City Hall), we
quickly agreed to try our own
history event.”
And while attendance
was small the first year, it has
grown in popularity over the
last three.
“You need to get there
very early to get a seat,” said
Wright.
The society is also respon-
sible for a holiday tradition
in Seaside, the Gingerbread
Tea, held in the 1893 Butter-
field Cottage every Saturday
from Thanksgiving through
Christmas.
“(These kinds of events)
bring much needed fund-
ing for our operations,” said
Wright, but added, “but
mainly they are part of the
traditional activities that Sea-
side residents and visitors
look forward to each year.”
2017 highlights
The society had a number
of things to highlight from
2017, including the fact that
more than 50 volunteers
contributed more than 2,000
hours of time to the histor-
ical society. The museum
saw a 28 percent increase in
visitors from the year before
— more than 2,200 total —
and, after switching to ad-
mission by donation, they
saw a 41 percent increase in
admission revenue.
Last September, U.S.
Bank awarded the histori-
cal society a $1,500 grant
toward operating costs, as
part of the bank’s initiative
to support local nonprofits.
The roof of the Gas-
ton Building was replaced
to the tune of $15,000. In
October, the Oregon Com-
munity Foundation gave
the society a $2,000 grant,
which went toward the cost
of repairing the back porch
of the Butterfield Cottage.
The museum’s Butterfield
Committee raised more than
$6,000 for continued work
on that building’s siding and
windows, with the work cur-
rently ongoing.
“Having an old cottage
and museum building means
that we are continually ap-
plying for various grants and
holding fundraisers to en-
able us to keep our facilities
safe and in decent shape,”
Wright said.
In the past four years the
museum building has been
painted, had the west sid-
ing replaced an had the hot
water heater replaced. The
Cottage was painted, the
furnace and electrical pan-
el was replaced, as was the
west siding replaced and
several windows were re-
paired.
by North Coast Land Conser-
vancy in 1998.
Horning commented that
shoreline vegetation is being
killed with heavy use of the
riverbank by fishermen and
crabbers, yet some grasses and
plants have survived on the less
treaded areas of the terrace.
The property is now closed to
fishing and crabbing, but pro-
tecting the marshland around
Neawanna Point continues to
be a challenge, and much of
the damaged area is slowly re-
covering.
Along the middle terrace
large depressions have been
left by heavy logs washed on
shore by storm surges, form-
ing moats that drained water
as the terrace grew. This in turn
formed channel ways to serve
as habitat for juvenile coho
salmon, he explained. Because
some depressions become en-
trapped in vegetation and can-
not collect a sediment build up,
they remain as open ponds.
Tsunami
On the east side of the up-
per terrace is a subsided forest.
Horning refers to this as “Sea-
side’s ghost forest” for what
remains are the roots, stumps
and logs of large Sitka spruce
trees that grew to 8-feet in di-
ameter; it is a product of a for-
est that drowned 318 years ago
in January 1700. “That’s when
we had our most recent great
subduction zone earthquake,”
Horning said.
Along the creek channel,
west of the ghost forest is a
gravel sheet of rounded cob-
ble stones. Made of basalt,
the stones are from Tillamook
Head, deposited into the ocean
by landslides, washed to the
Cove by storm waves and then
washed north up the beach
over time. Horning explained
that it may have been possi-
ble the earthquakes caused the
landslide and possibly tsuna-
mis helped move the rocks.
“No other places are built
up with a large amount of
round cobble like Seaside has.
In the literature, you don’t
hear about the high energy
coarse sediment these rocks
represent, being transported
by waves. The cobble berm on
the other side of the forest was
formed over 2,500 years ago
and now marks the east shore
of the Neacoxie.”
Nearer to Neacoxie Creek,
the cobbles mark the continu-
ation of the berm beneath the
main river channel. “The pio-
neers thought perhaps the Indi-
an people had piled rocks here
to provide a shallow crossing
of the river. As it turns out, the
berm is entirely natural and
probably survived even the
1700 tsunami,” Horning ex-
plained.
Along the upper terrace,
tsunami researchers have
cored the sediment layers of
that part of Neawanna Point
and found sand layers from
both the 1964 and 1700 tsuna-
mis. Horning pointed toward
the upland field, an ocean
beach about 2,800 years ago.
The tour ended where it
began, at the Reuben Snake
memorial where stories of
sacrifice and rebirth become
synonymous to the geologi-
cal landscape of the area. For
Snake’s persistence in fight-
ing for the rights of the Native
American Church in allowing
the use of peyote, the Ameri-
can Indian Religious Freedom
Act amendment of 1994 be-
came a lasting monument to
Snake’s memory.
A need for funding, but from where?
Bridges from Page 1A
Horning, a geologist, ar-
gues investing in bridges that
will act as evacuation routes
out of the tsunami inundation
zone is the best way to save
the most lives. The predict-
ed 25-foot to 50-foot wave
would destroy about 92 per-
cent of Seaside’s buildings,
leaving about 20 to 30 feet
of standing water throughout
the town. The disaster could
cause anywhere from 500 to
23,500 fatalities, depending
on the time of year and how
prepared the town is to re-
spond, Horning said.
Projected to cost about $35
million, Horning sees lodging
taxes as a quick way to raise
about $1 million a year to help
finance bridge repairs.
While the sense of urgency
resonated, some city coun-
cilors questioned the legality
and feasibility of using lodg-
ing taxes.
State law requires 70 per-
cent of lodging tax revenue be
used for tourism promotion or
property. Raising the lodging
tax to pay for infrastructure
improvements has been con-
tested by hoteliers and the Or-
egon Restaurant & Lodging
Association.
There was also concern
about how it would pair
with the lodging tax increase
passed by Clatsop County
that would fund operations at
a new jail, and how steadily
increasing hotel bills would
affect the tourism industry.
Terry Bichsel, owner of
Best Western Plus Ocean
View Resort and Rivertides
Suites Hotel, said as a lodging
operator, he recognized the
need for disaster preparation,
but felt the cost should be
shared by the community.
“The lodging tax is an easy
COLIN MURPHEY/THE DAILY ASTORIAN
Seaside City Councilor Tom Horning stands under a bridge in Seaside that he says is in need
of modification in order to survive a major earthquake.
target, but I would encourage
spreading the responsibility,”
Bichsel said.
Some councilors felt Sea-
side’s lodging tax, which is 10
percent, is already reaching
a breaking point. Seaside’s
rate is the third highest in the
county, following Warrenton
and Astoria, which sit at 12
percent and 11 percent.
“We have to stop looking
at lodging taxes as a panacea,”
City Councilor Tita Montero
said. “If we keep raising lodg-
ing taxes out of the norm, we
will lose those tourists that
we think will keep coming to
fund this.”
Some councilors, like Seth
Morrisey, supported using
revenue the county will share
with cities from the new lodg-
ing tax for bridge projects in
conjunction with other reve-
nue sources.
Horning said he supports
getting creative to find fund-
ing, but feels the impact of
raising the lodging tax was
being overstated.
“I don’t like to raises tax-
es for nothing, but it’s quite
small in comparison to the
need,” he said.
The City Council dis-
cussed possibly floating a
bond or road levy and lobby-
ing the state for higher priority
for funding given the town’s
unique status as the most vul-
nerable to a tsunami on the
Oregon Coast. Other ideas in-
cluded instituting a fee, to be
inserted in water bills, to help
fund an emergency prepared-
ness consultant.
Some, like City Councilor
Dana Phillips and Mayor Jay
Barber, questioned whether
more attention should be di-
rected on resilience after the
wave subsides.
But one consensus was
reached: Something needs to
be done — fast.
“We need to address this
soon,” Barber said. “We don’t
have an answer to funding,
but once you’re aware, you’re
responsible.”