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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 2018)
6A • November 23, 2018 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com SignalViewpoints From Seaside to Panama City, impact of hurricane is felt SEEN FROM SEASIDE R.J. MARX A resident of Seaside, artist Paul Brent and his wife Lara own a gallery in Panama City, Florida, where they also have a home and property. The Brents are in Florida now, cleaning up debris from Hurricane Michael, a devastating storm that left more than 20 dead in its wake. The gallery is closed until further notice. We spoke to Paul Brent via phone as he worked to rebuild his gallery and home in the storm’s aftermath. EVE MARX Two women can go out for breakfast for under $20… as long as their appetites are modest. Lunch for the ‘smaller appetite’ ♦ ♦ ♦ Q: Where were you when the hurri- cane hit? Brent: We were still in Seaside for the hurricane. We left on the 18th (of Octo- ber), almost a week after the hurricane hit. We arrived in Florida and had to stay in our Panama City Beach condo. The power came on this past Friday and we have now moved to our primary residence in Panama City. We moved the art from our gallery to our residence even though there was no power. At least it was dry. That stopped any mold growing on damp surfaces. Friends of ours whose home was totally uninhabitable are now in the condo. Q: Can you describe what the re- gion looks like? Brent: Downtown Panama City and the major commercial corridors were hit badly with missing roofs and blown out windows. Large metal buildings were especially hit, like warehouses and boat storage facilities. Marinas and church af- ter church were destroyed. Residential ar- eas that had oaks and large pines received major roof damage with trunks and limbs making holes sometimes cutting buildings in two. Every roof has a blue tarp on it. Many people called it a war zone. Further east, complete structures were wiped out. Q: Where is your gallery and how did it make out? Brent: It’s in the downtown area very close to the water. My studio was on the second floor. I had a glass block wall that was facing north. I had excellent lighting for painting. The wind was blowing with gusts of 50 mph with gusts of rain and it forced rainwater throughout the entire gal- lery. Half the roof peeled, the glass wall collapsed and my studio became ground zero for our office. Q: Were you able to rescue the art- work or was much of it destroyed? Brent: We have a cleanup crew. They’ve stripped all the wood and Sheetrock. We’re drying it out now and getting ready for reconstruction. Even at this point it’s hard to determine. All the paintings and two-dimensional artwork is mine. We carry jewelry, wood, glass, and ceramics by other artisans. We brought all the remaining artwork that did not have mildew or where the surface was not ruined, to my house. There is a good portion of it that remains. But there’s also a good portion that disappeared. Q: Did people evacuate? Was there a warning? Brent: The surprise was, everybody knew pretty much where it was going to going to hit. But it was first predicted to be a Category 2, then predicted to be a Category 3. It was not until the last day, that they said “Oh, no, it’s going up to Category 4.” We’ve had several 3s come through this area. People were sort of like: “We can live through a (Category) 3.” It sud- denly went up to a four, went to a 4-plus, it was right on the edge between a 4 and 5. There were some places that winds were clocked at over 150 mph. That will pretty much destroy any structure. Homes in Mexico Beach that were not on pilings are just slabs now. Q: What is the greatest need? Brent: Donating to emergency services for the people who are really in terrible need here is the No. 1 thing. The neces- sities of life: food, bathrooms, shelter. People are fixing up their homes as quickly possible. They’re getting back to work. Now they’re trying to get their lives back together. Certainly Red Cross and Salvation Army are two (organizations) at the top for people really in terrible need. Q: Seaside is vulnerable in a Casca- dia Subduction Zone event. Do you find lessons to be learned from Hurricane Michael? PUBLISHER EDITOR Kari Borgen R.J. Marx I PHOTOS BY PAUL BRENT Devastation near the Brent home in Mexico City, Florida, after Hurricane Michael. Damage at the Paul Brent Gallery after the hurricane that hit in Panama City, Florida. Jensen Brent and friend Paul Keating salvage artwork from the home of Paul and Lara Brent in Mexico Beach, Florida, after Hurricane Michael. have a friend who enjoys going out for a good breakfast. I’m a person who seldom eats breakfast, although I adore breakfast food, except that I like it for dinner, in particular during winter months when it’s dark and cold and all you want to do is put on your pajamas. Eggs, which are cheap and easy to prepare, are an excellent source of protein whether poached, hard boiled, or fried. There are some excellent places to breakfast in the county. My friend is not adverse to driving all the way into Astoria for break- fast as she has a special affinity for Astoria’s Street 14 VIEW FROM Café which does an THE PORCH excellent rendition EVE MARX of a New York- style toasted bagel with cream cheese, sliced onion, capers, and smoked salm- on. (They call the smoked fish “lox” in New York City, but who’s quibbling?) My friend is retired and has some time to spare. As a working stiff, most of my breakfasts (this would be a brown rice cake slathered in almond butter) are eaten at my desk. Last week I invited my friend to join me in an ex- periment, the experiment being could two on-the-later- side-of-middle-aged ladies enjoy a full breakfast for $20, including tip. We went to the Pig ’N Pancake in Seaside, one of our favorite breakfast spots. “Let’s take our time and study the menu,” I said. We contemplated Swedish pancakes. We mused over Sand Dollar pancakes. We both love potato pancakes. We dis- cussed the “smaller sppetites” offerings before deciding it was too hard to split two pancakes, one egg and one strip of bacon or a single sausage link. We eventually settled on the award-winning sourdough pancakes at $9.50 and two house coffees. (In the interest of sticking to our budget, she abstained from her usual latte.) Our server brought us the pancakes and a plate to share. The order came with six — count ’em, six — huge pancakes. I put three of them on my friend’s plate and took the rest. The pancakes were delicious. They were also very filling. Who on earth can eat six? I should have stopped at two but ate three. Our server refilled our coffee cups a few times. When she brought the check, I whipped out my $20 and put it on the table. “We did it,” I said, feeling triumphant. To our server I said, “Keep the change.” LETTERS To all Gearhart residents: I would like to leave the election process with this over- riding concern — strong government doesn’t ignore the least of us who struggle to pay the tax burden; it’s a gov- ernment that realizes its limitations and fights not to push its citizens into projects which add to deficit spending or special assessments; it balances its spending for the good of everyone; it’s a government that provides all the informa- tion to all voters at all times, and finally, it seeks to include ALL taxpaying voters regardless of their socioeconomic status. Jack Zimmerman Gearhart MEETINGS PAUL BRENT Paul and Lara Brent plan to rebuild their homes in Mexico City, Florida, after Hurricane Michael. Brent: With homes on both coasts, it looks like we’re being hit by a double whammy. We enjoy living here during the cooler months and we enjoy living in Seaside in the warmer months. We don’t think that it’s going to change that part of our lives. If you’re in any coastal area, no matter where it is, you’re in danger of some sort of natural disaster. I have relatives in Oklahoma. I remember as a young child going through areas hit by tornadoes. It was like looking at what I’m looking at now. Q: Are you putting your gallery and house together? Brent: We have a professional con- struction crew doing the final cleanup and dry-out of the structure. Then we’ll be working with another crew to do a build- CIRCULATION MANAGER PRODUCTION MANAGER Jeremy Feldman John D. Bruijn ADVERTISING SALES SYSTEMS MANAGER April Olsen Carl Earl CLASSIFIED SALES Danielle Fisher back. I’m at home. One of our sons came to help us. We’re going through all of the artwork and we’ll be doing an inventory. Then we’re going to be moving our offices to our home for a temporary solu- tion, then eventually reconstruct. People have said, “Do you think people will stay here?” “Do you think our businesses, our downtown will come back?” Every business owner who has logged in on it said “We’re building back.” Our Air Force base has said “We’re building back.” (Vice President) Mike Pence was just here and he arrived at our Tyndall Air Force Base and said “We’re dedicating money to building Tyndall back.” So there’s really a very positive feel- ing. We’ll make it a better place. STAFF WRITER Brenna Visser CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Skyler Archibald Rebecca Herren Katherine Lacaze Eve Marx Esther Moberg Jon Rahl MONDAY, Nov. 26 Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. TUESDAY, Nov. 27 Seaside Airport Advisory Committee, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. TUESDAY, Dec. 4 Seaside Community Center Commission, 10 a.m., Bob Chisholm Community Cen- ter,1225 Avenue A. Seaside Library Board, 4:30 p.m., Seaside Library, 1131 Broadway. Seaside Planning Commis- sion, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Committee, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. WEDNESDAY, Dec. 5 Seaside Improvement Com- mission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Gearhart City Council, 7 p.m., 698 Pacific Way. MONDAY, Dec. 10 Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. THURSDAY, Dec. 13 Seaside Convention Center Commission, 5 p.m., Civic and Convention Center, 415 First Ave. THURSDAY, Dec. 6 Seaside School District Board of Directors, 6 p.m., 1801 S. Franklin. Seaside Parks Advisory Gearhart Planning Com- Seaside Signal Letter policy Subscriptions The Seaside Signal is published every other week by EO Media Group, 1555 N. Roosevelt, Seaside, OR 97138. 503-738-5561 seasidesignal.com Copyright 2018 © Seaside Signal. Nothing can be reprinted or copied without consent of the owners. The Seaside Signal welcomes letters to the editor. The deadline is noon Monday prior to publication. Letters must be 400 words or less and must be signed by the author and include a phone number for verification. 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