Friday, February 1, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A5
Celebrating Sunset rec district’s 50th year
SKY BOX
SKYLER
ARCHIBALD
R
ecently a social media feed
displayed a quote cele-
brating the life of Dr. Mar-
tin Luther King Jr. My feeds were
full of such quotes as the annual
day that we celebrate Dr. King had
recently come and gone. The quote
said, “We are not makers of his-
tory. We are made by history.”
It was a simple quote but
caught me by surprise at that
moment for its exactness in captur-
ing much of the state of our soci-
ety today. I’ve been thinking about
history lately and how it might
impact our future, particularly as it
pertains to the Sunset Empire Park
and Recreation District. The tim-
ing of the quote perhaps impacted
me so profoundly as the district is
celebrating its 50th birthday this
year and that milestone, commem-
orated by many different upcom-
ing activities, has caused some me
some serious refl ection.
The district was formed to pro-
vide high quality recreation pro-
grams and services and that goal
is still refl ected in our actions each
day.
Additionally, the district
recently prepared an annual report,
a document which will be shared
throughout our community and
highlights the many projects and
accomplishments of SEPRD over
File photo
Festivities at the 2018 Daddy Daughter Dance.
the past calendar year. While we
can’t print that document in its
entirety here I would like to sum-
marize some of what happened in
2018!
Capital projects: The district
embarked on several large capi-
tal projects. Those included Ken-
nedy Park, the playground and
basketball court directly west of
the Seaside Youth Center and the
Bob Chisholm Community Center
Refresh Project in the main hall.
Both projects turned out amazing
and are serving our community in
an improved fashion.
New special events: The dis-
trict is always refocusing and hon-
ing our special events. This year
we offered a spooky swim, Santa
swim and a family Triathlon that
were new or improved and all
three were a hit!
Senior lunch program:
Through partnerships with other
government agencies, we served
more than 10,900 meals through
our meal site program and Meals
on Wheels.
Turkey Trot: We had over 300
participants in our annual Turkey
Trot, with runners/walkers brav-
ing the elements and starting their
Thanksgiving off in a healthy
fashion.
Scholarships: Our park and
recreation foundation distributed
nearly $22,000 in scholarships to
provide greater access to district
programs!
Additionally, the district met
the following needs in our com-
munity through the following
activities:
• 35 children per day in after-
school programming
• 39 children per day in summer
camp programming
• 22 children per day in a quali-
ty-rated preschool
• 964 children throughout the
year in swim lessons
• 11,808 fi tness class
participations
• 30,000 visitors to the Bob
Chisholm Community Center
• 3,500 people served through
various special events
• 50 vendors each week at the
Seaside Farmers Market
Obviously the work of the dis-
trict is ever-changing so if there is
a way that we can meet your recre-
ation needs, please let me know.
To celebrate our 50th birth-
day the district will be hosting a
50th birthday party on Saturday,
June 22. While the event is obvi-
ously a few months away, I want
to provide a simple preview. We’ll
be providing a wide array of free
programs that day with highlights
including an abundance of fi eld
activities, a community fi tness
class and barbecue, themed open
swim and many, many other activ-
ities. All of these events will be
completely free as we demonstrate
our gratitude to the community
that we love to serve!
I hope you have a great 2019!
For copies of our annual report
please stop by the Sunset Pool
front desk or go to www.sunsetem-
pire.com.
How to develop a learning partnership with your pet
I
worry about common dog
training categorizations like
“positive” or “balanced.” Two
trainers may say they are positive
but may mean and do entirely dif-
ferent things, just as two people
may consider themselves balanced
but may mean two entirely differ-
ent things.
Still two others may say they
are results-based but mean dif-
ferent things. We all work toward
results, though it is unethical,
at least by the codes of ethics
I know, to guarantee cures and
success.
As a worrier, I strive to keep
to ideals of non-aversive train-
ing and conditioning with my cli-
ents. Especially since ultimately,
the animal being trained is the one
who decides what is aversive, the
goal may not always be perfectly
achievable.
Nevertheless, that’s no rea-
son not to work toward ideals.
Some things seem by nature to be
aversive and therefore should be
avoided:
Force — exerting strength or
power upon an animal against its
CANINE
CORNER
RAIN JORDAN
& DAHLIA
will;
Intimidation — deterring an
animal from, or forcing an ani-
mal into, some action by induc-
ing fear;
Coercion — dominating or
controlling an animal by exploit-
ing anxiety or fear;
Pain — exploiting or creating
a distressing sensation in any part
of the animal’s body, or exploiting
or creating mental or emotional
suffering;
Fear — exploiting or manip-
ulating an animal’s pre-existing
fear or creating avoidable fear in
an animal
In other words, to force, intim-
idate, coerce, hurt, or scare an ani-
mal would be aversive to most
any animal and therefore these are
not appropriate tactics for training.
You may be wondering what
is left, especially if you grew up,
as I did, in the long, golden age
of punishment. What is left is not
“bribery” as some folks unfortu-
nately still misunderstand pos-
itive reinforcement training to
be. A bribe is something of value
given or promised in order to cor-
rupt behavior. Now granted, soci-
ety has corrupted the meaning of
the word “bribe” — or misappro-
priated it — applying it to the par-
ent-child negotiation relationship
so that now it is also used to refer
to the act of parents getting kids
to behave by giving them spe-
cial treats: Bobby cleans his room
then gets an hour on the computer;
Sharon cleans the litter box then
borrows the car for the afternoon.
But guess what? The good news
is that this act of paying children
to behave well mirrors, in essence,
the respected Applied Behav-
ior Analysis approach to helping
autistic children and adults as well
as all kinds of humans and other
animals all over the world.
Doctors, psychologists, sociol-
ogists, zoologists, college pro-
fessors, do not wield shock or
prong collars as teaching tools
OUT OF MY HEAD
it for long. If your boss shocked
you, jerked you by your collar,
squirted you, or constantly yelled
at you to get you to do your work,
you probably would quit; if you
couldn’t quit, you probably would
deeply dislike your boss. Now
imagine you had big teeth and
claws and no innate connection to
human social mores.
Dogs train for food reinforc-
ers because they need and/or
value food. If a healthy dog isn’t
training for food, it’s likely you
just haven’t found the right food.
Look for something rare to your
dog and super yummy. Each dog
decides what is high value food to
him/her; if your dog gets excited
when you bring it out, begs for it,
and tends to respond more readily
to your cues when that particular
food item is around, that’s proba-
bly high value food for your dog.
Have that, and a non-aversive
canine professional, on hand for
your dog’s sessions.
Rain Jordan, CBCC-KA, KPA
CTP, is a certifi ed canine training
& behavior professional. Visit her
at www.elevatedogtraining.com.
IN BRIEF
My Favorite Teacher
The 2019
perihelion
By BOB DIETSCHE
Seaside Signal
In hopes of documenting
the time-lapse formation of
a lenticular cloud over Til-
lamook Head, photographer
Cynthia Malkowski took
these raw images using her
cell phone on Jan. 9.
“What I saw instead was
this breathtaking image of
the sun over the mountain,
fi ltered through afternoon
cloud layers,” she said. “It
is enormous in appearance
because the earth is at its
closet point in its orbit to the
sun. This is called the peri-
helion, which also explains
the recent king tide occur-
rences that we have mar-
veled at over the last few
weeks.”
Conversely, the 2019
aphelion, or the farthest
point in our orbit, will occur
on July 3. There will be
about 7 percent less solar
radiation, so temperatures
will probably be cooler than
normal.
I
t has been decades
but its a good bet that
his former students
still think of him once in
a while. It would be hard
not to. Kester Svensen
was the head of the Uni-
versity of Oregon English
Department, one of the
two most knowledge-
able people on the sub-
ject of John Milton, the
host of a TV show called
“The Poet’s Eye,” and
the author of “Milton and
Science,” a thoroughly
incomprehensible book.
There should have been
a sign on the door over his
classroom reading: “High
Scholarship Inside: Enter
at Your Own Risk.” Kester
had a penetrating stare. I
called it “the ray”. I felt it
the fi rst day of class when
he announced, “There are
two kinds of students who
sit in the back row — the
very very good and the
very very bad.” I was sit-
ting in the back row.
It was all lecture. In
rolling cadences of crisp,
precise prose, Svensen
proved beyond a reason-
able doubt why Paradise
Lost is the greatest epic
poem in the English lan-
guage. I still remember
the day he told us about
the Fortunate Fall of
Adam and Eve. I sat there
and expect anyone to heal or
learn from them, nor do they yell,
scold, squirt, leash pop, or repeat
“no, no, no” to those entrusted to
them; instead, they teach them
with kind, hands-off methods, and
they provide them what is rein-
forcing to them as they learn.
These humane teachers do not use
aversion on their learners when
they don’t learn on fi rst attempts;
instead, they ask themselves how
they can teach more effectively.
Teachers become learners, seeking
to improve themselves in response
to their mistakes, adjusting their
methods, then trying their teach-
ing again. In non-aversive dog
training, as in Applied Behavior
Analysis, the overarching point
is not “Do it because I say so.”
Rather, it is something along the
lines of “How can I learn enough
about you so that you enjoy learn-
ing with me, and therefore prog-
ress without suffering, and some
day, without me?”
Actions are based on expec-
tations. If you weren’t expect-
ing a needed, valued paycheck for
doing your job, you would not do
in total silence, spell-
bound, waiting for his
next revelation, afraid I
might cough.
His grading system
went like this: an A in
almost any other class on
campus would get you
a C from Kester. If you
got an A from him, it was
something to write home
about — literally. He
liked to show off by recit-
ing Shakespeare’s son-
nets. He had memorized
all of them. Once when he
missed a line, he stopped,
smiled slightly, and said:
”You are witnessing the
disintegration of a brilliant
intellect.”
He got a standing ova-
tion on the last day of
class. He never even
acknowledged it. With one
last condescending look at
us, he marched down the
aisle, out the door, and the
applause played on.
Bob Dietsche is a Man-
zanita resident. He the
author of “Jumptown,
the History of Portland
Jazz” and “Tatum’s Town,
the Early Years of Toledo
Jazz.”
Seaside’s Danielle
Keen named to
Pacifi c University
dean’s list
Danielle Keen of Sea-
side has been named to the
dean’s list at Pacifi c Univer-
sity for the 2018 fall semes-
ter. To qualify for the dean’s
list at Pacifi c, a student must
achieve a term grade-point
average 3.70 and complete
12 or more graded hours.
point average of 3.5 or higher
on a 4.0 scale while complet-
ing a minimum of 12 hours
of graded coursework.
Providence
introduces new
providers
Cynthia Malkowski
Jenny Frank
joins Windermere
Realty Trust
Windermere Realty Trust
welcomed a new real estate
broker in the company’s
Gearhart offi ce.
Jenny Frank is a Cannon
Beach native and has man-
aged and sold family owned
properties in Cannon Beach,
Seaside and Gearhart for the
last 18 years.
Frank comes to Winder-
mere from Wyndham Desti-
nations, where she managed
the Seaside staff and served
her own clients. Her top
honors include president’s
club inductee; top presenter
and highest sales volume
representative.
Williams,
Westerholm receive
honors at EOU
Danielle Williams of
Cannon Beach and Whit-
ney Westerholm of Seaside
were among Eastern Oregon
University’s 526 students
named to the dean’s list for
the 2018 fall term.
Qualifying
students
achieve and maintain a grade
Three new providers
have joined the Providence
hospital’s professional staff:
family nurse practitioners
Dianna Doyle, FNP, and
Debra White, FNP, and fam-
ily physician with obstetrics,
Jiyeon Jeon, M.D.
Doyle is a family nurse
practitioner who earned her
advanced nursing practice
degree from the University of
St. Francis College of Nurs-
ing in Joliet, Illinois. She
brings many years of experi-
ence to the North Coast hav-
ing worked in retail health
clinics, skilled nursing, fam-
ily medicine clinics, hospi-
tals and more. She will see
patients at primary care clin-
ics in Cannon Beach, Sea-
side and Warrenton.
Joining the team at Prov-
idence Seaside Clinic is
board-certifi ed family phy-
sician Jeon. After earning
her medical degree from
Northwestern University in
Chicago, she completed her
residency at McGaw Medi-
cal Center of Northwestern
University.
Jeon is accepting new
patients including obstet-
rics at Providence Seaside
Clinic. For more information
or to schedule an appoint-
ment, call 503-717-7060.