Friday, June 14, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A7
Commencement: Class of 2019 looks to the future with hope and enthusiasm
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“We often hear, ‘It takes a
village,’” Principal Jeff Rob-
erts said. “One of the most
special things about our com-
munity is our village, and we
look after our own. So tonight,
we thank parents, guard-
ians, grandparents, siblings,
aunts and uncles, Dr. (Sheila)
Roley, the Seaside School
Board, the teachers and staff
from Cannon Beach, Gear-
hart, The Heights, Broadway
Middle School, and Seaside
High School.”
During her salutatorian
address, graduating senior
Kendy Lin echoed that
sentiment.
“This is cheesy, but with-
out every single one of you
in this room right now, we
would not have become the
person sitting in front of
you,” she said. “With you,
we have grown tremen-
dously as individuals and
learned from our mistakes.”
One of the class’ nine
valedictorians, Alyssa Goin,
during her speech with fel-
low graduate Chase Januik,
encouraged her classmates
to “bring the love our small
community has given to us
to your communities in the
Katherine Lacaze
ABOVE Seaside High School graduating seniors Alyssa Goin (left) and
Chase Januik, two of the nine valedictorians for the Class of 2019, give
their address during the school’s 103rd annual commencement ceremony
Monday evening at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center. RIGHT Tori
Tomlin celebrates graduation.
future, and give to them as
ours has given to us.”
“We ask that you uphold
the high standard that our
generation has set thus far,”
she added. “Change the
world but don’t forget where
you came from.”
Januik said that although
people may perceive their
generation with negative
connotations, having been
“raised on iPhones and
video games,” they are also
a generation of kids with
high ambitions and educated
minds.
“We stand up for what’s
right and we’re also forgiv-
ing,” Goin added. “We are
Garden: Creating a harmonious space
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walls, installing flooring,
and replacing base heating.
The house itself is classic
’70s-style ranch charm, but
it’s the property itself that
beckons Graham to spend as
much time as possible out-
doors. “I like to plant what
attracts butterflies and hum-
mingbirds,” she said over
home-brewed mocha lattes.
“Plants are individuals.
They respond to kindness.”
Graham said before she
puts anything in the ground
or in a container, she consid-
ers who will be visiting the
space beside herself.
“Birds,
salamanders,
bees, butterflies, the point
is to share the space with
nature,” she said. She care-
fully selects plants that work
in harmony with each other.
In her over 20 years of pro-
fessional garden design,
she’s never had an outbreak
of insects or pestilence.
Container gardening is
one of her specialties.
“It’s an instant design that
can change the look and feel
of a place,” Graham said.
“But you have to remem-
ber when you put a plant or
tree in a container, it’s your
hostage.”
The majority of Gra-
ham’s professional work is
Eve Marx
Becky Graham loves repurposing old metal and other
salvaged finds.
in Astoria where she main-
tains numerous commercial
accounts. Creating a har-
monious garden at home
is where her heart lies. In
addition to twinkly outdoor
lighting, her garden has a
water feature. She recently
excavated hundreds of
pounds of broken up chunks
of cement buried below her
front yard’s surface, salvag-
ing the fragments to create
a mosaic of pavers to form
pathways through her con-
templation garden.
In Graham’s world, there
is no waste. She’s a com-
poster to be sure and a
repurposer. Weeds, if they
are pretty, are permitted
to thrive; wild flowers and
meadows are encouraged.
“When I nurture plants,
they nurture me back,” she
said. “My garden is both
my playground and my
sanctuary.”
An auspicious piece of
advice she offered is to
set aside a portion of your
yard to be wild. “Even if
it’s just a corner by your
back fence, there should be
a place where nature can do
its thing.”
Becky Graham’s Har-
vest Moon Design is avail-
able for commercial as
well as private consulta-
tion. Contact her through
her website, www.harvest-
moondesign.com or text
503-791-7664.
she wouldn’t describe high
school as the best four years
of her life, because “that
would mean it’s all downhill
from here, and I know that’s
not the case.”
“I hope none of us have
peaked in high school,” De
Luz said. “I hope during the
next four years, we each take
Firehouse: After heated discussion,
council approves firehouse site study
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Bag: Seaside takes lead in plastic bag ban
tower on it?” Smith
returned.
“Kerry, have you not
been following this process
that we’re trying to get to?”
“Oh, man, that is the
wrong thing to say,” Smith
snapped.
“And what is the right
thing to say?” Brown asked.
“Don’t tell me I’m not
following this process, part-
ner. That’s irresponsible.”
“I think it’s irresponsible
of you to bring this up.”
“Let’s move on,” Smith
said.
Move on they did, with
a little encouragement from
City Attorney Peter Watts.
“It would be nice if we
could get everything on
the ballot and then you as
councilors could engage
in the advocacy to make
sure people have a proper
understanding of the pros
and cons and benefits and
burden,” Watts said.
Ultimately the momen-
tum of the project, stressed
again by Brown and attor-
ney Peter Watts, led coun-
cilors to vote for the
transfer.
Reita Fackerell was the
lone no vote, citing the
uncertainty of the bond
process needed to fund the
station.
Discussions for pur-
chase of the High Point site
are underway and could be
presented at an executive
session at the end of this
month, City Administrator
Chad Sweet said.
No date has been
determined.
“None of this stuff in
the plan is a slam dunk,”
Brown said. “But if we
don’t follow some sort of
plan, then we don’t have a
plan.”
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Retailers may charge cus-
tomers a reasonable pass-
through cost — no less than
10 cents a bag — for a recy-
clable paper bag or reusable
bag. The penalty for violat-
ing the ordinance would be a
fine of up to $100.
Fifth-graders
Mariliz
Leon-Mejia,
Madeleine
Menke and Theia McCarthy
recommended that consum-
ers embrace reusable bags.
“Plastic bags are not very
good for the environment,”
the students said. “And nei-
ther are straws. We need to
take a break from plastic
bags. And that break starts
now. ... If we stop using plas-
tic bags, we will make the
environment better for all of
us.”
Joyce Hunt, of Seaside,
who helped craft the bill,
thanked the mayor and City
Council for their support.
She was among the residents
who circulated petitions call-
ing for the ban, gathering
more than 130 signatures and
another 100 online.
Correspondence to the
city in favor of the ban
included the state Depart-
ment of Environmental Qual-
ity, which supports bans on
single-use plastic bags and a
fee on single-use paper bags.
The Northwest Grocery
Association also supported
the ban, contingent on a pass-
through fee refundable when
trend-setters, creative minds,
and out-of-the-box personali-
ties. … This is the generation
of inclusion, environmental
caring, and cohesion.”
Fellow
valedictorian
Majestik De Luz agreed they
have far to go in terms of
making a significant impact.
During her speech, she said
Jeff Ter Har
the opportunities that are in
front of us, work hard, and
turn ourselves into some-
thing special.”
The other valedictorians
for the class of 2019 included
Chloe Bartel, Chance Gigui-
ere, Dylan Meyer, Cori
Biamont, Anna Hudleston,
and Hayley Rollins.
Huddleston, the senior
class president, led the class
roll call as Roberts, Roley,
and members of the school
board awarded diplomas to
the graduates as they crossed
the stage. The choir, led by
director Kimber Parker, and
band, led by director Terry
Dahlgren, provided music
throughout the ceremony.
In his valedictorian
address, Giguiere urged his
fellow classmates to make
sure graduation is “not our
last note, but the beginning
of a beautiful and breathtak-
ing symphony.”
“While some of people
may see a sea of red caps
and gowns, I look at all of
you and see doctors, law-
yers, athletes, actors, sci-
entists and engineers,” he
said. “I see a world changed
for the better because of the
contributions the Class of
2019 can make.”
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Fifth-grade students Mariliz Leon-Mejia, Theia McCarthy and
Maddie Menke from The Heights Elementary School show
support for a plastic bag ban in Seaside.
a consumer reuses the recy-
cled paper bag with a grocery
purchase.
SOLVE, which removes
trash from beaches, says
plastic bags clog water-
ways, damage farmland and
provide an “ideal breed-
ing ground for mosquitoes.”
Also, plastic bags are manu-
factured using petroleum, a
nonrenewable resource.
The impact of plastics on
the environment was stressed
Monday night.
Seaside resident Russ
Mead offered photos of dam-
age to the osprey nest in
Broadway Park, with a photo
on “osprey cam” of a plastic
bag littering the nest.
The bag is gone now,
Mead said, “but this is what
happens.”
Seaside’s Martin Letour-
neau said in California,
which has had a ban in place
since 2016, “most people
adjusted quickly and easily.”
Alex Carney, of Seaside,
called for a ban “for our com-
munity and for our children.”
Seaside would be the first
city in Clatsop County to
enact a ban.
“We live in a pristine
environment and we want to
keep it that way,” Mayor Jay
Barber said. “I think this is a
good first step — there are
other steps we will need to
take — but it’s a first step.”
The City Council could
amend the ban based on pub-
lic feedback before a sec-
ond reading of the ordinance
scheduled for June 24.
“My hope is that peo-
ple who have a concern
will come talk to us,” Bar-
ber said. “The train is rolling
down the tracks.”
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