Friday, June 28, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A5
Great food, convivial atmosphere at the Chisholm Center
‘THE BOB’
DARREN GOOCH
L
ast week as I was tapping
away at the keyboard in my
offi ce, I was interrupted by
a volunteer from our congregate
Senior Meal Program here at the
center. Her urgency unnerved me
a bit as she told me that my pres-
ence was required in the kitchen.
“There’s a problem and we need
you now!” she exclaimed.
My thoughts raced as I ran
through the endless number of
emergencies in my mind. Fire?
Water leak? Heart attack? “Not
that, please, not that!” I thought to
myself.
I hurried into the main hall to
fi nd a group of our seniors, rem-
nants of the lunch hour already
passed, still seated at the tables.
A rousing, though slightly off-
key, version of “Happy Birthday”
greeted my ears and our meal site
coordinator, Chris Duffy, walked
from the kitchen cradling a Costco
sheet cake. I’ll never know how
The Bob Chisholm Community Center.
they managed to fi t 50 candles on
there, but I did successfully draw
enough breath to blow them all out.
I have spent nearly all 16 years
of my time with the park district
at the Bob Chisholm Community
Center and I have gotten to know
almost all of the seniors that attend
our lunch, many of whom have
been here since I started all those
years ago. I have also seen many
faces come and go, some moved
on to other areas, some have since
passed, but all have contributed in
some way or another to the con-
tinued growth of this fantastic
program.
The meal program is a partner-
ship between the Sunset Empire
Park and Recreation District and
Northwest Senior and Disability
Services. It serves both a congre-
gate group and a home-bound pop-
ulation with meals fi ve days per
week. Just last month alone, the
site provided 895 meals through
the efforts of our Meal Site
Coordinator and his crew of 25
volunteers.
Program funding comes from
federal sources via the Older
Americans Act nutrition programs.
Funds make their way from the
federal level down to the state level
through the Department of Human
Services and then to Northwest
Senior and Disability Services who
administer the senior meal pro-
grams in our region. Our program
is one of just a few here in Clatsop
County.
If you are like many of our din-
ers here at the center, you enjoy sit-
ting down for a nice lunch with
familiar faces and having some
pleasant conversation, something
I appreciate more and more the
older I get. For those 60 and over,
the meal is a suggested $3 dona-
tion and those under 60 can enjoy a
meal for $6.75.
Not only is it a great value, the
friendships that develop help keep
the spirit young. Lunch is served
at 11:45 a.m. promptly, so don’t be
late!
Every month, The BOB will
bring you information on current
events and items of interest here at
the center. See you next month!
Stranded in Seaside, and a lucky rendezvous with old friends
GUEST COLUMN
CATHY GIGANTE-BROWN
S
ometimes it takes a vil-
lage to turn a negative into a
positive.
Near the end of a picture-per-
fect Northern Oregon Coast vaca-
tion, my New York-based family
and I found ourselves stranded in
Paradise.
En route to Seaside, the sec-
ond we pulled out of a Cannon
Beach parking lot, our rental car’s
“check air” light beamed. Our Kia
crawled down South Hemlock,
the front passenger-side tire hope-
lessly fl at.
My husband Peter guided
the Optima into a spot next to
Greaver Gallery. In the trunk,
under all our luggage, no spare.
On hold 15 minutes with Fox
Rent A Car’s roadside assistance,
we fi nally hung up and left a
message.
What to do?
An elderly man weeding his
garden at the corner of South
Hemlock and East Monroe gave
us the number of Gary’s Service
Center. “Gary’s a good guy, hon-
est,” he told us and wished us
luck.
Cathy Gigante-Brown
Cathy Gigante-Brown, Eve Marx, David Brown and Peter Brown.
Unlike Fox, Gary answered the
phone immediately, even though
it was after business hours. He
offered to send a fl atbed truck
to pick up the car if nothing else
panned out.
Meanwhile, I received a dozen
helpful texts from my friend Eve
Marx (a local journalist), who was
helping us sort this all out. Eve’s
encouraging IMs like: “Don’t let
it ruin your adventure…seriously,
there are much worse places to
break down…” really helped.
If we could get to Seaside, Eve
suggested the Sandy Cove Inn and
shot me their number.
The Sandy Cove Inn was
extremely helpful. Though they
didn’t have a room for three avail-
able, they suggested the Motel 6 on
Highway 101, which was practi-
cally next door to Les Schwab Tire
Center. I thanked them profusely.
Just in case we couldn’t make
it to Seaside, I Googled the clos-
est hotel in Cannon Beach—the
Waves on West 2nd. The front
desk offered to send the hotel’s
van so we didn’t have to walk a
half mile to the Waves, dragging
our suitcases.
It was a minor miracle that Fox
phoned back. Instead of a spare,
many rental companies now opted
for a fl at fi x kit (a foam canister
and an air pump that plugged into
the lighter jack…who knew?).
Peter checked the trunk again and
found it.
It worked. Sort of.
Our Kia limped the nine miles
to Seaside on 101. We kept our
eyes glued to the dashboard’s tire
gauge which slowly crept down
from 26 pounds of pressure to 18.
Motel 6 loomed on the horizon
like a beacon of hope.
Miraculously, they had a
vacancy. The receptionist was
extremely accommodating. Notic-
ing my silver hair, she politely
inquired if “Mom was a senior.”
Although I was four months shy
of the “60” milestone, she gave us
a discount anyway. This softened
the blow of a blown-out tire.
Hungry, cranky and tired, the
Browns sought refuge in Ruby’s,
which happened to be next door to
Motel 6. We drowned our sorrows
in root beer and pulled pork.
A few minutes later, Eve, our
leather-jacketed angel, rescued
us in her SUV. (Her husband, our
friend R.J., the editor of this fi ne
paper, was covering a town meet-
ing for a story.) Not only was
Eve’s hug hugely reassuring but
she promised us a spectacular
sunset. And delivered!
The three of us piled into Eve’s
Jeep and were treated to a grand
tour of her and R.J.’s adopted
home: Seaside, Gearhart and the
surrounding communities. Gen-
tly loping from one street to the
next, Eve pointed out her favorite
coffee shop, cool restaurants and
pubs, spots where the elk hung
out and led us through the tall
grasses to Gearhart Beach, where
the sun ducked behind layers of
clouds, painting the sky pink and
gold.
By the time we got to the
Marx homestead, R.J. was back
from his assignment. We talked,
laughed and caught up. Thanks to
good friends — and the kindness
of several strangers — a stressful
day ended on a super-happy note.
It all came full circle the next
morning. As Jake at Les Schwab
replaced our tire and got us on the
road in record time, Peter couldn’t
help but notice the “Brooklyn”
tattoo on Jake’s forearm — his
daughter’s name and our home-
town. Maybe it was fate to get
“stranded” in Seaside. Or as Eve
puts it, a happy accident.
Thanks, Seaside. We’ll be
back!
Catherine Gigante-Brown is
a New York-based journalist and
novelist whose latest work, “Bet-
ter than Sisters,” is available
from Volossal Publishing.
Certifi ed or not certifi ed: Which dog trainer should you choose?
hen I was 30,
an acquaintance
told me that in
his native language, my
name means “gullible”
— to which I responded,
“Seriously?”
It was funny then and
still is now. But some gull-
ibility has consequences.
And sometimes, gullibil-
ity is farmed. That farming
is often called “marketing.”
I have no problem with
marketing; small business
owners like myself must
rely on good marketing for
our good work to become
known. Notice I say good
marketing — emphasis on
good.
Most of us can agree
that good marketing should
not exploit the innocence
of others, nor put others
at risk, especially not by
misleading them. Yet such
exploitation occurs every
day, and there seems no
way to stop it. We can all,
however, do a little to min-
imize its power over us by
educating ourselves and
then helping others under-
stand. Today I hope to
help you understand a lit-
tle more about dog trainer
marketing.
One thing that we dog
trainers do is share vid-
eos. I won’t be talking at
length about this today, but
do want to mention that
just because the results in a
video look great, that does
not mean how the results
were achieved were great.
In dog training, the process
is just as important as the
end result, and it should be
a do not harm — emotional
or physical — process.
Another thing many of
W
CANINE
CORNER
RAIN JORDAN
& DAHLIA
us do is lead with our cre-
dentials. Credentials are
very important because
they tell the public how
qualifi ed a trainer is or
is not. Yet this is where
things can get very confus-
ing for the public; after all,
how are you supposed to
know what each credential
means, where it came from,
whether it’s reputable?
Given that dog training is
an unregulated industry,
absolutely anyone can call
themselves a “master dog
trainer” or a “dog behavior-
ist” even if they’ve never
taken a single dog training
or behavior class. There’s
more bad news: Some of
these folks then open dog
trainer “schools” that “cer-
tify” new trainers after as
little as week or two. The
good news is that there
are professional certifying
organizations with ethics
rules for professional, certi-
fi ed trainers.
The independent test-
ing and certifi cation organi-
zation for dog trainers and
canine behavior consultants
is the Certifi cation Council
for Professional Dog Train-
ers. The CCPDT sets the
global standard for rigor-
ous exams that demonstrate
mastery in humane, sci-
ence-based dog training. To
become certifi ed, a trainer
/ behavior consultant must
fi rst show documentation
of several hundred hours
working with clients’ and
clients’ dogs, then pass a
strictly proctored, objec-
tive, several hundred ques-
tion examination, must
abide by the code of eth-
ics, and must update her
education every year. A
professional dog trainer
or canine behavior con-
sultant is certifi ed by the
CCPDT if there is either a
CBCC-KA, CPDT-KSA, or
CPDT-KA associated with
her name; check CCPDT.
org to confi rm your train-
er’s credentials.
Then there are the most
respected schools. Certifi ed
Dog Trainer Profession-
als are graduates of the top
program of the Karen Pryor
Academy for Animal Train-
ing and Behavior and hold
the title KPA CTP (Cer-
tifi ed Training Partner).
CTCs (certifi cants in train-
ing and counseling) are
graduates of the Academy
for Dog Trainers. Train-
ers who graduated from
KPA or ADT are generally
considered the go-to pro-
fessionals in the industry.
(Still, always do your own
investigation!) There are
many other, newer train-
ing schools. Some of them
are, and some are not, com-
mitted to humane — force-
free, fear-free, pain-free
— practices. Some may
unfortunately provide a
certifi cate but call it “certi-
fi cation” while others, hav-
ing little direct involvement
in the fi eld of training pro-
fessional dog trainers, pro-
vide merely permission to
teach and/or test and title
you and your dog. Beware
of these marketed as trainer
“certifi cation.” “Certifi -
cation” means a trainer’s
mastery has been inde-
pendently assessed, that
the trainer has passed an
exhaustive, objective exam
to demonstrate mastery.
A “certifi cate” is a piece
of paper that says some-
one attended a class or met
other cursory requirements.
Last but not least, there
are CAABs and VBs: Cer-
tifi ed Applied Animal
Behaviorists and Veterinary
Behaviorists. Only CAABs
and VBs can honestly call
themselves “behaviorists”
since in the animal behav-
ior industry, one must
have a doctorate degree or
equivalent in animal behav-
ior to call oneself a “behav-
iorist” or be a veterinarian
who completed additional
courses and residency in
animal behavior to earn the
title veterinary behaviorist.
Please don’t hesitate to
contact me if you need help
deciphering qualifi cations
or behavior! We’re all in
this together for the dogs.
Rain Jordan, CBCC-KA,
KPA CTP, is a certifi ed
canine behavior and train-
ing professional. Visit her
at www.expertcanine.com.
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Cannon Beach Library
503.842.7523
Annual Fourth of July Book Sale
2315 N Roosevelt Dr, Seaside
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