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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 2019)
OUR 112th Year September 27, 2019 SEASIDESIGNAL.COM $1.00 SEASIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT WHEN THE BIG ONE HITS, KNOW WHERE TO GO How do you spell ‘success’? By KATHERINE LACAZE For Seaside Signal Students find their way to safety in a tsunami evacuation demonstration in the Cove. Don’t catch By EVE MARX Seaside Signal In their presentation last year on Nov. 26, the Associ- ated Student Body students encouraged Seaside lead- ers to work with state and federal partners to secure funding for new, prevalent tsunami evacuation “leav- ing” markers that have been placed, and are continuing to be placed, in Seaside and other coastal communities. On Wednesday, Sept. 18, students from Seaside High School as well as Seaside Mayor Jay Barber, Seaside City Councilor Tom Horn- ing, Matt Marheine, Dep- uty Director of the Office of Emergency Manage- ment, Jonathan Allan of the state’s Department of Geol- ogy and Mineral Industries, and about 20 others gath- ered at Seltzer Park to fol- low the new street markers designed to assist people out of the inundation zone in the event of an earthquake. The walk and talk called, “Don’t Catch This Wave,” is part of a tsunami awareness project spearheaded by members of the Seaside High School Associated Student Body originally presented last fall to the Seaside City Council. The project was funded under an award by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion through the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program. OEM and DOG- AMI have worked with a variety of coastal communi- THIS WAVE Cory Brogan/OEM Students from the Seaside Associated Student Body pause for a photo after walking out of the tsunami inundation zone in Seaside, Sept. 19. Seaside’s emergency services coordinator Anne McBride at far left. ties to provide the markers. “The signs provide a rein- forcement tool for local res- idents to familiarize them- selves with evacuation routes,” said Anne McBride, Seaside’s emergency pre- paredness coordinator. “Improving evacuation sig- nage will save lives in the event of a tsunami by helping people efficiently reach the safety of high ground,” she said. “We feel street surface markers will be an ongoing reminder that encourages people to plan their evacua- tion routes before they need to use them. The success of this project was made possi- ble by many groups working together.” The national haz- ards mitigation program includes NOAA, the Fed- eral Emergency Manage- ment Agency, the U.S. Geo- logical Survey, and 28 U.S. states and territories. This strong and active partner- ship connects states with the federal agencies respon- sible for the nation’s tsu- nami warning system and brings together the exper- tise and experiences of all the partners. Gracie Rhodes, a student at Seaside High School and ASB’s social media coordi- nator, said one of her jobs is keeping students on top of the “Don’t Catch This Wave” project through the school’s Instagram and SnapChat accounts. “This project has been a priority for us for multiple years,” Rhodes said. Meanwhile 51 street markers have been placed around town. Their purpose is to increase visibility for tsunami evacuation routes. “A lot of people want to know, ‘When can I stop run- ning?’” said Anne McBride. The signs tell you when. Students and schools around the state of Oregon stand to prosper thanks to the Stu- dent Success Act, and the Seaside School District is no exception. With an additional $1.3 million to $1.5 million anticipated next school year, the dis- trict is determining how to best use the funds while meeting the state’s expectations and requirements. “It’s been a disinvestment in public edu- cation in Oregon for too long a time,” Sheila Roley said during a school board meeting Sept. 17. During her tenure as Seaside High School principal from 2007 to 2016, the school went from 31 teachers to 23, while maintaining roughly the same student body size. That is one example of how the district has strug- gled since the 1990 adoption of the Oregon Property Tax for Schools and State Opera- tions Amendment, also known as Measure 5, which set a constitutional limitation on the allocation of property taxes for schools and other government operations. Meanwhile, in the past 30 years, statewide graduation rates See School, Page A6 Special Olympics car wash raises awareness, funds By KATHERINE LACAZE For Seaside Signal During a car wash held in the Broad- way Middle School parking lot, the Clatsop County chapter of Special Olympics Oregon drummed up awareness for the local athletic program in addition to raising funds. According to fundraising manager Peggy Holyoak, they striving to expand their pres- ence in the county and connect with more prospective athletes in and out of the schools. “Special Olympics is kind of synony- mous with training for life,” she said. “It gives (athletes) opportunities to grow and stretch and socialize and enjoy the joy of competition.” The Clatsop County division — which serves individuals with intellectual disabil- ities who are eight years or older — is kick- ing off its fall season of aquatics, bowling, and potentially soccer, if they can round up enough athletes for the team. Currently, there are about 35 athletes registered for the fall sports. Athletes practice a couple hours each Sat- urday, in Astoria for bowling and Seaside for aquatics. Their athletic seasons mimic those for the same sports at the high school level. While the program has participated in the Astoria Regatta Parade the past four years and held other fundraising events through- out the year, but they had not yet done one in Seaside. David McAloney, a volunteer who serves as sports manager and social See Special Olympics, Page A6 Hometown boy makes good with role in restaurant organization By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal Zachary Poole is vice pres- ident of Pig ’N Pancake and co-owner; and owner of 3P Development, LLC. A lifelong Seasider and member of the Ore- gon Restaurant & Lodging Asso- ciation’s board of directors, we caught up with him between ses- sions at the Tuesday, Sept. 17, gathering of the organization at the Seaside Civic and Conven- tion Center. Q: What do you see as the major challenges facing the restaurant and lodging business today? Poole: I think that overall, labor and food are our largest costs. And it’s a tight labor mar- ket. That’s definitely a concern. Q: How do you deal with it at Pig ’N Pancake? Poole: We manage it all the time. We constantly have to watch all of our costs, and we’ve got to provide value to your cus- tomers as well. Q: What did you think of some of the future of digital apps, auto- mation and other high-tech meth- ods panelists proposed for the industry? Poole: Technology’s always evolving. Every year technology makes everybody’s lives to some degree more efficient. I think it takes a good culture within your organization and team members and management that really cares to manage a lot of those things effectively. Q: You’re talking about cor- porate culture? Poole: Yes. At Pig ’N Pan- cake, we’re very customer-cen- tric, and we want to provide a great guest experience. At the end of the day that’s what we strive for and we’ve got team members engaged all the time, working on that and we’re really proud of all those people. Q: Did you have a role in bringing this event to Seaside? Poole: For a number of years it was in Central Oregon. About three years there was a push to move it around to different regions in the state, when that idea came up, I definitely pro- vided some input and the excit- ing thing was that this model just completed, it’s a beautiful facil- ity, it’s something that’s pretty See Poole, Page A6 R.J. MARX Zachary Poole, vice president and co-owner of Pig ‘N Pancake, at the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association convention.
