A4 • Friday, January 31, 2020 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
SignalViewpoints
Fire truck is a hit at
Seaside open house
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
R.J. MARX
T
he public received an opportunity to
check out the fi re department’s lat-
est addition, engine 3148, a trac-
tor-drawn aerial quint with a 100-foot lad-
der, designed to reach Seaside’s tallest
buildings.
The open house brought residents and
visitors of all ages to the fi rehouse to check
out the nearly $1.2 million apparatus.
“It’s basically a tractor with a big fi fth
wheel,” Seaside Fire Chief Joey Daniels
said of the 60-foot truck at the Saturday,
Jan. 25, event.
For operators, certifi cation involves a
three- to four-day class, Rankin said, with
four hours of drive time in the front seat,
with brakes and controls, and 10 hours of
drive time in the rear tiller seat.
“The tiller seat drives these back steer
wheels,” Rankin said. “The guy up front
Division Chief David Rankin aboard the aerial
quint.
has the gas and brake, and he drives the
tractor. It bends like a fi fth wheel.”
In front, the aerial operator runs the
truck and ladder using a joystick.
Training is underway, Rankin said, with
17 fi refi ghters in training.
Along with basic functions, drivers
must demonstrate they can run the ladder
and place it on buildings.
The open house aimed to thank vot-
ers for funding for the new appa-
ratus, Daniels said, which
arrived in late Decem-
ber from Rosenbau-
er’s manufacturing
facility in South
Dakota.
“The biggest
surprise is where
it can go,” Daniels
said. “We were hop-
ing to go at least thof
the city, but I would
say we can go to 99%
of the city. I’m really
surprised what we can do
with this, and look forward
to using it.”
Councilor Tita Montero
said it was “exciting that a
small town like Seaside has
come forth and funded such
wonderful fi re equipment.
We have such wonder-
ful volunteers, so enabling
them to do their job even
better and better. It’s great
— kudos to the voters and
taxpayers.”
City Councilor Tita Montero and Chief Joey
Daniels looking up at the ladder truck.
R.J. Marx
A glimpse up the 100-foot ladder truck.
At the front of the quint, the driver communicates with the operator in the rear to steer and
operate the ladder.
‘Finding Hope’ amidst alarming traffi cking numbers
VIEW FROM
THE PORCH
EVE MARX
‘F
inding Hope,” by Seaside author
Shannon Symonds, was inspired by
two things: the author’s dream to
write a novel that keeps readers up all night,
and her desire to carry readers to a world
where they can walk beside a survivor.
Survivors are the heroes of Symonds
story, four broken people who work together
to save one lost girl.
“We don’t have to be perfect to make a
difference in someone else’s life,” Symonds
said.
Her fi ctional character, a young girl
named Hope, lives in a town an awful
lot like Seaside, although it’s not called
Seaside.
Shortly after we meet Hope, she becomes
a runaway. She runs away from the derelict
trailer where she lives alone with her creepy
stepfather who she calls “The Rat” after her
mother took off for parts unknown.
Hope spends some nights on the street,
folding herself into doorways and crawling
behind and under things.
She continues showing up each morning
for school where she makes good grades and
lands an after school job at a soup and cof-
fee bar, managing to keep herself clean and
camoufl aged so that nobody notices she’s a
street kid.
Nobody except the keenly observant
Mabel, who also works at the soup joint
and who slips Hope a key so she can creep
inside at night.
Eventually Mabel invites Hope to bunk
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
“Finding Hope,” by Shannon Symonds.
at her home, a home she shares with a whole
lot of other folks with their own dire and
frightening problems.
There’s also a love affair, conducted
chastely, that runs throughout the book. Call
it the B-story if you like.
Symonds said she was inspired by Sea-
side’s own homeless and vulnerable youth.
While working a decade ago on a project
with local schools, she became aware of
the Seaside statistics. “The numbers were
alarming then,” she said. “I’m sure today
they are higher.”
When the group Operation Underground
Railroad, which aims to stop sex traffi ck-
ing, asked her to write their volunteer news-
letter, Symonds took their online volunteer
training and researched the subject, which
helped her plot her book.
The Oregon Coast is no stranger to the
danger of sex traffi cking. In 2018, Erin
Ludwig, a victim specialist for the FBI,
gave a presentation in Tillamook on the
state of human traffi cking. One in three
homeless teens will be recruited within 48
hours of experiencing homelessness, Lud-
wig said. “The teen will be approached by a
pimp or a traffi cker.”
In Symonds’ story, Hope has a close
call, snared by a devious homeless girl who
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
Jeremy Feldman
ADVERTISING
SALES MANAGER
Sarah Silver-
Tecza
MULTIMEDIA
ADVERTISING
REPRESENTATIVE
Kim McCaw
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
John D. Bruijn
Skyler Archibald
Darren Gooch
Joshua Heineman
Rain Jordan
Katherine Lacaze
Eve Marx
Esther Moberg
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Carl Earl
works for a pimp. Invited to what’s been
advertised as a fun, let-your-hair-down
teen party, Hope narrowly escapes what
would certainly be her ruin, if not her
death.
Makes you wonder what’s really behind
any underage drinking party, especially
ones in Seaside hotels hosted by adult men.
Out of curiosity, I went on a hook-up
site, and it took me no time at all to see
who’s allegedly available in Seaside. The
site doesn’t suggest in any way that these
women are prostitutes. These chicks are
just looking to be your friend for an hour
or so, unless you want to become a regu-
lar. My eyes locked on a girl who claimed
she’s 19 but looked much younger. The day
I looked, there were 24 women available
for “fun” in Seaside. Let’s be clear: the site
is not technically a prostitution site (which
is illegal) because all payment is “sug-
gested.” Or, as the man who told me about
the site said: “It’s implicit; you know you’re
meant to leave a gift in the form of legal
tender.” My question is, are these women
working on their free will, or are they being
traffi cked?
Just so you know, “Finding Hope” has a
happy ending.
Symonds, who has a day job with Fos-
ter Club, is always writing. She said she’s
got one in the works featuring the same
characters and coastal community. The new
book is a young adult romance with a little
mystery.
“I always start with a carefully outlined
plot and then somewhere toward the end
the characters take control of their own des-
tiny,” she said. “That’s my favorite part
of the writing process. It’s like watching a
movie.”
Find “Finding Hope” at Beach Books in
Seaside. You can also order it on Amazon.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Tuesday, Feb. 4
Seaside Community Center Commission,
10 a.m., Bob Chisholm Community Center,
1225 Avenue A.
Seaside Library Board, 4:30 p.m., Seaside Li-
brary, 1131 Broadway.
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District,
board workshop, 5:15 p.m., Bob Chisholm
Community Center, 1225 Avenue A, Seaside.
Seaside Planning Commission, 7 p.m., City
Hall, 989 Broadway.
Wednesday, Feb. 5
Seaside Improvement Commission, 6 p.m.,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
Gearhart City Council, 7 p.m., 698 Pacifi c Way.
Thursday, Feb. 6
Seaside Parks Advisory Committee, 7 p.m.,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
Monday, Feb. 10
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., 989 Broadway.
Thursday, Feb. 13
Convention Center Commission, 5 p.m., Sea-
side Civic and Convention Center, 415 First
Ave.
Gearhart Planning Commission, 6 p.m., City
Hall, 698 Pacifi c Way.
Tuesday, Feb. 18
Union Health District of Clatsop County,
8 a.m., Seaside Providence Hospital Ed Cen-
ter, Room B.
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District,
Bob Chisholm Community Center, 5:15 p.m.,
1225 Avenue A, Seaside.
Seaside Planning Commission, work session,
7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway.
Seaside School District Board of Directors,
7 p.m., 1801 S. Franklin, Seaside.
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