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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2020)
OUR 113th Year February 7, 2020 $1.00 SEASIDESIGNAL.COM CLEANING UP IN SEASIDE Jesse Anderson cleaning the riverbank during a recent storm. Seaside Community Cleanup One man’s action takes on big-time problem By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal S easide’s Jesse Anderson, a 37-year- old commercial fi sherman, was walking his dog near the Tillamook Boat Launch on the Necanicum River south of the city in mid-January when he found used hypodermic needles littered amidst piles of trash. An illegal encampment was occupied by three people and a dog, fi lled with trash and more needles. “I know it fl oods out there,” Anderson said Tuesday. “I know needles fl oat and end up on your beaches. I just ain’t gonna have it.” He called Seaside Police to see what could be done about cleaning up. Offi cers told Anderson he could start removing garbage, though he couldn’t legally remove occupied tents. Police ticketed the squatters. Meanwhile, Anderson collected 20 yards of trash, using bags he brought him- self and Sharps containers provided by police to handle used needles. Seeking awareness of the problem, he turned to social media, posting pictures Annexation moves forward Trailer park receives exemption By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal Seaside took the sec- ond step toward bringing 45 properties in the southern part of town into the city. After the reading of two ordinances and a unanimous vote Monday night, city councilors agreed to move ahead with annexation of county land on the east and west sides of U.S. Highway 101. A third reading will be required for each before the ordinances become law. In a public comment period before the vote, offi - cials heard a plea from Trucke’s 1-Stop and RV Park owner Lori Trucke for an exemption to the ordinance. The exemption, which requires an additional code amendment, would allow her to operate her existing trailer park “in the manner and to the extent it operated prior to the annexation.” According to City Plan- ner Kevin Cupples, the exemption is consistent with provisions of the Seaside zoning ordinance that regu- late nonconforming uses. “This is really just cre- ating an exemption stick- ing the RV park under what would be the nonconform- ing use provisions of the zoning ordinance rather than dragging it into the trailer park ordinance,” Cupples said. “This will put a Band- Aid on it and will proba- Trucke’s Trucke’s received an exemption from a proposed annexation ordinance in order to operate under existing trailer park rules. bly satisfy their concerns that once it is annexed it won’t be plunged into added regulations.” Trucke’s will still be sub- ject to the city’s business license ordinance, he added. Driving the adoption of the annexation ordinance is the city’s longtime goal to eliminate “checkerboard zoning,” where neighboring parcels are served by differ- ent governments. See Annexation, Page A6 Taking to the dance fl oor at the Mother Son Dance Referencing the common phrase, Allison Whisenhunt stated, “Dance is a universal language.” Along with other par- ents from around Clatsop County, she embraced the opportunity to have a special evening using the language of dance to create a memora- ble experience with her son at the second annual Mother Son Dance, hosted Jan. 31 by the Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District. The See Cleanup, Page A6 Push for higher grad rates pays off Grad, attendance initiatives paying off at high school Success Act, the district has experienced increased focus — and resources — to tackle the issue. By KATHERINE LACAZE For Seaside Signal One of the goals in the district’s 2019-2024 stra- tegic plan is that by June 2024, all students K-12 will be on track to gradu- ate and be prepared with a plan beyond high school. One of the performance indicators aligned with that goal is 100% of freshmen will be on track for gradu- ation by the end of fresh- man year. According to state stan- dards, students are consid- ered on track if they fi n- ish a quarter of the classes required to graduate. The Seaside district, however, has chosen “to hold ourselves to a little bit higher standard,” Rob- erts said. At the end of freshman year, students must earn at least 6.5 credits — or a quarter of what’s required to graduate — but also not have failed more than one of their core classes. Other- wise, Roberts said, “we’re playing catch-up.” According to the dis- trict’s formula, 82% of freshmen were on track to graduate at the end of 2018-19, although the state reported the rate at 85% based on their standard. The target for the 2019-20 year is 88%. After the fi rst trimester in 2018, 92.9% of fresh- men were on track to grad- uate, while at the conclu- sion of the fi rst trimester for this school year, the On track A DANCE WITH MOM By KATHERINE LACAZE For Seaside Signal of the encampments and their waste. Day after day in late January he picked up gar- bage, and while admittedly not tech savvy, conceived the “Seaside Community Cleanup” Facebook group. On Jan. 29, he received assistance from city public works employee Jeremy Strim- ple, who worked with the department’s director Dale McDowell to provide a backhoe and a dumpster. “Dale was seeing the garbage and get- ting reports about it from the community,” Anderson said. “I said, ‘You guys are life- Katherine Lacaze Colleen Larson and her 2-year-old son Bryan Larson enjoy a dance during the second annual Mother Son Dance, put on Jan. 31 by the Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District. following night, the dis- trict held its annual Father Daughter Dance, also at the Seaside Civic and Conven- tion Center. The Father Daughter See Dance, Page A6 The Seaside School District’s strategic efforts to improve four-year grad- uation rates have resulted in a positive trend, accord- ing to data from the Ore- gon Department of Educa- tion and the district. Along with other dis- tricts throughout Clat- sop, Tillamook, Columbia, and Washington counties, Seaside has seen recent improvements in the num- ber of students who com- pleted high school in four years. Among all student demographics at Seaside High School, the four-year graduation rate increased more than 3%, from 73.4% in 2017-18 to 76.8% for 2018-19. Homeless stu- dents continue to have one of the lowest rates of on-time graduation, decreasing from 66.67% in 2017-18 to 53.85% in 2018-19. When it comes to increasing graduation rates and the number of fresh- men on-track to gradu- ate in four years, “there’s no magic bullet, we know that,” Principal Jeff Rob- erts said during a presenta- tion at the district’s Jan. 21 board meeting. But with the adoption of the district’s fi ve-year strategic plan in December 2018 and the passage of Measure 98, or the Student See Grad rates, Page A6