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