A4 • Friday, March 12, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
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Former teacher bequeathes $700,000 for scholarships
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
R.J. MARX
A former Seaside High School teacher
and coach will make a difference in the
lives of future generations.
Carol Stutesman died last May, but with
the donation of just under $700,000 to Sea-
side Scholarships, the Carol Stutesman
Scholarship will benefi t local high school
seniors for years to come. Funds will be
delivered to two separate scholarships for
graduating Seaside High School seniors,
one academic four-year degree program
scholarship and one vocational degree/cer-
tifi cate scholarship.
“She had a real heart for kids, especially
who weren’t connected to college so much
but vocations, kids that showed a prom-
ise in those kinds of areas as well as aca-
demics,” former teacher and coach Ginny
Hamer said. “Carol never married or had
children herself, so all her students in her
class were very, very dear to her.”
Stutesman taught at Coquille High
School and Oregon City High School
before her 29-year career at Seaside High
School. She taught business and vocational
classes that included personal fi nance,
computer applications, accounting and
graphic arts. Her business classes often
earned students college credit.
“Carol and I started teaching together
in the ’80s when she came to our district,”
Hamer said. “I was coaching volleyball at
the time and she became part of that pro-
gram right away.”
Along with teaching duties, Stutesman
quickly developed into coaching basket-
ball and softball and led the 1988 state 2A
volleyball champions, which went 13-1 to
win the Cowapa League title before defeat-
ing Sweet Home in the state championship.
Hamer serves as co-personal represen-
tative for the Stutesman estate with for-
mer Seaside High School teacher Karen
Mattocks.
“It’s such a fantastic opportunity for the
Seaside students with the amount of money
that she gave to the foundation,” Mat-
tocks said. “Teaching was just so incred-
ible to her. That was her family, her life,
she really connected with a lot of kids. She
truly wanted to give back to the Seaside
High School community and that she did.”
Stutesman battled cancer for a decade,
Hamer said.
“She immediately knew she wanted to
give the bulk of her estate to the kids at
Seaside. She was a very frugal woman who
played the stock market, she was very busi-
ness savvy, so she was able to put together
a nice little nest egg.
“We put a big emphasis on kids that
Along with teaching business and other classes, Carol Stutesman, top right, led the 1988 Gulls
volleyball team to a state 2A championship.
are college-bound a lot,” Hamer added.
“She felt there was a gap as far as kids that
just wanted to do a vocational program,
whether it be auto mechanics, beautician
or whatever they had a passion for. It was
a selfl ess deed and all that she worked for
in her life. She wanted to give it back to
the kids.”
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Will our republic survive
Donald Trump?
I am in mourning. I mourn the passing
of American exceptionalism. I was taught
at an early age to embrace the concept of
our special form of government based on
the rule of law. I believed that we lived
in a very special land. A country where
no one was above the law or not subject
to it.
It is a bitter pill, indeed, to realize that
Donald Trump is most likely beyond the
reach of ever being convicted of anything
in any American court of law. A jury can
be hung by only one juror. One person
who puts their love of Trump before their
duty to be an impartial adjudicator. One
person who absolutely refuses to believe
anything negative about him even in the
face of overwhelming evidence.
Trump once boasted “I could stand
in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot
somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any vot-
ers.” If they’d vote for him on a ballet,
they’d be inclined to vote for him on a
jury.
I once pridefully pointed to a well over
200-year-old tradition of peacefully trans-
ferring the reins of governmental power
as even more proof positive of how very
exceptional is the United States of Amer-
ica. Once again, Donald Trump has proven
me wrong. Mitch McConnell described
the storming of our national capitol build-
ing on the 6th of January unequivocally:
“There’s no question, none, that President
Trump is practically and morally respon-
sible for provoking the events of the day.”
Yet Donald Trump suffered no tangible
consequences for his behavior.
Watching Trump’s mob trash the peo-
ple’s house and beat police offi cers left
me shaken and fearful for the future of our
beloved country.
When the constitutional convention
wrapped up its work in 1787, Benjamin
Franklin was asked what kind of gov-
ernment was proposed, he answered, “A
republic, if you can keep it.” American
exceptionalism hasn’t survived Donald
Trump will our republic?
Lou Solitske
Seaside
Fund Alzheimer’s research
The coronavirus pandemic has under-
scored the importance of medical research.
As Congress addresses the needs of our
nation’s most vulnerable, they’re also work-
ing to address another disease affecting mil-
lions of Americans — Alzheimer’s.
My family has been impacted by Alz-
heimer’s. My mom suffered for over ten
years. I watched my dad struggle to meet the
demands of caretaking, while also navigating
the emotional, physical, and fi nancial stress
Alzheimer’s puts on families. Sadly, in June
of 2020, we lost my mom to this disease.
Today, over 5 million Americans are liv-
ing with Alzheimer’s, a number expected
to triple by 2050. In Oregon, 69,000 peo-
ple are suffering from Alzheimer’s and that
is projected to rise to 84,000 by 2025. With-
out medical breakthroughs, this number will
continue to rise.
Representative Bonamici can play an
important role in addressing this issue. By
increasing funding for Alzheimer’s and
dementia research at the National Institutes
of Health by $289 million, Representative
Bonamici could provide millions of Ameri-
cans a sense of hope.
With these increases, scientists can work
quicker to advance basic disease knowledge,
explore ways to reduce risk, uncover new
biomarkers for early diagnosis and drug tar-
geting, and make discoveries that can lead
to a treatment or cure. We can’t afford not to
fund research.
As our nation continues its collective
focus in 2021 on keeping people safe and
healthy, it is time to honor the requests of
scientists for additional funding so they can
bring hope to millions of Americans affected
by Alzheimer’s.
Kelly Kalkofen
Beaverton
County optimistic about vaccine rollout against virus
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
Clatsop County’s vaccine task force,
which has fallen behind because of an inad-
equate supply of vaccines, expects to begin
vaccinating seniors 70 years and older
against the coronavirus.
The task force is moving down the prior-
ity list after most teachers and seniors 80 and
older have been vaccinated. About 1,400
people are expected to receive fi rst doses
at upcoming vaccination events, including
a large event on Thursday that planned to
administer 1,000 doses.
People 65 and older are eligible for the
vaccine in Oregon, but the county will move
to that age group as supplies allow.
Chris Laman, the director of pharmacy
and cancer center services at Columbia
Memorial Hospital in Astoria, who is lead-
ing the vaccine task force, said the roughly
1,100 people who were rescheduled over
the past couple of weeks due to weath-
er-related disruptions in vaccine delivery
have been vaccinated.
Laman said the disruptions and resched-
uling created a lot of confusion and frus-
tration during an already diffi cult process.
“We’re trying to make it as simple as
possible with online registration,” he said.
“But in the age group that we’re in, with
those 80 and older folks, it’s challenging
to get through the online registration pro-
cess. And so to get rescheduled, not just
once, but multiple times through this elec-
tronic communication, was incredibly
frustrating for that group and rightfully so.
I was frustrated as the leader of it that we
Johnson & Johnson
Vials of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in December.
were having to do this.”
Going forward, he said, “we have a plan
for vaccine supplies so that we’re not going
to be promising doses to people before we
have them at the county health department.
So we should not have to reschedule doses
for not getting shipments or deliveries.
“But I think at each week, new sort of
things develop and come up that the task
force has to work through.”
Laman said the task force, which
includes the the county, Columbia Memo-
rial, Providence Seaside Hospital and
Coastal Family Health Center, meets daily
to talk through and identify challenges and
potential weaknesses in the system.
The task force is in communication with
pharmacies at Safeway in Astoria and Sea-
side and Costco and Walmart in Warrenton,
which are also administering vaccines.
In preparation for more vaccines, the
task force is starting to plan with hospitals
for when they will receive vaccines for their
own vaccination events.
“There’s point people at each of those
entities now who are responsible for plan-
ning for how that’s going to work in each of
their systems,” Laman said. “So it’s a really
strong collaboration that’s going on in the
county right now.”
Margo Lalich, the county’s interim public
health director, said people may be sched-
uling appointments for a vaccine at a phar-
macy and a county vaccination event and
going to whichever one they get into fi rst.
However, she said it is important to let the
other entity know they will not make their
appointment so that a dose is not prepared.
Lalich said the task force is also devel-
oping a strategy to reach out to people who
can’t get to vaccination events, whether
because they are homebound or from hard-
to-reach populations.
The Sunset Empire Transportation Dis-
trict is providing free transportation for peo-
ple who have vaccination appointments in
the county. People must schedule with the
transit district at least 24 hours in advance.
The task force is continuing to invite pri-
ority groups to vaccination events. People
receiving second doses, teachers and seniors
70 and older were invited to the vaccination
events scheduled in the coming week.
Unlike many other states, Gov. Kate
Brown placed teachers high on the priority
list. The governor announced Friday that she
would issue an executive order to return stu-
dents to classrooms statewide. The target for
kindergarten-through-fi fth grade is the week
of March 29, while sixth-through-12th grade
is April 19.
As of last Friday, 8,967 doses have been
administered in the county, including 5,788
fi rst doses and 3,179 second doses. The coun-
ty’s goal to reach herd immunity against the
virus is vaccinating 27,533 people.
Lalich said the county’s vaccination
events are heavily dependent on volunteers,
as it takes anywhere from 30 to 70 people to
run an event.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Contact local agencies for latest meeting infor-
mation and attendance guidelines.
cityofgearhart.com.
TUESDAY, MARCH 16
Seaside Tourism Advisory Committee,
3 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway.
THURSDAY, MARCH 18
TUESDAY, MARCH 23
Seaside Tree Board, 4 p.m., City Hall, 989
Broadway.
Seaside Transportation Advisory Commis-
sion, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway.
Seaside Airport Committee, 6 p.m., City Hall,
989 Broadway, Seaside.
Seaside Planning Commission, work ses-
sion, 6 p.m., cityofseaside.com.
Gearhart Small Business Committee, 6 p.m.,
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
Jeremy Feldman
ADVERTISING
SALES MANAGER
Sarah Silver-
Tecza
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
Gearhart Parks Master Plan Citizens Ad-
visory Committee, 5:30 p.m., work session,
cityofgearhart.com.
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
John D. Bruijn
Skyler Archibald
Darren Gooch
Joshua Heineman
Rain Jordan
Katherine Lacaze
Esther Moberg
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Carl Earl
MONDAY, MARCH 22
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., cityofseaside.
us.
Seaside Signal
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