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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 2021)
OUR 114th Year March 26, 2021 $1.00 SEASIDESIGNAL.COM Seaside goes own way on special ed programs By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Astorian Seaside Civic and Convention Center West entrance of the Seaside Civic and Convention Center. ‘STRONGER AND MORE RESILIENT’ Convention center weathers the pandemic Seaside School District will leave a long-standing consortium that provides special education services to North Coast students across the region’s fi ve school districts. Seaside instead plans to develop its own programs in an eff ort to better provide services to students close to home beginning in the fall. It is a conversation that has been going on for some time, said Superinten- dent Susan Penrod. As a fi ve-year commitment to the consortium came up for review, “we really started to evaluate: Are we serving every student?” she said. For the school districts that remain in the consor- tium, Seaside’s decision takes away one option for younger students and means a change in what the pro- gram costs. Because of the support and resources these students often require, the consortium classes can be expen- sive for districts to run. For Astoria, a slot for a sin- gle student has cost just over $29,000 a year. Without See Special education, Page A3 By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal With a newly renovated build- ing and contracts for events through 2030, Seaside Civic and Convention Center General Manager Russ Van- denberg projected optimism as he presented the center’s annual report. “COVID-19 taught us to be stron- ger and more resilient,” Vandenberg Upper level of the convention center; Pacifi c Room stage at right. said. “We can now toss aside our 2020 calendars with hope and anticipation The city saw a 6.43% year-over- would have exceeded by 25% the pre- that 2021 will be a better year.” year growth in bed tax receipts from vious high. The report comes after a year of October to December 2019, Director March changed all that. pandemic-related declines, particu- of Tourism Marketing Joshua Heine- On March 11, as a result of rising larly at the convention center, where man said at Monday’s City Council pandemic numbers, Oregon banned state mandates shuttered its doors for meeting. gatherings of 250 or more. On March most gatherings. January and February 2020 were 16, the state banned gatherings of The pandemic downturn came also “very, very strong,” Heineman more than 25 people, and Seaside after historic numbers of tourists and said. issued an emergency order on March citywide economic impact of the cen- In the fi rst three months of 2020, 21. All short-term lodging was banned ter’s annual programming, peaking at Oregon Fine Foods Inc., the cen- March 22, and on March 23, the state more than $36.3 million in 2018, and ter’s food service provider, had been issued a stay-home order. following completion of the build- on pace to set a new food and bever- Since short-term lodging was ing’s $15 million expansion and age record of $1 million for the fi scal See Center, Page A3 renovation. year, Vandenberg said, a number that Mimi’s Flowers to close after 28 years in Seaside By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal Mimi’s Flowers is closing April 15 after 28 years on U.S. Highway 101 at Avenue U in Seaside. “The adventure that started in Mich- igan with my husband, Warren, in 1988 has been a life changing, challeng- ing and a rewarding experience, owner Mimi Merrow said. “I will never forget the respect this community has given me and my family.” Merrow will move to be with her children and grandchildren in Portland. “The community’s acceptance and the friendships we have fostered throughout the last 28 years in business will con- tinue to be remembered and cherished long after we’re closed,” Merrow said. Employee Annette Lear will also be leaving. The former neighbors met when R.J. Marx Annette Lear and Mimi Merrow of Mimi’s Flowers in Seaside. The store is closing after 28 years. Lear’s daughter broke Merrow’s win- dow playing basketball. They’ve been working together since the beginning, in 1993, Lear said. Customers and friends are invited to stop by and give well-wishes to staff . “Thank you for making us feel wel- come,” Merrow said. Following guidance, Seaside kids are back in classroom By KATHERINE LACAZE For Seaside Signal Nearly a year after the coronavirus pandemic ini- tiated the closure of school campuses nationwide last spring, a majority of Seaside students are back for in-person instruction. “It was a really, really special day,” Superintendent Susan Penrod said during the school board meeting March 16 — the same day students from all grades, prekindergarten through 12th grade, returned to cam- pus. By the end of the week, all cohorts had partici- pated in on-site sessions. The reopening plan in Seaside preceded Gov. Kate Brown’s March 5 executive order, which directed school districts across the state to off er in-person or hybrid instructions for students in kindergarten through fi fth grade on or before the week of March 29 and for students in sixth through 12th grade on or before the week of April 19. “We are ahead of that schedule, so that’s really nice to know,” Penrod said. On the cusp of the executive order, the Oregon Department of Education updated its Ready Schools, Safe Learners guidance, which has already undergone numerous revisions since the start of the pandemic. “We are really thankful to ODE and (Oregon Health Authority) for all of their help as we’ve been navigating this year,” Penrod said. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Pre- vention recently updated its operational strategy to recommend all students remain 3 feet — rather than 6 feet — apart in classrooms where mask use is univer- sal. However, for Oregon and the Seaside School Dis- trict, “this has not changed,” and whether the district will eventually implement a 3-foot standard “is yet to be seen,” Penrod said. Although the schools continue operating with health and safety measures to contain the spread of COVID, there was a sense of joy and satisfaction from administrators following the start of in-person instruction for all grade levels. “To have that sense of community back in the See In-person, Page A3 Gearhart journalist probes rap legend deaths By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal In 2001, Rolling Stone magazine assigned journal- ist Randall Sullivan a story about corruption in the anti- gang unit of the Rampart Division of the Los Angeles Police Department. Sullivan worked his source, Detective Rus- sell Poole, who had evi- dence offi cers moonlighted as security for the hip-hop label Death Row Records and arranged the 1997 kill- ing of rapper Notorious B.I.G. No one has ever been charged. Sullivan’s reporting cul- minated in the book, “LAb- yrinth: The True Story of City of Lies, the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Noto- rious B.I.G. and the Impli- cation of the Los Angeles Police Department.” The book has been made into the movie, “City of Lies,” starring Johnny Depp and Forest Whitaker and hits theaters this month. “‘City of Lies’ is about a corrupt chief of police and a group of gangster cops,” Sullivan told The Astorian. “The bad guys were Black but the victims were Black, too.” “It’s as if Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra had been whacked by the mob in Las Vegas in the ‘50s,” he said. “Do you think that murder would go unsolved for 20 years?” self an Oregonian. He and his wife, Delores, moved to Gearhart in 2018. Locals sometimes recognize him for his roles on the pop- ular Oprah Winfrey Net- work show “Miracle Detec- tives,” or “The Curse of Oak Island: The Story of the World’s Longest Trea- sure Hunt” on the History Channel. He was born in Los Angeles but moved to Coos Bay before he was a year old. The family spent 12 A privileged position Sullivan considers him- R.J. Marx See Film, Page A5 Randall Sullivan at By the Way in Gearhart.