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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.