A4 • Friday, April 9, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
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Seaside lines up for vaccine
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
R.J. MARX
C
latsop County has administered
more than 17,350 vaccine doses
against the coronavirus.
I was one of them.
“There’s been so much emphasis put on
the importance of the vaccine, that the jour-
ney of getting through the process, getting
through the line and fi nally receiving the
‘sacrament’ was almost a quasi-religious
experience,” my wife, Eve, said afterward.
“It had a sense of ceremony.”
It seemed like a long road. Covering
COVID-19 for the newspaper is almost
all-consuming. Every story has a conse-
quence from the impacts of the virus: phys-
ical, social, personal. Families, businesses,
schools, the way we live, the way we think
and vote has been linked to the virus in
some way.
Every death as a result of the coronavi-
rus seems incongruously both random, yet
especially close.
Being in classifi cation 1B — over 65
with no preexisting conditions — I was eli-
gible for the vaccine in late January.
We registered online and checked phar-
macy websites. We Googled, surfed, stud-
ied, registered, fi led, clicked and phoned.
Did you have to be a Costco member to get
one at Costco? Could you get one in Wash-
ington state if you live in Oregon? Eligibil-
ity was one thing — getting an appointment
another.
Yet judging from the selfi es on social
media, everybody but us was getting it.
What was the secret code? Were they really
all eligible, or were they jumping the line?
I was almost ashamed for such thoughts.
Anyone who wants the vaccine should be
allowed to freely get it. No guilt. No shame.
In mid-March, we still hadn’t gotten an
appointment, more than six weeks after
eligibility.
We had worked our thumbs down click-
ing refresh on pharmacy webpages.
Though it hadn’t worked in the past, Eve
took a friend’s advice and called the county
Public Health Department. To her amaze-
Photos by R.J. Marx
ABOVE: The vaccine line went quickly at
Seaside High School. RIGHT: “Didn’t feel a
thing.”
ment, they scheduled us the next week at
the old Seaside High School. It was almost
too easy.
We entered the high school.
Volunteers greeted us like they were
hosts at Wyndham. Some of the volunteers
even wore badges labeled “concierge.”
The single-fi le line down the high school
hallway was daunting but moved so quickly
that we got to the front in less than 15
minutes.
Though we would have preferred the
one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, we
happily submitted to the Moderna, adminis-
tered by an extremely competent volunteer.
After taking the shot — it didn’t hurt — we
got our little vaccine cards. Sorry, no selfi e.
After the shot, we sat in chairs socially
distanced from each other in the former
high school gym. No wonder lots of baby
boomers say they are reminded of getting
the polio vaccine in schools in the 1950s
and ‘60s.
We were two of 600 jabs that day at the
high school, a volunteer mentioned.
MEETINGS
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Contact local agencies for latest
meeting information and atten-
dance guidelines.
Seaside Transportation Advisory
Commission 6 p.m., 989 Broadway.
MONDAY, APRIL 12
Seaside Budget Committee, 6 p.m.,
989 Broadway.
MONDAY, APRIL 19
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., 989
Broadway, cityofseaside.us.
TUESDAY, APRIL 20
TUESDAY, APRIL 13
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation
District, board workshop, 5:15 p.m.,
1225 Avenue A.
Seaside Planning Commission,
6 p.m., 989 Broadway.
tee, 6 p.m., cityofgearhart.com.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21
Tourism Advisory Committee,
3 p.m., 989 Broadway.
Gearhart Parks Master Plan
Citizens Advisory Committee,
5:30 p.m., work session, cityofgear-
hart.com.
MONDAY, APRIL 26
Seaside School District, 6 p.m.,
www.seaside.k12.or.us/meetings.
Gearhart Small Business Commit-
THURSDAY, APRIL 15
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., 989
Broadway, cityofseaside.us.
Tiff any Boothe/Seaside Aquarium
Seaside’s Tsunami Skippers are among the groups to donate their time and eff orts to keeping Seaside’s
beaches clean.
SOLVE beach cleanup on April 17
Seaside Signal
SOLVE and the Gearhart
Homeowners Association invite
volunteers to a beach cleanup,
on Saturday, April 17, 10 a.m. to
1 p.m. This event is part of the
annual Oregon Spring Cleanup,
presented by Portland General
Electric. The beach cleanup is
family-friendly, and volunteers
of all ages will fi nd the event
fun and rewarding. Help us pro-
tect marine life and maintain the
beauty of our coast. Be prepared
by dressing for any weather and
wearing sturdy shoes.
Volunteers are encouraged to
bring your own reusable bucket/
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
Jeremy Feldman
ADVERTISING
SALES MANAGER
Sarah Silver-
Tecza
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
More than 5,200 county residents are
fully vaccinated, a step toward the coun-
ty’s goal to reach herd immunity against the
virus by vaccinating 27,533 people. This
week, the county’s vaccine task force plans
to give 1,400 fi rst doses and 1,170 second
doses at four events.
And that seems like a good thing.
bag, gloves, and water bottle to
help reduce plastic waste. If you
happen to forget, SOLVE will
provide bags and gloves. Please
keep dogs on a leash and steer
clear of roped off western snowy
plover nesting areas.
Meet at the Gearhart beach
access off 10th Street. Sign up at
solveoregon.org.
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
John D. Bruijn
Skyler Archibald
Darren Gooch
Joshua Heineman
Rain Jordan
Katherine Lacaze
Esther Moberg
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Carl Earl
Protect our rocky
shore habitat
I have lived in Cannon Beach
for twenty years and was drawn
here by its stunning beaches,
diverse tide pools, rocky habitats
and wildlife. I’ve been a volun-
teer community scientist monitor-
ing nesting birds every summer for
several years. I’m so happy that
visitors come here to enjoy this
place but as visitation increases
I’m deeply concerned about the
impacts. Challenges facing inhabi-
tants of the rocky shores are grow-
ing and I’ve seen fi rsthand the
disturbance of species of conserva-
tion concern like our emblematic
puffi ns and black oystercatchers.
We have a great opportunity
right now to help. Oregon’s Rocky
Habitat Management Strategy is
being updated. As part of this pro-
cess, the public has been asked to
submit site designation proposals.
The North Coast Rocky Habitat
Coalition (NCRHC) submitted two
proposals for Chapman Point and
Ecola Point, recommending that
these areas be designated Marine
Conservation Areas. These propos-
als include smart, practical mea-
sures that balance ecological pro-
tection and public access. Many
in the community have already
embraced these proposals.
Haystack Rock gained status
as a Marine Garden in 1991 and
it has been a great success story
– balancing protection with site
access. Let’s follow that up with
new designations to help keep our
community so special!
The Rocky Habitat Work-
ing Group has tentatively
approved these proposals with
several recommended changes,
accessed at: https://www.ore-
gonocean.info/index.php/
tsp-rocky-shores-amendment.
The Working Group will
re-evaluate these proposals soon.
Please consider sending a com-
ment in support no later than
APRIL 15, 2021 to TSP.Com-
ments@state.or.us. Talking points
may be found at https://www.face-
book.com/northcoastrockyhabitats.
Tabea Goossen
Cannon Beach
Time to move transient
RVs out of Seaside
The transient RVs that are being
allowed to camp for months across
from the public restrooms at 12th
and Necanicum need to be moved
out of town. These people have
expired registration dating back to
2015, they have no insurance, their
RVs are not fully functional, some
don’t even run, doubtful they have
valid divers licenses.
Why is this allowed?
1. The biggest reason is that the
RVs can’t be towed because they
have a negative value of thousands
of dollars. These rigs cost big
money to dispose of, nobody will
tow them because nobody wants to
be stuck paying to get rid of them.
Consequently the police don’t
even bother enforcing any registra-
tion or licensing or insurance laws.
2. The police are tired of chas-
ing them all over town to various
neighborhoods where they park if
they make them move along. Their
theory, “at least we know where
they are.”
Watch out because where there
was one RV, there is now fi ve RVs,
and more to come. Be prepared for
Seaside to look like Portland. It
won’t take long!
P.S. The people who thought
the fi ve-cent bottle deposit would
work twice as good if they made it
10 cents were idiots. Now we have
created a livable “lifestyle” for the
bottle return homeless who can
easily make $50 a day and team
up to fund their drugs, booze and
food and made the bottle return
areas so undesirable that nobody
wants to take their bottles back.
Brilliant!
George Sticka
Rhododendron
Seaside Signal
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