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SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
Seaside plans
full-time
fall return
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Superintendent Susan Penrod took a look
ahead at the last Seaside School District board
meeting for this year — including a full-time
schedule for students in the fall.
“We are planning to bring back kids five days
a week,” she said. “We completely reworked
what teaching and learning have looked like.
Together, we’ve been able to bring our students
back on-site this spring, which was no easy feat.
So we’re excited to have them back full time
this fall.”
Classes run from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for
middle schoolers and 8:30 a.m. to 3:35 p.m. for
high school students. Early school release on
Wednesdays, as pre-pandemic, will continue,
with dismissal at 2:30 p.m. at the middle school
and 2:35 p.m. at the high school. Elementary
students will attend from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
daily, except for Wednesdays, when dismissal is
at 1 p.m. Pre-K students will attend daily from
8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Masks will still be required for students and
drivers on the bus. The district plans to develop
protocols for entry and screening of students
into buildings, as well as cleaning and disin-
fecting. All students are
required to wear appropri-
MORE
ate face coverings indoors.
INSIDE
Students, staff and other
Wahl steps down
adults will not be required
from school
to wear face coverings
board
outdoors for physical
Malia Riggs/For Seaside Signal
Miss Emerald Valley Abigail Hayes was crowned Miss Oregon by Shivali Kadam, Miss Oregon 2019, as Miss Oregon Outstanding
Teen Moira O’Bryan, right, looks on.
Miss Oregon is
crowned in Seaside
• A6
See School, Page A6
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Crews aim
to close
out school
construction
Miss Emerald Valley Abigail Hayes
is the new Miss Oregon.
Hayes, of Damascus, was crowned
last Saturday night, the final evening
of the Miss Oregon competition held
at the Seaside Civic and Convention
Center.
“I’m feeling like this is a dream,”
Hayes said moments after receiving
the crown from Shivali Kadam, who
was crowned Miss Oregon in 2019.
“I’m absolutely ecstatic and this is
unreal. Unreal.”
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
R.J. Marx
Contestants await the announcement of the winner of Miss Oregon Scholarship
See Miss Oregon, Page A5 Program.
Baker said she looked at the buildings
in Seaside on a Friday and made an offer
the following Monday because proper-
ties were being purchased so quickly.
The former 2nd Chance Bargains
will be used for outpatient services now
being conducted for about 250 patients a
year at the agency’s Seaside clinic. They
will close the agency’s S. Holladay Drive
location, which the organization rents.
The former Seaside Antiques and
Collectibles, a neighbor to City Hall,
will become a five-bed shelter.
“When I say shelter, what I mean
Land slippage on the slope northeast of the Pacific
Ridge Elementary School parking lot has been an
ongoing concern during campus construction.
Crews hope to bolster that slope with removal
of some surface soil and additional large rock but-
tress material further up the slope to curtail future
movement, Brian Hardebeck, a senior project man-
ager at Day CPM, said last week. The rock mate-
rials will come from off-site local quarry supplier,
Knife River. The project will be the most extensive
and longest project remaining, running right up to
the start of school.
This and other measures are underway as the
Seaside School District prepares to open for full-
time, in-person classes in September. Design, per-
mitting and getting final work in place by mid-Au-
gust is the goal as the school district winds down
its four-year, $131 million campus construction
project.
Hardebeck provided an update at last Tues-
day’s school board meeting on a “quiet but busy
month” as the district reaches final completion.
See Agency, Page A6
See Construction, Page A6
Mental health agency expands in Seaside
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare has
purchased two buildings in Seaside to
provide transitional housing for people
with mental health issues and those try-
ing to get into recovery.
The multiuse property on Broad-
way, purchased for $650,000, consists
of two structures, including three reno-
vated apartments, two retail commercial
spaces and private parking. Construction
started last week and is expected to be
ready for move-in by September.
“We’ve had great success with get-
ting folks into detox,” Amy Baker, the
executive director of Clatsop Behavioral
Healthcare, told the City Council at last
Monday’s meeting. “But if they don’t
have a home to step out of, their chance
of relapse is really, really high.”
Baker acknowledged the Oregonians
struggling to find affordable housing and
noted the growing number of homeless
people in Clatsop County.
The agency, the county’s mental
health contractor, offers in-person ser-
vices and groups for people with men-
tal health issues and for those in recov-
ery from substance abuse.
Two rescues in two days from Saddle Mountain
Seaside Signal
Two incidents involv-
ing hikers brought response
from Hamlet, Seaside, Can-
non Beach, Gearhart fire
departments and the U.S.
Coast Guard to bring hik-
ers off Saddle Mountain last
Friday and Saturday.
Because of the location
and poor trail conditions it
was determined that carry-
ing the patients down the
hill carried significant risk
and the Coast Guard was
called for assistance during
both rescues.
“It was the same exact
scenario two days in a
row,” Seaside Fire Divi-
sion Chief Genesee Dennis
said. “Injured hikers were
located almost at the very
top.”
A U.S. Coast Guard air-
crew hoisted a hiker Fri-
day after she injured her
ankle near the top of Saddle
Mountain.
A Hamlet Fire and Res-
cue team on scene with
the hiker deemed it unsafe
to reach and recover
the woman on foot and
requested Coast Guard heli-
copter assistance.
The aircrew arrived at
about 5:45 p.m. and the
woman was met by med-
ical personnel just before
7 p.m., who flew her to air
station Astoria, where they
were transported to Colum-
bia Memorial Hospital by
Medix ambulance.
A
similar
scenario
occurred Saturday when
responders located an
injured hiker.
Coast Guard Sector
Columbia River received
an request for assistance
from Seaside Police Dis-
patch. A Hamlet Fire and
Rescue team was on scene
with the hiker, but consid-
ered it unsafe to reach and
recover the woman on foot
and requested Coast Guard
helicopter assistance.
A Sector Columbia River
MH-60 Jayhawk helicop-
ter crew arrived on scene at
5:48 p.m. A rescue swim-
mer brought the woman to
safety and medevaced the
woman at 6:38 p.m.
At 6:45 p.m., the patient
was transferred to await-
ing emergency medical per-
sonnel at Sector Columbia
River and treated for shock
and a broken ankle while
en route to the Columbia
Memorial Hospital.
Seaside Fire
Responders assist a hiker on Saddle Mountain.