OUR 114th Year
August 20, 2021 $1.00
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
GEARHART
City seeks
vote on
firehouse
bond
A $13 million question
on November ballot
By GRIFFIN REILLY
The Astorian
Jeff TerHar
Evan Cory serves up some beach volleyball action in the men’s open last weekend during the Seaside Beach Volleyball
tournament. He and teammate Logan Webber topped the team of Travis Mewhirter and Adam Roberts for the championship.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
RETURNS TO SEASIDE
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
S
easide can put the “annual” back
into the Seaside Beach Volleyball
tournament, as the popular event
made its return to the beach last week-
end, after cancellation of the 2020 tour-
nament because of the pandemic.
In its 39th year, the event is one of
the largest beach volleyball gatherings
on the West Coast.
Action on Saturday featured exciting
championships in the men’s and wom-
en’s open/professional divisions.
The men’s open winners were
Evan Cory, a 6-foot-3 left-hander from
Metairie, Louisiana, and 6-foot-7 team-
mate Logan Webber, of Grand Rapids,
Michigan. The duo topped the team of
Travis Mewhirter and Adam Roberts in
the final.
Cory and Webber were coming off
a recent championship in the AVPNext
New Orleans tournament in Kenner,
Louisiana.
Meanwhile, the women’s open title
match went all three sets, with the Cal-
ifornia team of Megan Nash and Brit-
tany Tiegs (Redondo Beach) rallying
for a 17-21, 21-16, 15-12 victory over
Emily Hartong and Macy Jerger.
Action officially began Thursday
with the juniors division and wrapped
up Sunday with play in the fours and
sixes divisions.
This year, the 185 courts set up on
the beach featured over a thousand
teams, mostly from Washington, Ore-
gon and California, with entrants from
states including Arizona, Michigan,
North Carolina, Montana, Texas and
New York, among others.
In other division championships,
No. 1 seed Danielle Jacobson and Cal-
lie Weber took the first set, 21-19, and
won another close battle in the second
set to secure the victory over the team of
The Gearhart City Council has voted
unanimously to put a bond measure to
finance a new firehouse on the Novem-
ber ballot.
An estimated $13 million is needed to
fund the project near Highlands Lane and
U.S. Highway 101.
A recent geotech analysis of the sur-
rounding area revealed the dune at the
site is 2,000 years older than a previously
targeted location for a firehouse, meaning
there will not be a need for a more diffi-
cult type of foundation.
“This is one of very few places in Gear-
hart with land like this,” City Administa-
tor Chad Sweet said.
A recent city survey found that 65%
of respondents were in favor of building
the new firehouse and 60% supported the
bond financing.
Of the 554 survey respondents, how-
ever, just 309 were registered voters. A
narrower portion of voters — 51% —
were in favor of both the new firehouse
and the bond.
The survey was the second by the city
on a new firehouse. A 2019 survey identi-
fied the High Point site on North Marion
as the preferable location.
The city wants to move the aging fire-
house on Pacific Way to help better pre-
pare emergency operations for an earth-
quake and tsunami.
Homeless
strategy
takes form
City develops water system safeguards in Seaside
Focus on resilience
and emergency
preparedness
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Top on the list of threats to Sea-
side’s water system are poten-
tial contamination, earthquake
and wildfire at the water treatment
plant. But consultants are also help-
ing to safeguard the water system’s
risk from a plane crash in the reser-
voir, sabotage and cyber crimes.
The asset-threat analysis,
conducted by consultants at
See Volleyball, Page A3
Murraysmith Inc., identified the
consequences of these among 13
potential scenarios.
The purpose of the analysis is
to establish an ongoing culture
of resilience and emergency pre-
paredness within all water sys-
tems, Dale McDowell, the city’s
Public Works director, said at a
City Council meeting in July.
“This is our protection sys-
tem for our water system itself
and everything that has to do
with our water station, or water
system from our pump stations
to our reservoirs to our earthen
dams,” McDowell said.
R.J. Marx
After public forums, meetings with
city department heads, a listening session,
formation of a task force and think tank,
the Seaside City Council is ready to take
the next steps to address homelessness.
In July, Clatsop Community Action
housing liaisons Cheryl Paul and Jody
Anderson went into the field for about
19 days. “We had 265 encounters with
unsheltered people,” Paul said at a City
Council meeting last week. “We average
around 13 or 14 people per day.”
See Water, Page A3
Inside the city’s water filtration plant. The plant is considered
vulnerable in an earthquake, wildfire and loss of access roads.
See Homeless, Page A3
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Hood to Coast returns, with coronavirus protocols in place
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
The mother of all relays
returns to Seaside later this
month, with organizers
anticipating around 19,000
participants running and
walking in this year’s Hood
to Coast.
Over 1,050 running
teams of 12 will race from
Mount Hood to the beach
at Seaside. Four hundred
teams will walk in the Port-
land to Coast Relay.
Last year’s event was
canceled because of the pan-
demic. Social distancing and
safety protocols are subject
to change based on recom-
mendations from the Ore-
gon Health Authority, said
Dan Floyd, chief operating
officer for the event.
“We follow OHA guide-
lines and continually update
event plans based on the
expanding reopening sched-
ule,” Floyd said. “Our top
priority is preserving partic-
ipant and volunteer safety as
we ensure a safe and inspir-
ing 2021 race.”
Nonvaccinated partici-
pants will carry face cover-
ings and utilize them within
6-feet of other participants
while running or walking
their assigned legs of the
race. Random spot checks
for digital vaccination cards
may be administered.
Contactless
check-in,
additional portable toilets,
hand-washing stations and
sanitizers are among protec-
tive measures of this year’s
event.
Volunteers are provided
with new reflective vests
and masks to wear during
their shifts.
The running relay opens
at Mount Hood on Aug. 27,
with staggered start times
early in the morning.
On that same day, the
walking relay starts at the
Oregon Museum of Science
and Industry in Portland,
also early in the morning,
with staggered start times
for walk teams of 12. Two
start waves for the inaugural
Portland to Coast Challenge
Relay from the museum
start at 5 p.m.
On Aug. 28, teams from
each event are expected to
R.J. Marx
See Hood to Coast, Page A3
Crowds at Hood to Coast in 2019.