OUR 114th Year
September 10, 2021
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
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GEARHART
New firehouse
bond off ballot
Complaint
by residents
delays vote
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
A bond measure to
finance a new firehouse in
Gearhart will not be on the
November ballot because
a court hearing on a com-
plaint challenging the $13
million request extended
past the election filing
deadline.
Clatsop County Clerk
Tracie Krevanko said she
would pull the bond mea-
sure from the ballot after
speaking with the secre-
tary of state’s office about
the timing of the legal
challenge.
In the complaint filed in
Circuit Court by residents
Jack Zimmerman and Har-
old Gable in late August,
the two asked the court to
suspend the bond measure
until costs for the project
are determined.
Krevanko said since the
court was not set to hear
the challenge until Thurs-
day, the measure will need
to be refiled for a future
election.
Gearhart is working
with planners to bring the
30-acre Cottages at Gear-
hart subdivision off High-
lands Lane into the city’s
urban growth boundary in
a land swap for acreage in
the city’s “no-build” zone
near the ocean. The land
would be used for a fire-
house and police station.
R.J. Marx
Kriste York, Chloe Cox, Richard Basch, Kiane Reys, Bill Westerholm, Emily Sills, Blake Baugher and Alex Ramirez
Cruz at the proposed site of the welcome pole.
Students lead tribal welcome pole project
See Firehouse, Page A3
Hospitals receive
help from military
National Guard
arrives in Seaside
and Astoria
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
The Oregon National
Guard arrived last Fri-
day to provide assistance
to Columbia Memorial
Hospital in Astoria and
Providence Seaside Hos-
pital, which have seen
more coronavirus patients
during the surge of the
delta variant.
The increase in virus
cases and hospitaliza-
tions over the past several
weeks has caused stress
to the region’s health care
network.
“We welcomed 13 Ore-
Honoring and preserving native heritage
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
gon National Guard ser-
vice members on Friday
and provided an orienta-
tion to the hospital,” Prov-
idence spokesman Mike
Antrim said. “They began
working as extra nonclini-
cal hands as access moni-
tor/temp screeners, trans-
porters, and environmental
services support. They will
be helping for four weeks.”
The hospital remains
busy in inpatient units.
“We have not had to acti-
vate our surge plan at this
time and as of today we
have three COVID inpa-
tients,” he said.
In August, Gov. Kate
Brown announced the
deployment of up to 1,500
National Guard person-
nel to support health care
workers across the state.
S
tudents at Seaside High School
will be extending a welcome to
all to their new campus.
Working with teachers Bill
Westerholm and Kriste York, the
students in the Clatsop-Nehalem
tribal history class plan to install
a 20- to 40-foot-tall cedar pole on
the roadside along the driveway
between Pacific Ridge Elemen-
tary School and the high school
and middle school. The pole will
not only greet visitors but pro-
vide awareness of the region’s
Native American heritage.
“This is kind of the seed that’s
been planted between Seaside
High School and the Clatsop-Ne-
halem tribal history and collab-
oration with the tribe,” Wester-
holm said.
Richard Basch, vice chairman
of the Clatsop-Nehalem Con-
Students experience a canoe paddle experience in the estuary.
federated Tribes tribal council,
served as a consultant to the sum-
mer school class.
The pole will be carved by
Guy Capoeman, now chairman
of the Quinault Indian Nation.
In 2016, Capoeman designed the
See Pole, Page A3
See Hospitals, Page A5
On the North Coast, a collaborative approach to elk
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
State Sen. Betsy Johnson
and more than a dozen other
stakeholders, including tim-
berland managers, mayors,
hunters and conservation-
ists, signed off in August on
the first unified approach to
dealing with urban elk on
the North Coast.
Elk herds in the Clat-
sop Plains, an increasingly
developed area that stretches
from Warrenton to Gearhart
and includes part of Seaside,
have grown over the years,
leading to concerns about
safety and conservation.
Community debates about
the best way to address
elk-related issues have often
been divisive.
The declaration of coop-
eration that the Clatsop
Plains Elk Collaborative
signed Wednesday is the
result of a multiyear effort to
get on the same page.
The document lists a
number of strategies and
commitments to address
the elk. The recommenda-
tions include increased edu-
cational outreach to visitors
and residents about living
sculpture along the bank of Ecola
Creek at the edge of Ne Cus’
Park. That statue faces the ocean,
as tribal members once did when
they greeted their guests.
Gearhart pursues
draft ordinance
banning all fireworks
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Neal Maine/PacificLight Images
Elk in front of Gearhart City Hall.
with elk and how to avoid
interactions with the wild
animals, the possibility of
opening elk hunts in new
areas, changes to local rules
and policies, land use ques-
tions, fencing, enhanced
wildlife corridors and an
elk festival in Warrenton,
among others.
The elk festival would be
one of the easiest things to
accomplish right away, War-
renton Mayor Henry Balen-
sifer said. But communities
are unlikely to see an imme-
diate change in how officials
address elk-related safety
and nuisance concerns. The
process of vetting, research-
ing and implementing the
strategies and proposals
could take several years.
Oregon Solutions
Gov. Kate Brown desig-
nated the elk collaborative
as an Oregon Solutions proj-
ect in 2019, an important
tag that boosted the priority
of the work and opened the
door to state funding. The
toolkit the group developed
will help others in Oregon
who face similar wildlife
conflicts, the governor wrote
in a letter of appreciation to
the members last week.
“This feels like the end,
but it is really the begin-
ning of very hard work,”
Johnson, D-Scappoose, said
in her own remarks to the
group.
Each stakeholder has
agreed to their own list of
See Elk, Page A3
The City Council heard
a plea support a ban on
fireworks.
“Yes, fireworks could
be a tradition. But fire-
works cause harm to many
in our community,” Bebe
Michel, a resident, said at
last week’s meeting. “Our
freedom to shoot off fire-
works ends when it causes
harm to others. With free-
dom comes responsibility
and consideration for each
other. Let’s look for better
ways to celebrate.”
Michel’s
comments
echo those heard from
other residents in July. In
response, city staff put
together a draft ordinance
banning fireworks.
Violators could be sub-
ject to a maximum fine of
$500 per day.
Possessing or discharg-
ing any fireworks would
be prohibited without the
written permission of the
Oregon Parks and Recre-
ation Department manager
of the beach area.
The ban would not
extend past the urban
growth boundary. That
would mean the Pali-
sades, the Highlands and
the beach would not be
affected, City Administra-
tor Chad Sweet said.
The ban could pro-
hibit sparklers, wheels
and torches, along with
aerial devices like rockets
and Roman candles. Fire-
crackers, noisemakers and
“chasers” that travel along
the ground could also be
prohibited.
In
correspondence,
police and fire officials
opposed the ordinance.
“The City Council can
pass an ordinance or not,
but it will not stop the dis-
charging of illegal fire-
works,” Police Chief Jeff
Bowman said. “The logic
of making something ille-
gal so it will stop ille-
gal actions does not make
sense.”
Families normally are
not reckless in nature as
they don’t want any of
their family members or
See Fireworks, Page A3