OUR 114th Year
September 24, 2021
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
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Hood to
Coast splits
community
Some residents upset
after relay’s return
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Lou Solitske
Karl Marlantes addresses the crowd at Saturday’s dedication.
Vietnam War memorial dedicated in Seaside
Small town made
large sacrifice
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Veterans, their families and resi-
dents gathered last Saturday under a
downpour at the Cove for the dedi-
cation of the Vietnam War Veterans
Memorial in Seltzer Park.
The granite monument stands at
the south edge of the park and pays
homage to the 113 people from Sea-
side who served in the war.
“These are all veterans that went
to Vietnam, and the families of veter-
ans and families of the KIA (killed in
action),” Mark Hansen, who helped
organize the project, said.
Ky Jennings, the co-organizer,
said he was among 17 students in the
Class of 1963 to serve in the war.
“We lived in a time of peace, being
post-World War II kids, and we like
to say, ‘it was magic,’” Jennings said.
“We knew each other so well, most of
us having gone through 12 years of
school together when Seaside was a
small town community.
Many of us are close friends 70
years later.
“When the war in Vietnam got
really intense the guys were being
drafted or they enlisted in various
branches of the service. Out of 54
boys in my class, 17 of them were
sent to Vietnam. The war was very
unpopular, but they did their duty
and came back to a hostile country
where they were blamed and shamed.
They’ve come through it and they
deserve the respect and gratitude they
needed. This is what we’ve given
them through the memorial.”
R.J. Marx
Co-organizer Mark Hansen addresses the crowd at last Saturday’s dedication of
Seaside’s Vietnam War Veterans Memorial in the Cove.
The return of Hood to Coast in Seaside
has triggered a new round of complaints
from residents that the regional event is too
large and disruptive for the city.
The iconic 198-mile relay from Mount
Hood to the Prom, which was suspended
last year because of the coronavirus pan-
demic, brought thousands of people to the
coast in late August.
Several residents told the City Council
that some runners were rude, that organiz-
ers failed to enforce virus precautions and
control traffic and that hosting the event
compounded the public health risk during
a surge of new virus cases.
But city councilors questioned whether
the complaints are unique to this year’s
Hood to Coast or are being driven on
social media by residents with long-stand-
ing objections. Hospital administrators also
said they have not detected an increase in
local virus cases linked to the event.
“They are not a good fit for the city of
Seaside,” Jeff Jarrett, a resident, wrote in a
letter to the City Council. “I lived on 14th
Avenue for eight years watching these run-
ners go by. I received hostile flak from
them each year trying to get my vehicle in
and out of the street. Eventually, I just leave
town each time they do this event. I was
not the only one.”
Runners “just run into town, eat their
own food on the beach, have their own
party and then go home,” he said. “They
have no interest in engaging in any coastal
activity. No interest in seeing the sights.
They are not here to be tourists, they are
here to run and go right back home because
most of them are only an hour away. ...
Enough is enough. Hood to Coast should
host their event elsewhere.”
The complaints appeared on Facebook
and other social media during the event and
grew in intensity over the past few weeks.
“We are all aware that there are a variety
of opinions about the event, and all things
having to do with the event,” City Coun-
cilor Tita Montero said at last week’s coun-
cil meeting. “There are a lot of things that
people purported to be true, that I knew
were not true. So that puts that in the realm
of rumors.”
While new virus cases were surging in
late August, Seaside was not in a state of
emergency, City Councilor David Posal-
ski said. “There’s no reason for us to have
added additional regulations beyond what
See Hood to Coast, Page A7
RVs near
park draw
complaints
R.J. Marx
See Memorial, Page A8
Seaside’s Lou Solitske plays Taps in honor of Vietnam War veterans fallen.
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Firefighters return
from Cougar Peak fire
Seaside Signal
Clatsop County Task
Force 49 returned from the
Cougar Peak fire in Lakeview
last week.
Seaside Fire and Res-
cue sent four firefighters
and Gearhart Volunteer Fire
Department sent a wild-
land firefighting apparatus
and four firefighters. In addi-
tion, the Lewis and Clark Fire
Department sent three mem-
bers, Knappa sent two and
Astoria sent one firefighter.
“That’s round number four
for us for Lakeview this year
for different fires,” Seaside
Fire Chief Joey Daniels said.
While at the blaze, fire-
fighters worked with forestry
personnel “to try to get in
more of the seat of the fire and
lay a lot of hose line around
it.”
To battle the 25,000-
acre fire, Gov. Kate Brown
invoked the state’s Confla-
gration Act, which allows
multiagency structure pro-
tection resources to be mobi-
lized from throughout the
state to protect homes, busi-
nesses and critical infrastruc-
ture threatened by the fire.
Along with Clatsop
County, task forces have
arrived from Lane, Linn,
Yamhill, Clackamas and
Marion counties.
Residents want the
city to take action
After a city crackdown on Necanicum
Drive near 12th Avenue earlier this year,
residents in Seaside say that people living
in RVs have moved across the street to
Goodman Park.
The park’s popularity as a place to
shelter grew after overnight street park-
ing prohibitions and increased ticketing.
“We all came here in the spring to see
most of you here,” Robert Clark, a res-
ident, told the City Council last week.
“We got a lot of nodding that you would
be doing things. ... Now, it’s worse than
it was.”
Karl Schorr, a resident, said most
of the vehicles are unlicensed or have
licenses that are expired. “Those living
in the vehicles are dumping sewage on
property and streams,” he said, “as well
as using the bathroom in the park.”
Office of Oregon Fire Marshal
Firefighters fight the Cougar Peak fire.
See RVs, Page A5