A4 • Friday, October 8, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
SignalViewpoints
Fred Causer follows the scanner
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
R.J. MARX
I
f someone calls 911, chances are Fred
Causer knows about it.
Causer is one of the administra-
tors of Clatsop County Scanner Group
Uncensored, a Facebook page that shares
raw information broadcast by emergency
dispatchers.
The group, which has more than 13,000
members, posts items on everything from
car crashes and missing persons to noise
complaints and cows in the road.
Growing up, Causer remembers his
grandmother monitoring a police scanner in
the house.
“I said, ‘Grandma, why are you listen-
ing to that? What is it? What do you get out
of that?’ And she said, ‘Information. I get
to know who the characters are and what’s
going on around me.’”
Causer grew up and has lived in Sea-
side most of his life. He and and his wife,
Jennifer, who also serves as a scanner page
administrator, have known each other from
childhood. The couple returned to Seaside
to take care of his ailing mother, Carol Ann,
who died in 2016.
Jennifer Causer is program manager at a
group home that takes care of disabled peo-
ple. They both volunteer for the Wildlife
Center of the North Coast, doing bird trans-
ports with occasional rescues and recover-
ies. They have three children. Fred Causer
also has twins from a previous marriage.
Causer connected with the Clatsop
County Scanner Group Uncensored page
on Facebook. He saw it as a way to bring
scanner listeners together. “We could share
it around and get the same information to
everybody in hopes of trying to make a bet-
ter community,” he said.
He said he rarely gets a full night sleep
as the scanner is a constant. “I actually
have multiple scanners in my house,” he
said.
The founder of the Facebook page, who
goes by a pseudonym, invited the Causers
to join as administrators — volunteer roles
that require careful monitoring of what
goes up on the site.
There are four moderators as well,
Causer said, Rosie Ojala, Dan Sealy, Willie
TenEyck and Rene Armstrong.
“They are also volunteers, who have a
mutual love for the scanner traffi c as well
as keeping the community informed,” he
said.
“We take a hard stance on people that
want to disseminate hate or any kind of
violence and stuff ,” Causer said. “Face-
book is doing a great job of overseeing a
lot of it too now. It makes our job a little bit
R.J. Marx
Fred Causer, a Seaside resident and administrator for the Clatsop County Scanner Group Uncensored.
SCANNER PAGES
Scanner pages are popular in commu-
nities across the country and can take
on outsized roles in places without local
newspapers or radio stations. But sharing
snippets of raw, unconfi rmed reports from
emergency dispatchers — and encour-
aging people to comment — can spread
misinformation.
easier, but we still have our problems with
people.”
Causer said there’s a lot of confusion
about the group’s name.
“They think that ‘uncensored’ means
that they can just come there and say what-
ever they want, spew whatever hate or
divide you want to do,” he said. “We don’t
allow that. We’re not a rant-and-rave page.
THE SITE ALSO HAS
A NO-POLITICS POLICY.
When we say ‘uncensored,’ we’re talking
about what goes over the scanner. There
might be a fatality accident and there might
be details in that people might not want
to see. That’s why we say it’s uncensored,
because there’s some stuff over the scanner
that is pretty traumatic.”
Many times, he or others will reach out
to law enforcement directly “if there’s any
kind of iff y stuff . We don’t want to be a tab-
loid newspaper.”
The site also has a no-politics policy, he
said.
“We don’t like the rumor mill, because
we fi nd a lot around here that people want
to put in 10 cents, and sometimes that 10
cents isn’t a whole dime, right?” Causer
said. “It doesn’t add up. I always tell peo-
ple, just because it’s said on the scanner
doesn’t mean it’s true.”
Causer said he tries to make the page
a welcoming environment, with a respect
for law enforcement and other emergency
responders.
“Sometimes it’s hard because you get in
these little mood swings, where people start
to fi ght over politics and over anything,”
he said. “Whatever happened to agree to
disagree?”
Causer said he always tries to keep
it civil. “We don’t want people to get
attacked. We always try to come to terms:
‘Is it benefi cial or is it going to be more
destructive for the community?’ It has to be
handled in a very ethical manner. To have
13,000 people that want to come check out
our page, it’s an honor.
“I also fi nd it has a lot of responsibility
with it.”
OP-ED
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Time to acknowledge the true cost of misinformation:
delaying construction of a new Gearhart fi re station
GUEST
COLUMN
BRENT WARREN
A
s a result of two peo-
ple fi ling a court com-
plaint regarding ballot
title language, Gearhart voters
have been robbed of our chance
to vote on bond fi nancing on this
November’s ballot. The judge
found absolutely no merit in any
of the issues presented, but as a
result of this tactic the vote has
been delayed and costs continue
to increase.
Over the years, several loca-
tions have been proposed and
each eff ort has been met with a
campaign of “alternative facts”.
Gearhart citizens need to rely
on credible sources, such as the
city’s website and blog, instead
of social media posts by those
seeking to become “infl uencers”
to the detriment of our commu-
nity and its reputation.
The resources fi rst responders
need to keep themselves and our
community safe is something
only we the voters can decide.
We, the voters, chart the course
for our community. When these
decisions are taken away from
us, we’re no longer living in a
democracy.
Supporting Gearhart Volun-
teer Fire Department is a point
of pride among community
members. These are the people
we depend on to keep us safe,
putting their lives at risk for you
around the clock, every day.
Many have had interactions with
our volunteers and are grateful to
them for keeping us safe.
Oregon’s coastal communi-
ties have been educating their
citizens and visitors for years
regarding the need to prepared
for a tsunami. Gearhart contin-
ues to prepare with CERT vol-
unteers, supply caches, Shake
Out events, evacuation signage,
etc. Another critical compo-
nent is the community’s ongoing
eff ort to build a fi re station engi-
neered to survive earthquakes
and located outside of the tsu-
nami zone.
A 5% increase in construction
costs would result in an addi-
tional $500,000. Bond interest
rates are at an all-time low and
the only direction is up. Even a
1/2% interest rate bump would
increase costs to taxpayers of
more than $1 million over a 30
year bond term. But these are
only fi nancial costs, trivial to any
loss of life in our community.
Let’s look at some of the
“alternative facts” and counter-
point with truth:
• Initial and continuing edu-
cation of fi refi ghters is critical.
One of the features in our new
fi re station has consistently been
a training room for our volun-
teers. However, those opposed
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
Shannon Arlint
ADVERTISING
SALES MANAGER
Sarah Silver-
Tecza
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
have changed the language to be
“increased space for a regional
training program,” implying
Gearhart was somehow subsi-
dizing other fi re jurisdictions.
• Many volunteer fi re depart-
ments have sleeping quarters in
their stations. Why? Sleeping
facilities allow on-duty emer-
gency medical technicians and
fi refi ghters to respond quicker
to emergencies. However, those
opposed have mischaracter-
ized this feature as evidence that
Gearhart is moving away from a
volunteer to a full-time paid fi re
department.
• The memory of a heroic
Gearhart volunteer fi refi ghter
who gave his life attempting to
save a person in the ocean was
used to argue against providing
training and rescue equipment
to our volunteers. However, the
truth is we already have six vol-
unteers undergoing training/cer-
tifi cation for water rescue and
we already own the equipment.
• A professional construc-
tion engineering company pro-
vided estimates for building
a 13,000-square-foot fi re and
police station at just over $10
million, with another $900k for
two independent access drive-
ways. All construction projects
have “contingency” line items
for handling unforeseen costs.
While 8% to 10% contingency
is typical, ours is 20% and
hopefully will not be required.
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
John D. Bruijn
Skyler Archibald
Joshua Heineman
Katherine Lacaze
Esther Moberg
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Carl Earl
The $11 million budget plus $2
million contingency equals the
amount of the bond vote request
“up to $13 million.” If we are
successful in grants and dona-
tions, the bond amount could be
reduced. However, the opposi-
tion mischaracterizes the cost as
“upwards of $13 million.”
• It has been suggested
the Seaside Fire Department,
Medix and the U.S. Coast
Guard are suffi cient to safe-
guard our community. Gear-
hart’s brave and dedicated
volunteers are demeaned by
statements like this. While we
work closely with Seaside and
provide mutual aid, the current
Seaside fi re station is also vul-
nerable to earthquake and tsu-
nami. In a major disaster, it is
highly unlikely Seaside would
be able to respond. Despite the
expertise of our Coast Guard,
their limited resources will not
be suffi cient to cover the Pacifi c
coastline. Medix does not have
the training or equipment to
safely cut people out of a vehi-
cle accident or deal with hazard-
ous waste.
Please join me in giving
thanks and gratitude to Gear-
hart’s selfl ess fi rst responders
and support the bond funding
necessary for Gearhart to keep
our community members safe.
Brent Warren is a Gearhart
City Council member. He is
writing as a resident.
Contact local agencies for latest meeting
information and attendance guidelines.
TUESDAY, OCT. 5
Seaside Community Center Commission,
10 a.m., 1225 Avenue A.
Seaside Library Board of Directors,
4:30 p.m., 1131 Broadway St.
Seaside Planning Commission, 6 p.m., 989
Broadway.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 6
Gearhart City Council, 7 p.m., cityofgearhart.
com.
THURSDAY, OCT. 7
Seaside Parks Advisory Committee, 6 p.m.,
989 Broadway.
MONDAY, OCT. 11
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., cityofseaside.us.
TUESDAY, OCT. 12
Gearhart City Council, special meeting, con-
tractor hours, 6 p.m., cityofgearhart.com.
THURSDAY, OCT. 14
Seaside Civic and Convention Center Com-
mission, 5 p.m., 415 First Ave.
Gearhart Planning Commission, 6 p.m.,
cityofgearhart.com.
TUESDAY, OCT. 19
Seaside Planning Commission, 6 p.m., work
session, 989 Broadway.
Seaside School District, 6 p.m., seaside.k12.
or.us/meetings.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 20
Seaside Tourism Advisory Committee,
3 p.m., 989 Broadway.
THURSDAY, OCT. 21
Seaside Transportation Advisory Commis-
sion, 6 p.m., 989 Broadway.
MONDAY, OCT. 25
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., cityofseaside.
us.
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