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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 2021)
A4 • Friday, November 19, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com SignalViewpoints Historic mural comes down for restoration, repair SEEN FROM SEASIDE R.J. MARX he Native American-themed mural alongside the Ace Hardware build- ing on Broadway is getting a resto- ration. Seaside’s Public Works Department removed the 16 aluminum panels for resto- ration by the Clatsop-Nehalem Confeder- ated Tribes. Earlier this year a car crashed into the mural, creating a gaping hole, Richard Basch, vice chairman of the tribes, said. Other panels need general restoration after oxidation weakening the aluminum. “We’ve heard from so many people in the community what a big part of the com- munity the mural has become,” Basch said. “People use it for history lessons. They’ve said, ‘You’ve got to replace it. You’ve got to put it back up.’ We’re hoping to get enough support to be able to put it back up.” The tribe will need to raise about $20,000 for the restoration. The 60-foot mural, by artist Roger Cooke of Sandy, was dedicated in Sep- tember 2006, mounted on the north exte- rior wall of what was then the Holladay Drug Store at the corner of Broadway and Holladay. Cooke worked from a studio on the Sandy River where he produced paintings, bronzes, illustrations, murals and portraits. His murals are on display in cities and towns across the country. He died in 2012. “He worked with tribes along the Columbia watershed, Nez Perce, Uma- tilla,” Basch said. “He took an interest in studying the tribes along the Columbia watershed.” Cooke depicts scenes of the daily life of the Clatsop and Nehalem tribes at the Sea- side estuary with Tillamook Head in the background. The mural brings to life his- toric tribal members such as Tostum, Chief of the Clatsop Tribe in the early 1800s and Chief Tostow, the Clatsop chief among those to sign treaties — never ratifi ed by the U.S. Congress — with the government in September 1851. “The Clatsop tribe was between Colum- bia River to Tillamook Head up to Saddle Mountain,” Basch said. In the treaty, which was never ratifi ed by Congress, the Clatsops, Tillamooks and Chinooks ceded their land — and lost their land, Basch said. “That’s why Clatsops are T R.J. Marx Seaside Public Works team removes sections of the mural on Broadway for repair. known as a ‘terminated tribe’ and don’t have any treaty rights. Because the treaty was not signed, we were driven out of our homeland.” The Clatsop tribe scattered. “We went north, south, east, we went wherever we could to fi nd some kind of a living, some kind of a job,” Basch said. “Currently our membership is primarily in a circle that includes Tillamook, Portland, Vancouver. That was the intent of the gov- ernment in not signing.” Remaining members now form the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes of Oregon. On the left of the mural are elders of the tribe. Among vignettes are a man carving a canoe and children playing on the beach. A young woman on the left side of the mural is our daughter Charlotte, who was 16 at the time, Basch said. “Cooke wanted to have a young tribal member looking forward,” Basch said. “He wanted to represent our ancestors, the ones who are important to keep our his- tory alive, and he also wanted a young per- son. I thought that was a very interesting, positive thing he thought of, he wasn’t just an artist but a historian, a sociologist. He really took an interest in studying the cul- ture of tribes along the Columbia River watershed.” The restoration process will start with fi nding a muralist who can restore both the panel and the art. In 2020, the North Coast Land Conser- vancy announced the transfer of 18 acres of Neawanna Point Habitat Preserve to the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes. It is the fi rst property the tribes have owned since they began to be displaced 200 years ago and lost their land. “That’s the only land we’ve owned since 1851,” he said. “That’s the fi rst piece of land we’ve owned since treaty time.” A welcome pole at the site will be carved by Guy Capoeman, now chairman of the Quinault Indian Nation. In 2016, Capoeman designed the sculpture along the bank of Ecola Creek in Cannon Beach at the edge of Ne Cus’ Park. The logs for the new welcome pole at the habitat preserve, along with one to be sited at the entrance to Seaside High School, were donated by Weyerhaeuser and sit by the highway road- side waiting for carving. “We are taking it step by step,” Basch said. “We’re pulling together a plan. The fi rst step is to bring water to the property. With the mural and other projects, the wel- coming poles and community involvement, we have to be strategic about what we put on our plate.” R.J. Marx The mural along Broadway. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Flags should be fl own in Seaside on Veterans Day We have been here in our RV for awhile. We come here often because we love it here. This time we were so dis- appointed to see no fl ags out on Veter- ans Day, in fact appalled is more like it! I had read that the big fl ag at the turn- around and there was no fl ag. Not at City Hall or Chamber of Commerce. In fact the only one we saw at all was the Seaside Civic and Convention Center and it was not at half staff . I realize it was wet and windy but that never stopped our military heroes! This city government and businesses should be ashamed! Your proclamation was an insult with no fl ags fl ying! Just plain insulting to our heroes! Shame shame! Lynn Lantham Lebanon, OR PUBLIC MEETINGS Contact local agencies for latest meeting information and attendance guidelines. MONDAY, NOV. 22 Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., cityofseaside.us. TUESDAY, NOV. 23 Sunset Empire Park and Rec- reation District, 5:15 p.m., Bob Chisholm Community Center. Seaside Airport Advisory Com- mittee, 6 p.m., 989 Broadway. MONDAY, NOV. 29 Seaside City Council and Plan- ning Commission workshop, vacation rentals, 6 p.m., 989 Broadway. TUESDAY, NOV. 30 Gearhart City Council, special meeting, 6:30 p.m., cityofgear- hart.com. CIRCULATION MANAGER Shannon Arlint ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER Sarah Silver- Tecza PUBLISHER EDITOR Kari Borgen R.J. Marx WEDNESDAY, DEC. 1 First Ave. Seaside Improvement Commis- sion, 6 p.m., 989 Broadway. MONDAY, DEC. 13 Gearhart City Council, 7 p.m., cityofgearhart.com. THURSDAY, DEC. 2 Seaside Parks Advisory Com- mittee, 6 p.m., 989 Broadway. TUESDAY, DEC. 7 Seaside Community Center Commission, 10 a.m., 1225 Avenue A. Seaside Library Board of Direc- tors, 4:30 p.m., 1131 Broadway St. WEDNESDAY, DEC. 15 Seaside Tourism Advisory Com- mittee, 3 p.m., 989 Broadway. TUESDAY, DEC. 21 Seaside School District, 6 p.m., seaside.k12.or.us/meetings. Seaside Planning Commis- sion, 6 p.m., work session, 989 Broadway. MONDAY, DEC. 27 Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., cityofseaside.us. THURSDAY, DEC. 9 Sunset Empire Park and Rec- reation District, 5:15 p.m., Bob Chisholm Community Center. Seaside Civic and Convention Center Commission, 5 p.m., 415 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS John D. Bruijn Skyler Archibald Joshua Heineman Katherine Lacaze Esther Moberg Carl Earl Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., cityofseaside.us. Seaside Planning Commis- sion, 6 p.m., work session, 989 Broadway. PRODUCTION MANAGER SYSTEMS MANAGER SIGNAL LETTERS POLICY TUESDAY, DEC. 28 Letters should be exclusive to The Signal, should be fewer than 350 words and must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. You will be contacted to confi rm authorship. All letters are subject to editing for space, grammar and, on occasion, fac- tual accuracy. Only two letters per writer are allowed each month. Letters written in response to other letter writers should address the issue at hand and, rather than mentioning the writer by name, should refer to the headline and date the letter was published. Dis- course should be civil and people should be referred to in a respect- ful manner. Letters in poor taste will not be printed. 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