A4 • Friday, March 11, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
SignalViewpoints
Enjoy some books that will stir your emotions
as a book ever made you
cry, laugh, or stirred you
in some way emotionally?
If it did, do you remember just the
book, the setting, or even an audi-
tory and sensory experience as
well. Many people who read a
H
BETWEEN
THE COVERS
ESTHER
MOBERG
book that creates a tangible emo-
tional experience in their mem-
ory often tie that book to the expe-
rience as well. Not only do they
remember where they were in life
but crystal-clear details about it.
For example, I still remember sit-
ting sideways in my parent’s Dan-
ish modern chair from the 60’s
while reading books. In my mem-
ory, it feels like I was constantly
surrounded by sunshine or warmth
next to the fi re. I would often
read 3 books a day until my mom
would kick me outside to get some
exercise.
Many of us had a favorite child-
hood book that you either read
yourself or had your parents read
to you until the book wore out, a
few of my favorites were a Disney
Cinderella book, “How Fletcher
was Hatched,” by Wende Devlin,
and “Chameleon was a Spy,” by
Diane Redfi eld Massie. If you had
a favorite childhood book, did you
read it many times or just once. For
me, I read books repeatedly.
On the theme of books that
inspire me or just fl at out make
A selection of emotion-stirring books includes (from left) “Old Yeller,” “How Fletcher
was Hatched,” “Once Upon a Wardrobe,” “Taste: My Life Through Food” and “Garfi eld.”
me hungry, Lately I’ve been read-
ing the adult version of comfort
books, Food memoirs are often
memories connected to food that
can also stir up emotions in a very
strong way. People often con-
nect food to feelings of comfort
or memories. Remembering your
favorite meal and who you shared
it with can be a very poignant
moment. I can still remember the
smell of the salsa a waitress acci-
dentally threw all over my dress
while I was celebrating my grad-
uation from college at a Mexican
restaurant.
Ruth Reichl is a great food
memoir writer. If you haven’t read
any of her books, start with “Ten-
der at the Bone: Growing Up at the
Table.” As a former food magazine
editor, her journey through food
makes you want to immediately
want to drop everything and enroll
in some sort of cooking school.
Or become a food critic, or maybe
even both.
I just fi nished Stanley Tuc-
ci’s food memoir “Taste: My life
Through Food.” For the gentle
reader, he does swear quite a bit,
but reading through the diff erent
Italian recipes and a very Italian
childhood in New York, one gets
the urge to pull out and eat copious
amounts of bread, pasta, or every-
thing carbs in the very near future
if not immediately.
On the theme of books that
make me sad, I’m not always a big
fan of books that make me cry but
here are a few I would still recom-
mend. One I read just recently is
called “Once Upon a Wardrobe,”
by Patti Callahan Henry. This one
I would defi nitely read again. The
story is about a young boy who is
dying but he wants his older sister
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Gearhart fi refi ghters
deserve station
appropriate for needs
Most of us don’t give much thought
to how quickly a good day can turn
into a bad day. If our house catches
on fi re or someone in our family has
a medical emergency, we rely on our
fi rst responders to help us on one of
the worst days of our lives.
When the call comes, Gearhart vol-
unteer fi refi ghters drop whatever they
are doing, show up quickly and pro-
fessionally help us in our time of need.
Firefi ghters miss birthday parties,
dance recitals, soccer games and fam-
ily dinners to help us. Firefi ghters vol-
unteer to serve and train every week
so that they can help us.
Our volunteer fi refi ghters are mem-
bers of our Gearhart community —
they are our friends and neighbors.
They deserve our thanks and respect.
And they deserve a fi re station that is
appropriate for their needs.
How can we be satisfi ed with the
small, inadequate, 64-year-old badly
aging fi re station that is currently
used for the Gearhart fi re department?
There are no decontamination areas
or showers to allow fi refi ghters to
remove the toxins and soot from fi ght-
ing fi res.
There isn’t adequate space for
training. The building is literally
crumbling. It’s time we show up for
Gearhart fi refi ghters as they have
been showing up for us. We have the
opportunity to come together and vote
yes on Measure 4-213 for a new fi re/
police station in Gearhart.
Bebe Michel
Gearhart
Gearhart voters beware
Gearhart voters BEWARE! This
is what Gearhart city government
doesn’t want you to know: Bond
4-213, if passed, will add an addi-
tional $1.213 per assessed $1,000 of
your home’s assessed market value.
They leave out the following:
Currently, Gearhart has two out-
standing bonds for their water treat-
ment plant, one being retired in March
2025, the other in September 2031.
Bond 4-213, if passed, will be
added to these two outstanding bonds,
making the rate you pay on your
assessed market value $2.28 in year
one per assessed $1,000 until March
2025, at which time the assessed rate
will be $2.19. The rate will then drop
to $1.56 until September 2031 when
the second water bond is retired.
Using the current 2021-2022
assessed market value on a $450,000
home, an owner would have an addi-
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
tional property tax burden of $545.85
for the fi re and police station, with an
annual total of $1,028 when including
the two water bonds. When the fi rst
water bond reaches maturity in 2025,
the second water bond and the fi re/
police bond would remain, making
your burden $702 per year combined,
or $1.56 per assessed $1,000. Only
after the second water bond is retired
will the fi re/police bond of $1.213 per
assessed $1,000 remain.
Bond 4-213 is scheduled to go for 20
years, unless it’s refi nanced. Remem-
ber, this is only if your assessed mar-
ket value doesn’t change and no new
bonds are added. If the assessed mar-
ket value goes up, your tax burden will
also increase.
We need a new fi re station, but at
what expense to taxpayers? Let’s be
realistic about what we can actually
aff ord! VOTE NO.
Jane Gable
Gearhart
Fire station plan
doesn’t make sense
As a 27-year resident of Gearhart I
understand and appreciate the respon-
sibilities the paid and volunteer fi re-
fi ghters are willing to assume. I think
the need for a fi re station with more
space that is better constructed is
obvious. The police chief and offi cers
must as well.
I have two diffi culties with the
ambitious plan proposed. First, in
most communities an eff ort is made
to place equipment and staff in a cen-
tral location for quick response time.
Annexing land to the north and
locating fi refi ghters, police offi cers
and their equipment there seems like a
bad idea to me. Rebuilding the current
fi re station, perhaps expanding it and
relocating city hall seems to be more
sensible. In addition, the resilience
part of the relocation proposes that
the building provide for emergency
response when needed with the focus
being on the tsunami that might come
tomorrow or might come in 800 years.
Camp Rilea is a short distance
north and a regional center for emer-
gency response. I have no doubt that
with their training, the Gearhart fi re
department will respond as well as it
can in a disaster.
It can’t replace Camp Rilea: their
fi rst responsibility will be saving
their families and helping their neigh-
bors. They might not be able to get
to the station in any case. It will be
some distance from most of Gear-
hart. Whatever the cost which is con-
siderable it doesn’t make much sense
to me
Jim Casterline
Gearhart
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
Shannon Arlint
ADVERTISING
SALES MANAGER
Sarah Silver-
Tecza
ADVERTISING
REPRESENTATIVE
Haley Werst
ast fall, I suggested that
Gearhart will build a
new fi re station when the
taxpayers who fund this project
know their money will be well
spent, and not wasted on some-
thing that they do not want,
need, or understand. Now that
fi ve months have passed, what
is the pulse of our community?
L
GUEST COLUMN
JACK
ZIMMERMAN
Sadly, the answer is that we
are as disaff ected as ever, with
city hall ignoring the anger and
frustration of its constituents to
forge ahead with a planned May
vote for the largest bond levy
in the history of the city, that
would usher in the most radical
change in the culture, economy,
and livability of this city in its
104 years of existence.
Meanwhile the questions
and concerns of Gearhart citi-
zens remain ignored by those
elected to serve them. Let’s
review.
• City hall says we need
this station to rescue Gearhart
in case of a catastrophic earth-
quake and tsunami. But the sta-
tion would be useless in the
aftermath of a large tsunami.
Camp Rilea, the U.S. Coast
Guard and Clatsop County in
contrast, are poised to spring
into action with 10 times the
personnel and equipment.
• City hall and the fi rehouse
committee already in 2018 con-
cluded that the Highlands loca-
tion would be isolated and
impotent after a tsunami, with
access in and out blocked by
two fl anking lakes. Moreover,
there is no guarantee the station
would even survive the feared
mega-earthquake, perched as it
would be on top of a steep sand
dune. Have the councilors and
the mayor forgotten their vote
in 2018, and the expert advice
from the state of Oregon that
informed it?
• The mayor and council-
ors also rejected the Highlands
location because it is too far
away from the center of Gear-
hart, and would leave emer-
gency victims downtown at
risk of death while waiting for
responders to arrive. Plus the
distance exceeds the maximum
allowed for many homeowner
insurance plans. Why suddenly
are these facts forgotten?
• The mayor and council-
ors also rejected the Highlands
location because it is too close
to the satellite Hertig station,
which already serves northern
Gearhart and Warrenton, and
is outside the tsunami hazard
zone. Not only is the proposed
new location inside the zone
useless in the aftermath of an
extra-large tsunami, it’s too far
away from Gearhart and dupli-
cates the service of the Hertig
station. It is redundant. Have
the councilors also forgotten
these truths?
• Citizens still fi nd the pro-
posed size of the new station
unfathomable. Why does Gear-
hart, a small rural city of sleepy
retirees and struggling working
class families, need the one of
the largest stations per taxpayer,
in the entire county? Maybe
in the entire state of Oregon?
There are already two fi re sta-
tions within a couple miles of
the town’s city limits, at both
ends. If a third is needed, it is
needed at the center of town,
not beyond city limits out near
the Hertig station. Gearhart has
been waiting for an answer to
these questions every day for
the last several years.
• The city has been reassur-
ing Gearhart for three years
that the lion’s share of the
cost will be covered by dona-
tions and grants. But here
we are, with no more knowl-
edge than before. What are
the granting agencies? Where
are the grants? What are their
requirements and restrictions?
Instead city hall is inexplica-
bly planning a bond levy for
100% of the cost of the proj-
ect. If it passes there will be no
grants given, because grant-
ing agencies will assume that
Gearhart is willing and able to
shoulder the entire cost. If we
are serious about asking for
grants, our bond levy should
ask for no more than 30% of
the total cost, to demonstrate
to granting agencies that we
are both in need (as we cer-
tainly are), but also willing
and able to match funds. Who
in city hall has any experience
writing $15 million federal
grant proposals?
• I and others have attempted,
in good faith, to fi nd answers to
these questions in social media
and at coff ee with the mayor.
The responses have been a
combination of weak defl ec-
tion, insults and shaming at our
impertinence for even asking
the questions.
I repeat: Gearhart will build
a new fi re station when they
know their money will be well
spent, and not wasted on some-
thing that they do not want,
need or understand. The tax-
payers who will have to tighten
their belts to fund this project
in this shaky economy deserve
consideration, transparency and
respect.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Contact local agencies for latest meeting information
and attendance guidelines.
Seaside Tree Board, 4 p.m., 989 Broadway.
MONDAY, March 14
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., 989 Broadway.
Transportation Advisory Commission, 7 p.m., 989
Broadway.
TUESDAY, March 15
MONDAY, March 28
Community Emergency Response Team, 5 p.m., 989
Broadway.
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., 989 Broadway.
THURSDAY, March 17
TUESDAY, March 29
Seaside School District, 6 p.m., https://www.seaside.
k12.or.us/.
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District Board
of Directors, 5:15 p.m., 1225 Ave. A.
Planning Commission, work session 6 p.m., 989
Broadway.
Seaside Airport Advisory Committee, 6 p.m., 989
Broadway.
WEDNESDAY, March 16
Gearhart City Council work session, 6 p.m., www.
cityofgearhart.com.
Tourism Advisory Committee, 4 p.m., 989 Broadway.
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
John D. Bruijn
Skyler Archibald
Joshua Heineman
Katherine Lacaze
Esther Moberg
Carl Earl
springing to your mind.
Finally, on the theme of books
that lighten your mood, or make
you laugh. I was a huge fan of
comic books and comic book col-
lections growing up. Garfi eld, Cal-
vin and Hobbes, the Far Side col-
lections all made me laugh. Just
as music can shift your mood, so
also books are a form of escapism
that can lift you out of a mood or
current situation and change how
you feel overall not just about your
situation but life. “The Dog Who
Wouldn’t Be,” by Farley Mowat
or “The Egg and I” by Betty Mac-
Donald are all funny stories of ani-
mals not quite behaving how you
would expect them to.
So, the next time you read a
book, think about how it might
both pull you out of where you are,
but also that it just might be creat-
ing a memory as well.
$14.5 million fi re bond divides Gearhart
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
to fi nd out from C.S. Lewis where
Narnia came from and if it is a real
place. The author does a beautiful
job of merging the story of the boy
and his terminal illness with the
story of the girl’s interactions with
Clive Lewis and his brother.
Another book that made me
cry is “Charlotte’s Web,” by E.
B. White. If you aren’t familiar
with it, read it. Perhaps that book
is the reason I became interested
in hobby farming. I don’t know
why but a lot of author’s wrote
sad kids books when I was grow-
ing up. “Old Yeller,” by Fred Gip-
son is another one. “Little Women”
by Louisa May Alcott when Beth
dies. Or “Les Misérables” by Vic-
tor Hugo. As I write this, I won-
der if I should include descriptions
of the sad scenes, or, if you have
already read these books, whether
immediately certain scenes are
CONTRIBUTING
PHOTOGRAPHER
Jeff TerHar
Seaside Signal
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