A4 • Friday, July 29, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
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GUEST COLUMN
KERRY SMITH
AUSTIN TOMLINSON
REITA FACKERELL
BRENT WARREN
DANA GOULD
A look at Gearhart’s City Council today
on the Gearhart City Council.
By KERRY SMITH
For Seaside Signal
Austin served as a Gearhart plan-
ning commissioner for three years.
Austin has worked for numerous
governmental organizations and
nonprofi ts, with an emphasis on
wetland, forestry, and water quality
issues in the Pacifi c Northwest.
Reita Fackerell
Reita Fackerell grew up in
Washington, graduating from the
University of Washington. She
moved to Oregon in 1974 to work
in the commercial fi shing indus-
try and captained her own salmon
troller in the seventies. In 1980 she
moved to Clatsop County and to the
Gearhart area in 1982. Reita began
volunteering at the Seaside Library
in 1984. One year later she became
a library assistant. In 1995 Reita
became Seaside’s library director.
Retiring in 2012, she has been very
involved with the South Clatsop
County Food Bank. Reita is in the
middle of her second four-year term
as a Gearhart city councilor.
O
ur lives have changed dra-
matically in the last decade.
Misinformation, fueled
greatly by the internet, the pan-
demic, and those people who have
nothing to do with their lives other
than to promote negative fabrica-
tions are everywhere we look.
Blatant falsehoods and the dis-
tortion of facts are glaringly thrown
at the public on a daily basis con-
cerning COVID-19, vaccinations,
and especially politics. There are
those who spend their days looking
for the bad and this can be seen at
the federal level all the way down
to the local level and even very
small towns like ours.
It is diffi cult to discern what
truth is and what lies are. Just sur-
viving in today’s world and the
challenges it brings, with tasks that
used to be simple, such as grocery
shopping and sending our children
off to school, is compounded by
the time consuming tasks of stay-
ing well, caring for those we love,
and worry.
With this in mind I would like to
share real information about those
who work to serve the community
Brent Warren
Brent Warren originally
planned to become a teacher.
While substitute teaching, he took
a bank “temp job” which ulti-
mately led to his 33-year career in
the fi nancial industry. Brent has
experience in aff ordable hous-
ing, small business fi nance, low
income housing tax credit invest-
ments, fi nancial education, and
bank grant administration. He has
a long history of community ser-
vice; some of which include the
Habitat for Humanity of Oregon,
the City of Portland’s Women/
Minority Contracting Commit-
tee, and the Oregon Bankers Asso-
ciation’s Community Involve-
ment Committee. Brent has served
on the board of several northwest
community development fi nancial
institutions and has operated his
own small businesses.
Austin Tomlinson
Austin Tomlinson, a Gearhart
Elementary School alum and Sea-
side High School graduate, went
on to earn a Bachelor of Science
degree from Humboldt State Uni-
versity. Austin is currently a nat-
ural area manager for Columbia
Land Trust where he helps to stew-
ard close to 40,000 acres of conser-
vation lands throughout the lower
Columbia River region. Prior to this
appointment to the City Council,
Dana Gould
Dana Gould, newcomer to our
council, joins the council with a
great deal of experience. Early in
her career she served as a county
sheriff ’s deputy and fi rst responder
in southern California, achiev-
ing the rank of captain before
her retirement. Dana has experi-
ence writing policies at the local,
state and federal levels and partic-
ipated in the rewriting of the state
of California Title 15 document.
She acted with her county’s human
resources and Health and risk
management division. Moreover,
Dana was involved in the remod-
eling of a number of facilities and
has experience in grant writing.
The Gearhart city council-
ors are accomplished individuals
who endeavor to represent you in
a straightforward manner. When
offi cially taking their oath, they
pledged their commitment to rep-
resent you, not themselves, in their
position of government.
This oath includes a commit-
ment to the very town itself and its
comprehensive plan, which states
quite clearly its primary goal is “to
preserve the low density, semi-ru-
ral character of Gearhart and to
ensure that development occurs in
a manner that is in harmony with
the sensitive coastal environment
that defi nes Gearhart.”
As your newly appointed
mayor, I can tell you I am hon-
est and hardworking. I have lived
in Gearhart for 37 years and am a
self-employed contractor. I will do
my best to serve the community in
a fair and just manner.
While I did not seek this posi-
tion, I found myself stepping into
it after the resignation of our pre-
vious mayor, Paulina Cockrum,
because I was president of the city
council. This November would
mark my eighth year serving on
the Gearhart City Council.
I want to work with those of
you who are looking for the good
in Gearhart. I am not infallible; I
am human and I will make mis-
takes. However, I believe we
can preserve the quality of Gear-
hart which makes it unique and a
healthy place to live.
I hope to build a positive cli-
mate in Gearhart, one that fosters
truth, candor and sincerity. Gov-
erning is a serious business. It
requires compassion, compromise,
and community. Toward that end,
I will strive to work toward the
promotion of a positive future for
Gearhart.
Please join me in looking for
the good that so many have to
off er. Let’s move forward together.
NEWS NOTES
Huanosta is
scholarship winner
PEO Chapter CR in Seaside has
announced that the winner of the
2022 Seaside High School annual
scholarship of $1,000 is Karina
Nolasco Huanosta, who aspires to
be an elementary school teacher.
For information about PEO, go
to peointernational.org or contact
Sharon Cochran at sharoncoch@
gmail.com.
Seaside AAUW
awards scholarship
Christine Drazan, Betsy Johnson and Tina Kotek, candidates for
Oregon governor.
Gubernatorial
candidate forum
set for today
Seaside Signal
The three leading hope-
fuls in the race to become
Oregon’s next governor
will appear live at a forum
at 2 p.m. Friday from the
Mt. Hood Oregon Resort in
Welches.
Republican
nominee
Christine Drazan, Demo-
cratic nominee Tina Kotek
and unaffi liated candidate
Betsy Johnson are all sched-
uled to debate.
The forum is hosted by the
Oregon Newspaper Publish-
ers Association. Questions
will come from editors of
newspapers across Oregon.
The forum will be moderated
by Pamplin Media Group
President Mark Garber.The
debate will be livestreamed at
www.seasidesignal.com.
MORE ONLINE
The debate will be livestreamed at www.seasidesignal.com.
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
Samantha
Stinnett
ADVERTISING
SALES MANAGER
Sarah Silver-
Tecza
Melia Kapua is the fi rst recipi-
ent of the Cheri Folk Scholarship,
presented to a young woman exhib-
iting the qualities
that Folk brought to
her community, the
business world, and
her family.
Folk had been
chosen as a AAUW
Breaking Barriers
Melia Kapua
Award winner for
her achievements
when her death and the pandemic
prohibited appropriate recogni-
tion. Seaside AAUW has chosen
to award a scholarship in her name
this year.
Kapua is a graduate of Warren-
ton High School and Clatsop Com-
munity College and will be attend-
ing Oregon State University in the
fall.
While in high school, Melia had
excelled both athletically and scho-
lastically having been team cap-
tains for softball, volleyball, and
basketball and fi rst team all league
in volleyball and softball. In addi-
tion, she had been an active student
council and National Honor Soci-
ety member. She has been attend-
ing Clatsop Community College
and working in order to take this
next step. She will be pursuing a
degree in public policy with a focus
in criminology.
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
John D. Bruijn
Skyler Archibald
Joshua Heineman
Katherine Lacaze
Esther Moberg
CONTRIBUTING
PHOTOGRAPHER
Jeff TerHar
Margene Ridout, Chapter CR vice president, Sharon Cochran, Chapter CR
president and Karina Huanosta.
Scholarships applications for
women are available at website:
seaside-or.aauw.net.
Patel joins emergency
department
Sachi Patel joined the Colum-
bia Memorial Hospital emergency
department in July. Dr. Patel, a
board-certifi ed physician, will be
splitting his time between CMH
and Adventist Health Portland.
Patel earned his doctor of osteo-
pathic medicine degree from West-
ern University of Health Sciences
in Lebanon, Oregon. He completed
an emergency medicine residency
at Oregon Health & Science Uni-
versity. During his time at OHSU,
he worked as the chief resident.
Dr. Patel also holds a bachelor’s
in biology, with minors in chemis-
try and psychology. He earned the
degree at Virginia Commonwealth
University in Richmond, Virginia.
Seaside Art Walk ahead
Seaside First Saturday Art Walk
will be held Aug. 7 from 5 to 7 p.m.
in the Historic Gilbert District
between Broadway and Holladay in
downtown Seaside, with dedicated
parking at Holladay and Oceanway.
Salon on Broadway, 600 Broad-
way, features the artwork of Kegan
French, owner, stylist, and artist.
SunRose Gallery, 606 Broadway,
features beaded mosaics by resident
artist Zemula Fleming. Her mosaics
tell stories of another time, calling
attention to icons in historical cloth-
ing. The gallery also introduces Jan
Murphy with her romantic Brazilian
embroidery. Light snacks and live
music will be provided.
Pacifi c Heirloom Art, 608 Broad-
way, features a collection of lighthouses.
Fairweather House and Gallery,
612 Broadway,
Opening reception for “Diff er-
ent Strokes” an exhibition of orig-
inal abstracts featuring water-
colors by Bill Baily, en Plein air
work by Karen Doyle, frescoes by
Agnes Field, Art Deco works by
Rene Hafeman, acrylic art by Ash-
ley Larson, fused glass art by Caro-
lyn Myers Lindberg, impasto art by
Martha Lee, and encaustic works
by Peg Wells. Paul Brent off ers an
artist talk at 5:30, and Neal Maine,
naturalist, lectures at 6 p.m.
TigerLily Gallery, 613 Broad-
way, features art, prints, and giclées
from local artists.
The Whet Spot, 12 N. Holla-
day Dr., features all the local North-
west-named beers, wines, ciders, and
an ever-changing gallery display of
local abstract and whimsical art.
Starry Night Inn and Art Hotel,
811 1st Ave. presents original art
and prints from a curated list of
Portland artists.
Seaside Signal
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