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City Awards Community Grants Pg 11
SCHOOL
Seagull Pride Special Insert
INDEX Business Directory.... 8 Boac’s Bird Notes.... 10 Calendar.................. 4 Classifieds................ 8 Dining Guide............ 9 Reflections .............. 7 Tide Tables............... 8 Wine........................ 7 Views...................... 4
ON THE WEB n Farmers Market Newsletter
SEP T. 13 - SEP T. 26, 2012 | WWW.CANNONBEACHGAZET T E.COM | 75 CEN TS
Hunting permit sales for Ecola Creek Forest Reserve are low At the midpoint of the hunting season, sales of permits to hunt in the Ecola Creek Forest Reserve were low. As of Sept. 6, the city had sold just two permits to hunt in the reserve. Bow hunting for deer and elk, which the council voted to allow in the city-owned Ecola Creek Forest Reserve at a special meeting last month, began its open season in this region on Aug. 25. Open season for deer and elk ends Sept. 23, and there is a short bow hunting season for deer from Nov. 24 to Dec. 9. The cost for permits to hunt in the approximately 500 acres of the reserve that are open to hunting is $200, which is intended to help cover the city’s cost in administering the hunting program and placing “Hunting by Permit Only” signs in the reserve. In addition to the $200 permit a hunter would need to hunt in the reserve, an adult Oregon resident would have to buy a $30 hunting license and a $25 tag for deer or a $43 tag for elk to legally hunt in the reserve. Non-resident adults would pay $140 for an Oregon hunting license, and $375 for a deer tag or $500 for an elk tag.
Back to School Photo by: Anthony Rimel
Zoe Thompson (left) and Edith Mendez-Garcia work on their homework assignment during Laurie Dougherty fourth and fifth grade class.
Cannon Beach Elementary students have returned to the classroom Story by: Anthony Rimel Editor
The new school year for Cannon Beach Elementary School began this month. The school’s kindergarten
through fifth grade students returned to the classroom Sept. 4. New Principal Nicki Thomas said students spend the first week of school re-adjusting to the classroom. “There’s a lot of getting to know
See SCHOOL, page 3
Council continues discussion of Forest Reserve Story by: Anthony Rimel Editor
The Cannon Beach City Council continued discussions about the implementation of a new management plan for the Ecola Creek Forest Reserve at its September meeting. Although the controversial issue of hunting in the reserve was decided last month when the council authorized bow hunting by permit only, other aspects of the new management plan were discussed for around an hour and a half at the Sept. 4 meeting. Councilor Nancy Giasson began the discussion by reading a statement
discussing her vision for the future of the reserve. The letter included discussion about how to balance recreational uses with its role as a reserve. Giasson said later in the meeting that she was concerned that the city might not have the resources to manage the forest if there is a large increase in recreational use. “I’m not so concerned with our current users,” she said. “My concern is the increase in use.” An issue discussed at the meeting was whether to restrict bicycle and equestrian access to the reserve. Although the potential of limiting bikes and horses to certain areas of the
reserve was discussed at the meeting, the consensus of the council was to not restrict the use of bikes or horse this year, but to re-examine the issue in a year when the effects of those types of recreational uses might be better understood. The council also discussed creating a committee to oversee the restoration activities in the reserve. The council had a consensus that a committee should be formed to oversee the reserve, but the specifics of the committee were not finalized. However, Mayor Mike Morgan did say that the committee should have an odd number of people so that they do not become deadlocked, as the com-
mittee that drafted the new management plan did several times over the issue of hunting in the reserve. Additionally, the council discussed the potential financial impacts of the action items in the reserve’s new management plan. Morgan said they needed to figure out how much of the restoration activities they could do within the city’s budget. “We may need to spend some money on these bigger items,” he said. Morgan said acquiring the property made the city responsible for maintaining it.
See FOREST, page 7
Flood fix expected to begin in October
n Merkley, Wyden and Begich Introduce Proposal to Hire Veterans to Assist with Marine Debris Cleanup
Story by: Jeremy C. Ruark
This is the “destructive device” that the Oregon State Police Bomb Squad disabled in Cannon Beach on Monday, Sept. 10, 2012.
Cannon Beach Police find ‘destructive device’ in city park Story by: Anthony Rimel Editor
Volume 36, No. 15
their teachers, if they have new teachers, and each other,” she said. “The second week is when the learning really begins.”
The Oregon State Police Bomb Squad was called to the city to respond to a homemade explosive device this week – the second time they have responded to potential explosives in the city in less than three months. The Cannon Beach Police Department was notified about a suspicious bottle in the city park on Monday, Sept. 10. According to a press release, the Cannon Beach Police Department located the suspicious device and then called the State Police’s Bomb Squad which arrived around 4 p.m. Cannon Beach Police Chief Jason Schermerhorn said the state police’s bomb squad was able to render the “destructive device” safe, but he could not release details about how the bomb squad rendered it safe.
Schermerhorn said there is no evidence connecting this device to the two “homemade incendiaries” found in midtown Cannon Beach this July. “At this point we don’t have a connection between the two, and don’t know if they are related or not.” Schermerhorn said he could not release the details of what the device was and that they would send it to the crime lab for further analysis. “We don’t know for sure the specifics of what it was,” he said. The police department’s press release said the device was a “plastic soda container with suspicious contents.” Lt. Chris Wilbur, of the Cannon Beach Police Department, said the devices found in July were determined to be “homemade explosives made from plastic bottles, duct tape and an unknown type of
explosive.” Wilbur said those devices were only intended to make a loud noise, but they did contain a small amount of explosives. Schemerhorn said that he’s heard of news reports about “pop bottle bombs” that can go off when touched. He said people should stay away from any device if they find one, and report it to the police immediately. The Cannon Beach Police Department is still looking for anyone with any information about the device, or witnessed any suspicious behavior. The “homemade explosives” from earlier this summer were found on July 3, the day before the Independence Day holiday. The most recent “destructive device” was found on Sept. 10, the eve of the eleventh anniversary of the terrorist attack at the World Trade Center in New York.
A plan to ease flooding along U.S Highway 101 between Seaside and Cannon Beach that was expected to begin late this summer is now planned for October, and there may be a chance that the fix could be postponed until next year. “This project will be weather-dependent,” said Larry McKinley with the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). “If it turns into a really wet fall, you can’t dig in those conditions. That could delay the construction until spring.” Al Smiles, the executive director of the Seaside Chamber of Commerce, said the waiting is a financial strain for local businesses. “It looks like it will be another year of frustration,” said Smiles. “This project is long overdue. We need to move the economy forward. This is an example that prevents that from happening.” Seaside Mayor Don Larson is also frustrated, but encouraged with the progress made by ODOT and Clatsop County in developing a solution to the highway flooding. “They wanted to start this project in June,” said Larson. “We have to get some relief. We have waited for so long. I do have total faith in ODOT and Clatsop County that this project will begin in October.” Cannon Beach City Manager Rich Mays is also hopeful relief is close. “When you have a major highway blocked and you can’t get through we have
real issues including health concerns,” Mays said. “People can’t get to the hospital. They can’t get prescriptions filled. It will be a great benefit to Cannon Beach to have the highway open all the time. This project is long overdue, so I am encouraged by the progress so far, even if it is slow progress.” The project is expected to alleviate the flooding that often accompanies heavy fall and winter rains and high tides that cause traffic restrictions along a one-mile stretch of Highway 101 south of Seaside and north of Cannon Beach. It is also designed to restore more than 100 acres of nearby former wetlands. Clatsop County Public Works is the lead agency in the flood relief project. The department’s Ron Ash said the project includes removing portions of a berm that runs along the west bank of the Necanicum River. “We would leave the trees, but remove large portions of the dirt in the berm between south of the Circle Creek Campground north to the Seaside Golf Course,” he said. The berm, built in the 1960s, confines the river during high water and prevents excess flow from spilling out onto lower ground to the west. Engineering studies suggest that the berm breaching would be the single action that would allow flood waters to gradually seep out over the 100 acres of floodplain decreasing water on the highway by as much as 12 inches,
See FLOOD, page 9