CBG929

The History of Coaster Construction

By DEB ATIYEH

Beginning in the early 1970’s, a native Oregonian named Maurie Clark had a dream and a vision.

Like many of us, Cannon Beach was a place that Maurie grew to love as a child, and it captured his heart and imagination. Inspired by Carmel, California, it shaped his vision for Cannon Beach. Maurie began buying commercial property along Hemlock Street, offering low rents to artists and other tenants in exchange for their promise to stay open all year. Working with two friends, Ray Watkins as the designer and Nick Nelson as the construction foreman, they constructed and renovated several buildings in Cannon Beach; the Coaster Theater, Sandpiper Square, Mariner Market, US Bank Building, U.S. Post Office and the Cannon Beach Library. Maurie, Ray and Nick set their standards high and everyone else followed. Cannon Beach is a testament to an idea that transformed a town with a quiet determination to bring a vision to life. In realizing their dreams, they helped others realize theirs,

and Cannon Beach is the beneficiary of what these three people worked to create.

In 1973, Maurie Clark and Nick Nelson formed Coaster Properties, which managed their downtown properties in Cannon Beach as they began a series of construction projects. John Nelson joined Coaster Construction in 1982; assuming his father ’s responsibilities after he retired in 1985. Nick Nelson continued his involvement in the company after retirement, with father and son working

together on projects such as the Local Scoop and the remodel of Sandpiper Square. They also worked with Steve Martin to develop affordable housing to assist the Cannon Beach community.

As Maurie Clark’s health declined, John took on additional work to keep his crew of five employed, including new construction and remodels. This led to the creation of Coaster Construction. After Maurie Clark passed away in 2001, his son Mike Clark assumed ownership and

Coaster was expanded. After constructing a new building, they moved into their current location on Elk Creek Road in 2005. Coaster has evolved into a full service construction company, specializing in large custom homes, remodels and commercial projects, while still maintaining their downtown properties. Coaster currently has around 30 employees, in addition to numerous local subcontractors whom they have worked with for years.

his son

John Nelson and

Joel purchased Coaster Construction from Mike Clark in 2019, and the dream continues as John and Joel pursue their goal of building on the reputation and foundation that began with Maurie, Ray and Nick. They remain dedicated to high quality construction while serving the community of Cannon Beach. Coaster has played a significant role in shaping the character of Cannon Beach over the years; helping to create one of the most well-loved coastal towns in

the world. Cannon Beach stands apart from many other Oregon coastal towns due to the aesthetics and quality of the architecture. The vision and dream that began with Maurie Clark, Nick Nelson and Ray Watkins was an inspiration that helped shape the character of Cannon Beach. That legacy lives on with Coaster Construction, whose deep love for Cannon Beach has persisted throughout the years. Congratulations on 50 years of keeping the dream alive!

Coaster Construction Celebrates 50 Years

By DEB ATIYEH

Employees, family and friends of Coaster Construction gathered at Les Shirley Park on Saturday, September 16th to celebrate their 50 years of construction in Cannon Beach. What originally started with Maurie Clark, Ray Watkins and Nick Nelson now spans three generations with son John Nelson and grandson Joel Nelson operating the business. John Nelson began working for Coaster Construction in 1982 when there were just five employees; with the business growing over the past fifty years to include thirty employees. After Maurie Clark passed away in 2001, his son Mike Clark assumed ownership of the business until John and Joel Nelson purchased Coaster Construction in 2019.

The good memories and loyalty of family, friends and employees brought them together to celebrate 50 years of excellence and pride for a job well done. Thank you Coaster Construction for helping to shape the character of Cannon Beach.

LEFT PHOTO: Nick Nelson on the left and Maurie Clark on the right.

RIGHT PHOTO: John Nelson and Joel Nelson. The photo was taken moments after they signed papers to purchase Coaster Construction.

John and Debbie Nelson

John and Debbie Nelson, Ashley and Joel Nelson

Jessica Dearinger, daughter and owner of interior decorator business JD Designs and son Ryder

The old guard-Mike Niebuhr, Fred Higgins, Bill McCargish, Peter Tooley, Paul Rhoer, John Nelson

Sander Romanski (project manager), Peter Tooley (one of the first employees, now retired), Joel Nelson (co-owner)

Holly Nelson (niece and office manager) and Ashley Nelson (daughter-in-law, Joel’s wife)

John Nelson (co-owner) and his sisters Lynda Craft and Judy Sweeney

Joel Nelson (co-owner and son)

David Chesnut (project manager) Andy Weaver (project manager) and wife Jody

Joel Nelson (co-owner) and Kevin Becker (one of the first employees)

Brian and Allison Smith and family (Cannon Beach Electric)

A Conversation with Karl Marlantes

By BOB ATIYEH

Growing up in the small coastal city of Seaside, Karl Marlantes said that kids from his town didn’t go to elite colleges like Harvard, Yale or Stanford. Yet his scholastic ability earned him a National Merit Scholarship to all of these colleges. He chose Yale and during his senior year earned a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford in England. It was the late 1960’s and the Vietnam War was raging; it was a war Marlantes didn’t believe in but felt compelled to fight. During his time at Yale, Marlantes had trained in the Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Class. Feeling guilty that young men from Seaside were dying in the war (six from Seaside High School were killed in Vietnam) while he was safe in England going to classes, hanging out in pubs and chasing girls, Marlantes dropped out of Oxford at the end of his first semester to join active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps as an infantry officer. In October of 1968 he found himself in the highlands of South Vietnam near the border of Laos and North Vietnam as a First Lieutenant assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines. The average age of the soldiers in his platoon was less than nineteen, with ninetysix of them killed in the two years between 1967 and 1969. Forty years later, “Matterhorn”, a novel based on his combat experiences during the Vietnam War, climbed to number three during its sixteen weeks on the New York Times best seller list.

For those too young to remember the Vietnam War; a brief history. France colonized and controlled Vietnam

from the late 1880’s until being forced out by the Japanese in 1940, who occupied it until their defeat in World War II in 1945. After WWII, the French tried to reassert control over their former colony, but were met with military resistance and decisively defeated in 1954, with Vietnam being divided during negotiations at the Geneva Accords into North Vietnam, ruled by the communists led by Ho Chi Minh, and South Vietnam, ruled by Emperor Bao Dai and Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem. President Truman sent a “Military Assistance Advisory Group” to Vietnam to assist the French in 1950, with President Eisenhower sending military advisors to Vietnam in early 1955. By late 1963, President Kennedy had sent a total of 11,000 special forces troops and military advisors to Vietnam.

After the November 1963 assassination of President Kennedy, President Johnson ordered the first combat troops to Vietnam in March 1965 while vastly increasing the number of troops over the next three years, reaching a peak of 536,000 by 1968.

By the end of 1965, less than 2,500 Americans had died in Vietnam, but by the peak of the conflict three years later in 1968, 37,000 had been killed. By the time the U.S. ended its involvement in the war in 1975, 58,220 Americans had died in the conflict. To the North Vietnamese, it was a war for reunification of their country; for South Vietnam it was a war to maintain their independence free from communist rule; and for America it was a war to contain the spread of communism during the Cold War The Tet Offensive launched by North Vietnamese and Viet

Cong troops in late January 1968 was a simultaneous assault on several major cities and military bases in South Vietnam that ended as a military defeat, but a political and psychological victory. The opening day of the Tet Offensive was the deadliest day of the entire Vietnam War for American troops, with 246 killed in action. Returning from a trip to Vietnam in late February 1968 in the aftermath of the Tet Offensive, CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite (rated the most trusted man in America) aired an editorial that was highly critical of the war, urging America to leave Vietnam. Upon hearing about it, President Johnson reportedly told his staff that “if I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America”, referring to public support for the war.

Marlantes said that war brings out the extremes of human nature; heroism, altruism, ugliness and atrocities as he related two poignant stories from his time in Vietnam. As a lieutenant in charge of his young soldiers, one day he noticed several of them wearing human ears in their helmets. Asked where they got them, they pointed to the bodies of the dead enemy soldiers below. Quickly realizing the depths to which these young soldiers had descended, Marlantes ordered them to bury the ears along with the bodies of the enemy soldiers and noticed them crying as they dug the graves. In another incident, Marlantes and his men were hurling grenades at enemy soldiers positioned above them, as the enemy threw grenades back at them. Marlantes crawled out of their protected position to have a clear shot when the enemy stood up to hurl a

grenade. As a teenaged North Vietnamese soldier stood up to throw a grenade, Marlantes (who didn’t speak Vietnamese) yelled “don’t throw it and I won’t shoot you”. The soldier threw the grenade and Marlantes was forced to shoot him. The expression on his face and the look in the young Vietnamese soldier’s eyes before killing him haunted Marlantes for years, and his leg still carries shrapnel from the grenade that exploded behind him.

Vietnam was a darkly divisive war for America, with mass protests aimed at political figures and the military, and animosity aimed at the troops who fought in the war. Marlantes said that he was spit on, sworn at and had things thrown at him after his return from Vietnam. Years later, at a book reading for “Matterhorn” in Berkeley, California, a hotbed for anti-war protests in the 1960’s and 1970’s, former anti-war protestors in the audience began debating each other while expressing remorse for their bitter treatment of returning troops. Marlantes watched in silence, realizing that his book reading had triggered a long-delayed reckoning and catharsis for them as well.

Marlantes began writing “Matterhorn” one summer after returning to Oxford to finish his masters degree, working on it and editing it for thirty-five years while enduring at least 100 rejections before it was finally published. In the end, three women were instrumental in gaining recognition for it, with four different book publishers calling with offers on the same day. “Matterhorn” ended up at number three on the New York Times bestseller list in 2010, and

another book by Marlantes titled “What It Is Like To Go To War” was published in 2011. Even though both of these books are about war, Marlantes said that writing the second book was more cathartic for him than writing “Matterhorn”. “Deep River”, a novel about a Finnish family settling along the lower Columbia River in the early 20th century was published in 2019. Referring to the hard work of writing a book, Marlantes said that the rough draft is like falling in love and the editing is like being married. Someone once asked him “looking back now, would you make the same decision to quit Oxford and go to Vietnam?” Marlantes replied “that it shaped me into who I am today and I wouldn’t be who I am without that experience.”

Discussing suicides among military veterans, Marlantes, who has studied the subject, said that among veterans who take their own lives, 100% of women and 90% of men were abused during childhood, and that suicide is not related to combat. Throughout history, young men were prepared for war through ritual and religion, which also helped bring them home. Marlantes believes that today most young soldiers are poorly prepared for the psychological consequences of war, although he believes we’re starting to do better at preparing them. With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) common among combat veterans, Marlantes explained that there are two components to PTSD. The first part is a physiological “rewiring” of the brain; adding that most combat casualties occur within the first two months of combat before the brain is “rewired” to react quickly The second part of

A Vietnam Remembrance

World

By PETER LINDSEY The chartered

Airways plane lazily

corkscrewed through clouds, losing altitude on our ap-

proach to Cam Ranh Bay Vietnam. Half the globe away from my home, I gazed out at the roiled surface of the South China Sea with my cabin mates. The boisterous laughter and nervous 18 year-old “grab assing” died stillborn after Guam. The olive drab clad replacements gawked and craned for a glimpse of the runway materializing below us.

And then the land was there, parched and bleak.

The vegetation looked scraggly, worn out, beaten. Squat buildings dotted the landscape, their walls revetted with sandbags from ground to roof. Gunfire and the incessant clatter of helicopter blades carved and pierced the coastal air. The plane coasted to a stop near a large building. The civilian stewardesses glanced warily at the hillsides surrounding the airfield. We were ordered to de-plane and march to an adjacent mess hall.

In the near distance I could see the bay and ocean beyond.

We stood in a file, incongruous and ill-fitted, pink-faced, cowed by our surroundings and the truth of our circumstance. The fresh jungle fatigues, new jungle boots, and clean slouch hats set us gulfs apart from the seasoned soldiers processing us “In country.” Sporadic small arms fire crackled in the stillness of the afternoon air. In 365 days I could go home. I kept the vision of my family and new wife and my little village by the sea close inside. Few spoke. We shuffled inside the mess hall and advanced slowly to a table. I glanced up and nearly caved in. On the mess hall wall hung an enormous photograph of Ecola Park and the view south to Cannon Beach.

A stone lodged in my heart.

I was invited to partici-

PTSD is the “moral injury” inflicted upon a soldier by the act of killing. In an attempt to deal with his own PTSD, Marlantes turned to the symbolism and psychology of Carl Jung, the writings of the ancient Greek poet Homer, the spirituality and philosophy contained within the ancient epic Hindu Mahabharata, and the mythological writings of Joseph Campbell. During a chance meeting and conversation with Joseph Campbell, Marlantes expressed his lingering trauma and guilt over shooting the young North Vietnamese soldier at close range. Joseph Campbell dismissed it while telling Marlantes “you had a noble heart and you played your role”.

Karl Marlantes was awarded the Navy Cross, Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation medals for valor, two Purple Hearts and ten air medals for his service in Vietnam. Karl and his wife Anne divide their time between a home in Cannon Beach and one in Duvall, Washington, a town of just over 8,000 northeast of Seattle

A total of 2.7 million Americans served in Vietnam, with the last American combat troops departing the country on March 29th, 1973. 58,220 died in the conflict, with 304,000 wounded and 75,000 severely disabled. The average age of those killed in the conflict was just under 23. Two-thirds of the troops in Vietnam were volunteers, while the other third were drafted into the military; with the military draft ending on June 30th, 1973. The North Vietnamese army and the Viet Cong captured Saigon, the capitol of South Vietnam, on April 30th, 1975.

pate in a “Living History” program at Seaside High school just prior to the commencement of the Iraq War.

As a veteran of the war in Vietnam, I joined with others in presenting our recollections to assembled students. This piece followed that experience.

War. The word comes to us from Late Old English and Northern French, “were,” meaning “confusion,” “discord,” or “strife.”

Last week I was conscripted and faced an audience of Seaside High School students. They posed questions to a gathering of war veterans as part of a “Living History” program. I tried to express my many years of confusion to them, confusion over my emotions, my memories, and the war itself.

I will never forget those times and events torn into the tissue of my skull, tattooed, etched, and indelible.

Someone once wrote of the litany of names. All wars have them: Belleau Wood, Gallipoli, Bataan, Waterloo, Gettysburg, Ypres. My war had names like Pleiku, Da Nang, Vung Tau, Hue, Saigon, Ia Drang, Dak To, Khe Sanh, Mekong, and the Plain of Reeds. The trails of my memory cross Hau Nghia Province and Tay Ninh close to the Cambodian Border: Tay Ninh, My Hanh, Trung Lap, Tra Cu, Go Da Hau, The Parrots Beak, Dau Tieng, the Michelin Rubber Plantation, and the Bo Loi Woods.

I could have told them what I remember: long weeks of crying and desolation. Sea/Tac airport, a place of dark miasma and fear. The long flight to Hawaii, greensuited Army boys larking in the aircraft as we approached blue islands. A stillness after Guam, a stillness to ring one’s ears. The clabbered sea on our approach to Cam Ranh Bay. A wall length photograph of Ecola Park on a Cam Ranh Bay mess

hall. A rain of 122 millimeter rockets outside the berm lines at the 90th Replacement Depot my first night in country. I could have told them of the sounds: the “whupping” sound of a Bell UH-1 “Huey” helicopter, the zipper-like riveting of Gatling guns mounted on a bulbous plane called “Puff the Magic Dragon,” the skirling ring of a howitzer round leaving an artillery tube, the high whine of Air Force forward air control planes diving like falcons through the Mekong air, the sound of monsoon rains flaying the surface of a paddy dike, the cacophony of voices in a village market.

I could have told them of the sights: a Pick-Up-Sticks pile of bodies at the MACV Compound near Tra Cu, a hell-fire curtain of napalm lighting up a tree line, bodies lashed to armored personnel carriers like fall deer by the 5th ARVN Division in Cambodia, young prostitutes polishing the Jeeps and Jeep drivers at Bac Hai hamlet, soldiers’ bodies hidden like grisly Easter eggs in the elephant grass below Nui Ba Den, the Black Virgin Moluntain, the flicker of blue light from black market televisions in the ramshackle buildings on the night road to Long Binh, the dark cathedral rows of rubber trees on the Michelin Rubber Plantation.

I could have told them of these things. They were wonderful listeners. I could have told them of my dreams.

Cannon Beach resident Peter Lindsey served in the Vietnam War as a Sergeant in the III Corps, 2nd Battalion, 77th Field Artillery, based at the 25th Division Headquarters in Cu Chi, Republic of Vietnam from 1969 through 1970; leaving Vietnam and returning to Eugene, Oregon to attend graduate

1970.

in early

2023 Cannon Beach Safety Fair

By RICK HUDSON Cannon Beach Emergency Manager

We had a splendid time at our 2023 Cannon Beach Safety Fair, with a few hundred participants and guests. We had many safety specialist who we partner with every day to help keep us safe. We were fortunate to have demonstrations for the public with the deployment of the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) tent set-up, cooking tips for emergency food stock, a PacifiCorp meteorologist and information on safety shut-offs to prevent wildfires, DHS-Satellite (SAT Runner) communications, GO-Bag demonstrations for adults, children and pets, survival barrel caching, radio communications, geologic core sampling from our Little Pompey wetlands dating back to the last Cascadia earthquake-generated tsunami in 1700, along with fantastic displays from the Fire District, Police, U.S. Coast Guard and our statesponsored water treatment trailer.

We also had an incredible amount of volunteer support to plan and execute this event. We could not have completed this project without the support of the Cannon Beach Emergency Volunteers (CBEV) who consist of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), Disaster Animal Response Team (DART), and the Sunset Empire Amateur Radio Club (SEARC).

Thank you to all of our 2023 Safety Fair partners: Cannon Beach Police, Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District, Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce, Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon Emergency Management, Oregon Department

of Human Services, Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, Oregon

Buskers in the Park

Brownsmead Flats performing at the final Buskers in the Park on September 21st

Agate Beach Surf Competition Winners

From the Agate Beach Surf Classic September 9 & 10, 2023 in Newport, pictured left to right are Rory Meyer (12) - Winner 1st Place 12 & Under without a parent and Lachlan Meyer (15) - Winner 1st Place Junior Men 13-19. Both of the boys were born and raised in Cannon Beach.

PICTURE SUBMITTED BY ERIK MEYER

Kiwanda Longboard Classic Winner

By PAUL DUEBER

D

uring our first year of Covid when everything shut down and masks were obligatory and spacing required and the social aspect of our lives changed drastically, Bruce St. Denis and I were lamenting that there was no music in town. Gathering at Coaster Theatre, a restaurant or one’s home for a music event just wasn’t going to happen.

Bruce suggested we do something just for the local folk and maybe put it at the City Park Bandstand. That first year we had the Buskers event and Coaster Theatre even put together some theatrical presentations and we let the folks in town know what was going to happen. I guess the phrase “If you build it, they will come” held far more truth than I might have given it credit.

That first year in 2020 we offered six Buskers music events and averaged about 75 – 80 music fans in the grassy area in front of the bandstand (with one event rained-out). I would pass the hat halfway through the 90-minute gig and we averaged about $170 in tips for the band. All bands were local musicians from Clatsop County. We deliberately did not post the events for visitors in order to keep the numbers down to allow for safe spacing The

response was awesome and the audience and the bands were tickled with the support we were receiving.

2021 rolled around and the Buskers event took over all Thursdays from June 17th through September 23rd with 15 bands booked. We had three “rain-outs” that year and our attendance went up to an average of 100 audience and tips averaged about $220. Again, we kept the secret close to the vest and it wasn’t promoted to the visitors in town. It was evident that the support was continuing to grow.

2022 arrived and Bruce and I talked about giving the event a bit more promotion since the Covid restrictions were loosening. Bruce thought he could convince the city to offer a bit of remuneration in addition to the tips to ensure the bands were sufficiently enticed and I began to reach out to bands I knew in the Pacific Northwest. Our attendance jumped to an average of about 120 and tips jumped to an average of $400. We put 14 bands in the park and the city chipped in $200 for each event to help cover band travel expenses. We only had one “rain out” that year and the enthusiasm and support for the event continued to grow. This year, 2023, I focused on some out-of-state bands

and was able to get on the tour list for several excellent bands. Our attendance jumped to 140 and the average tip jar yielded over $500 per event. The event was much more widely promoted and we tried to get the word out to folks visiting Cannon Beach. The result is in the attendance and the tip jar. Buskers in the Park pretty much became an eagerly attended and supported event and both audience and bands were having a great time.

I am now getting requests from touring bands to be included in what might be considered an “off night” on a band’s normal tour. Midweek gigs are notoriously difficult to book for bands and for a touring band, so having a Thursday evening gig that produces some nice financial support was a refreshing source of income for them. Audiences are enthusiastic and the tip jar is evident of that enthusiasm. We are booking 15 to 16 bands for next year and the bandstand now has a well-established weekly event that is experiencing success on a number of levels. We even had a herd of elk try to crash the final event last week. Next summer Buskers in the Park will start June 20th and run through September 19th.

From the 2023 Cape Kiwanda Longboard Classic held September 16 & 17 in Pacific City, pictured here is Lachlan Meyer (15) of Cannon Beach who tied with Jack Howard for 1st Place Boys 13-17. Both of the boys scored 15.63.

PICTURE SUBMITTED BY ERIK MEYER

Sea Grant, U.S. Coast Guard, Life Flight, PacifiCorp, Arch Cape Community Safety,

Cannon Beach Culinary Academy, EVOO Cannon Beach, Home Depot Safety

Outreach Team, Good News Club and the American Red Cross.

We had several special guests of the furry kind who also enjoyed the fair.

Laurelwood Farm

AT THE LIBRARY

his debut graphic novel, “Good-bye, Chunky Rice,” for which he won a Harvey Award for Best New Talent. Time magazine named his subsequent 600-page autobiographical novel, “Blankets,” its #1 graphic novel of 2003. “Blankets” went on to win eight comics industry awards.

Graphic Novels, Single Ladies & Cherry Orchards

By PHYLLIS BERNT

Library Board President

Aquick reminder that the Fall Celebration is 2 to 4 p.m., Saturday, September 30, at the library, 131 N. Hemlock in downtown Cannon Beach.

There will be children’s crafting projects at 2 p.m., and a cake cutting to celebrate the library’s 96th birthday. Winners of gift certificate and quilt raffles will be announced, as well as winners of the silent auction for hotel stays, fine dining and hand-blown glass artwork. There will also be drawings for door prizes.

The NW Author Speakers Series will welcome awardwinning graphic novelist Craig Thompson at 2 p.m., Saturday, October 14. This will be a hybrid event; participants can attend Thompson’s talk in-person, or watch the event online through the library website (cannonbeachlibrary.org).

As a child, Thompsom’s only access to the arts were the Sunday funnies and comic books. After writing a comic strip for his college paper, he “just kind of fell in love” with comics, and has been producing comics and graphic novels ever since.

A Michigan native, Thompson moved to Portland in 1997, a move that inspired

Advice from Ben Franklin

By RICK GRAY

Last winter, I attempted to start a book club devoted to serious non-fiction.

A goodly number of citizens – from as far afield as Astoria – expressed interest, so we began meeting monthly at the Tolovana Arts Colony. Our selections included a new biography of Samuel Adams – about whom few of us had previously known much – and a colorful history of the Roaring Twenties, a period most history courses skip lightly over. Despite lively discussions, attendance dwindled, and the club is now on indefinite hiatus.

One of my chief regrets from this experiment is that we never got around to reading Ben Franklin’s Autobiography, one of my favorite books of American history, and one which – if I were still teaching high school

U.S. History – I would require my students to read. In my view, it’s perhaps the wisest, most practical book available on how to succeed in life, in business, and as a citizen. It should probably be required reading for anyone who goes into politics – or, really, for any citizen who wishes to engage in public discourse.

Why do I believe this?

Ben Franklin was born in Massachusetts in 1706 –just fourteen years after the Salem witch trials. Raised as a Presbyterian – the more moderate of two shoots to emerge from the Puritan stock – Franklin absorbed the values of that culture. Though the adult Franklin was not what Christians of our time would consider a man of faith, his thought processes reflected the rigorous logic characteristic of Massachusetts Puritans – the

Thompson’s other graphic novels have also met with critical acclaim, and have won, or been nominated for, numerous awards. Thompson believes his graphic novels are successful because he avoids the “over-the-top explosive action” and the cynicism and nihilism often found in alternative comics.

His other graphic novels include “Carnet de Voyage,” “Habibi” and “Space Dumplings.” He also writes, and draws, the ongoing series “Ginseng Roots.”

The Cannon Beach Reads book club will meet at 7 p.m., Wednesday, October 18, to discuss “All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation,” by Rebecca Traister. This will be a hybrid meeting with participants able to join the discussion in person at the library or virtually through Zoom.

Traister is a writer-at-large for New York magazine and a contributing editor for Elle magazine. Her work about women in politics, media and entertainment appears frequently in The Nation, The New York Times and The Washington Post, and she is often a guest on cable news programs.

In “All the Single Ladies,” Traister examines what she at first thought was a uniquely twenty-first century phenomenon in America: the large number of single women. The proportion of married women in America fell below 50% in 2009 and has continued to decline significantly, while the age at which women first marry has been

steadily rising. Traister’s research, however, showed that there have been earlier periods in American history when single women were a significant portion of the population. During those periods, single women helped drive social change, including abolition, temperance and mandatory secondary education.

In addition to doing extensive historical research, Traister interviewed more than one hundred academics, social scientists and prominent single women, and considered her own experiences while being single. The result is a book that offers a thorough analysis of the social, economic, sexual and political conditions facing single women today, and that provides a historical context for those current conditions.

Critics have described “All the Single Ladies” as “informative and thoughtprovoking” for everyone, not just single women, and as a “remarkable portrait of contemporary American life.”

Traister’s other books include “Big Girls Don’t Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women” and “Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger.”

Phyllis Bernt will lead the discussion, which will begin at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 18, at the library. The Zoom link for those wishing to participate from home is available by emailing Joe Bernt at berntj@ohio. edu. Coffee and cookies will be provided at the library. New members, whether in person or online, are always welcome.

The library recently added a novel that suggests marriage hasn’t totally gone out of style. In her ninth novel, “Tom Lake,” Ann Patchett tells the story of Lara Nelson, who abandons her acting career and finds contentment as a wife, mother and cherry farmer.

It’s the height of the pandemic, and Lara’s three twenty-something daughters

are home to ride out the pandemic and to help with the back-breaking labor of harvesting fruit on the family’s cherry farm near Traverse City, Michigan.

To alleviate the boredom of fruit picking, and as an alternative to the depressing and scary pandemic news, Lara agrees to tell her curious daughters about her experiences as a would-be actress when she was their age.

The girls are especially curious about her relationship with a highly acclaimed actor named Peter Duke. While playing Emily in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” in summer stock at Tom Lake, Michigan, during the summer of 1988, Lara had a brief, but intense relationship with Peter Duke, right before his acting career took off.

Lara carefully sifts through her past, deciding what to share and what to hold back, as she tries to convey some important life lessons by convincing her skeptical offspring of the wisdom of her decision to walk away from an acting career in Hollywood, and of her great happiness as a wife and mother in rural Michigan. The story she tells her daughters, and the reader, comes full circle to an ending that is surprising and, perhaps, too good to be true.

Some critics find the book’s “determined positivity” restrictive, and question whether Lara really is as happy as she keeps insisting she is. Patchett answers that criticism in a recent interview, in which she observes that most contemporary romantic stories are about heartbreak and despair. She, on the other hand, decided to write a romantic story about love, joy and connection.

There are worse ways of spending an afternoon than enjoying Ann Patchett’s “Tom Lake,” with its likable characters, gentle tone, carefully constructed plot and not-so-subtle use of allusions to Wilder’s “Our Town” and Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard.”

first Americans to require that all children learn to read, so that they could understand and debate scripture among themselves.

When he moved to Philadelphia, Franklin took those Massachusetts ideas with him, including one idea which I believe – if we modern Americans would adopt – could revolutionize our politics and civic discourse for the better. In simple terms, the idea is: If two well-informed people of goodwill disagree on some important point, it’s because they are both wrong. Or, to put it more modestly, because they have not yet found the right answer.

This, of course, assumes that the purpose of civic discussion is to solve problems. If one seeks a solution to a problem, in company with others seeking to solve the same problem, then whoever

comes up with the best solution – the rest of the group, being people of goodwill, will joyfully recognize it as such. Instead of fighting to win an argument, the members would be working together to find the best solution to a problem – and that would change everything.

Ben Franklin was a problem-solver. In his early twenties, he formed – with a small group of carefullychosen young men – the Junto, a private club which became, in time, the source of a remarkable number of projects for civic improvement, including: America’s first circulating library; a volunteer fire department; a city hospital; and – when the French and Indian War impended, and Pennsylvania’s governing Quakers would not appropriate public money for the colony’s defense – a large, surprisingly effective, self-governing, self-financed volunteer militia. The Junto also founded the academy

which became the University of Pennsylvania. The club itself evolved into the American Philosophical Society.

The success of the Junto, in Franklin’s view, owed much to its ethos of avoiding arguments by a simple rule – enforced by small fines – against stating any position in definite terms. Throughout his life, in his own discourse, Franklin adopted “the habit of expressing myself in terms of modest diffidence, never using when I advance anything that may possibly be disputed the words, ‘certainly,’ ‘undoubtedly,’ or any others that give the air of positiveness to an opinion; but rather say, ‘I conceive or apprehend a thing to be so and so,’ ‘It appears to me,’ or ‘I should think it so and so,” or “I imagine it to be so,’ or ‘It is so if I am not mistaken.”

In the Autobiography, Franklin wished that “wellmeaning and sensible men would not lessen their power

of doing good by a positive assuming manner that seldom fails to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to defeat every one of those purposes for which speech was given to us.”

When we remember that Ben Franklin played a crucial role in holding together the representatives of thirteen colonies until they could reach consensus on the Declaration of Independence, and later – as a very old man – played the same role at the Constitutional Convention, it is tempting to conclude, if I am not mistaken, that Franklin’s philosophy is the reason we have a country. I invite my readers to consider this. If you and I are people of goodwill, sincerely trying to solve a problem –and we disagree – that means we are both wrong. We have yet to find a solution we could both agree is right. Which means we need to keep working, together, to find that solution.

to high-efficiency heating and cooling.

PUZZLES

Oregon Judicial Department Citizen Review Board

Oregon’s Foster Care Review Board

Citizen Review Board members are needed in Clatsop County.

You can help children and families in your community by volunteering to serve on the CRB.

Every

For information on becoming a volunteer contact:

Volunteer Resource Coordinator

Citizen Review Board Ph: (503) 986-5901

E-mail: crb.volunteer.resources@ojd.state.or.us www.courts.oregon.gov/crb

H20762

Advertise in print and online in the Official Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce

2023 Stormy Weather Arts Festival Program

Distributed in regional newspapers and throughout town starting week of October 24.

Space is limited. First come, first served. Final deadline to participate is Friday, October 13

To advertise call Katherine at 503-842-7535 or email headlightads@countrymedia.net

Megan

This seven-year-old Lab mix is a shy girl, but once she gets to know you, she reveals her sweet and gentle nature. Megan is calm and easy to walk on a leash. She knows basic commands and makes great eye contact. Megan will make a loyal companion for anyone who can give this girl the loving home she needs. Here she is, enjoying a walk with one of our volunteers.

http://clatsopcounty.animalshelternet.com/adoption_animal_details.

cfm?AnimalUID=292626

Pet meet and greets are by appointment, so if you’d like to meet Megan, call the shelter at 503-861-7387 or stop by the lobby to set up a time. The shelter is open 9:30 to 4:00 Tuesday through Saturday, closed 12:30 to 1:30 for lunch. You can also fill out an application at the shelter’s Adopting a Pet page: https://www.clatsopcounty.gov/animalcontrol/page/adopting-pet Scroll to the bottom of the page for the application or go directly to it here https://www.clatsopcounty.gov/media/38475 and email it to ac@ClatsopCounty.gov

H22622

Licensed Practical Nurse [LPN]

Part time position (24 hours weekly) w/excellent benefits.

Compensation: $29 - $39 Hourly, DOE

Tillamook Family Counseling Center (TFCC) seeks a Licensed Practical Nurse [Part Time 24 Hours per Week] as a health provider for its Assertive Community Treatment Team (ACT). The LPN provides health care coordination, client support, and triage in home and community settings to adults presenting with severe and persistent mental illness.

Tillamook Family Counseling Center is a drug free workplace and equal opportunity employer.

If you are interested in this position, please apply online at http://tfcc.bamboohr.com/jobs. Be sure to submit an online application and upload your resume. Any questions, please visit us online at http://tfcc.org.

H22117

Day Counts in the life of a child in foster care.

Savor Cannon Beach Wine & Culinary Festival 2023 Events Announced, Tickets Available

A series of nine premium food and wine events are planned for Savor Cannon Beach

October 12-27

Events for the 2023 Savor Cannon Beach Wine & Culinary Festival have been announced and tickets are available now. The 2023 series of premium small

group wine and culinary experiences will span two weeks with events between October 12 and 27 at various locations in Cannon Beach, Oregon. The festival will include a series of nine extraordinary food and wine events including premium wine tasting experiences; learning opportunities for wine enthusiasts; a limited-seating seafood and wine pairing dinner; and an exclusive after-hours private event in

the galleries featuring guest wineries and innovative small bite pairings.

Participants will have the opportunity to taste a flight of 10-year-old reds, exclusive tasting line-ups of wine from some of the Northwest’s most celebrated winemakers and some of the top awardwinning wines from the 2023 Savor Northwest Wine Awards held earlier in the year in Cannon Beach. Educational programs and expe-

riences will test your palate and wine knowledge where you will learn to assess wines like a professional, identify varietals in blind tastings and compare Old World French wines with their Northwest equivalents while challenging you to identify which is which.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit: savorcannonbeach.com

NASA imagery shows scale, impact of logging in drinking watersheds on Oregon Coast

About one-third of forests across 80 drinking watersheds serving coastal cities have been cut during the last 20 years, NASA found

ALEX BAUMHARTD Oregon Capital Chronicle Guest Article

Oregon’s coastal communities that rely on drinking water from forested rivers and creeks have lost substantial tree cover during the last 20 years, a recent NASA analysis found.

That’s bad news for residents and the environment.

but also the quantity. They prevent erosion, and filter, direct and store rain and snow as they pass into streams, according to the researchers. And more than 80% of Oregonians, including most who live on the coasts, get some or all of their drinking water from surface water sources such as streams, rivers and creeks, according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

(OREGON DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY/FLICKR)

COMMUNITY OUTREACH EVENT

OCTOBER/OCTUBRE 5, 2023

6:00OPM

In person/en persona:

Cannon Beach City Hall: 163 E Gower Ave

Join Zoom Meeting/ Únete a la Cita de Zoom:

Click Here/ Oprima Aquí

Meeting ID: 992 6108 4699

Password: 365593

+1 669 900 6833 US +1 253 215 8782 US

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Forests not only improve the quality of surface waters,

Come share your thoughts and ideas for the exterior of your new City Hall and Police Station:

• Building articulation

• Building entry and plaza

• Material options / Color pallet

Ven a compartir sus pensamientos y ideas sobre el exterior de tu nuevo Edificio Municipal y estación de policía:

• La articulación del edificio

• La entrada del edificio y plaza

• Opciones de Materíal / Catálogo de Colores

“We think of the coast range as having a lot of water, a lot of rain – and while that’s true in the winter – lately their streams are running pretty low during the summer months,” said Erik Fernandez, a program manager at the environmental nonprofit Oregon Wild who worked with NASA researchers on the analysis.

Young trees planted to replace logged mature trees also end up sucking up more water, further depleting surface water supply, Fernandez said. He also expressed concern that planting new tree stands requires spraying herbicides and pesticides, sometimes aerially, that can harm water sources.

Seth Barnes, forest policy director for the Oregon Forest Industries Council, said the more than 50-year-old Oregon Forest Practices Act, currently being updated, strongly protects water in Oregon’s logged forests.

“There’s really literally hundreds of protections that are put in place when anything is harvested in the state of Oregon,” Barnes said. “Things like stream buffers, harvest practices that are very specific

and nuanced, reforestation requirements, steep slopes protections.”

Using data and satellite imagery from NASA collected between 1997 and 2023, four researchers from the agency’s Oregon Coast Range Ecological Conservation Team were able to look at logging impacts in forests within 80 Oregon Coast watersheds identified by Oregon Wild.

About one-third of the forested land in those 80 watersheds — nearly 600 square miles — had been logged during the last 20 years, according to the study.

“Over the last 20 years it would be entirely inaccurate to say logging in the Coast Range was done carefully. I don’t think you can look at an aerial photo and say it was done carefully,” Fernandez said.

The bulk of logging in watershed forests during this time was on land owned by industrial logging companies, followed by state and federal agencies, tribes and local municipalities. Those companies, including Weyerhaeuser, Stimson Lumber and Roseburg Forest Products, use a method called clearcutting, defined by the NASA researchers as the removal of all trees in an area exceeding 2 acres. Representatives from those companies did not respond to requests for comment from the Capital Chronicle by Monday evening.

Barnes said the companies and members of the Forest Industries Council have high compliance rates with the Forest Practices Act, including complying with regulations on water quality.

“We live in these watersheds and our families drink this water and recreate in these forests too,” and we want to be good stewards,” he said.

Casey Kulla, state forest policy coordinator for Oregon Wild, said he hopes the NASA analysis can aid efforts by some Oregon cities to buy and manage the forestland around their drinking watersheds.

The state recently passed legislation to create a Community Drinking Water Enhancement and Protection Fund with $5 million available for communities hoping to own or improve land around their source drinking water. https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2023/09/19/ nasa-imagery-shows-scale-impacts-of-logging-in-drinkingwatersheds-on-oregon-coast/ Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lynne Terry for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle. com.

The Tillamook State Forest as seen from the summit of King’s Mountain. Bare patches mark spots that have been clearcut.