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Volume 17, No. 21
October 18, 2012
northcoastcitizen.com • 75¢
Meet the candidates for Tillamook County Commissioner By Joe Wrabek
Inside
For the Citizen
Bill Baertlein
LOCAL AUTHOR DEBUTS NEW BOOK Mark Smith examines events on the Oregon coast during WWII in his fiction novel. Page 2
Calendar
WRITERS SERIES FEATURES WILLY VLAUTIN Acclaimed author visits Manzanita on Saturday, Oct. 20. See calendar for additional details. Page 10
Index Classifieds ................. 8 Events calendar ....... 10 NBFR District Log....... 3 Public Safety Log ....... 3 Letters to the Editor ... 4 Obituaries .................. 7
Attendees snap photos of mannequins sporting outfits from Trashion Shows past. Photos by LeeAnn Neal
‘TRASHION’ ADDS TOUCH OF GLAMOUR
The North County Recreation District Auditorium sparkled with the glamour of high “trashion” during the Trashion Show, held Oct. 13. Twenty-four models graced the stage in outfits assembled from recycled materials, all in honor of CARTM ’s mission of leading the Nehalem Bay area community to zero waste. The event was a fundraiser for CARTM, a nonprofit recycling center located in Manzanita. Lorraine Ortiz, of Nehalem, coordinated the event. She tapped Mary Moran to head up the Trashion Show. “I had over 50 volunteers in all to create the event and four generous spon-
sors,” she said. Nearly 200 members of the community paid $20-25 per ticket to attend the show, which was followed by an Upcycle Party upstairs in the NCRD gymnasium. The after party featured mannequins decked out in trashion ensembles from past Trashion Shows, previously held during the former CARTM Trash Bash. The Tsunami Drummers of the Nehalem Bay area, opened the show. Aina Tonjes, of Manzanita, narrated.
Bill Baertlein, 62, is an accountant. Born and raised in Tillamook County—the family’s been here for three generations, he said—he took accounting and finance at Oregon State University, and worked for another firm in Tillamook before opening his own office in 1980. His Bill Baertlein wife Marilyn is also his business partner (she’s the “Phegley” in Baertein & Phegley, CPAs). They have two children, Alex, a freshman at OSU, and Mitch, a senior at Tillamook High Lisa Phipps School.
Prior governmental & management experience
Baertlein has been a Port of Tillamook Bay commissioner for 2-1/2 years—first appointed, then elected.
Aina Tonjes, who narrated the show, in an outfit she created out of recycled paper.
See CANDIDATES, page 7
Decision pending on plans for new NCRD pool By Samantha Swindler For the Citizen
NEHALEM – No decision on the future of the pool was made during the Oct. 11th North County Recreation District Board meeting. Instead, board members heard a recap of an Oct. 4th presentation on the options for renovating, rebuilding, or expanding the aging natatorium, and received public comment on those options. A special meeting was set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17 for the board to make a decision on which – if any – of the options to pursue further. The results of that meeting were not available before press time. Visit northcoastcitizen. com for news from the meeting. The preliminary draft of the Nehalem Bay Pool Options Study was first presented during a public meeting
Oct. 4 by Carl Sherwood with Robertson Sherwood Architects of Eugene.
RENOVATE
By Sherwood’s preliminary analysis, upgrading the existing four-lane pool, located beneath the NCRD building, would cost roughly $2.4 million. That cost includes $167,550 to replace the heating and ventilation system, $150,000 in dressing room improvements, $127,120 in natatorium (pool facility) improvements, and $539,634 in “soft costs” – permits, testing, fixtures, furnishes, equipment and contingency funds. The project would improve pool systems with a new mechanical room, gutter system, circulation pump, filter system and more. The natatorium itself would receive new paint, new structural improvements, and dry rot repair. This is the lowest-cost
option, Sherwood said. However, it would not address the narrow pool deck space; an expansion for a mechanical room and lobby would block the eastern view of rooms upstairs; and, perhaps most problematic, it would force the closure of the pool for nine months to a year. Sherwood noted that he believed NCRD could get a variance from state building codes for the narrow pool deck, though he would confirm that before moving forward with this plan.
See POOL, page 6 Nehalem Elementary School swim lessons started Sept. 24, with 200 students thrilled to be back working on swim technique and skills, along with reviewing water safety. The 23rd annual Pool-A-Thon fundraiser is scheduled for Feb. 23, 2013.
Andy Long and Bill Spidal vie for Sheriff Officials By Mary Faith Bell For the Citizen
In the upcoming election voters will have a choice between incumbent Sheriff Andy Long and his challenger, Bill Spidal. Here we’ll take a look at the two candidates, their background and qualifications, and who they are, what defines them as people.
Sheriff Andy Long
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In addition to being Tillamook County Sheriff, Andy Long is an accomplished competitive surfer. He competed in the Cape Kiwanda Longboard Classic September 22 and 23 in Pacific City, and took “7th or 8th overall in my age division, the 40-49 midlife cruisers,” Long reported. Being Sheriff is not a 9 to 5 job, the Sheriff is the Sheriff 24-hours a day, and as such, the potential for stress related burnout is high. But Andy Long seems like a remarkably well-balanced person. He is happily married to Kayla Long, a local attorney. The two met on the job when Kayla was working for the DA’s office.
Sheriff Andy Long They used to work for the same team, so to speak, law enforcement and prosecutors consider themselves on the same “side” in the justice system, and both were employed by the County. When Long became Sheriff, Kayla entered private practice. She now works as a defense attorney. Long is close to his only son Aaron, 21, a mechanic at Tillamook Ford. Father and son surf together, and work on cars. “We have boys night out once a week, he’ll come down and spend the night, and we’ll go out and get burgers and talk about cars.”
Recently Long took up background acting, after a friend encouraged him to try it. He has acted as an extra, doing “background work” in one episode of Grimm and a couple of episodes of Leverage, both of which are shot in Portland. “It’s fun,” Long said, “it’s something different. There’s a lot of waiting around involved, but it’s interesting to see how things are put together, the production, and the people; and the other extras are interesting. All of them have stories to tell.” Andy Long will have been Sheriff for a year when ballots are counted on November 6. The Tillamook Board of County Commissioners hired Long as Sheriff on November 1, 2011, following the retirement of former sheriff Todd Anderson. Long was undersheriff to Todd Anderson when the commissioners hired him to the top job. He had worked his way up through the ranks in a twenty-year career with the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office. A native Oregonian, Long grew up in the Eugene/Springfield area and enlisted in the Coast Guard
look into lodging tax as potential road repair funding By LeeAnn Neal For the Citizen
Bill Spidal after high school. “I started in Alaska,” said Long, “and worked my way down the coast to Oregon.” Long served in active duty in the Coast Guard for ten years, before he applied to the Sheriff’s Office. Long began his career with Tillamook County in 1991 as a Corrections Deputy “in the old jail, when it was still in the courthouse.” From the jail he moved to patrol at Sand Lake. He was promoted to patrol Sergeant, then Detective, and Detective Sergeant. He served five years as Jail
See SHERIFF, page 5
The committee charged with finding funding to repair Tillamook County’s derelict roads is looking at a possible countywide lodging tax among other revenue sources. “By law, 70 percent of TRT (transient room tax) revenue must be used for tourism promotion and advertising,” said Jon Carnahan retired former president of Tillamook Bay Community College, who, along with Tillamook County Commissioner Mark Labhart, co-chairs the Tillamook County Sustainable Roads Committee. “That leaves 30 percent available for fixing our roads.
See ROADS, page 3