Volume 17, No. 24
Calendar
VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS Hoffman Center presents ‘A Victorian Christmas.’ Emmy nominee and master harp guitarist John Doan highlights Dec. 9 event. Page 6
Inside
November 29, 2012
northcoastcitizen.com • 75¢
Manzanita looks to ‘de-water’ S. 3rd Street
Making Spirits Bright!
City looks to solve storm line problem before a major catastrophe happens
Holiday season officially gets underway in Manzanita
By Dave Fisher The Citizen
High on the priority list of the Manzanita City Council for the past several years, the 3rd Street project, which entails replacing the failing storm drainage line and water line, installing a surface storm drainage system, and repaving the street will get underway after the first of the year.
With Santa doing the honors, the tree in the parking lot of Kamali/Sotheby Realty was officially lit the day after Thanksgiving kicking off the holiday season in Manzanita. The fair skies that prevailed the previous day didn’t stick around long, but it didn’t dampen the spirits of those gathered for the tree lighting ceremony, who then quickly made their way to the Pine Grove Community Center to get out of the rain. While children and parents lined up to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus and make the most of the photo opportunity, others checked out the holiday bazaar that featured local artisans and merchants. Photo by Dave Fisher
See THIRD STREET, page 7
More HOLIDAY SEASON PHOTOS, page 2 Jerry Taylor
‘SCROOGE’ WORTH THE DRIVE
NKN senior Willa Childress writes about her role in the play Page 9
Index Classifieds.................. 8 Events calendar.......... 6 NBFR District Log....... 6 Public Safety Log........ 6 Golightly Gourmet....... 5 Letters to the Editor.... 4
With one storm down, what’s in-store the rest of the winter? Mother Nature cuts loose on the Oregon coast the weekend prior to Thanksgiving By Dave Fisher The Citizen
Though it didn’t pack the punch of more memorable storms, such as the ones in Feb. 1996 or Dec. 2007, the storm that preceded Thanksgiving this year certainly caught the attention of coastal residents and visitors to the area. With the first major storm of the season behind us, what’s in store for the rest of winter? “Earlier the ocean models were showing this would be an El Nino year but current indications, as well as the models, now suggest this winter season we will see neutral conditions,” said Gordon McCraw, Tillamook County Emergency Management Director. “Normally, under these conditions, we would see average temperatures, although some forecasters are thinking we might be slightly warmer than average.” As for precipitation, McCraw notes, we are usually slightly drier than usual in neutral conditions but we do see a slightly higher
Old Glory took a beating outside the Hoffman Center during the recent storm, as did fences, trees and awnings. Hoffman Center President Dave Dillon took this photo of the flag and submitted it to the Citizen, adding that it had been retired with a new untattered flag taking its place. frequency of moderate lowlevel snow events, with lower amounts at the coast because of the proximity to the water. The idea of slightly drier
weather might be considered music to one’s ears considering Mother Nature dumped a reported 7.75-inches of rain on Nehalem during a
48-hour period, beginning Sunday, Nov. 18. Manzanita Public Works reported a 24-hour amount of 4.5 inches during the height of
the storm. Accompanying the rain were high winds, with some of the gusts along portions of the coast described as “hurricane strength.” A 98-mph wind gust was recorded at Yaquina Head near Newport, while, in Tillamook County, Garibaldi saw a peak gust of 84 mph, Cape Meares – 68 mph, and Rockaway Beach – 70 mph. In a weather-related incident, a hunter was killed when a tree fell on the tent he was sleeping in. Emergency responders found the body of Nathan Christensen, 52, of Seattle, in a tent along God’s Valley Road, off Hwy 53, at around 7 a.m., Monday, Nov. 19. Responding firefighters said the forest was so thick that they had to cut their way into and out of the emergency scene. Two hunters in an adjacent camp heard the tree snap and saw it lying across the tent. In an attempt to rescue Christensen, they cut the tree away, but could not save him, according to Perry Sherbaugh, Nehalem Bay Fire & Rescue chief. Sherbaugh said the other hunters in the man’s party had left as the storm
See STORM, page 9
NKN Middle School instructor honored as ‘Teacher of the Year’ By Dave Fisher The Citizen
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It should come as no surprise that Neah-KahNie Middle School teacher Cynthia Grelck was recently named the Oregon Small Schools Association Teacher of the Year for the 2012-13 school year. After all, teaching runs in her family. That said, Grelck says she was “shocked” when she received the honor earlier in November. “I was really honored. It’s quite an accomplishment, but mostly, I was shocked,” says the 7th and 8th grade math instructor. Grelck, who has taught for 22 years, made her way to the Neah-Kah-Nie School District after a nine-year stint as an elementary teacher at Detroit Lake. For Grelck, it was like coming home.
“My grandma was a teacher at Bay City and Nehalem, and my grandfather was a principal at Garibaldi. I grew up in Warrenton and just wanted to get back closer to my roots,” she said. “My mother taught at Warrenton for 30 plus years and my sister also teaches. I was exposed to the profession at a very young age, helping my mom, and knew early on I wanted to be a teacher.” Nominated by district officials in September, Grelck attended the breakfast awards ceremony in jeans and a sweatshirt, not anticipating she was going to be the recipient of this year’s award. For her, it was an honor just to be nominated. “Cynthia is humble to a fault and was completely
Cynthia Grelck, a math instructor at Neah-Kah-Nie Middle School, has been named the Oregon Small Schools See TEACHER, page 6 Association Teacher of the Year for 2012-13.