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VOL. 135, NO. 47 • $1.50
Burden’s driver cleared in tickets issued at crash scene WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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Burden’s Muffler and Towing employee was found not guilty on November 13, of two traffic violations issued while he was responding to a crash scene Dennis Wine, defense attorney for Tanner Billow, the Burden’s driver, said that the incident was part of a pattern of behavior by Officer David Martinez of the Tillamook Police of acting aggressively in roadside manners and questioned the city’s handling of the situation. “You’ve got your local police here, and your chief is out and they’re in disarray and they’re not taking care of business,” Wine said. “This guy needs to be monitored.” The crash and citations
Burden’s Muffler and Towing in downtown Tillamook where tow vehicles are kept after business hours and on weekends when not in use.
CAT enrolling participants for septic system replacement program WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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he Community Action Team is actively seeking Tillamook, Clatsop and Columbia County property owners whose septic systems are failing to participate in a $1.5 million, grant-funded, nointerest, no-payment replacement program. Casey Mitchell, who is overseeing the program for the Community Action Team (CAT), said that so far uptake has been slow, as property owners have been reticent to interact with team members for the project. Mitchell stressed that although the program is being undertaken in conjunction with the county governments, they and CAT are committed to helping homeowners and are not using the program as an enforcement tool to penalize failed or failing systems. CAT applied for the grant earlier this year in partnership with Tillamook County and received the $1.5-million award in June from state Coronavirus recovery funds, courtesy of the Department of Environmental Quality. The program offers homeowners in unincorporated parts of the three counties with septic system issues to apply for a loan to finance the repair or replacement of the system. Loans offered through the program come with a 30-year term, no interest and no payments due. They are available to people making 120% of the area’s median income or less, which comes out to around $60,000 for an individual and $75,000 for a family of three in Tillamook County. The loans are repaid when the
unprofessional, saying that Martinez’s behavior had drawn an emotional reaction. Martinez’s body camera was not recording at the time of the incident, so there was no way to confirm who became agitated first, but other first responders on the scene noticed that Martinez was in a heated argument with the driver of the pickup. An Oregon State Police (OSP) Trooper at the scene approached the truck and inserted himself in the conversation. After ascertaining who Billow was and his purpose at the scene, he told Martinez to go to his patrol car to cool down, which he did, and allowed Billow to progress. Billow proceeded to Burden’s lot, picked up a tow truck, returned to the scene, removed the two disabled vehicles and deposited them at Burden’s lot. Then, as he was leaving the lot to go home, Martinez, who had been parked in front of the Tillamook Farm Store, SEE CRASH SCENE PAGE A4
Simmons resigns as mayor of Manzanita WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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property sells, with the funds returning to the program’s coffers for reuse in future loans. If the property is not sold or refinanced for non-emergency purposes during the thirty-year period, the loan will be forgiven. Mitchell said that CAT has had great success with a similar loan program that offers the same terms to help residents repair roofs and siding and address other home maintenance issues. That program has been running for more than 30 years and Mitchell said that based on experience with it he expected that the septic loans could revolve three to four times before running out due to inflation and overhead and administrative costs. The $1.5 million is expected to fund an initial round of up to 109 system repairs and replacements across the three counties, though only 35 property owners have applied to date. Repairs financed so far have ranged from tank replacements costing several thousand dollars, to the installation of new drain fields for around $10,000, up to the installation of whitewater systems costing $25,000. Mitchell said that the goal of the septic tank program was to help owners with failing systems SEE CAT PAGE A4
The citations were issued on the afternoon of July 23, a Sunday, after Billow, a part-time tow truck driver for Burden’s, received a call
about a car accident at the intersection of Highway 101 and Wilson River Loop Road near the creamery. At the time, Billow was at home, north of the accident, and began driving south on Highway 101 towards Burden’s lot in downtown Tillamook to pick up a tow truck to respond to the scene Heading south, Billow hit a snarl of traffic at the base of Juno Hill and eased into the center turn lane, turning on his emergency flashers, to pass through the jam more quickly. As Billow approached the scene of the collision, Martinez, who was directing traffic, signaled for him to stop, which he did. At that point, the situation quickly became heated. According to Billow, Martinez approached his truck in an aggressive manner and began speaking to him in a raised voice, demanding to know what he was doing. Billow said in court that he explained to Martinez why he was there but acknowledged that his response had been
ayor Deb Simmons of Manzanita resigned from her post, submitting a letter of resignation that went into effect immediately on November 13. The decision follows questions surrounding the mayor’s residency, that drew concern from the community and members of the city council, who scheduled an executive session to discuss the issue at their November meeting. Simmons was elected in November 2022, to replace the retiring Mike Scott after running unopposed for the position and her term was marked from the beginning by controversy. At her first meeting in January of this year, Simmons angered other councilors by rejecting a search committee’s nominees for Manzanita’s planning commission, saying that she did not agree with their recommendations after reviewing the candidates. Simmons also said that she had misgivings about the search process after discussing it with the mayors of other cities. Simmons appointed different candidates than those recommended at the February meeting, leading Councilor Jerry Spegman and then-Councilor Jenna Edginton to question her handling of the matter. Edginton said that the search process had been designed by the previous council to prevent the appearance of mayoral cronyism and Simmons’s rejection of it
had concerned members of the community. Spegman questioned Simmons’s reliance on outside mayors rather than discussions with her predecessor and both bemoaned the embarrassment caused and time wasted by applicants and search committee members. Controversy again flared in May, when a group of citizens filed public records requests for the mayor’s emails, revealing what they viewed as inappropriate correspondence with Manzanita resident Randy Kugler. Kugler served as Manzanita’s city manager between 1989 and 1996 before later retiring to the community and losing in a 2020 campaign for city council. In the emails, Simmons repeatedly sought Kugler’s guidance on city issues and thanked him for coaching her. More than 20 residents signed a letter protesting the contents of the emails, saying that they did not agree with Kugler’s antagonistic stance towards City Manager Leila Aman and calling him an “obsessive faultfinder.” They asked Simmons to sever her relationship with Kugler and work to bring people together and protect city employees, rather than pursue a strategy of divisiveness and allow what they characterized as the continued harassment of employees by Kugler. Simmons responded angrily to the letter after it was read into the public record at the council’s May meeting, saying that she was concerned at being asked to end a friendship. She said that she had never expected to be told who to
communicate with as an adult and argued that disagreements were a part of democracy. Simmons drew the ire of her fellow councilors again in June, when she submitted a letter to the editor to the Tillamook County Pioneer criticizing the city’s proposed budget that was up for consideration that month. Simmons questioned the city’s overhead funding model, which sees water revenues contribute a portion of the city’s budget, and took issue with past councils’ decision not to raise water rates or complete capital projects. Budget committee members and Spegman, Edginton and City Councilor Linda Kozlowski took exception to Simmons raising policy concerns in the budgeting process that should have been addressed by council. Councilors also noted that Aman had been working to address many of the complaints raised by Simmons. Kozlowski read a statement saying that the publication of the editorial without consulting the council breached the city’s charter and that she was deeply disappointed with the situation. All three said that they felt the incident was another indicator of Simmons’s failure to form good working relationships with her fellow councilors and beseeched her to change that pattern. Controversy erupted for a final time at the council’s November meeting, when Councilor Jerry SEE SIMMONS PAGE A4
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