Headlight Herald
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2023
VOL. 135, NO. 48 • $1.50
TILLAMOOK, OREGON • WWW.TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM
USACE preparing for south jetty repair WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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The view of the south jetty from the grassy area where stones will be weighed and stationed before their final transport and installation on the jetty.
embers of the United States Army Corps of Engineers are preparing to offer technical assistance during the twoyear, $52.7-million repair of Tillamook Bay’s south jetty by Trade West Construction Company. Project Manager Matt Craig and Project Engineer Colter Bennett recently gave the Headlight Herald an exclusive tour of the project site and discussed the project and its impacts on recreation at Bayocean Peninsula Park. Craig and Bennett said that the purpose of the repair project is to reinforce the root section of the jetty near the shore and repair around 490 feet at the jetty’s end, which will include the addition of a new 150-foot head. They said that the project’s goal is to restore the jetty’s functionality and that it will not have a significant impact on the navigability of the bar, stressing that those improvements could only be accomplished by dredging. The repair project is being funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was passed SEE SOUTH JETTY PAGE A2
THS Alumni Fund Olson talks commissionership, supports graduates life, county fairs WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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or more than three decades the Tillamook High School Alumni Scholarship Fund has supported graduates of Tillamook High as they pursue higher education. The current board overseeing the program is growing long in the tooth and is actively seeking younger graduates to ensure the fund’s continued success. “It’s a great, great thing and it’s an opportunity for me that I like it because I grew up here, born and raised, and this community gave me so much as a child,” said board member Bob Miles. The scholarship fund handed out its first award of $500 in 1992 and has awarded over $250,000 to more than 120 students in its history. The fund was founded by members of the classes of 1941, 1942 and 1943 who were having a combined 50th reunion that year and wanted to choose a way to collectively give back to Tillamook High School students. The group pondered the idea of a plaque at the high school but then “somebody came up with the idea, ‘well, why don’t we give the kids a scholarship,’” said board member Debbi Reeves. The scholarship fund was started with donations from that reunion and has continued to receive money from reunion donations throughout its existence. The fund does not host any fundraisers or other events, only raising money through contributions, with particular support coming from the estates of THS graduates. In its early years, the scholarship was awarded to one or two graduates who were bound for a four-year university in Oregon, but over the years both its scope and inclusivity have expanded.
Today, the scholarship is awarded to six or seven people annually, and can be used by students in four-year universities, community colleges or trade schools. “Our criteria were a lot more tight and then as the years progressed, we progressed,” Reeves said, “because we wanted to include more of the students that were trying to get out there and get a job.” The $3,000 scholarship is available to graduating seniors as well as anybody who graduated from Tillamook High School in past years and wants to return to school. Current students are required to have a 3.0 GPA at THS, and the selection process focuses on giving needy students who might not otherwise receive scholarships support to be able to pursue their educational goals. “It’s those kids that are just down, just a little below the valedictorian and salutatorian, that they’re the ones that really need a little bit of extra help,” said Reeves. “So that need is where we go back to each time.” Applications are due in December and scholarship recipients are selected by a search committee during the spring of their senior year or preceding their enrollment in secondary education. Students must maintain a 2.5 GPA in their first semester at their new school to remain eligible for scholarship funds, which are SEE THS ALUMNI FUND PAGE A9
WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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oug Olson was selected in October by Tillamook County Commissioners Mary Faith Bell and Erin Skaar to complete the final year of Commissioner David Yamamoto’s term following his retirement at the end of this year. Olson recently sat down with the Headlight Herald to discuss his background, philosophy as an appointed commissioner and plans for after his tenure, among other subjects. Olson said that he will not bring an agenda to the office and instead rely on his judgment to address issues that come up. “I don’t have an agenda that says I’m going to introduce this or I want to do that, I want to change this or modify that, I don’t have that,” Olson said. “I will deal with whatever comes along and use my background and experience to say, ‘well, this sounds great to me,’ or, ‘have you thought about this?’ or, ‘this doesn’t make sense to me.’” Olson brings a breadth of experience to the position after a long life working in both the private and public sector, owning small businesses and volunteering and winning election to the boards of numerous charitable and civic organizations across the county. Olson was born in Hood River, and experienced a childhood beset by difficulties, with his father dying when Olson was four and his mother passing when he was 11. His grandparents took him
in for several years before their own infirmity forced them into an assisted living when he was a sophomore in high school. Three different families in the Mormon community took him in for a year apiece during his final high school
years. “That’s probably why I’m so darned independent, I’ve quite literally been on my own for a very long time,” Olson said. After graduating high school, SEE OLSON PAGE A9
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