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INSIDE
Newport man finishes a cross-country journey after cancer diagnosis PAGE A8
SPORTS
Tillamook boys basketball pulls out a 56-53 win against Newsport PAGE A10
Headlight Herald WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2014
TILLAMOOK, OREGON • WWW.TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM
VOL. 125, NO. 2 • $1.00
“They’re not mindless killer machines. They’re not weaponized or anything.” Tim Lachenmeier, Near Space Corporation president
Photo by Joe Wrabek
The Ebel barge is relocating to a boat landing in Bay City, where the family will have to dismantle it.
Barge gets space – to dismantle By Joe Wrabek jwrabek@countrymedia.net
The Port of Garibaldi has offered the Ebel family the use of an unimproved boat landing in Bay City so the family can remove its barge from Tillamook Bay. In a Jan. 3 letter to the Ebels, port manager Kevin Greenwood authorized the use of the landing for up to 30 days. That time is to be used for dismantling the barge, Greenwood said. The barge, intended for missionary work in Alaska, was being built at the Old Mill Marina in Garibaldi before it was forced to move across the bay to Crab Harbor. Since then, the Ebels and their 10 children have had an increasingly difficult time finding a place to dock their barge so they can complete its construction. Regardless, once built, the 40-foot by 80-foot vessel likely wouldn’t be seaworthy enough to cross the bar, the Headlight Herald was told. On top of that, local and state authorities have said the craft can’t remain at the Port of Garibaldi or Crab Harbor. Bay City’s small boat launch, located near Pacific Oyster, “isn’t used much this time of year,” Greenwood said. Whitey Forsman of PaSee BARGE, Page A3
INDEX
Tillamook business selected to help test unmanned aircraft By Sayde Moser smoser@countrymedia.net Near Space Corporation in Tillamook is included among the six teams selected nationwide to test
unmanned aerial systems – often nicknamed “drones” – for the Federal Aviation Administration. It’s a three-year research project that began just this month, said Eric Simpkins, Near Space’s manager of
business development. The six teams were selected from 25 applicants. In the Pacific Northwest region, Alaska, Oregon and Hawaii are representing the only multistate team, with the Univer-
Remnants of Holes on Neahkanie Mountain serve as a cautionary tale for hikers
Photos by Natasha Lackey
Classified Ads....................... B5-8 Crossword Puzzle.................... A9 Fenceposts........................... B3-4 Letters...................................... A4 Obituaries................................ A6 Opinions.................................. A4 Sports............................... A10-12
LONGEST-RUNNING BUSINESS IN TILLAMOOK COUNTY SINCE 1888
See TESTING, Page A3
Is flu season worse this year? By Sayde Moser smoser@countrymedia.net
Anita Leathers of Scappoose recently was out hiking with family members and their dog on Neahkahnie Mountain, just north of Manzanita, enjoying picture-perfect views of Oregon’s north coast on a beautiful weekend morning. Then, as their four-legged friend romped through the greenery, he somehow found himself in a hole – 15 feet down. Fellow hiker Drew Mott volunteered to rappel down the hole to retrieve the dog. But when he did so, he thought he found more than just the family pet. Mott believed he had discovered some bones in that hole. Investigating not long after, Tillamook County Sheriff Andy Long and Deputy Landon Myers “put a camera down the hole and couldn’t see any bones,” Long told the Headlight Herald, “just rotting material and standing water.” That said, the hole “had been there a long time,” Long noted. It likely had been dug by treasure hunters looking for Spanish gold supposedly buried somewhere on the mountain, said Gary Albright, executive director of the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum. “That whole area is full of
Oregon health officials said they’ve seen a high number of flu cases this year. Yet, “There’s nothing really unusual in having influenza in the community,” said Joellyn English, a public health nurse with the Tillamook County Health Department. She said flu is not widespread in Tillamook County, although there have been patients INSIDE testing positive for Influenza influenza at the Tilupdate from lamook Regional local doctor Medical Center. Page A4 “No other clinics in the county have reported any positive cases of the flu,” said English, “so it seems it was isolated to central Tillamook. “It just feels like a lot in a small community like this when a number of people become ill all within a span of a few days.” What was unusual, said English, was how early in the flu season the virus appeared. “Usually, flu season peaks from January to March, so to see activity like that in December was a little odd,” she said. During the last two weeks of December, the local hospital reportedly screened 154 patients who exhibited respiratory symptoms of influenza. Of those, four were confirmed by the State of Oregon laboratory as h1n1, the type of virus circulating elsewhere in Oregon. English said a flu shot is “not a foolproof vaccine,” but “it’s our best defense against becoming ill if you are exposed.” Since flu season is far from over,
See HOLES, Page A3
See FLU, Page A3
By Joe Wrabek jwrabek@countrymedia.net
Photographer Natasha Lackey’s dogs, Emily and Lilly, enjoy serene views of the Pacific Ocean from atop Neahkahnie Mountain north of Manzanita. The three love to hike the mountain together, although a recent accident reminds hikers of the treacherous holes that riddle the side of the mountain.
sity of Alaska spearheading those efforts. The Northwest team includes 13 different test sites, three of them in
Tillamook’s denial of PUD transmission line upheld by state By Joe Wrabek jwrabek@countrymedia.net The City of Tillamook’s denial of a conditional-use permit for the Tillamook PUD’s proposed overhead transmission line along Front Street has been upheld by the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). LUBA’s “final opinion and order” was issued Jan. 3. Neither the city nor the PUD had received copies of the decision by the morning of Jan. 6. The Headlight Herald obtained the document by email and provided copies to officials of the city and the PUD. LUBA’s decision followed oral arguments in Salem on Dec. 5 by attorney Tommy Brooks, representing the PUD; and attorney Greg Hathaway, representing “intervenors” Don Aufdermauer, Dennis Johnson and the Tillamook County Creamery Association – three landowners along the route of the proposed transmission line. The City of Tillamook did not appear at the LUBA hearing.
The Tillamook PUD’s proposed new overhead transmission line to Oceanside is roughly 7 miles long. At issue has been 1.1 miles of the line that would be within Tillamook’s city limits. Much of the route proposed to utilize an unused railroad right-of-way owned by the Port of Tillamook Bay. But several blocks would be along Front Street, through an industrial area adjacent to downtown. The corridor for the proposed transmission line was 100 feet wide. The PUD had said it would acquire easements for the transmission line, but Tillamook’s city zoning ordinance still required its approval as a conditional use. The conditional use for the transmission line originally was approved in January by the city’s planning commission. But on Jan. 18, that decision was appealed before the City Council by Aufdermauer and Johnson. The City Council subsequently overruled its planning commission following a heavily attended hearing Mar. 5. That decision became official when
signed in April by Mayor Suzanne Weber in April. The PUD’s board of directors in April voted to appeal the council’s denial to LUBA, which heard oral arguments Dec. 5 in Salem. The PUD argued that the Tillamook City Council’s denial of the conditional-use permit, which overruled the planning commission’s decision, was based on an issue – adverse impact on landowners – that had not been raised during the planning commission’s hearing. The PUD also claimed that the council had found no evidence that existing uses in the proposed transmission line corridor couldn’t remain, or that new structures couldn’t be built in the future. LUBA rejected both claims. “We obviously haven’t had a chance to review [the decision],” PUD public affairs director Barbara Johnson said the afternoon of Jan. 6. She said the PUD’s board will hold an executive session with its attorney prior to the PUD’s regular meeting Jan 14 to “look at our options for the future.”
File photo
In this 2011 photo, James Aman (left), distribution engineering supervisor for the Tillamook PUD, and City Manager Paul Wyntergreen view a proposed route for a new transmission line from Tillamook to Oceanside.