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LOCAL 4-H MEMBER TRAVELS TO JAPAN LAST SUMMER, PAGE A6
Headlight Herald SPEECH AND DEBATE TEAM TAKES TOP HONORS , PAGE A11
TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM • NOVEMBER 20, 2013
Fair Board getting a facelift Three original members and four new ones will oversee duties of the fairgrounds By Sayde Moser
smoser@countrymedia.net
The board of directors that oversees the Tillamook County Fair has been reorganized by the county commissioners. Of the board’s original five members, three will remain on what is now a seven-member board. Officially appointed Nov. 17 were original board members Rita Hogan, Don Averill and Jack DeSwart. They’ll be joined by new directors Camy VonSeggem, Kelley Downing, Robert Larson and Joanna Stelzig. Fair board president Hogan thanked past members Doug Doyle and Nick Steiner. “We really appreciate their hard work and commitment, and we’re going to miss them,” said Hogan. Steiner, who had served six years on the board, reapplied for a position but told commissioners in his interview that he wouldn’t continue to serve with the three original members who were renamed to the board. “I enjoyed what I accomplished with the fair,” he said. “I believe I performed ethically but it was too much of an uphill battle to continue.” “We interviewed something like 20 candidates,”
See BOARD, Page A7
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VOL. 124, NO. 47 $1.00
LONGEST-RUNNING BUSINESS IN TILLAMOOK COUNTY • SINCE 1888
Community rallies around injured surfer By Chelsea Yarnell sports@orcoastnews.com
Andre Lorincz had traveled north to Seaside on Nov. 9 for just another day of catching waves. Instead, a rogue wave knocked him unconscious, slamming him against the rocks. Lorincz, a Spanish language teacher at NeahKah-Nie High School in Rockaway Beach, was rescued by a helicopter crew from Air Station Astoria and airlifted by Life Flight to Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland. There, it was determined he had a broken scapula, two
broken ribs, three broken vertebrae, a collapsed lung, water in his lungs, a concussion and hypothermia. “The efforts of our aircrew, combined with the efforts of Seaside Fire and Rescue and Life Flight crew members, enabled the victim to receive the medical treatment he needed at OHSU,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. David McCown, the Jayhawk aircraft commander. Lorincz recently underwent surgery to fuse his spine. That procedure was considered successful and free of complications. He’s expected to make a full recovery within six months.
Courtesy photo
Andre Lorincz poses with his surfboard four months ago. Lorincz recently suffered three broken vertebrae, a collapsed lung, a concussion and other injuries after a Nov. 9 surfing accident in Seaside. He has been recovering at Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland.
“They want him trying to walk right away,” said Mark Lorincz, Andre’s brother. “It’s going to be a
long process for him, getting back his strength. And it’s [been] quite painful the first week, trying to walk again, because of the pressure on
Who protects Netarts Bay?
the spine.” The Lorincz family has created several opportunities for the community to support them during Andre’s recovery, including a meal train calendar at mealtrain. com. Those interested in making meals can sign up on the website. All of the meals can be delivered to Cloud & Leaf Bookstore in Manzanita. Mark Lorincz hopes to partner with the local surfing community soon to create other fundraising opportunities to help shoulder the medical costs for his brother.
See SURFER, Page A9
Barview discusses water solution with Garibaldi By Joe Wrabek
jwrabek@countrymedia.net
Photo by Mike Towers
Netarts Bay is home to 21 oyster plats issued by the Oregon Department of Agriculture. It’s also a favorite spot for clamming enthusiasts. But when it comes to monitoring the health of the estuary, that duty falls to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife – which currently doesn’t regulate the number of oyster plats or their impact on the bay.
Local couple is concerned about the estuary and whether its oysters are being over-farmed By Sayde Moser
smoser@countrymedia.net
John and Jan Stahl sit at the kitchen table in their home off Whiskey Creek Road. The couple built the house in central Tillamook County more than 30 years ago. Its windows offer nearly unobstructed views of a serene Netarts Bay. The two have been watching the bay for three decades. Now, they’re concerned about the estuary’s future. John Stahl flips through binders he keeps close at hand that detail the different oyster plats active on Netarts Bay. Currently, there are 21. Stahl is worried that no one is determining precisely how many plats is too many. In the 1980s, Stahl actually applied for a plat, and was denied. Back then, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife told him they were saving the estuary for the black brant, a species of smaller goose that often breeds in Alaska and migrates along the Pacific
Coast, including Netarts Bay, in the wintertime. Since then, the Oregon Department of Agriculture has assumed responsibility for issuing oyster plats after the state Legislature deemed oyster harvesting an agricultural issue, not a wildlife one. In that time, said an alarmed Stahl, the number of plats on the bay has increased exponentially. For one thing, he said, the leased plats act as private land and thus restrict the general public from enjoying them. “Is that what we should be doing with public land?” he wonders. “These oyster plats make portions of the bay virtually inaccessible to people.” And access to the bay is important, said Stahl, especially for those who enjoy clamming. “Thirty years ago, you could just pull your car off along the side of Whiskey Creek Road and walk out
See NETARTS BAY, Page A9
Photo by Sayde Moser
John Stahl flips through binders he keeps at his house that track the number of oyster plats that are active on Netarts Bay.
The board of directors of the small Watseco-Barview Water District plan to discuss a draft agreement Nov. 21 with the City of Garibaldi for constructing an “intertie” to supply Garibaldi drinking water to Watseco-Barview’s 200plus customers. The water district’s meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the office of the Twin Rocks Sanitary District in Barview. The intertie is required by a “bilateral compliance agreement” that WatsecoBarview signed with the Oregon Health Authority in July. In that agreement, the district acknowledged repeated failures of tests for total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) in its water supply, and the district committed to reducing TTHMs by getting its drinking water from the City of Garibaldi instead of the district’s own well. The Oregon Health Authority, which licenses water systems and their operators, requires quarterly tests for TTHMs in every public water system. Watseco-Barview had “elevated levels” of TTHMs in tests conducted in June and July of this year. Before that, TTHMs had been below the state’s “maximum contaminant level” in February 2013, but
See BARVIEW, Page A2
Rare seabird threatens timber sales in local forest By Sayde Moser
smoser@countrymedia.net
The marbled murrelet is a multi-colored seabird the size of a robin. It spends 70 percent of its time near the ocean, yet is known to fly up to 50 miles inland to lay a single egg each year – in old-growth forests. The bird has single handedly shut down more than 90 percent of the Elliot State Forest in Coos and Douglas counties, halting more than $17.5 million in timber sales. Why? Because Cascadia Wildlands, a grassroots conservation organization, suggested the Elliot timber sales were violating the nation’s Endangered Species Act, which has protected the marbled murrelet since 1992.
(The marbled murrelet is listed as “threatened,” which means it’s not endangered just yet but is expected to be within several years.) “The murrelet is dependent on being close to the ocean,” said Brett Ferris, executive director of Cascadia Wildlands. When it nests, the bird, whose population has been dwindling for years, requires older, mature trees with large branches, preferably covered with moss. When the state began harvesting an older portion of the forest where the marbled murrelets were known to nest, Cascadia Wildlands blew the whistle. “We were OK with their previous cutting regimen,” said Ferris. “We were particu-
Courtesy photo
The marbled murrelet, which nests in mature forests, is protected by the national Endagered Species Act. larly OK with the plantationmanagement strategies,” such
as thinning out some trees so others can grow bigger and
stronger. But then “the state took another tactic,” Ferris said. The federal courts agreed with Cascadia Wildlands that the planned harvest of 40 million board feet in the Elliot Forest would take too many marbled murrelet. (“Take” is defined as actions that kill, harm or injure protected species.) On the heels of that court decision, the Oregon Department of State Lands halted 26 timber sales in the Elliot Forest and two in the Tillamook State Forest. “Had they continued to harvest in a sustainable manner, they would have been allowed to do it for a lot longer,” Ferris
See FORESTS, Page A6