FARM TO FORK
ULTIMOOK RACE A WET AND MUDDY CHALLENGE, A11
PLUS: FALL H.S. SPORTS PREVIEW, INSIDE
MEET ‘MORE THAN A CRACKER,’ B1
Headlight Herald TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM • SEPTEMBER 12, 2012
Roads issue to return in May
LONGEST RUNNING BUSINESS IN TILLAMOOK COUNTY • SINCE 1888
A Patriot Remembered
JOE WRABEK/HEADLIGHT HERALD
From left, former TBCC president Jon Carnahan, current TBCC president Connie Green, Nestucca Valley Superintendent Kathryn Hedrick and Nestucca Jr./Sr. High Principal Randy Wharton at the opening of TBCC South.
HEADLIGHT HERALD Staff Report
The issue of funding Tillamook County’s roads is tentatively scheduled to come before voters again in May 2013, according to a statement from the Sustainable Roads Committee Chair, Jon Carnahan. Carnahan, the recently retired president of Tillamook Bay Community College, has volunteered to lead an effort and committee to “bring forward a recommendation to the residents of Tillamook County” – most likely some form of bond measure to pay to maintain the county’s deteriorating roads. Last November, 52.8 percent of voters defeated a $15 million bond measure that would have gone to repair county roads.
See ROADS, Page A8
INDEX Classified Ads .........................B6 Crossword Puzzle....................B3 Fenceposts ..............................B4 Obituaries................................A6 Opinions..................................A4 Sports......................................A9 Tides .....................................A10
WEATHER SEPT 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
HIGH 70 70 84 63 59 73 69
STATS LOW 53 54 53 55 55 53 43
RAINFALL .00 .00 .00 .00 .20 .04 --
WEATHER COURTESY OF WEATHER UNDERGROUND
1908 2nd St. 503-842-7535 www.TillamookHeadlightHerald.com
Vol. 123, No. 37 75 cents
(Bottom left) Ed “Santa” Holterman, who was with James Burnett when he was killed, addresses the crowd, which includes Burnett’s sister, Amy Burnett Arasmith (wearing Oregon State) and Lynn Vaughn, who is holding Burnett’s ashes. More color photos inside of Page A2 and online at facebook.com/tillamookheadlightherald.
TBCC opens South Campus BY JOE WRABEK
Patriot Guard rides in memory of Jim Burnett BY JOE WRABEK jwrabek@countrymedia.net
ROCKAWAY BEACH – An estimated 65 leather-clad, motorcycle-riding veterans assembled Saturday afternoon Sept. 8 at the former Hayward’s auto sales lot in Tillamook, for a flagcarrying memorial procession first to Rockaway, then Manzanita. They’re the Patriot Guard Riders, (PGR), and they were there to honor one of their own. 70-year-old Jim Burnett was headed to Manzanita from Portland for a “mission” (flag line at a soldier’s funeral) when he was struck broadside by a car exiting a side road (Minnehaha) and killed June 22. “This is not a PGR mission,” district captain Dennis Reynolds of Nehalem had told the riders. Normally, on Patriot Guard Riders’ “missions” they provide a flag line at a fallen soldier’s or veteran’s funeral. In this case, Burnett, a ride captain for the organization, had been en route to such a mission in Manzanita when he was killed. The participants in the Jim Burnett Memorial Ride came from all over the Portland area and southwest Washington, Reynolds said. The Patriot Guard Riders were
A memorial for Jim Burnett.
formed in 2005, Reynolds said, in response to “the wackos” from Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas picketing military funerals. “We’re not a counter-protest,” he said. “We’re there to shield the families from those people.” Still, “if they [the picketers] dried up and blew away, we’d still do this,” Reynolds said. “It feels good to honor people who have served the nation.” The Patriot Guard Riders now have about 250,000 members nationwide. Law enforcement officers from the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police led and trailed the procession to the accident site at Min-
nehaha and U.S. 101, while Tillamook City Police blocked traffic at signaled intersections. They were met at the accident site by volunteers from Rockaway Beach Fire & Rescue, who came in two fire trucks to honor Burnett. A stone marker and landscaping on the edge of the intersection marks where Burnett was killed. With Riders displaying American flags, firefighters, police and other attendees listened to brief remarks from Ed “Santa” Holterman, who was accompanying Burnett to Manzanita the day Burnett was killed, and John Elms, chaplain for the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office. Following the invocations, two cans of Coors beer — “Those beers traveled 3,000 miles to get here,” Reynolds said — were metered out in thimble-sized shot glasses so the attendees could drink a toast to Jim. The procession, again accompanied by law enforcement, then traveled north, to ceremonies at Calvary Bible Church in Manzanita and a barbecue at Nehalem Bay State Park. Jim’s ashes, in a brightly-decorated urn, were displayed at the memorial site, and then taken to the church in Manzanita. “Jim,” Holterman said, “is going to finish his ride.”
Another art cow forced to move BY MARY FAITH BELL mfbell@countrymedia.net
HEBO – The Hebo cow is being evicted from its current location on Hwy. 101 where it marks the entrance to the new fire station and the Cedar Creek Childcare Center. The cow is in conflict with the fire department’s insurance policy, according to Fire Chief Kris Weiland. “Our insurance company is calling the cow sculpture an “attractive nuisance,” said Weiland. The risk, according to Weiland is that children climbing on the cow sculpture could fall and hurt themselves. “It’s bolted to a concrete base,” he said. The Hebo cow is the product of a public art project that resulted in three cow sculptures built by artists and painted by local students. The sculptures were erected in north, central and south Tillamook County.
See COW, Page A8
MARY FAITH BELL/HEADLIGHT HERALD
This cow sculpture is being removed from Nestucca Fire Department property because it could be an ‘attractive nuisance’ for children to climb on. Oddly enough, it’s being moved to the Cedar Creek Childcare Center.
jwrabek@countrymedia.net
CLOVERDALE – Monday, Sept. 10 was the grand opening and dedication of Tillamook Bay Community College’s “TBCC South” building on the grounds of Nestucca Valley High School. The money to build the facility was part of the bond issue approved by voters. “It was in the ballot title,” TBCC President Connie Green said. “Technology centers in North and South County. It was part of the plan from the very beginning.” Green’s predecessor as TBCC President, Jon Carnahan, stayed on as head of the TBCC Foundation to see construction of TBCC South to its completion, Green said. The 2,763 sq.ft. building sits on what used to be one of the two tennis courts adjacent to Nestucca Valley High School. (The other tennis court is still intact and in use.) A modular building — though it doesn’t look it — the facility was erected in just four months. Landscaping was provided by kids from the Oregon Youth Authority, with direction (and plants) from the Tillamook Master Gardeners. Some of the OYA-ers were on hand for the open house and dedication, along with TBCC and Nestucca board members and personnel, and folks from the surrounding community. The dedication ceremony was moved outside to the building’s front porch and parking lot, to take advantage of the sunshine and warm temperatures. TBCC Board chairman Craig Wakefield, TBCC President Connie Green, Nestucca principal Randy Wharton and Nestucca superintendent Kathryn Hedrick all expressed profuse thanks for voter approval of the bond issue that made construction and outfitting of the building possible. “We said we’d bring educational opportunities to north, south, and central county,” Wakefield told the crowd.
See TBCC, Page A8