VOL. 47, ISSUE 14 by DEB ATIYEH
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veryone loves a parade and that was so true on the 4th of July in Cannon Beach this year. The streets came alive with people dressed in red, white and blue clothes, hats, jewelry, scarves and shoes to match. Some even dressed their pets in patriotic colors for the occasion. There was a sense of pure happiness as crowds of people lined the parade route in Cannon Beach waving flags, blowing bubbles, smiling, laughing, cheering, waving, clapping and jumping up and down with their balloons and flags. Families joined together in anticipation waiting for the wonderful and the unexpected. It seemed like everyone was a part of the parade. It was a special moment this year with 49 entries and one of the largest crowds ever. People came with their loved ones to experience fun, laughter, play and imagination with an exuberant sense of pleasure and pure joy.
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Cannon Beach Comes Alive to Celebrate the 4th of July
Photos by DEB & BOB ATIYEH
One Day in Cannon Beach By PETER LINDSEY
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The History of the Oregon Beach Bill By BOB ATIYEH “No local selfish interest should be permitted, through politics or otherwise, to destroy or even impair this great birthright of our people.” Oregon Governor Oswald West, 1913
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regon’s public beaches are sacrosanct bastions of egalitarianism; a place where social or economic status matters not at all. The vast ocean, wide sandy beaches and open sky are the great equalizers; it doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, rich or poor, what language you speak, what god you pray to (or don’t) the color of your skin, sexual orientation or political beliefs; the beaches are free and open to everyone. But it all could have turned out much differently in the early summer of 1967, when the public’s right to use the dry sand areas of Oregon’s
beaches hung by a thread during a bitter political fight; becoming the hottest issue of the 1967 Oregon legislative session. Signed into law by Governor Tom McCall 56 years ago on July 6th, 1967, this is the story of how the Oregon Legislature decided the fate of the Oregon “Beach Bill”. But first we need to go back 110 years to early 1913, when a young Oregon governor named Oswald West, fearful of land speculators despoiling the pristine Oregon coast, convinced the Oregon legislature to designate Oregon’s beaches a public highway, from the Columbia River to the California border, from the low tide line to the high tide line. Generations of Oregonians considered Oregon’s public beaches as their birthright and recreational playground, and in 1947 the Oregon legislature changed the wording of Oswald West’s law from public “highway” to “recreation area”. For over half a
century, Oregonians considered all areas of the beaches open for their use. But the flaw in West’s bill was that it didn’t mention the dry sand areas, and by 1967, over 110 miles of the dry sand areas of Oregon’s beaches were in the hands of private owners, who held title to the land and paid taxes on it. In the summer of 1966, Portland real estate broker Bill Hay, owner of the Surfsand hotel in mid-town Cannon Beach, decided to fence off the dry sand area in front of his hotel, putting up signs saying “Surfsand Guests Only Please!”. The fence prevented anyone from walking along the beach north or south of the Surfsand during high tide. An outraged citizen named Larry Bitte wrote to thenSecretary of State Tom McCall asking if this was legal. McCall turned it over to the State Highway Commission headed by Glen Jackson. After lawyers discovered the flaw in West’s bill and with Jackson realizing the issue
was beyond his authority, the State Highway Commission sent a proposal to the Oregon Legislature with a recommendation to allow public recreational use of the dry sand areas of the beach based on the concept of Common Law, since the public had used these areas for generations. House Bill 1601 (HB 1601) later known as the “Beach Bill”, was born. The summary of HB 1601 “recognizes the public rights to easements in shore lands.... between the vegetation line and ordinary high tide line. Designates such lands as public recreation areas and directs State Highway Commission to protect and preserve such areas.” But this obscure bill soon turned into a divisive political battle. Grants Pass State Representative Sid Bazett, Chairman of the House Highway Committee which was holding hearings on HB 1601, supported the bill, but lacked the votes in his committee to move it to the floor
of the Oregon House for a vote. During early hearings, the only people testifying before the Highway Committee were coastal developers and motel owners. Some conservative Republican committee members viewed the bill as a property rights issue and wanted to either kill it or amend it, with their proposed amendments being even more restrictive of public access to Oregon’s beaches. House Bill 1601 remained stalled in committee, with most Oregonians blissfully unaware of the bill or what was at stake. State Treasurer Bob Straub, a strong supporter of the bill, testified before the Highway Committee stating that “the tone and the temper of the objective of the amendments is to shrink the public interest on the beach and to enlarge the private interest. It think that these amendments if adopted would be a real sellout of the public’s right to enjoyment of the beach and SEE BEACH BILL PAGE A6
ne day in May of 1967, Australian Tony Knight, head surf lifeguard in Cannon Beach, and I surveyed the surf and shoreline from the lifeguard tower situated at the foot of Cannon Beach’s Ecola Ramp. I had been hired as a beach lifeguard for the summer during my hiatus from teaching duties at Seaside High School. Just to the north of us, the recently constructed Surfsand hotel perched on the ocean embankment above the sand. Below the resort, the owner, a Mr. Bill Hay, had commissioned construction workers to construct a de facto beach lounging area for the resort’s guests. Large posts defined the area. Cabana boys placed windbreaks and lounge chairs in the semi-enclosed beach each morning. During the day, they also provided the guests with refreshments. Suddenly, as Tony and I observed the coastline, the thrashing of rotor blades signaled the arrival of a small commercial helicopter which promptly set down on the wet beach sand. The pilot and a tall, imposing, fashionably dressed gentleman exited the aircraft, followed by a coterie of men with cameras and notebooks. They proceeded to Hay’s resort enclosure and examined it. In the days that followed, newspaper photos revealed the gentleman who visited Cannon Beach that day to have been Oregon Governor Tom McCall. As a consequence of his visit, the Oregon Beach Bill was passed, guaranteeing public access to the dry sand areas of Oregon’s beaches. (Cannon Beach resident Peter Lindsey is the author of “Comin’ In Over The Rock” and “Just Movin’ the Water Around”)