MOOKS’ BIG
WILSON RIVER RESCUE
WIN
WOMAN REMAINS IN CRITICAL CONDITION, PAGE A2
TILLAMOOK TOPS SCAPPOOSE, PAGE A13
Headlight Herald
TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM • APRIL 25, 2012
LONGEST RUNNING BUSINESS IN TILLAMOOK COUNTY • SINCE 1888
Strunk RED HOT HATTERS retires Convention pumps tourist dollars into Garibaldi BY JOE WRABEK
For the Headlight Herald
GARIBALDI – If you visited Garibaldi this past weekend, you saw red. Lots of red. Purple, too. It was the 14th annual birthday party for the Red Hat Society, held at the Old Mill in Garibaldi. Though celebrations like this are held all over (the Society’s official birthday is April 25), this is the first time one had ever been
BY ANTHONY RIMEL arimel@countrymedia.net
TILLAMOOK – Tillamook County Creamery Association President and CEO Harold Strunk will be leaving his position with the company this June. TCCA Board President Joe HAROLD Rocha said STRUNK Strunk’s departure was not a surprise. “When Harold was hired, he promised the Board of Directors he would give them five years,” said Rocha “The five years is up. The board was not surprised at him giving his resignation.” The company has hired Mark Wustenberg, the current vice president of quality and member relations, as an interim president. Wustenberg will begin when Strunk leaves on June 1.
held on the Oregon Coast. The event was planned and hosted by Jan Gordon of Garibaldi and Jeanne Komlofske of Tillamook, who are “Queens,” respectively, of the Garibaldi and Tillamook chapters of the organization. Garibaldi’s chapter is called the “Scarlet Chapeaux (Oo-La-La),” and the ‘Mooks are “Tilly’s Scarlet Divas.” About 175 people bought tick-
ets for the “Red Hat Beach Party.” Most were from out of town. “I think we had 100 different chapters represented,” Komlofske said. Attendees were treated to lunch and dessert, both catered by Kelley’s Place in Garibaldi, numerous side-splitting skits many with a beach theme, and music by deejay Paul Barcroft.
See HATTERS, Page A9
An impressive hat, worn by Sarah Nichols from Philomath.
R.B. Fire chief in motorcycle crash BY ERIN DIETRICH edietrich@countrymedia.net
See STRUNK, Page A10
INDEX Business News.........................A7 Classified Ads .........................B5 Crossword Puzzle....................B2 Fenceposts ..............................B3 Letters .....................................A4 Obituaries................................A6 Opinions..................................A4 Sports....................................A12 Tides .....................................A14
ANTHONY RIMEL/HEADLIGHT HERALD
Ethan Coleman (third grade) and Echo Nutt (fourth grade) watch as ladybugs scatter outside Tillamook Adventist School.
Hands-on learning about the environment TILLAMOOK — Across the country celebrants participated in thousands of Earth Day events April 21. Down Goodspeed Road, where the Trask and Wilson Rivers converge into tideland, it was a day for catching frogs, kayaking and making birdhouses. If the roads were very muddy, it didn’t matter. The weather was warm and the sky was clear. Volunteers from Clair Thomas’s science classes at Tillamook High School guided community members in kayaks along stream tributaries. The Goodspeed Road property belongs to Tillamook County and is open to the public. Farmers harvest grass from the fields and a road meanders through the acreage making a full circle. It’s a walking-only trail, infused with abundant wildlife and breathtaking views of both rivers and ponds. Here several dozen community members met for a day to celebrate nature. Sponsored by the Tillamook Bay Watershed Council and funded by the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership, the event was designed to challenge all participants and especially encouraged youth and parents to come as a team, said Thomas. Throughout the day, participants studied wetland birds with assistance from the Audubon Society, took kayaking tours to explore Hall Slough and its New Zealand Mudsnail populations, built gourd houses to attract Purple Martins, a bird species, and
WEATHER STATS HIGH LOW RAINFALL 50 37 .31 53 44 .03 54 43 2.13 52 45 .26 67 41 .00 76 45 .00 63 46 -PRECIPITATION PAST WEEK: 2.72 MONTH TO DATE: 5.41 APR 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
APRIL NORMALS HIGH: 58 LOW: 40 TOTAL PRECIPITATION: 7.07 WEATHER COURTESY OF WEATHER UNDERGROUND
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Vol. 124, No. 16 75 cents
Rockaway Beach Fire Chief Barry Mammano and his wife, Judy, were seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in Tillamook on Sunday, April 22. According to Tillamook Police Chief Terry Wright, at about 2:30 p.m., the motorcycle, driven by Barry with Judy riding BARRY behind him, was heading south- MAMMANO bound on U.S. Hwy. 101 near Fred Meyer, when a car in the northbound left turn lane at the intersection of Hwy. 101 and Wilson River Loop turned left in front of them. The driver of the car, Clara Fairfield, 82, did not see the motorcycle, which had a green light in the southbound lane, and pulled in front of it.
See CHIEF, Page A9
Unique preschooler exam program celebrates 40 years BY ERIN DIETRICH edietrich@countrymedia.net
DENISE PORTER/HEADLIGHT HERALD
Trinity Smith, 4, of Tillamook was one of several children catching frogs as part of an Earth Day celebration April 21 at the wetland near Goodspeed Road in Tillamook.
learned how to make compost tea as a means for control invasive plant species. On Monday, April 23, students at Tillamook Adventist School celebrated by releasing 18,000 ladybugs into the school’s fields. Ladybugs feed on garden pests, in particular aphids and mites, and are considered a “natural pesticide.”
More than 250 Tillamook County preschoolers spent nearly three hours each going through a series of vision, hearing and dental exams and speech and motor skills tests April 28-30 at the Tillamook County Fairgrounds. Volunteers have provided this free service, the Multi-modular Preschool Exams, to area 3to 6-year-olds for over 40 years now. “I didn’t like doing the gooey stuff on my teeth,” said 4-year-old Tateum Carter of Rockaway Beach, who went through the exams on Thursday, accompanied by his parents, Jessie and Andrew Carter. He is referring to getting a fluoride treatment during his dental checkup, before moving on to an eye test. Tateum will turn five in May and starts Kindergarten this fall. “We took him just to be sure he is where he needs to be,” said Jessie. “It gives me and Andrew piece of mind.”
See EXAM, Page A9
Forum hits candidates with 1-minute questions BY ANTHONY RIMEL
arimel@countrymedia.net
The American Association of University Women and the Headlight Herald co-sponsored a candidate’s forum at Tillamook Bay Community College this week. At the forum, the candidates for all contested elections in the Tillamook County primary election were present and answered questions. Audience members submitted written questions to the candidates. Most of the questions were directed at the nine candidates running for the two county commissioner positions. Each candidate was given a minute to respond to questions ranging from their opinion on union negotiations with county employees
to their position on a countywide transient room tax. The two-hour long event was in a packed room at TBCC, and more than two dozen people watched a live stream video of the forum from home. Candidates for county assessor Denise Vandecoevering and Kari Fleisher also discussed their qualifications for that position, and establishing a schedule to reassess property in the county. Current Sheriff Andy Long, who is up for reelection in November also attended the meeting to introduce himself at the forum. His challenger William Spidal was invited to the forum, but did not attend.
See CANDIDATES, Page A9
ANTHONY RIMEL/HEADLIGHT HERALD
Denise Vandecoevering (standing) addresses a question at the AAUW Headlight Herald political forum April 19 as other candidates watch.
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