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April 7, 2022
Volume 28, No. 7
MooVoter continues for May 17 primary election M
ooVoter moves into its third election cycle of bringing the candidates and measures that will be on the upcoming ballot to the people of Tillamook County for them to explore and discuss with one another. The group is non-partisan and does not endorse any candidate or measure. It shows each of the races in Tillamook County, which candidates are running against which, summaries and impact of the measures, and it gives members the chance to ask questions directly to candidates or representatives of the measures. This election it features the five measures
that will be on the May ballot. Champions and opposition to the candidates and measures are already in healthy discussions on the forum threads. Running for office within Tillamook County this election are: Shawn Blanchard is running unopposed for County Treasurer. Aubry Olson is running unopposed for District Attorney. Graydon Hallock is running against current County Commissioner Mary Faith Bell, who is running for re-election to County Commis-
sioner Seat 3. Measures on the ballot for this election are: Measure 29-161 “Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordinance” QUESTION: Should Tillamook County officials be prevented from enforcing most state, federal, and local firearm regulations? Measure 29-162 “5 Year Levy for Bay City Fire Protection” QUESTION: Shall Bay City impose a 5
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Oregon Economic Update
Recovery, risks and challenges Amy Vander Vliet Guest Article
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fter plunging into a deep recession in 2020, Oregon added a record number of jobs in 2021 and is on track to make a full recovery by the end of 2022, according to the latest forecast from the Office of Economic Analysis (OEA). All broad industries will add jobs this year due to a combination of pandemic rebound and underlying economic expansion. Growth rates will vary considerably depending, in part, on the status of each sector’s recovery. Leisure and hospitality (e.g. restaurants, bars, hotels) will grow by a booming 14%; nearly four times faster than the overall economy. This industry was hammered by the pandemic, losing nearly half of total jobs. As of January 2022, it was still 17,500 jobs (8%) shy of pre-pandemic highs, so much of the projected growth falls under the ‘rebound’ category. Although OEA forecasts historic highs in the years ahead, they point out that structural changes will keep growth below what we would typically expect given a growing population. Public and private education will be the second-fastest growing industry (5%) as schools continue to staff back up following a prolonged period of remote learning and limited school activities. However, this sector still has a ways to travel down the
road to full recovery and despite strong forecasted growth, the year will end with employment still below pre-pandemic levels. Schools are struggling to find workers and college enrollments are down. Professional and business services, a large and sprawling industry that includes temporary help, legal and accounting firms, and other office-type jobs, will be the third-fastest growing industry in 2022. As this industry is nearly fully recovered from pandemic losses, which were relatively mild, OEA attributes much of the gain to economic expansion. Health care and social assistance is still in recovery mode and will see above-average growth this year. Employment returns to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, after which growth resumes tracking demographics. Transportation and warehousing suffered just a single month of pandemic job loss that was quickly erased as Oregonians turned to e-commerce, and to buying goods as opposed to services. This sector is clearly in the ‘economic expansion’ category, and growth will continue as more distribution centers are set to open or expand. Challenges OEA believes the biggest challenge facing Oregon’s economy today is on the supply side. Not just overloaded supply chains but, more importantly, labor. Businesses are struggling to
find workers and vacancies are at an all-time high. Employers have responded by raising wages, especially in lower-paying occupations. Potential workers are sitting on the sidelines for a few main reasons: • Strong household finances in the form of accumulated savings, growing assets, and lower debt provide a cushion if people cannot, or do not want to, return to work quite yet. • Rising wages lessens the need for a second wage earner in the household. • Rising wages also allow some people who worked a second job in order to make ends meet now to work just one. • Lack of available and affordable childcare may keep some parents at home. As the pandemic eases and savings shrink, more people will return to the labor force and search for work. That said, OEA expects the labor market to remain tight in the foreseeable future as firms continue to hire and Baby Boomers retire. Risks Note: OEA produced their forecast prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing economic fallout. The biggest risk to the economic outlook is persistent inflation. Last year inflation was largely linked to semiconductor shortages and the reopening of
the economy and considered transitory. Since then its reach has broadened. The risk is that Federal Reserve policy will be unable to walk the fine line between tightening too much and not enough, resulting in a boom/ bust cycle and possible recession. For now, OEA anticipates the Fed will be able to engineer a soft landing. The OEA’s complete report is available at www.oregon.gov/ das/OEA/Pages/forecastecorev. aspx. Amy Vander Vliet is a regional economist with the Oregon Employment Department. She may be reached at amy.s.vandervliet@employ.gov or at 971-804-2099.
ODFW prohibits taking of sea stars Hilary Dorsey
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Country Media
he Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) Commission voted Friday, March 18, to change shellfish regulations to prohibit harvest of sea stars and increase the daily bag limit for non-native European green crabs to 35. These changes are now in effect. During the meeting, ODFW’s shellfish program leader Stephen Rumrill presented a package of four proposed changes. Proposed changes to shellfish rules include prohibiting the taking of sea stars, increase the daily catch limit of European green crab, require electronic fish tickets for bay clam fisheries, and establish a landing limit for gaper clam for the dive fishery in Yaquina Bay. “Oregon’s shellfish fisheries are diverse,” Rumrill said. “First with regard to the recreational fisheries, we allow harvest of a diverse group of about 30 different species.” These groups include Dungeness crab, Red Rock crab, clams
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and more. Sea stars and European green crab are also included in recreational fisheries. Rumrill said multiple species of sea stars have experienced mass mortality along the west coast since 2013 due to Sea Star Wasting Disease. This is coincident with changing ocean conditions. “Some species of sea stars, like the ochre star, have recovered somewhat,” Rumrill said. “Other species of sea stars have not recovered at all.” There has been a 90 percent coastwide decline of sunflower sea stars after Sea Star Wasting
Disease. “NOAA Fisheries is currently considering a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity to place them on an Endangered Species List, pending a decision in 2022,” Rumrill said. Existing ODFW rules allowed the take of 10 sea stars per person per day, Rumrill added. “This is a prudent management action at this time to demonstrate the commitment to conservation,” Rumrill said of the action. European green crabs are a recent aggressive invasive species with the potential to disrupt communities of native shellfish. The
mid-sized shore crab inhabits the mid-region of estuaries. They can be green, brown, yellow, red or blue in color but are easily identified by three prominent bumps between their eyes and five spines along the side of their carapace. “[They were] first observed in Coos Bay in 1997,” Rumrill said. Additional regulations for commercial bay clam fisheries were also approved at the meeting, including the requirement for electronic, rather than paper, fish tickets and designation of a harvest area and annual landing cap for the commercial gaper clam dive fishery in Yaquina Bay.
Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. Citizen file photo
Tillamook Rock Lighthouse for sale, listed at $6.5 million
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Staff
he Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, dubbed ‘Terrible Tilly’ by those who worked there off the northwest coast of Oregon, sits a mile from Tillamook Head between Seaside and Cannon Beach is for sale for $6.5 million. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports investors had paid $50,000 in 1980 to buy the deteriorating lighthouse, Oregon’s only offshore light station. The island’s isolation, impossible boat landings and extreme weather as well as the lighthouse crews’ dislike of their months-long stays where they were cold, wet and constantly reminded of their dangerous job, earned the tower the nickname “Terrible Tilly.” The 141-year-old Tillamook Rock Lighthouse is owned by Mimi Morissette. According to OPB reports, she once hoped to turn the lighthouse into a large columbarium, a place to store people’s cremated remains. There was room, she said, for up to 300,000 urns. But Morissette’s plan never took off like she hoped. Forty-two years later, the ashes of only 31 people, including Morissette’s parents, have been laid to rest at the lighthouse. Morissette, who is 77, has concluded it is time for someone else to take over. A little history An intriguing and powerful testament of the will and determination of the human spirit, the story of Tillamook Rock Lighthouse began in 1878 when Congress appropriated $50,000 for a lighthouse to mark this section of the Oregon Coast. Originally, it was hoped that a lighthouse could be built at Tillamook Head, a 1,000-foot-high headland twenty miles south of the Columbia River, however, the top of the headland was often shrouded in fog, and as its sheer face offered no acceptable alternative, Tillamook Rock was considered instead. In June 1879, H.S. Wheeler boated out to the rock to determine if a lighthouse would be feasible there. Heavy seas initially made landing impossible, but after several attempts, Wheeler was able to clamber up the rock. After a careful inspection, he decided the rock could be conquered. The Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board carried the following forecast for the project: “Though the execution of the work will be a task of labor and difficulty, accompanied by great expense, yet the benefit which the commerce seeking the mouth of the Columbia River will derive from a light and fog-signal located there, will warrant all the labor and expense involved.”
The decommissioned Tillamook Rock Lighthouse was photographed before it became a columbarium. Citizen file photo