Welcome to Black Bones House Serving the Lower Columbia Region since 1891
MONIQUE MERRILL chronicle2@countrymedia.net
Next to quiet pastures and winding rural roads in the wooded land outside Rainier sits a tormented fever dream of a house. The structure is engulfed in a tangle of glowing bones and shackles. Skeletons hang from the sill of the house and adorn the entrance like jewels. On one side of the eave is a carnival ride born from a nightmare: a ferris wheel operated and ridden by skeletons. On the other side, a hooded figure of bones holds the reins of a horse without any skin. During any other month this house, in its natural form, would fit right into the picturesque setting it’s located in, but not in October. In October it’s no longer a regular house. In October it’s Black Bone’s House of the Twisted and Bizarre. Scott Sebring is the mastermind behind the Beaver Home’s Grange Haunted House, which has put on a haunted house for at least a decade, maybe two, he said. Sebring was brought in to design the annual attraction in 2009, and has been transforming the grange into twisted scenes of a variety of themes ever since. He starts planning the design and construction at the start of September each year, he said. This year’s theme is the continuation of prior years’, but Sebring estimates that at least 2,500 hours of work have gone into the design of Black Bone’s House of the Twisted and
House haunts in Rainier Monique Merrill / The Chief
Black Bones House of the Twisted and Bizarre is open from 6:30-9:30 p.m. this Friday and Saturday.
Bizarre. With the help of his children and volunteers he transforms the grange from its usual form into a maze of terror using materials he’s amassed over the 10-plus years he has worked on the design. “I’ve got a whole other haunted house in my house,” he said. “I’m not kidding, I could change every
bit of this out and bring it down and it would be a whole new haunted house.” While the grange is outfitted in spiderwebs and bones, Sebring camps on the grange property to keep an eye on the display, and sometimes chase away eager visitors coming to steal an early tour or swipe a skeleton.
A unique year This year things at the haunted house are a little different. Masks aren’t uncommon to see around Halloween, but this year at the grange they are mandatory, specifically cloth face masks. Groups will also be spaced out while they wait to enter the house, and a volun-
Monique Merrill / The Chief
‘A’ Street: ‘Mission Accomplished’ MONIQUE MERRILL chronicle2@countrymedia.net
After roughly 13 years, it’s official: Rainier’s ‘A’ Street Safety Improvement Project is complete. The culmination of the project was celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony featuring remarks from Rainier Mayor Jerry Cole, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici and Sen. Betsy Johnson. “I’ve been mayor for 18 years, and for all of that time ‘A’ Street has been a project. It’s going to be weird not to think about what were going to do on ‘A’ Street,” Cole said. He pointed out to the crowd of about 50 that were many aspects of the project not visible: new water and sewer systems and underground electrical work.
“For me, this project was always about safety. It was about having a safe area where people can come down and drive safely,” he said. The project cost just over $12 million and included improvements to the railroad track that runs directly through Rainier. “I’m a dreamer,” Cole said. “There’s no reason this track can’t go all the way to Astoria. There’s potential, you just never know.” Bonamici congratulated Rainier for the completion of the project. “It took everyone working together, and it’s really a testament to the perseverance of this community,” she said. Johnson was an early champion for the project, and described a time she brought the governor’s staff outside to Rainier to view and
feel firsthand the street and rail conditions in town while advocating for the project. “Many communities have railroads running through town,” she said. “Rainier was a special case.” She said the small size of the street and the rail positioned directly in the middle of the road presented an unusual challenge. In the legislature, Johnson said she is known for asking three questions about most projects: Is it on time? Is it under budget? Are there any problems? “The answers are sometimes sobering and this project is a great example,” Johnson said. “No, it wasn’t on time; no, it ballooned way over the original budget; and
See ‘A’STREET Page A7
See HOUSE Page A3
Clatskanie School District looking ahead STAFF REPORT chiefnews@countrymedia.net
Local Boy Scouts, Troop 332 hold a flag presentation during the‘A’Street Improvement Project ribbon cutting ceremony Saturday, Oct. 10, in Rainier.
teer will be wiping down hightouch areas. The haunted house has always had a strict “no touching” rule between the volunteer actors and the guests, but this year the two groups will be separated by sheets of plastic to reduce the chance of transmitting COVID-19. “I want to make sure they’re as safe as I can get them,” Sebring said. He and Dawn Getzlaff, master of the grange, have a cleaning and safety plan in place to make sure both guests and volunteers are as safe as possible during the tours. Instead of offering games and a dining area in the basement for visitors after the tour, the grange will offer food to go. All are welcome at the haunted house, which offers kids a toneddown version of the tour if they are afraid to enter. Sebring said he wants to make sure that the children get a chance to enjoy Halloween, especially this year when so many events have been cancelled or are no longer accessible. “I try to do a lot for the little kids,” he said. “I like to scare the hell out of the teens and the adults, but the little kids should enjoy themselves.” While a pandemic might be frightening enough for some people, Sebring wanted to bring back the frightening fun of his haunted house to the community and those who have endured setbacks over the
Planning for the return of students to in-person instruction is underway at the Clatskanie School District. At the Oct. 12 Clatskanie School District Board Meeting, Superintendent Cathy Hurowitz brought up the end of the semester in January as a possible time to transition back to in-person learning if Columbia County’s COVID-19 case metrics support it. “It has always been our plan to return to in-person instruction as soon as allowed,” Hurowitz told The Chief. “We are in the prepping stages for bringing back students beginning with K-3 as soon as the metrics allow.” Currently, the county is unable to meet the metrics required to reopen schools, but board members said future meetings should start to plan the return. The plan is taking into consideration staff and student safety, instructional needs, community needs and metrics identified by public health leaders locally and statewide, Hurowitz said. “From a community standpoint, many of our families are hoping to return to brick and mortar,” she said. “Distance learning has been a burden on many of our families.” Not all students have reliable access to internet, Hurowitz said, and some are allowed in the building to access the internet. She said
the district is working with Verizon to provide internet hotspots for those who need it. “I am proud of all the hard work and energy our staff has put into CDL,” she said. “Of course, we have glitches, but we are able to address those and move forward.” Hurowitz said she has concerns for the district’s underserved populations, the support systems children have at home, the socialemotional impact of the pandemic and how distance learning might create an achievement gap when classes can resume in person, but she also said she can find the positives. “In the long run I think that we will look back at this time and realize how much we have learned,” she said. “Our teachers are developing very strong relationships with families, learning how to use technology in a variety of ways, as well as meeting individual student needs.” At the meeting, Hurowitz presented the new ‘All Students Belong’ rule which prohibits the swastika, Confederate flag and the noose at all school events, including in-person, hybrid and distance learning instruction. Any student incidents violating the rule will be investigated. Student attendance at Clatskanie Elementary School is around 90% right now, according to Interim Principal Kara Burghardt.