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R eal E state G uide
Real Estate Guide November 2019 Inside
Police Blotters-A2 • Opinions-A5 • Obituaries-A6 • Market Place-A7 • Public Notices-A7-8 • Sports-A8
Friday, November 29, 2019
November 2019
The Chief
Citizen North Coast
A Special Publication of
Headlight Herald
$1 Vol. 128, No. 32 12 Pages
Serving the Lower Columbia Region since 1891
CES and CMHS students collaborate for first time on Christmas musical “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” – Buddy the elf
Photo: Jaime Erwin
These elementary students will portray elves and the children of New York City. JULIE THOMPSON chronicle1@countrymedia.net
For the first time, the Clatskanie School District is bringing together students from Clatskanie Middle/High School (CMHS) with elementary school students in collaboration on this year’s musical Christmas production, set to premiere at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 12 in the CMHS auditorium. The students will perform in Elf The Musical Jr., based on the 2003
New Line Cinema hit film starring Will Ferrell. The play will feature songs by Tony Award nominees Matthew Skylar (The Wedding Singer) and Chad Beguelin (Disney’s Aladdin on Broadway), with a book by Tony Award Winners, Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray) and Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone.) The story follows Buddy, a young orphan, who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts and is transported to the North Pole. The would-be elf is raised there,
unaware that he is actually a human until his enormous size and poor toy-making abilities prompts him to face the truth. With Santa’s permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father and discover his true identity. When faced with the harsh reality that his father is on the naughty list and his half-brother doesn’t even believe in Santa, Buddy becomes determined to win over his new family and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas.
Director Jaime Erwin said the collaboration with the elementary school kids began with simply asking various groups if anyone would be interested in attempting the feat. They students will also be performing Wizard of Oz in the spring, and Erwin said they were hoping to have some munchkins. “So, this is our trial run to see if that’s going to work out,” Erwin said. “But they are kicking butt.” To prepare the younger students, Erwin created ‘Elf Camp,’ where the majority of the middle
school choir and a couple of middle school students who aren’t in the class but wanted to participate help coach the younger students on their songs. Erwin said when the elementary school children were invited into the production, she laid down clear expectations: this isn’t Missoula Children’s Theatre. Each student would be expected to behave and follow directions.
See MUSICAL Page A8
Community gathers around County hires health CCMH Thanksgiving meal promotion specialist
This is us JULIE THOMPSON chronicle1@countrymedia.net
Multiple businesses, non-profits and volunteers came together last week to serve over 400 members of the community a Thanksgiving meal for Columbia Community Mental Health’s (CCMH) 23rd Annual Thanksgiving Dinner. Judges, commissioners, business owners, CCMH clients and their families, and citizens gathered at the Moose Lodge on Thursday, Nov. 21 to “celebrate this amazing community we all live in.” It took some work preparing for the big day. First there was a massive amount of potatoes to contend with. The Columbia Pacific Food Bank offered a portion of their large freezer to store the potatoes until they were ready to be peeled. Warren Community Fellowship hosted a “peeling party” and, according to CCMH PR
and Director of Development Hope Wirta, employees from the St. Helens Recreation Center “peeled potatoes until their fingers fell off.” Our local Safeway donated $1,000 towards the dinner, and St. Helens Market Fresh donated 17 turkeys that weighed in at over 25 lbs. a piece. Employees with St. Helens Wauna Credit Union served and bussed tables all day. CCMH added approximately 70 volunteers to the effort, and, with the exception of the pies and rolls, the entire meal was prepared from scratch. Wirta said there were many others that contributed to the success of the event, and she loves working for a place that allows her to do something like this and call it a job. “It was just so cool to see the community be like a family having Thanksgiving dinner together,” Wirta said. “There were tears in lots of people’s eyes. It was beautiful.”
Courtesy photo
New Health Promotion Specialist for Columbia County Public Health, Suzanne Beaupre. STAFF REPORT chiefnews@countrymedia.net
In an effort to implement new public health programs, Columbia County Public Health has hired a health promotion specialist, Suzanne Beaupre, who started the new role Nov. 12. Beaupre will join a staff of eight other individuals who all operate under the public health department of Columbia County. Beaupre has a degree in Public Health from Tempe University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She said she spent many years in both Philadelphia and Portland managing medical practices, where she became well versed in healthcare systems. “I moved into the field of emergency preparedness after become a member of my neighborhood
emergency response team (NET) in Portland,” Beaupre said. “My last year was spent at the American Red Cross doing work in emergency preparedness-based community education.” Michael Paul, Public Health Administrator for Columbia County, said the position is very important for the department. “I cannot overstate the significance. Health promotion and chronic disease prevention is considered a foundational local public health program because chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung disease, and diabetes, are major causes of disability and death, and they exact huge costs on society and all levels of government,” Paul said.
See HEALTH Page A8