SALUTE TO THE U.S COAST GUARD INSIDE
Headlight Herald
TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2023
TILLAMOOK, OREGON • WWW.TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM
VOL. 135, NO. 32 • $1.50
New book explores the history of Bayocean, Tillamook’s lost town
This marker stands 10 feet above what was once the heart of the town of Bayocean. PHOTO BY WILL CHAPPELL
WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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ore than a century ago, a real estate developer traveling through Tillamook County hatched a plan to build a world-class beach resort on the spit between Tillamook Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Poor timing, access challenges, financial crises and, ultimately, erosion caused by hydrological ignorance ended up dooming Bayocean, which was nothing more than a memory just over 50 years after its founding. After discovering the story in the mid-2010s, author and historian Jerry Sutherland became fascinated
with the story of the town and set off on a nearly-decade long quest to tell its story. That journey culminated in the publishing of “Bayocean: Atlantis of Oregon” earlier this year, in which Sutherland recounts the saga of the rise and fall of the now-buried town. “I’ve answered all the questions I can find any answers to and there are no more left to look for,” Sutherland recently told the Herald while traversing the former townsite, now a county park. Bayocean sprung from the imagination of T. Irving Potter, the son of a successful Portland real estate developer, during a 1906
Missing and tampered evidence at Tillamook Police Department unwinds convictions and prosecutions WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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regon State Police are investigating the mishandling and removal of evidence from the Tillamook Police Department property room in 83 cases, many relating to drugs, dating back to 2005. Tillamook District Aubrey Olson has received a list of the affected cases and evidence and has begun the process of reviewing them to drop charges or request conviction vacations in cases where she no longer feels she can support prosecution. She has already moved for the vacation of four convictions and dismissed charges in two or three pending cases. “There’s honestly probably many more to come,” Olson said. “I think any missing evidence is exculpatory across the board.” The Oregon State Police (OSP) investigation into the matter began in May of this year following an audit of the property room and has been completed and forwarded to the Oregon Department of Justice, per an OSP spokesperson. The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment. OSP has already shared a list of the affected cases with a brief description of the evidence that had been removed or mishandled with
Olson, revealing that 64 of the 83 cases were drug related, with the remaining 19 having no apparent connection. Olson said that drugs and drug paraphernalia were among the evidence removed, while in some cases, bags had been ripped or evidence had apparently been sent to OSP’s lab for processing but not logged as such. The cases with affected evidence date back to as early as 2005, but the majority were from 2021 and 2022, according to Olson. Olson clarified that she was not involved with the investigation, as reported by KOIN, and had referred the investigation to OSP as soon as the audit report showed irregularities. Olson’s office is now in the process of reviewing the list provided by OSP and considering whether the cases still merit prosecution in light of the missing or tainted evidence. In some cases where the evidence was tertiary or related to only one crime in a multi-count case, they are simply notifying defense attorney of the preliminary report’s findings. But in cases where the evidence was critical, they have begun dismissing charges in pending prosecutions and requesting vacations of convictions. Olson said that her office has been prioritizing cases where defendants are incarcerated and will continue the review from there. So far, the office has dismissed charges in two or three cases and sought four vacations. “That’s what we’re looking SEE EVIDENCE PAGE A4
trip to Tillamook County when he came across the spit. Deciding its commanding views of the ocean and bay would make a prime location for a beach resort, Potter convinced his father to purchase the land and begin work on the resort. The Potters also spun up a massive marketing campaign to sell parcels at the resort to families from across the country. Sutherland said that their massive advertising campaign was one of, if not the first time that the Oregon coast received national attention. Unfortunately for the Potters, access to Tillamook County and Bayocean in the early 1900s was extremely limited, with the rail
line over the Salmonberry Pass delayed by a financial crisis until the early 1910s and the Wilson River Highway not completed until the 1930s. While the Potters managed to build a large natatorium and some resort facilities at Bayocean, by 1918 the resort had entered receivership and by 1926 had reverted to local control. After the resort’s failure, Bayocean persisted as a small community, offering cheap housing to locals and affordable vacations to visitors. But the foundation for the town’s ultimate demise had already been laid with the construction of the jetty on the north side of the entrance to Tillamook Bay in 1910. Although unknown at the time, the financially motivated decision to only build a single jetty had caused an alteration in sediment flows that would ultimately doom Bayocean. As the jetty disrupted the natural return of sand to the spit on which Bayocean was situated, erosion began to eat away at the town, forcing residents to relocate their houses or watch them fall into the sea. The spit was breached by water at multiple locations and when one of those washes became permanent at the south end of the spit in the early 1950s, Bayocean was abandoned. Its remains were buried under ten feet of sand by the Army Corps of Engineers as they worked to build a breakwater along the spit. Sutherland, who had been coming to Tillamook for years to recreate, often at Bayocean County Park, had been unaware of the history on the spit until a visit to the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum in 2014. “I was just astounded,” Sutherland said of his experience seeing pictures of the enormous
natatorium and other resort facilities of which no trace was left. Sutherland is a retired heating engineer and his interest in historical writing was sparked by a 2012 trip to the Oregon Historical Society to research Calvin Tibbets at his father’s request. Studying documents at the society led to Sutherland researching Tibbets at length and writing his first book “Calvin Tibbets: Oregon’s First Pioneer.” After completing that book, Sutherland turned his focus to telling the story of Bayocean. Sutherland studied the archives at the Pioneer Museum and tracked down the surviving residents of Bayocean, completing interviews with around a dozen people who had lived or vacationed there as children. Finding the answers to his many questions about Bayocean was a time-consuming process for Sutherland, who said that each answered question tended to raise ten more, but he said he found all the answers he could. Sutherland’s newest book traces the stories of Bayocean’s residents as they built homes and offers compelling insight into the causes of the town’s eventual failure. When asked what drew him to the story of Bayocean, Sutherland said, “I just really empathize with the people that lost their homes.” Today, an informational reader board stands on the trail along the bayside of the county park on the spit. There is also a marker at what used to be the center of town, on a small path off that main trail. Sutherland will be speaking at the main branch of the Tillamook County Library on August 12 at 2 p.m.
Yamamoto announces early retirement from board of county commissioners WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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illamook County Commissioner David Yamamoto announced that he will be retiring from the board in November or December of this year at the board’s meeting on August 1. Commissioners also instituted a cap on the issuance of new shortterm rental licenses in the county at 1% above the existing number in each unincorporated community and named Hangar B at the Port of Tillamook Bay an official historic landmark in Tillamook County. “It is with a great deal of apprehension yet with considerable anticipation, that I announce to you this morning, my intent to take an early retirement,” Yamamoto said. “I realize my early departure may be unexpected, but I feel it is time for me to concentrate on my personal retirement goals with my family.” Yamamoto was first elected to the board of county commissioners in 2016 and reelected in 2020. Before serving as a commissioner Yamamoto had worked timber and long-term care insurance before spending two years as a real estate agent in Pacific City prior to his election. Yamamoto said that he had never considered running for elected office, but that when his involvement in numerous volunteer causes led people to encourage him to run, he decided to campaign. In his time as commissioner, Yamamoto has prided himself on his work promoting the natural-resourcebased economy of Tillamook County. Yamamoto was a founding member of the Tillamook Working Lands and Waters Cooperative and has led tours of dairy, timber and fishing facilities
for elected officials from around the state each year. Yamamoto also serves as the chair of the Forest Trust Lands Advisory Committee, where he has led the push for more consideration of the economic impacts of new forestry policies on the counties that receive revenues from the state forests. Yamamoto has promoted the county’s interests at the state, regional and national level too, travelling extensively to participate in conferences for county officials. Yamamoto is fond of saying that Tillamook County leads the way on a wide variety of policies and practices and is always eager to give credit to the county employees who make that possible. “I have been fortunate to work with many exceptional people from across the state and nation but none compare to the amazing employees we have right here in Tillamook County,” Yamamoto said. Letters of interest from parties interested in serving as a commissioner from Yamamoto’s retirement until the beginning of 2025 will be accepted during a three-week period in late August and early September. The board of commissioners will then review the letters of interest in public meetings and interview candidates. Yamamoto will participate in the process with Commissioners Mary Faith Bell and Erin Skaar but will not vote on his replacement. Bell and Skaar will need to agree on the decision. “Although I will not have a vote in the process, I look forward to sharing my opinions with the other commissioners prior to a vote,” Yamamoto said. “It is my hope that my replacement will be a strong voice for Tillamook County’s robust natural resource-based economy.”
Once his replacement has been selected, Yamamoto said that he will spend a month helping smooth that person’s transition to the role. Yamamoto told the Herald that he then plans to focus on spending time with his family and travelling in his retirement. The board of commissioners finished the short-term rental regulation revision process at the meeting as well, approving a cap on the number of new licenses that will be available when their availability reopens on September 1. Commissioners agreed to allow a 1% increase in the number of licenses available over the extant number of licenses before the institution of a pause on license issuance last July. They will also include in the existing number properties that were under construction when the pause was implemented and whose owners joined a waitlist for licenses in July. The 1% increase will be applied to each individual community across the county and allow for 71 new licenses in total. The 1% cap will serve as an SEE YAMAMOTO PAGE A4