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Planning kicks off for 55th-annual ‘Dory Days’ TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM
SPORTS
Tillamook: A county of prestigious wrestlers PAGE A9
Headlight Herald WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014
TILLAMOOK, OREGON • WWW.TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM
VOL. 125, NO. 10 • $1.00
LIFESAVING NEWS ON VACATION IN TILLAMOOK by Chelsea Yarnell cyarnell@countrymedia.net
File photo
Last year’s “Crab Races” attracted fans of all ages.
Garibaldi geared for crab racers By Sayde Moser smoser@countrymedia.net Residents and visitors alike will gather this weekend at the Old Mill Marina in Garibaldi for a 29th year of cheering favorite crustaceans to the finish line. It’s the region’s annual “Crab Races.” “People ONLINE go crazy Leaving town for it,” said this weekend Garibaldi and don’t want Lions Club to miss the president “Crab Races”? Laurice MeyView a recap ers. of the events The at tillamook Lions Club headlight took over herald.com the event in 2006 as a fundraiser. Previously, Meyers said, the now-defunct local Chamber of Commerce had hosted the festivities. The event was initiated by a group of local fishermen who were rained out one day and probably a little bored, said Meyers. They had gathered at the Ghost Hole, one of Garibaldi’s taverns, where they decided to try racing some crabs. “Before you know it, it became a
Datia Phillips said she knew she was in the right place when she saw the silhouette painting of Jesus hanging in the chapel of the Tillamook Regional Medical Center. Her mother had passed down an identical copy of the painting to her, one that had been in the family for more than 50 years. But several years prior, Phillips’s painting was destroyed when her house burned down. Now, for the first time in years, she was looking at the familiar image – just when she most needed hope and reassurance. At the beginning of February, Phillips and her husband, Rick Guthrie, Sr., set out to enjoy retirement
with a trip from their home in Alaska to the Oregon coast. Phillips’s mother, who recently had died, had loved the area, so it became a trip to honor her memory. Once here, Guthrie took ill and was rushed to the Tillamook Regional Medical Center, where he was treated for pneumonia. “At the same time,” said Guthrie, “they discovered a large mass in my bronchial area and in my right lung. It was lung cancer.” The diagnosis came as a shock to the couple. “In August,” said Phillips, “he was also diagnosed with pneumonia, in Portland, and they didn’t even notice the cancer… We’ve been told it’s been there for a couple years.” See DIAGNOSIS, Page A2
Photo by Chelsea Yarnell
Rick Guthrie, Sr. poses with his wife, Datia Phillips. Guthrie was diagnosed with cancer while the couple was vacationing in Tillamook last month.
‘Charity Drive’ 2014
CASA: Speaking for local children By Sayde Moser smoser@countrymedia.net
See CRAB, Page A2
INDEX Classified Ads.......................B5-8 Crossword Puzzle.................... B2 Fenceposts...........................B3-4 Letters......................................A4 Obituaries................................A6 Opinions..................................A4 Sports................................. A9-11
Drive raises $183,890 for charity
LONGEST-RUNNING BUSINESS IN TILLAMOOK COUNTY SINCE 1888
Tillamook High School’s 2014 “Charity Drive” concluded Feb. 27 when freshman Ryley Zerngast was crowed this year’s queen, center. Zerngast’s class raised $61,683 during the drive, beating out the other three classes. Enjoy photo galleries and videos of the coronation celebration and several of the class events, including the “Jedi Training Camp,” left, and the shuffleboard tournament, right, at tillamookheadlightherald.com.
Photos by Sayde Moser
Find full coverage of this year’s “Charity Drive” on pages A12 and A13.
From the moment a child enters the foster-care system, a variety of agencies and individuals become invested in that child’s outcome. Officials of the Department of Human Services, lawyers, schoolteachers, doctors and parents all bring a different piece to the puzzle of helping the young person succeed. But only one group of advocates has a single, overriding interest: doing solely what’s best for the child. That group – Court Appointed Special Advocates – is better known as CASA. Today, there are 14 CASA volunteers in Tillamook County. “We advocate for the rights of children that are abused and neglected in the foster-care system,” said Andrea Goss, community outreach specialist for CASA of Tillamook County CASA volunteers actually are in the courtroom during hearings, where they advocate for the youngster’s best interest. That said, how do they know what “best” is? “By talking to teachers, foster parents, the biological parents, doctors, anyone who is involved in that child’s life,” said Goss. “State law requires anyone we’re talking to to provide us See CASA, Page A3
Tattoo artist Mike Toth back in Tillamook by Chelsea Yarnell cyarnell@countrymedia.net Pieces of modern-inspired nouveau art grace the apple-green walls of Tillamook’s newest art WATCH IT studio. PaintTake a tour of ings of skulls, Mike Toth’s women – and studio at tillamook a portrait of a headlight cat (a famherald.com ily favorite) – are creatively detailed using curved lines and dynamic colors. After spending the last eight years in Bend as a painter and tattoo artist, Mike Toth has returned to his hometown to open Toth Art Collective. Since graduating from Tillamook High School, Toth has built a reputation in the art and tattoo communities, having been featured in newspapers and magazines worldwide for his skill and his parlors’ cleanliness. Toth began his tattooing ap-
Photo by Chelsea Yarnell
Tillamook native Mike Toth works on one of his paintings for sale at his new studio on Third Street in Tillamook. prenticeship in Scottsdale, Ariz., at age 18. After learning the business side of the trade, two years later he relocated to Bend, where he opened
his own shop. He was just 21. Since then, Toth has made quite a name for himself. “Mike’s not the stereotypical
tattoo artist,” said his girlfriend, Amanda Bundy. “He’s tattooed Matthew Fox from the TV show ‘Lost’ and the Hollywood movie ‘World War Z,’ but you wouldn’t picture that because he’s so humble.” Toth’s tattooing eventually inspired a career in painting. “It was something that I always wanted to do,” he said. “I had the fundamental art skills to really do it, so I just started painting.” Toth’s artworks fetch upwards of a couple of thousand dollars each, despite his lack of formal art instruction other than a middleschool class. “I took Art 1 in seventh grade and that was it,” he said. “But [painting] is like art class every day, because every day we’re making art and doing something different.” Toth takes his tattooing just as seriously as his paintings. He views each piece as its own work of art. “I try to make everyone different See ARTIST, Page A2