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Mooks play at PK Park PAGE A12
Headlight Herald WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2014
VOL. 125, NO. 14 • $1.00
TILLAMOOK, OREGON • WWW.TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM
‘Don’t call me homeless’
Tillamook resident Jean Dupuis explains what it’s like to be a “homeless” veteran in Tillamook County Emma and Brian Poulsen
Rockaway Beach welcomes the Sand Dollar by Chelsea Yarnell cyarnell@countrymedia.net It is no surprise that customers at Rockaway Beach’s newest restaurant feel welcomed as family. Family is what inspired Brian and Emma Poulsen to open their Sand Dollar Restaurant and Lounge. “We mostly did it because we thought it would be great to bring the kids here, on the Coast,” said Emma. “We decided to do this to have our kids with us, after 10 years of them being everywhere else.” For five years, the seaside building at 210 S on First Street had sat vacant – despite its sprawling ocean view. “We saw this place many years ago driving by,” Emma said. “ We finally got the opportunity to do something about it.” “The location is great …,” Brian added, “[but] it was pretty much a wreck. No kitchen, no bar.” Now, four months after some intensive remodeling, the restaurant’s interior displays a beach mural, stools at the counter, sand dollar paintings, and tables near the large windows that offer majestic views of crashing waves. Emma dubbed the restaurant See SAND, Page A7
INDEX Classified Ads.......................B5-8 Crossword Puzzle....................A8 Fenceposts...........................B3-4 Letters......................................A4 Obituaries................................A6 Opinions..................................A4 Sports...............................A10-12
LONGEST-RUNNING BUSINESS IN TILLAMOOK COUNTY SINCE 1888
by Sayde Moser For the Headlight Herald Jean Rene Dupuis says he’s a decorated veteran of Vietnam – one who sleeps every night in the entryway of the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum, or in the trees up Highway 131. But don’t call him homeless. “Just because there’s no roof over my head doesn’t mean I’m homeless,” he said. “I live in the United States of America and I have a right to live here.” Dupuis, 64, said he has lived in Tillamook off and on since he
returned from his service in the Army. The year was 1970 and his mother had moved to Tillamook with her new husband. Dupuis followed. “I wanted to know who this guy was that she had married,” he recalled. His mother had the formal education of a fourth-grader, he said. Tired of his mother’s continual cycle of new husbands, Dupuis said he left home at age 14 and, a few years later, was on his way to Vietnam. “I did fine in the Army,” he said. “I had a good rank and I was a good soldier.” Still, “We didn’t need to be [in Vietnam],” Dupuis said. “The only reason we were there was to fight a drug war in the jungle. Why put us in that situation?” Following his discharge, he said
Jean Dupuis he was tagged with his first unwanted label: post-traumatic stress See HOMELESS, Page A8
Local businessman creates a new off-grid portable power system by Chelsea Yarnell cyarnell@countrymedia.net Steve Bruneau of Tillamook has furthered the idea of sustainable living by creating an off-grid power system. Bruneau said his business, Solar Tracker 360, creates portable solar panels that can be attached to boats, cars, RVs, even to the balcony of a house. He said his solar charging system can power items – sustainably – that may be used when camping, hunting or when Mother Nature takes the grid down. They include cellular phones, laptops, radios, walkie talkies, LED flashlights, headlamps, lanterns, or several other small appliances. “This is a solar generator,” Bruneau told the Headlight Herald. “It becomes a survival tool.” Bruneau, who said he has a patent pending on his invention,
Courtesy Photo
Matt Dykes poses in front of his hybrid solar boat, with the fall Chinook salmon he caught while fishing. See SOLAR, Page A2
Angler drowns in Wilson River The body of a Beaverton man was found Mar. 25 in the Wilson River about a quarter of a mile downstream from where he fell in. On Mar. 24, the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office, Tillamook Fire Department, Oregon State Police and Tillamook County Search and Rescue Team responded when Beaverton fisherman Richard Belhumeur, 60, was reported missing. Belhumeur’s son said his father had attempted to wade across the Wilson River near Cedar Butte Road, off of Oregon Highway 6, when he slipped and was carried downstream. Rescue crews and divers searched until darkness forced them to suspend operations. Around 1 p.m. the next day, Belhumeur’s body was located by divers in about 15 feet of water. Despite recent heavy rains, the Wilson River was not unusually high when Belhumeur fell in, said Tillamook County’s director of emergency management, Gordon McCraw. “Anytime you’re in the river, you need to be cautious,” McCraw told the Headlight Herald. “If you’re not familiar with the water, it makes it more dangerous,” he said. “Be extra careful where the river is more swift,” added McCraw, “especially if you’re wearing waders, because they can become weights.” The temperature of the river is another factor, said McCraw. Low temperatures can cause hypothermia and decrease muscle activity, affecting a person’s ability to swim.
County’s Quilt Block Trail is extending to Manzanita By Dave Fisher North Coast Citizen The Tillamook County Quilt Block Trail, the first of its kind on the West Coast, was initiated in 2009 when in January representatives from a variety of city and county organizations began discussing the concept. The idea had been fostered in the eastern U.S., where about 3,000 quilt blocks have been mounted on barns and businesses. The closest quilt trail to Tillamook lies in Nebraska. Formed under the auspices of the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center in Tillamook, the organizational process included first identifying local historic barns and other buildings, with the idea of enhancing the structures with 8-foot by 8-foot painted wooden quilt blocks. By using a self-guided tour, visitors can enjoy quilts in the context of Tillamook County’s iconic rural heritage. By now, 81 quilt blocks have blossomed throughout the county, mostly in the central portion. More than 30 of them, each 4-foot by 4-foot, have been placed on business structures in downtown Tillamook, alone. Meanwhile, the quilt trail now has reached into the northern and southern parts of the county. In Wheeler, the first quilt block in north Tillamook County made its debut in November 2010 on the exterior wall of Creative Fabrics. The recent addition at the Manza-
Although Manzanita’s official visitors center has been open since January, it was only recently that a quilt block secured by the Manzanita Chamber of Commerce (formerly the Manzanita Business Alliance) was placed on the side of the building. A disagreement as to where the anchor-design quilt block should be placed – between the City of Manzanita, which owns the building, and the Chamber, which staffs and operates the visitors center – wasn’t resolved until early March. On a rainy Mar. 19, the Tillamook County Quilt Trail reached Manzanita when a decorative block was installed on the building’s west wall facing the ocean. Chamber members said they see the quilt trail as yet another way to promote business and tourism in north Tillamook County. nita visitors center is the furthest northern point in the county where a quilt block is on display. The county-wide project, sponsored by the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center, owes its success to the partnerships, volunteers, and ongoing support of civic organizations and local businesses. To learn more about the Tillamook County Quilt Trail, visit tillamookquilttrail.org or latimertextilecenter.org.
From left are Manzanita City Manager Jerry Taylor, Manzanita Chamber of Commerce coordinator Dan Haag, and Tillamook County Quilt Trail representatives Tom Weber and Al Jacques, posing with the latest addition to the county’s network of quilt blocks. Photo by Dave Fisher.
Tom Weber and Al Jacques make quick work of applying the anchor quilt block to the west wall of the Manzanita visitors center Mar. 19. Courtesy photo