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I have a few CHILD TAGS which need filling. CHILD is a program sponsored by the Nehalem Bay United Methodist Church. This is a program which gets Christmas gifts, clothing, and toys for children in our community. This note will let you know the age of the child and what is on their Christmas list. You can return these gifts, unwrapped please, to the Nehalem Bay United Methodist Church in Nehalem. Tuesday and Thursday are probably good days to take presents to the church. A number to call would be 503-368-5612. If you would like a receipt for your gift, please enclose a receipt and how we might reach you.

Girl-Age 5-Anything to do with Mermaids or Rapunzel
Girl-Age 5-Pants, top, and PJ’s girls’ size 5
Girl-Age 9-Jacket Jr. small and shoes size 3 youth
Girl-Age 9-Jeans size 9 girls, tops and PJ’s girls’ size 8/10
Girl-Age 9-Drawing supplies
Girl-Age 15-Pants miss 6/8, Tops miss medium
Girl-Age 15-Drawing supplies and Brain Games
Girl-Age 15-PJ’s miss large, shoes size 8.5
Boy-Age 9-Jacket boys 10, PJ’s boys 9, Shoes 3 youth, favorite color purple
Boy-Age 9-Pants and tops boys’ size 9
Boy-Age 9-Crocs size 3 youth, RC Car, Squishmallow, dinosaurs, Slippers 3 youth,
Boy-Age 12-PJ’s Men’s small, shoes 7.5
Boy-Age 12-Legos
Boy-Age 12-Sweat Pants, men’s small, tops men’s small
Boy-Age 16-Jacket men’s medium, shoes size 9, favorite color black
Boy-Age 16-Pants 28×30, tops and PJ’s men’s medium
Boy-Age 18-Jacket men’s medium, Shoes size 8
Thanks to all who have helped with this project. You are making a difference for so many families!

I don’t know if it has registered yet with many people around here, but a community landmark is in the process of being destroyed. Another part of our visual history has been condemned to the breaker’s bucket and the picker’s axe as a demolition crew ignominiously removes the quonset structure that has guarded the east end of Manzanita Avenue and east entrance of our little town for more decades than I can imagine. To many new people around here that building is little more than a reminder of all that’s old and in their way in our once quaint little community. In their haste to create their vision of a future that these few new people hold for our town they seem compelled to obliterate the last remnants of our storied past – and replace them with something new and shiny, with something that speaks of their power and progress, I guess.
For me that building is a reminder of my earliest days in this once delightful little town – before much of the rest of the world discovered us. Very, very many summers ago I split my shopping between the little grocery store “downtown” and Neahkahnie Bob’s store that used to occupy the unusual object of this reverie, when I moved here in the 1970’s. I recognized early on that our distinctive little building was clearly modeled after the imposing blimp hangers down in Tillamook complete with the blocky, but functionless, poritcoes at the south end of “our hanger” that faithfully mimicked the real thing the US Navy built up and down all of our coasts to house the aircraft that were sent aloft to protect our shores during the Second World War. I always like to believe our little “hanger” was designed and built as an homage and even as a memorial to the men and women and their Service that rose to the occasion to defend our Nation in the time of our greatest peril. As you go about your errands in the coming days – and if your travels bring you into Manzanita from that compass quarter – you might at least give a moment’s pause for that building and it’s significance to our community for all of these years, and a final nod to it’s part in our collective story as it completes it’s rendezvous with time. I also invite you to give a thought to those young men and women for whom in it’s youth it was valued as much more than just an old eyesore.

Richard Mastenik, Manzanita

Rather than falsely accuse me of saying things that I did not say, how about accurately reporting what I have said? My direct quotes follow on what I have written follow:

“As a citizen, I expect full disclosure of the actions of all of our public officials. If Mayor Simmons’s actions were such a threat to our City, I certainly want to know the details.”

“How much of that $90,000 is for the never ending investigation of the complaint filed by the City Manager against our now ex Mayor and when will citizens be allowed to review the investigation’s findings?”

Had you accurately described to readers what I have written, most fair minded citizens would likely conclude that I am interested in the facts and truth surrounding this investigation.

The investigator’s report and all fees paid by the City surrounding this investigation are public records. Citizens have a right to inspect public records without undue delays and burdensome fees and that is what we all should expect from our City officials.

The public’s right to know the details of an investigation concerning the City’s highest elected official outweighs any expectation that the complaining party’s accusations should be withheld from the public and their identity remain anonymous.

You state that “the city attorney’s job is to protect the city’s interests”. If protecting the city’s interests includes legal reasons for the refusal to release public records that are not a part of any lawsuit, I would expect citizens would have a problem with that.

If you or someone you know might be able to help, shoot me an email. Thanks

Lawsuit: A Fact Check

Less than a month after being sworn in—February 2023, the former mayor called her lawyer, and her lawyer called the city’s attorney incurring legal fees which have continued to accrue since then. I wrote about that awhile back.

The city of Manzanita is our attorney’s client. Council and the mayor act as agents of the city while in office, so it’s odd that a mayor would use a personal lawyer for anything to do with city business, but that’s what happened.

An executive session was scheduled near the end of February. There was no employee complaint at the time.

The city’s attorney duty is to protect the city’s interests and once the mayor involved her lawyer, it must have been clear that all was not well in Manzanita. I mean, when a volunteer member of a governing body for a town of about 600 residents shows up with their personal lawyer in tow, it probably isn’t a good sign.

The employee complaint wasn’t received by the city’s attorney until May and once he and the city’s insurance company saw it, they suggested an independent investigation to protect the city’s interests. Council voted unanimously at the regular meeting in June to approve the expenditure.

It took time for the independent investigation to be completed. I’m sure there were hours of interviews with multiple people to schedule and I assume some people were interviewed more than once.

During the investigation, the mayor continued to use her personal lawyer which increased the workload for both the city attorney and the investigator. That’s one reason why the legal bills and bills for the investigation have grown so large.

In a recent article Cara Mico wrote for the Pioneer and in posts by Randy Kugler and Will Stone on North County News and North Coast BBQ, they’ve each stated that the city manager is involved in a lawsuit with the city.

But, there is no lawsuit. Never has been. Lawsuits are a matter of public record as Mico, Kugler, and Stone all know. It’s an easy thing to fact check. There is no public record because there is no lawsuit. This begs the question—Why would a former journalist, a working journalist and a former city manager continue to repeat something that they straight out know isn’t true about a city employee?

So far, no details have been released about the investigation. The city’s attorney’s job is to protect the city’s interests and he’s taking care to do just that. Anything that you might hear or read about the investigation is speculation or just plain old gossip. The only source of information would be one of the four sitting members of council and they’d need to be willing to disclose privileged information from executive sessions risking censure. And that would beg the question who would want to do that and why?

Kim Rosenberg loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com

Read our eNewsletter December 5, 2023

– Are You Winter Storm Ready?
– The Great Shakeout
– Website Upgrade
– Volunteer Spotlight
– Neighborhood News
– Pop-Up Shop and Classes