This week’s lead story: Adios, 2008

Highlights of a rocky year

(Photo of Mayor Dean Bunkers by Jonathan Olson)

Many of us are happy to see the end of 2008, a year in which a global recession was felt, acutely, on a local level.

Ocean Shores and the North Beach struggled through what might be euphemistically called a “challenging” (in place of many more colorful adjectives) year.

The local recession really started with the windstorm in early December, 2007. After a bone-chilling winter, in early spring it looked like things were starting to get back to normal . . . but it proved to be false hopes for a strong year.

The sharp increases in tourism over the last few years were not seen, and as each “big event” came and went, it was clear fewer people were visiting the North Beach.

For an area that relies on visitors, that was a serious blow.

The second big punch that brought our local economy to its knees: faltering home sales.

This also dealt a severe blow to local government, which had come to rely on fees and taxes generated by real estate.

And yet . . . 

There were many bright spots in what sometimes seemed like an insufferable year.

When local historians look back on this year that is swiftly passing, they likely will mark 2008 as a key year in the making of Ocean Shores. This was the year that City government was turned on its head, with an expanded City Council, meetings that were pledged to be more open, and the first elected mayor in Ocean Shores history.

And, of course, a historic vote to preserve the Weatherwax, a property that has been a contention point for more than a decade.

  Here are some highlights (as well as lowlights) of the North Coast, 2008.

January

Caelen Doulan Martin, daughter of Ocean Shores resident Melissa Heagy, is born on Jan. 1 at 9:17 p.m., the first baby born in Grays Harbor County in 2008.

Filing begins for the new elected-mayor position and two new city council positions in Ocean Shores. The deadline is Feb. 23.

City Council approves a financing package for a new, $4.7 million fire station. “I’m going to Disneyland!” exclaims firefighter Lt. Brian Ritter. Council member Bob Crumpacker, who with Dave Creighton voted against it, was not as happy. “This is smoke and mirrors financing,” he said. The $5 million bond includes $200,000 to make up for a shortfall in the buy-sell of the old and new City Halls.

Council votes to allow more public comment.

City Council meetings made more open, with more public comment allowed.

Joe Marzetta (140 pounds) of North Beach High named Outstanding Wrestler for Bash at the Beach match.

February

Chocolate on the Beach Festival tantalizes chocoholics in Pacific Beach, Moclips and Seabrook. Mmmmmmmmm?

North Beach boys and girls basketball teams make the playoffs.

Marzetta and Armando Lugo (189 pounds) win District title. Fellow North Beach wrestlers Kevin Cadle (145), Dane Gordon (152 pounds) and Nick Poplin (heavyweight) finishes second.

North Beach girls team disqualified from the playoffs for using a player whose physical paperwork was not turned in.

Marzetta wins Regional wrestling title. Poplin also qualifies for State tournament.

Decision to disqualify North Beach girls is appealed. The forfeiture is overturned, and the girls can continue in the playoffs.

At the State competition in Tacoma, Marzetta and Poplin each finish fourth in their weight classes.

North Beach girls lose to Mossyrock, finishing the season 15-8. Kylie Williams ended her career with another exceptional game, scoring 23 points, and fellow senior Tashia DeLaCruz scored 13 points with 11 rebounds.

March

The annual Razor Clam Festival is held. Attendance is disappointing, chiefly due to timing issues: no clam dig, this weekend.

North Beach High team wins Knowledge Bowl regional battle. The team: Sophomores Savannah Hieronymus, Mariah Gerth and Sebastian Makinson, juniors Kevin Cadle and Emily Haynes and senior Derek Trygsdad. The team finishes eighth in the state competition, held in Spokane.

Town hall meeting held on the possible sale of the Weatherwax property.

Dean Bunkers, with close to 60 percent of the vote, becomes the first elected mayor of Ocean Shores.

Garland French and Dick Skewis win the new City Council seats.

Clam chowder contest is one of the highlights of the Razor Clam Festival. Kari Phillips wins the $200 top prize.

An Ocean Shores man attacks his roommate with a machete, apparently in an attempted robbery.

April 

At the Grays Harbor County track and field competitions, four North Beach girls are champions: Tashia DeLaCruz (discus), Cheresse Weidman (shotput), Kina Shriner (javelin)  and Elizabeth Thatcher (pole vault).

North Beach High honor roll is topped by five 4.0 students: Seniors Jessica Pelton and Carlyn Rogers; sophomore: Savannah Hieronymus; and freshmen: Brittany Bishop and Carly Bouma.

Folk Festival has disappointing crowds, despite national acts Country Joe McDonald and Tom May.

Moclips boxer Sky Bell loses her professional debut in a closely fought match at the Quinault Casino.

State auditor rules Ocean Shores must repay $1.9 to its own utility fund. The money was inappropriately transferred to the general fund over a period of years.

A 50-year-old Bremerton woman on a family outing drowns in the surf at Ocean Shores.

Due to a buildup of sand and silt, there will be no Ocean Shores-Westport ferry, this summer.

May

Pacific Beach holds Sand Castle Contest for the 16th straight year.

A gray whale beaches and dies on an Ocean City beach.

CEO Bob Southall and three managers fired by Quinault Casino and Resort, after “financial and performance audits.”

North Beach High School senior Matt LaBrot scored a hole-in-one on the ninth hole at Ocean Shores Golf Course. He used a 5-iron for his 162-yard hole shot.

An Olympia man fishing in the surf near the Roosevelt Beach approach is pulled under water and drowns.

The Hyaks lose a doubleheader, and are eliminated from the district softball tournament.

Cheresse Weidman, Elizabeth Thatcher, Tashia DeLaCruz and Russell Alfaro are among the top North Beach athletes who make the state track and field competition.

June

North Coast News editor Sara Gray resigns, to pursue freelance writing.

Oil washes up on the beach at Ocean Shores, just north of the Jetty. No immediate health risks, officials rule.

In response to the big fires sparked by fireworks last 4th of July, City Council votes to amend the city’s rules on fireworks . . . but the changes don’t go into effect until 2009.

Miss Washington (and Miss America runner-up)  is the guest star for a  Flag Day Parade.

Another successful Sand & Sawdust Festival brings hundreds to the beach.

July

Independence Day weekend: no big fires. Whew.

Town hall meeting on a new sewer system in Illahee-Oyehut.

Latest Census Bureau figures show Ocean Shores grew by 29 percent from 2000 to July 1, 2007, increasing to 4,826 residents.  The city grew by 4.7 percent in the last year.

Sun & Surf Weekend, a.k.a. Harley Weekend, is a fun festival, but . . . Dampened by soggy weather and sky-rocketing gas prices, crowds are way down. Hotels even have rooms available, which was unheard of in years past.

City Council votes to put the question “Should the City retain the Weatherwax property or sell some or all of it” on the November ballot.

Ocean Shores City Council approves funding a study on creating an LID for an Illahee-Oyehut sewer system. The money will be repaid to Ocean Shores, either by the LID, or the county.

North Coast News gets a new editor: veteran journalist Tom Scanlon. He quickly sets new guidelines for Letters to the Editor. Some praise the changes as much needed, others decry “censorship!”

August

First phases of construction on new Ocean Shores fire station begins.

Local businessman Bob Schuetz launches plan to turn the long-closed Moclips School into an RV Park.

Joel White, an Ocean Shores paramedic, delivers a baby right in front of the fire station – no time to make it to the hospital. A true Ocean Shores native is born.

Proclaiming it has sold all the homes in its first phase, Seabrook begins building a second phase, on the west side of Highway 109, just south of Pacific Beach

City pays more than $5,000 for a facilitator of a “retreat” between new mayor and city council. It becomes clear the facilitator knows little about Ocean Shores, but is good at getting people to focus on goal setting. No. 1 goal: balance the budget. 

September

Moclips vs. Pacific Beach tug-of-war, dancing in the streets, a Teddy Bear drop and the big, wacky parade: the Kelper’s Festival, a North Beach Labor Day tradition.

Kite Festival has North Beach flying high. 

North Beach High welcomes a new principal . . . again. Bill Duncanson, the fifth top man in the last 10 years at North Beach, vows to stay until he retires.

New fire station is about six months behind schedule. Fire Chief Jim Hodges had hoped for a Christmas completion, now looking at next summer.

New football coach Hugh Wyatt hopes for a “turnaround year.” Last year, the Hyaks were 1-9.

City and county officials meet to talk about water options for Ocean Shores. The city mulls whether to “rent” (water from county) or “buy” (upgrade its own system).

Jamaal Lind gallops for more than 200 yards, as North Beach blows out Morton to kick off the football season.

More debate on Weatherwax . . . this time, over wording and whether the area should be included in the city’s Critical Areas Ordinance.

The third annual Paddle the Shores festival is a big hit, particularly the “make a boat out of cardboard and see if it floats” contest.

Precarious time at SeaMar Health Clinic in Copalis Beach. Dr. Alan Whipple, the long-time physician, has left, and SeaMar expects difficulty in recruiting a new physician.

October

Doctor Henry Taylor arrives at SeaMar. The young, vivacious physician visited from Ohio, and fell in love with the area. SeaMar marches on.

Two die in a late-night rollover accident on 109 in Moclips. A week later, another death on the same stretch of highway.

Kevin Braden and Maurice Alfaro rush for over 100 yards, and Jamaal Lind adds 92 as the Hyaks power past Raymond, 42-12, to improve to 5-1 on the season.

Fire Department puts on a big Halloween show at the Convention Center. In Pacific Beach, volunteers trick out the Naval Station, turning it into a haunted house.

Party of the year: the Galway Bay Irish Music Festival, three days of bands and beer.

First clam dig of the season on North Beaches. Due to tides, much fall clamming will be after sundown.

.

November

Two-thirds of Ocean Shores voters say “retain Weatherwax.”

Mayor Bunkers drops “The L Word”: layoffs. As Ocean Shores struggles to balance its budget, Bunkers says layoffs are likely.

Daily World runs a front page story on Bunker’s $96,000 salary. Some are outraged by the salary, others by the story, wondering “why now?”

An Aberdeen man leaves the Quinault Casino late at night. Hours later, he is found east of Copalis Beach, having been savagely beaten and lit on fire. Despite a local Good Samaritan’s efforts in racing him to the hospital, he later dies from the injuries.

After months of debate and hair-splitting on the wording, Critical Areas Ordinance is passed by City Council.

North Beach High’s cross country had its best year ever, finishing 11th at the state competition. Freshman sensation Ben Grover led the Hyaks, with solid runs by teammates Derek Moore, Tyler Bushmiller, Dylan Hearn, Nate Paro and John Johnson.

December

Historic caboose donated to Museum of the North Beach makes its final journey, from Moclips to Pacific Beach.

Taxes up, staff down. In order to balance the 2009 budget, City Council votes to raise property taxes, and reduce staff with eight layoffs. Bunkers also pledges to reduce his own salary by 10 percent.

North Beach High’s Nick Poplin named to the all-state football team.

Merry Christmas: A local woman wins $93,000 on a slot machine at the Quinault Casino.

Cold, wind, snow, ice . . . more crazy December weather. Though it knocks out power to the North Beach for hours, the wind storm is not nearly as bad as 2007’s. Then comes a snow storm, and, with cold weather, the snow stays around for days.

The winter snow/ice storm claims a fatality: a 25-year-old Ocean Shores man dies. He was the passenger of a car that skidded on ice near Westport, and collided with another car.

The boys and girls basketball teams win their first games, then play dodge with the weather, as several basketball games, and wrestling matches, are either cancelled or postponed.

What’s in store for 2009? See p. 8.