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North Coast
Citizen Serving North Tillamook County since 1996
Thursday, October 16, 2025 | Vol. 32, Issue 20
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Tillamook test scores improve WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
Johnson and Nelson cut the ribbon to open the Nehalem Bay Health District’s new clinic and pharmacy building in Wheeler, with other elected officials who supported the project looking on.
NBHD Clinic and Pharmacy opens in Wheeler WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
Several hundred residents gathered in Wheeler on October 4, for the grand opening of the new Nehalem Bay Health District Clinic and Pharmacy, featuring a ribboncutting ceremony and open house. The new $12.2-million facility will allow the Nehalem Bay Health Center to expand its offerings to include dentistry and mental healthcare and significantly expand its clinic and pharmacy capacities and was supported by a $10.25-million bond approved by voters in 2023. “We reach a historic milestone today with this new health center and pharmacy,” said Nehalem Bay Health District (NBHD) President Marc Johnson, “with new See NBHD, Page A5
Johnson addressed the crowd gathered for the grand opening of the new clinic and pharmacy.
Test scores across Tillamook County’s three school districts improved year-over-year in 20242025, in math, science and English language arts, with Neah-Kah-Nie students scoring highest, followed by those in the Tillamook district. The Tillamook School District’s biggest improvement came in English language arts testing, where across all students test scores improved from a 27% proficiency mark in 2023-24 to a 42.5% proficiency mark last year. Tillamook’s math and science proficiency also saw improvements, with science scores up more than 5% and exceeding the statewide average and math scores improving 2%. In English language arts, Tillamook’s 42.2% proficiency was within one percentage point of the 43% mark achieved statewide. Eighth and 11th grade proficiency scores were the principal drivers of the improvement, with the former surging from 20% in 2023-24 to 50.4% last year and the latter improving from 25.5% to 58.9%. Students in the Neah-Kah-Nie School District exceeded the statewide average proficiency mark with 55.9% of students showing proficiency, while in the Nestucca School District 32.6% of students were found to be proficient, down slightly from 34.8% in the 2023-24 school year. Tillamook’s small improvement in math proficiency results was the result of gains by third, fourth and fifth graders, with seventh and grade returns steady, and slight downticks in sixth and 11th grades. Neah-Kah-Nie’s proficiency was almost steady year-to-year, dropping from 33.9% to 33.5% and staying ahead of the statewide average of 31.5%. Nestucca’s students achieved a small improvement in math proficiency, with 13.1% of students showing grade-level skills, compared to 12.4% last year and led by 11th graders, 22.5% of whom were found See TEST SCORES, Page A5
Rockaway hosts tour of Jetty Creek watershed Bonamici focused on federal shutdown WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
Representatives from various agencies and companies that have helped move Rockway Beach toward the purchase of the lower half of the watershed that provides its drinking water on Jetty Creek gathered for a tour of said watershed on October 9. The tour visited the city’s water treatment plant, a fish habitat improvement project and a viewpoint from which they overlooked the 595 acres the city is planning to purchase. Discussions around protecting the watershed that provides the city’s drinking water have been ongoing for around a decade, with focus initially falling on improving fish passage and water quality in Jetty Creek. To that end, by 2017, all fish passage barriers had been removed from the stream when the stream was returned to its original course around an impoundment pond that had previously been formed by a weir that blocked fish passage. Forward momentum on purchasing the watershed
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of the watershed owned by the company and the company’s willingness to sell it. Once the source water protection plan process was complete earlier this year, Shephard and city staff began the process of applying for grants and loans to support the purchase price, expected to come in north of $5 million when an appraisal is completed.
At the recent opening of the Nehalem Bay Health District’s new clinic and pharmacy in Wheeler, United States Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici made time for a short press availability to discuss current issues. In response to a question about the federal government shutdown, Bonamici said that she had been in Washington D.C. the week prior, unlike her Republican colleagues, and was planning to return the next week. Bonamici said that she was interested in working to get the government open again, but not at the cost of jeopardizing constituents’ access to healthcare or increasing the costs of care. “I am interested in getting the government back open, but I’m not interested in supporting a budget that will result in increases in healthcare costs or people losing their access to healthcare,” Bonamici said. On the subject of the Secure Rural Schools Act and resuming the split of federal timber revenues with counties, Bonamici said that while she was aware of the issue, she and congressional colleagues were focused on ending the government shutdown at the moment. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s proposed updates to development standards in areas of special flood hazard for Oregon jurisdictions to continue participating in the National Flood Insurance Plan was an issue Bonamici said was on her radar. Bonamici said that the Oregon congressional delegation had sent a joint letter to the agency urging them to slow the process to better account for impacts to Oregon communi-
See TOUR, Page A3
See BONAMICI, Page A3
The tour group at the overlook site above the lower half of the Jetty Creek Watershed.
stalled during the coronavirus pandemic, but in 2022, city council asked City Manager Luke Shepard to again work to develop a plan to consummate the purchase. That process began with applying for a $50,000 source water protection plan grant, which funded the development of a plan by GSI Water Solutions Incorporated, including a citizen advisory committee. That plan, approved earlier this
year, includes sections identifying and prioritizing risks in the watershed to the quality and quantity of water available to the city, strategies to reduce, mitigate or lower those risks, implementation plans for those strategies and contingency plans for securing source water. City council also approved an agreement with Nuveen Natural Capital in June 2024, signaling the city’s intention to purchase the lower portion