Seasons Greetings
Keepsake Edition 2024
Special Section Inside
Subscribers Only Inside: Letters to Santa
by Tillamook County 2nd & 3rd Graders
Local Recipes
from Our Season’s Greetings Advertisers & Our Staff
Headlight Herald
Citizen North Coast
North Coast
Citizen Serving North Tillamook County since 1996
Thursday, December 26, 2024 | Vol. 31, Issue 23
$2.00
www.northcoastcitizen.com
Manzanita prepares to add new water main to facilitate housing development WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
Helping Hands President and Founder Alan Evans cuts the ribbon on the second floor of the group’s Tillamook shelter with board members, staff and Tillamook Police Chief Nick Troxel looking on.
Helping Hands doubles shelter capacity at Port of Tillamook Bay WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
Helping Hands staff, board members and community supporters gathered at the organization’s Port of Tillamook Bay shelter on December 10, to cut the ribbon on the facility’s second floor. The expansion will add 40 new shelter beds when it opens in the coming weeks and Helping Hands President and Founder Alan Evans said that it will allow the group to expand the impact of the important work already being accomplished downstairs. “The stories that we hear of the people that are already living in here are transformational for us,” Evans said. “Why we come to work as staff mem-
bers every day is to learn from the people who come through our doors and that cannot be possible without the support of everybody here.” The 24,000 square foot building housing the shelter was originally constructed in 1942 in 45 days to serve as a naval command center to support the blimp operations at the two nearby hangars. After the war, the Navy donated the building and its land to the Port of Tillamook Bay, which struggled to find a purpose for the building, leading to the bottom floor being used for storage and the upper floor being largely abandoned. Helping Hands came into the picture after a group of Tillamook locals reached out in the late 2010s to inquire about
the organization expanding their operations in the county. Founded in 2002 by Evans, who had previously spent 27 years homeless, Helping Hands employs a recovery-based model and operates 11 centers in five Oregon counties, housing almost 600 people. After looking at several locations in the city of Tillamook, real estate agent Val Schumann reached out to Evans about the disused building at the port, which was on the market for $350,000. The building was in an advanced state of disrepair, but Evans said that did not concern him as he saw the opportunity to rehabilitate the structure as dovetailing with the organization’s mission to help people rehabilitate their lives. “As
soon as I see the building, I said I love it,” Evans recalled. Helping Hands board visited the building and put its trust in Evans’ vision, and in 2020 the organization purchased the property from the port. More than 160 volunteers then chipped in to help renovate the downstairs, and in less than 60 days, the shelter was open, housing up to 37 people at a time. However, the second story presented a more complex problem because of the presence of asbestos insulation, whose remediation would prove costly and time consuming, and the decision to add fire suppression measures to increase safety. Despite these See HELPING HANDS, Page A3
Plea reached in 2022 Trask River murder WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
On November 8, Alyssa Zippora Sturgill, 45, pled guilty to one count of manslaughter in the shooting death of Marcus Koops on December 1, 2022, in a campground near the Trask River.
7
29467 70001 8
Sturgill and her partner, Lisa Marie Peaslee, had been living in their vehicle in the woods, when their situation began to deteriorate, culminating in Sturgill shooting Koops, who was staying at a nearby campsite, before the pair stole his van and fled, eventually being apprehended in Nevada. Tillamook County District Attorney Aubrey Olson said that the case was a tragic story but that the plea represented a just resolution. “Very sad story all around but I think we ended up with a positive outcome,” Olson said. “We got a conviction, that person is in prison for quite some time but is also going to be eligible for resources so that hopefully this type of thing with never happen again with her.” Sturgill and Peaslee were a couple who lived in the Portland and Beaverton area for several years in what Olson described as a codependent relationship. Both partners suffered from physical or mental disabilities, with Sturgill having a confirmed case of autism and Peaslee relying on a walker to get around. During the coronavirus pandemic, things began to go downhill for the couple, as they became paranoid about the virus before losing their jobs and eventually becoming homeless. Having visited the Tillamook State Forest previously, Sturgill and Peaslee decided to move there permanently and shelter in their Hyundai Santa Fe, arriving around Thanksgiving 2022, with a dog and two pet rodents. The decision turned out to be illadvised for the couple, as their car broke down quickly and they became stranded in the remote location as cold, wet winter weather set in. “They kind of got stuck,” Olson said. “They were running out of money; they didn’t have any way to get into town.” A Tillamook Sheriff’s deputy patrol-
Manzanita city staff are developing the plans for a $2.79-million water main addition between Dorcas Street and NeCarney City Boulevards along Classic Street that will pave the way for a new 60-unit affordable housing development to the city. City Manager Leila Aman said that work on the project is expected to begin next spring and be completed by the fall and that in addition to adding needed water capacity, the project will represent a major upgrade to Classic Street, including the addition of a pedestrian path. “It’s going to be a much nicer facility that’s a lot safer and more pleasant for people to use all modes of transportation,” Aman said. The project was selected for funding by the Oregon Legislature in March of this year as part of Governor Tina Kotek’s push to expand housing in the state. The project will include the addition of more than 2,000 feet of water line added between Dorcas Street and NeCarney City Boulevard along Classic Street, as well as new stormwater infrastructure to address flooding issues. Additionally, Classic Street will be paved for the first time and the city contributed additional funds to include traffic-calming elements along the road and a separated pedestrian path. Once complete, the project will enable the construction of a new housing development by Home First on a 12-acre property that is in the process of being added to the city’s urban growth boundary. Home First’s development is envisioned as a two-stage project, with the first stage consisting of 60 apartments affordable to residents earning 60% of the area’s median income, while the second stage will feature 60 additional apartments targeted at renters making up to 120% of the area’s median income. The first phase of the project received Local Innovation and Fast Track Rental grant funding and Aman said that the developers are working towards beginning construction in 2025. In addition to enabling the housing development, the project will also create a second loop in the city’s water system, which will increase its resiliency. The paving of Classic and the addition of the pedestrian path will also help the city move towards its goal of becoming more pedestrian and bike friendly, identified in its most recent transportation system plan.
Rockaway Council denies appeal against Nedonna Wave development WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
Alyssa Zippora Sturgill
ling the forest visited the couple’s campsite sometime in the week after their arrival and offered the pair help, which was declined because it would require them to split up for the ride to town. After this, the situation continued to worsen, with the couple entering what Sturgill characterized as a downward spiral, exacerbated by the couple’s penchant for consuming murder mysteries, crime fiction and horror movies. “So, they just kind of were able to put themselves in this like what’s the worst possible thing that could happen (mindset),” Olson said. Matters came to a head on December 1, when Olson said that Sturgill woke up cold and tired of the rain and felt that the couple would die if she did not act. “She wakes up that morning is like, ‘we’re See MURDER, Page A3
Following a late November public hearing, Rockaway Beach’s city council unanimously voted to deny an appeal from the Oregon Shore Conservation Coalition challenging the planned 28-unit Nedonna Wave subdivision. The challenge had sought to block the project on five different grounds, including that the project had waited too long after completing its first phase to move into the second phase, necessitating a new review and that the project violated the city’s wetland development regulations. However, councilors, following a staff recommendation and the decision of the city’s planning commission found that the project had met timeline requirements during initial development and that the challengers’ interpretation of the wetland regulations was incorrect and denied the appeal. The proposal for the 28-unit Nedonna Wave planned unit development was first brought to Rockaway Beach’s planning commission and city council for approval in 2008. After securing initial approval from the city for the project, developers later applied to break the development into two phases and completed preparatory work for both phases and eight phase-one houses by 2009. See NEDONNA WAVE, Page A3