Keeping Kids Healthy and Safe Special Section
Inside • Keeping Kids Safe and Healthy, A Shared Responsibility by Police Chief Troxel, pg 2 • Truth about Vaping, pg 2, 5 • Supporting Youth and Bridging Gaps to Connection by Sarah Ermer, Tillamook Family Counseling Center, pg 4 • Family Friendly Food Practices, pg 5 • Getting Kids back into Free Play, pg 5 • The Danger at Home, pg 6 • Keeping Kids Healthy and Safe in a Changing World, by Adventist Health, pg 7
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Thursday, February 5, 2026 | Vol. 33, Issue 3
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Final touches being put on TBCC Wyden Administration and Health Sciences Building focuses on
Trump in Tillamook town hall
WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
With a temporary permit of occupancy issued, workers were busy at work installing furnishings and finishing the installation of information technology equipment at Tillamook Bay Community College’s new Administration and Health Sciences Building in mid-January. That put the 28,400-squarefoot, $14.4-million facility on track to begin welcoming staff in early February, ahead of a grand opening ceremony and the commencement of normal operations in April. Tillamook Bay Community College (TBCC) Director of Facilities and Safety Jason Lawrence recently led a tour for the Headlight Herald, along with TBCC President Paul Jarrell and TBCC Foundation Executive Director Britta Lawrence. Jason said that in addition to the IT systems, crews were also working to complete the building’s security systems before moving on to a final cleaning, which had already started upstairs. While most elements of the building are complete, artistic and design touches, including a painted topographical map of the county, frosted glass appliques featuring themes inspired by nature and displays honoring donors, remain to be installed. Similarly, while basic classroom furnishings have been set up in the upstairs classrooms and both the EMT and nursing labs downstairs, installation of the nursing-training stations and EMTtraining equipment will wait until after the final cleaning. Jarrell said that he had already received a lot of interest from community groups about hosting events in the new building’s event center, which will be capable of hosting more than 300, where workers were completing setup of the movable walls that allow the space to be divided into five different configurations. Jason said that he expected See TBCC, Page A3
WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
The building’s exterior is finished, and landscaping will be completed in the new courtyard in the spring.
Citizen Editor
Heading into her final session in Salem, State Senator Suzanne Weber is ready to tackle several important issues, including transient lodging tax reform and the state’s education funding formula. Weber, who is ineligible to run for reelection following a 2023 walkout, told the Headlight Herald in a recent interview that she would probably stay involved in public life in some way because of her passion and exhorted others to become similarly engaged. “I get involved in these things because I’m interested and I care and I wish there were more people that would get involved in you might say the entry level,” Weber said. “Learn what’s going on in your city,
school boards and water boards, find out, because otherwise things happen to you rather than you knowing and being able to influence anything that happens.” With a short five weeks on the legislative calendar this year, each legislator is restricted to sponsoring two bills. One of Weber’s bills will be a renewal of a push she and State Representative Cyrus Javadi led last year to amend the state’s restrictions on spending for transient lodging tax (TLT) dollars. Currently, jurisdictions are required to spend 70% of See WEBER, Page A5
Javadi pushes TLT reform, open primaries in short session WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
As the legislative session gets rolling this week, State Representative Cyrus Javadi will seek to pass transient lodging tax reform and advance a ballot measure to open Oregon’s primary elections to the ballot. Javadi said that while he believes the former reform might have to wait until next year’s long session, he is bullish that his and State Senator Suzanne Weber’s joint push to
those revenues on tourism marketing or tourist-related facili- Headlight Herald ties, a percentage that matching bills by Javadi and Weber seek
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Furniture in the building’s downstairs hallway that will be moved to several student lounges around the building.
Weber ready for session WILL CHAPPELL
In his 1,144th town hall at the Port of Tillamook Bay’s officer’s mess hall on January 22, Senator Ron Wyden focused on his opposition to the policies and actions of the administration of President Donald Trump in response to concerned constituents. Wyden touted a recent success in securing mental healthcare funding against proposed cuts the week before the meeting and argued that by forcefully pushing back, he and other Democrats could make a difference. “I know that a lot of people are furious about what’s going on in Washington D.C.,” Wyden said. “At the same time, I want people to know that when we do fight, when we do push back, we’re able to get things done.” After being introduced by State Representative Cyrus Javadi, Wyden started the town hall by discussing a fight the previous week over $2 billion in funding for mental health care, which Republicans were trying to rescind. Wyden said that he had made a stink about the issue in the media, eventually leading Trump to pull his support for the proposal, leaving the funding secure. The first constituent at the town hall asked Wyden about how he would support people providing care for their aging parents, and Wyden said that he favored taxes on billionaires to provide monetary support. “The billionaires are going to start paying some taxes, rather than going for years on end paying nothing because of a loophole, so we can get
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allow jurisdictions freer use of transient lodging tax (TLT) dollars will be successful. “One thing I’ve learned over the last couple of terms is that there can always be last minute hurdles and some of those are not recoverable,” Javadi said. “What happened last time when that bill went to the senate committee and it was in there, it couldn’t come out, not even the senate president could reach in and move it and so we wanted to have a backup just in case something fishy happens at the
end.” Javadi’s push to amend the split that currently requires jurisdictions spend 70% of TLT, paid on overnight stays, on tourism marketing or facilities kicked off last year and was nearly successful, passing the house before stalling out in a senate committee amid political infighting. This year, Javadi and Weber are bringing matching bills before their chambers, seeking to reduce the funds required to be spent on tourism-related expenses to 40%, allow-
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ing counties tourism to use the remaining money for whatever they chose. While the bill faced stiff opposition from the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association in last year’s session, Javadi said that he feels the group has been less opposed this year and that fellow lawmakers continue to support the change to give localities more flexibility in a challenging fiscal climate. “Right now, I feel like the temperature See JAVADI, Page A3
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