Q&A on St. Helens Lagoon repurposing project
Columbia County Special Olympics PAGE A10
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Chronicle & Chief THE COLUMBIA COUNTY
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 | Columbia County, Oregon
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Columbia County Museum getting new home WILL LOHRE
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COURTESY PHOTO FROM LAUREY WHITE
Mark Lakeman, of Communitecture, speaks to the crowd gathered at the Clatskanie Food Hub on April 12.
Revitalizing our Clatskanie community LAUREY WHITE Chronicle & Chief Guest Article
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he weekend of April 12-14 was a busy one in Clatskanie for concerned citizens as they gathered to plan for the city’s future. The project began Friday night with a kick-off, followed by a Saturday morning workshop and wrapped up Sunday with a volunteer clean-up day. The Downtown Revitalization Project was made possible thanks to a large Travel Oregon grant the city secured – more than $81,000. The $81,610 grant is designed to beautify areas, while improving accessibility for all. “This project is a great way to get people to communicate with each other,” said Mark Lakeman, who facilitated the three day planning event. Lakeman is the principal and lead designer for Communitecture, an architecture, planning, and design firm. Lakeman, outlined the importance for safety and accessibility, beautification, places to gather and art and cultural expression. Lakeman spoke often of placemaking, the act of using a multifaceted approach to planning, design and management of public spaces. One of the main concerns is the bridge walkway that goes from Copes Park to City Park. It is very hard to access for people with walking disabilities. The areas that most need improvement include a walkway along the river. Attendees unanimously agreed that capitalizing on the beautiful rover that runs through town is imperative, because of its beauty and its nearness to the town proper. Programs Coordinator and Director of Keep it Local of Columbia County Sierra Trass was very impressed with the turnout at all three events. Keep it Local Columbia County is the largest Columbia County online directory of local businesses, events and organizations, according to their website at keepitlocalcc.com. “The first night we were pleasantly surprised that nearly 60 people showed up,” said Trass. “And we had close to 50 at the morning workshop.” Trass emphasized that the town won’t have to wait long to the results of the grant. See REVITALIZING, Page A10
he Columbia County Museum Association (CCMA), along with other county services, will soon have a new home in the John Gumm School building. To help with this transition, the CCMA will be receiving capital funding from the state. Next week, we will get a more thorough glimpse into the complete scope of the work at John Gumm School and what the county’s new headquarters will look like. For now, let’s focus on the museum’s new location. The Chronicle & Chief reached out to CCMA Curator Les Waters to better understand the new space and the work that went into funding it. Waters said to secure funding, a grant request was initiated in August of 2022. “After a rigorous review of over 35 qualified applicants, the Cultural Advocacy Coalition, selected the CCMA as one of 17 non-profits to be included in a request for capital funding from the State of Oregon through the Cultural Resource Economic Fund (CREF),” Waters said. “The State of Oregon general fund will be the source for the $400,000 which should be received some time this year.” Waters said the museum’s new space will occupy the school’s former library and 1st grade classroom and storage areas. The grant funds will help with the design and construction expenses associated with the museum space. “The designated museum spaces require significant attention to ensure that the county’s col-
CCMA volunteers visit John Gumm Building Museum space (Room 1) undergoing renovation in August 2023.
lection is displayed and stored in controlled and safe environments,” Waters said. “The allocated space is designed to do that as well as making as much of the collection available to the public as possible. Costs associated with these special considerations were included in the grant request.” Waters said the new space will be “more accessible than” its current location. The museum will now be on the first floor and fully
ADA accessible. “This will allow more visitors to view the collection and interact with volunteers who enjoy answering questions about local history,” Waters said. “The museum display area will be slightly larger than the current museum.” To try and take the museum beyond the new space, Waters said there is planning underway to expand the exhibit space into the public hallways and meeting
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rooms. This would allow visitors to “learn about local history during non-museum hours.” To make use of the other spaces in John Gumm, Waters said the CCMA will use the well-equipped auditorium for public programs about various historical events and topics. “Overall, the museum and public spaces throughout the building See MUSEUM, Page A9
St. Helens boxer ready for pro debut series. The show’s influence can still be seen on Allen’s social media; he refers to himself as Haidon “Ippo” Allen in some promotional posts. Allen started with kickboxing, going 2-0 with two KOs. Allen competed in some informal fighting events before deciding to see how far he could take his new passion. Allen began seeking USA Boxing gyms to start training. He began training at Ramos Boxing in Albany. Allen wanted to go to nationals and worked with his coach to make it happen. Allen took on nine opponents over a two-month span and went 8-1. He qualified for nationals in his first year and competed in December of 2021 at the USA Boxing National Championship. Allen lost to the “number two guy in the country” in semifinals that year, and finished the year ranked 6th in the country. After just his first year.
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This week, a St. Helens local and St. Helens High School alum will step into the ring to make his professional boxing debut. While for some, the journey to going pro is a lifelong journey, Haidon Allen just started boxing three years ago, but is ready for the next step. Competing in the Arena Wars Fighting Series, Allen will compete in his first professional fight at Campy Withycombe, located at 15300 SE Industrial Way, Happy Valley, Oregon, on April 20. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the event will begin at 7 p.m. The Chronicle & Chief interviewed Allen one-on-one to better understand his approach, how he got into boxing, and his mentality as he takes his first shot at the pros. “Going into the fight, you have to be prepared, but you have to have a good head on your shoulders. You have to stay calm,” Allen said. “Some people fight with anger, with speed, all that. But for me? I like to be like water. Like Bruce Lee. You have to stay calm in a fight, and you gotta flow, because anything can happen.”
Building to this moment
Starting out Allen grew up in St. Helens and competed in baseball, wrestling, and football as a three-sport athlete at St. Helens High School. While he always loved athletics, he realized he liked individual sports best. Allen likes chess, and he said competing in wrestling and boxing makes him feel like the “king of the board.” Allen wrestled in college at the University of St. Mary and Oregon State University before transitioning to boxing in 2021. “I fell in love with it,” Allen said. I’ve only been at it for three years, but I’ve done a lot in those
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COURTESY PHOTO FROM HAIDON ALLEN
Allen will compete in his first professional fight at Campy Withycombe, located at 15300 SE Industrial Way, Happy Valley, Oregon, on April 20.
three years.” Allen said that boxing was easy for him to get into because it involved both physical and mental competition. While Allen said the training for wrestling and boxing was similar, boxing brought a “different aspect.” “It made me use my brain a lot more. Boxing is like a fast-paced bullet chess game. You really have to think on the fly; you have to uti-
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lize all your reactions and all your abilities,” Allen said. “I feel like it really brought the best out of me.” The sport required Allen to use his movement, his reaction, and his brain. After starting, Allen caught the bug and said he became “addicted to learning.” Allen trained by himself for a whole year. One of his inspirations was actually an anime show called “Hajime no Ippo,” which is a boxing-themed manga
After his successful first season, Allen said he wanted to make boxing “his dream.” Over the past two years, Allen has been building to the brink of his pro debut. Since that first year, Allen said he has had 50 amateur fights and has a 41-9 record. Allen said that seven of his losses came from a split decision but that he’s learned from the other two losses he had. “That includes all my amateur experience,” Allen said. “That includes MMA. I was 1-0 for the MMA title at FCFF. I’m 2-0 in kickboxing, and I’m 46-9 in boxing.” According to Allen, some of his accolades now include being 2-time Golden Glove State Champion, 1-time Regional Golden Glove Champion, and was the former No. 2 ranked boxer in USA Boxing. See BOXER, Page A10
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