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Inside • The Spot, pg 3 • Heart of CARTM, pg 6 • The Fern, pg 7 • Holiday Shopping in Rockaway Beach, pg 8 • White Christmas at Coaster Theatre, pg 8 • Family-owned candy shops, pg 9 • Locally designed holiday cards, pg 10-11 • Communities benefit from shopping local, pg 12 • Captain’s Corner, pg 14 • Pacific Northwest Cabinets, pg15 • Four Paws on the Beach, pg 16
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Headlight Herald
Tuesday, November 26, 2024 | Vol. 136, Issue 48
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Pacific Restaurant hosts Shop with Making the Grade a Cop fundraiser for area children
Test results improve in Tillamook school districts
WILL CHAPPELL
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Headlight Editor
embers of the public gathered for a dinner on November 19, at Pacific Restaurant in Tillamook to help raise funds for the county’s Shop with a Cop program, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Funds raised at the dinner will help law enforcement officers from across the county take a group of 45-50 youth shopping for presents at Fred Meyer on December 21, as part of an ongoing effort to foster trust between law enforcement and the community. The program originally started in 1978 in Las Vegas, Nevada, as a partnership between the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and Kmart, before quickly expanding nationwide. Troxel said that he grew up with the events in Corvallis and was surprised when he arrived in Tillamook in 2003 to find that the program had not reached the county, so started working to introduce it the following year. Since its inception, the program has served more than 1,200 kids and is now starting to serve the children of some early participants, according to Troxel. Nominations to participate are accepted from community partners and kids aged four to 12 are typically selected but exceptions are made for older siblings. Fred Meyer has partnered with the program since its inception to facilitate the shopping spree for the youngsters and offers breakfast to the officers and kids to start the day. In addition to Tillamook Police officers, representatives from the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office, Manzanita Police Department, Oregon State Police and United States Coast Guard will participate on the day of the event. Troxel said that he
WILL CHAPPELL
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Chief Nick Troxel (left) and School Resource Officer Trent Olson (right) both lent a hand at the fundraiser.
was hoping to raise enough funds to give each kid $200 to go shopping. Troxel said that the program’s purpose is to help children who might have had stressful or traumatic experiences involving law enforcement see officers in a different light and foster trust with the kids.
“The idea behind the program is we’re going to invite that child in and take them shopping so that our hope is their brain will go, ‘hey, these are good people, these are people I can actually trust,’ versus having that trauma association with law enforcement,” Troxel said.
photos by Will Chappell
At the fundraising dinner, attendees enjoyed a three-course meal, featuring, salad, tri-tip and a brownie, prepared Pacific Restaurant owner Nelia Seratista, and had the opportunity to purchase raffle tickets for gift cards donated by Sheldon Oil.
Groundwork nearly complete on TBCC healthcare education building WILL CHAPPELL
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Headlight Editor
fter breaking ground in June, crews are completing final preparations to lay the cement pad for the new healthcare education building at Tillamook Bay Community College in the coming weeks. Jason Lawrence, Tillamook Bay Community College’s (TBCC) Director of Facilities and Safety, said that the progress meant that the $23.8-million project is on track for a fall 2025 opening. The new 28,000-square-foot facility will serve as home to TBCC’s recently introduced nursing program as well as a host of other spaces that will expand the college’s offerings. A designated EMT lab will allow TBCC to host emergency technician classes, which in recent years have been held at the Rockaway Beach Fire Department. A dedicated ambulance simulator as well as two decommissioned vehicles donated by Adventist Health will give students an opportunity for hands-on learning and the lab will be equipped so that students or teachers can attend class virtually.
Photo by Will Chappell
Construction crews are completing final preperations to lay the cement pad for the new healthcare education building at Tillamook Bay Community College in Tillamook.
An x-ray room will also be included in the new building, with equipment donated by Adventist, and allow students to train to become limited x-ray technicians, a less-involved accreditation process
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than that for radiation technologists. TBCC President Paul Jarrell said that he hopes the facility expansion might also allow for the revival of the college’s paramedicine program in the future.
Those healthcare education facilities will be located on the building’s first floor, along with a See TBCC TO, Page A3
Headlight Editor
tudent test scores in English language arts, math and science improved across the board in Tillamook’s three school districts between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years, Oregon Department of Education data showed. North county’s Neah-Kah-Nie School District continued to lead the county in achievement, overperforming state averages in each of the tests, while Tillamook and Nestucca continued to trail those averages in most results. In math testing, 27.0% of Tillamook students tested proficient for their grade level, compared with 31.0% across the state, 33.9% in Neah-Kah-Nie and 12.4% in Nestucca. That marked a 5.6% increase in performance from last year for Tillamook and fourth graders had the strongest results, with 45.1% achieving proficiency in the testing. Neah-Kah-Nie’s fifth graders performed the strongest of any grade level in any district in the county, with 51% testing at grade level, helping to drive a 1.4% increase in overall proficiency for the district. English language arts scores were higher across the state as well as the county, with 42.5% of Oregon students demonstrating grade-level proficiency, a slight dip from last year’s 43% result. Tillamook school district saw its proficiency percentage increase from 35.0% to 38.4%, with eighth graders and high school juniors each achieving a 54.2% mark to lead the way. 57% of Neah-KahNie’s students showed grade-level proficiency in English language arts, up from 54.2% last year, and Nestucca students improved from 28.6% showing proficiency in last year’s test to 34.8% in this year’s. Science results showed a small increase statewide, with 30.6% of students demonstrating proficiency as compared to 29.4% last year. In Tillamook, a significant jump in performance occurred, with 30.5% of students proficient compared to 24.8% last year and high school juniors performing strongest with 46.0% demonstrating proficiency. Neah-Kah-Nie students also showed improved proficiency, with 37.7% testing at grade level as compared to 35% last year and 21.7% in 2021-2022. Nestucca students took a slight step back in science testing, with 15.4% showing proficiency in the subject compared with 19% last year. This year was the third that standardized testing returned after the coronavirus pandemic forced a oneyear hiatus and students statewide have still not matched the performance of their pre-pandemic peers. Prior to the pandemic, 39.4% of students statewide tested as gradeSee RESULTS TO, Page A3
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