CRM in the news
Coast River business Journal
August 2011
by Paul Barnum
Executive Director
Oregon Forest Resources Institute
At the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, we're hearing a lot more complaints from travelers heading to the coast about clearcuts.
In fact the mosaic of different-aged stands means they are being carefully managed as working forests.
The trip along Highway 26 between Portland and the north Oregon coast is a familiar journey to most of us. The Sunset Highway passes through forestland that is nearly all privately owned, working forests, managed for sustainable timber production under state law. Clearcutting is a preferred harvest and regeneration strategy for sun depleted conifer species.
But these are not your grandfather's clearcuts. Laws regulate harvest size; they require forested buffers around streams, lakes and wetlands; and they also regulate road building.
Forest landowners are required to replant after harvest, conserve fish and wildlife habitat, and protect water quality.
Contemporary forest practices are informed by science - much of it from the Oregon State University College of Forestry - as well as changing social and environmental values.
There's also the economic value. Deep soils, high rainfall and mild conditions make northwest Oregon one of the best places in the world to grow, harvest and replant trees.
Since the 19th century, much of this privately owned land has underpinned the economics of Clatsop, Tillamook, Washington and Columbia counties. In 2009, which we hope is the nadir of the Great Recession, about 44,000 direct and indirect jobs resulted from managed forestlands in these four counties.
Sometimes, travelers incorrectly assume these are publicly owned forests and that harvest should be curtailed. Sometimes they see a large clearing and assume it was harvested for timber, when in fact it was forestland severely damaged by natural disturbance.
As many north cost residents will recall, that was exactly the case after the Great Coastal Gale of December 2007, when 130-mph winds cut power, blocked highway access and blew down thousands of acres of maturing trees. These areas were salvaged and replanted.
Recently we expanded the Oregon Forest Resources Institute's forestry education mission to help visitors understand.
This sign, located along Highway 26 between Seaside and Portland, is designed to help educate the traveling public about reforestation.
The Daily Astorian
November 26, 2010
By ELLEDA WILSON
In One Ear
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE - "This year SEASIDE'S CHRISTMAS TREE stands 26 feet tall, and when installed in its mounting will hover just over 31 feet," PAUL DUMAS of Seaside told the Ear.
Describing the photo he shot, Paul said, "The tree, located on Broadway at the west end of the Carousel Mall, is being lifted into place by volunteer NICK CREASON of Coastal Repair & Maintenance.
Special recognition goes to LARRY KRIEGSHAUSER, BOB WINNEPENNINKX and DOUG BARKER, the Chamber of Commerce events coordinator, for their combined installation support on a rainy windswept Monday morning." The Ear gets the chills just thinking about it.
"These guys worked their tails off in the rain and deserve some recognition," Paul added. "Thanks to the all-volunteer support crew, and all involved bringing the spirit of the holidays to our town."
The Daily Astorian
July 30, 2010
By NANCY MCCARTHY
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE - Police Chief Bob Gross is planning one heck of a picnic next Tuesday, and he's inviting the entire city.
The picnic will be so large, in fact, that it will cover both Broadway and Cartwright parks. Other organizations - including the Elks and Kiwanis clubs, Seaside Chamber of Commerce and Sunset Park and Recreation District - are helping out, too.
The event, from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, is part of National Night Out. It's the one night of the year when residents get together to meet their neighbors, catch up on neighborhood news and collect crime-prevention information.
It's also a time when people can ask questions of police officers and firefighters.
"It's an opportunity to come together and get reacquainted with neighbors," Gross said.
By knowing who lives next door or down the street, residents feel more comfortable asking each other to watch out for suspicious activities, he said.
This is the fifth National Night Out celebration Gross has organized in Seaside. He participated in others when he worked in Kennewick, Wash. and Reedsport.
"I think it has helped," Gross said. "People feel much more comfortable talking to a police officer (at the picnic) than picking up the phone to call police."
Begun in 1984, National Night Out originally involved 2.5 million people, 400 communities and 23 states. They were asked to turn on their porch lights and sit on their porches to demonstrate solidarity in fighting neighborhood crime.
Now, 36.7 million people and 14,625 communities in all 50 states, U.S. territories, military bases and Canadian cities participate.
In addition to police officers and firefighters, representatives from the Community Emergency Response Team and Clatsop County Women's Resource Center also will have information to distribute.
But the picnics planned at Broadway and Cartwright parks won't be serious affairs. Free hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and all the trimmings will be available, as well as dessert provided by the chamber of commerce.
Kids can play games coordinated by the park district and take a look at a fire truck. Safeway is giving away two $50 gift certificates in a raffle at 8 p.m., but recipients must be present to win.
At Cartwright Park, a flagpole, donated by Coastal Repair and Maintenance with installation sponsored by the Seaside Kiwanis, also will be dedicated.
Gross' goal during the "night out" is to encourage people to call the police when they see something suspicious, even if they can't pinpoint the cause. In return, Gross said, the police will take the information they receive seriously.
"People want to know that when we get information, we'll do something with it," he said.
Occasionally, he added, someone at the "Night Out" picnic is angry about something and lets Gross or his officers know about it.
"That's OK, too, because that tells us what's going on," he said. "But we usually get a lot of positive feedback."
Photo submitted by Meche Brownlow, Management & Training Corporation
A flagpole recently erected at Cartwright Park in Seaside will be dedicated during National Night Out at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The flagpole was donated by Ron Dean, owner of Coastal Repair and Maintenance, and the Seaside Kiwanis Club sponsored the installation and dug the hole for the pole. Dean supervises the installation from the truck and is helped by an unidentified bystander crouching at the pole. Michael Hinton, president-elect of Seaside Kiwanis, center, also helps steady the pole, while Seaside Mayor Don Larson looks on.
Seaside Police Chief Bob Gross
Seaside Signal
July 15, 2010
BY JEREMY C. RUARK
Seaside Signal
The goal posts on the Seaside High School athletic field were a safety issue. The field, also used for practices, is where teams play home games at Broadway Field, next to Broadway Middle School.
"During our practices we had some of the athletes run into the goal posts," said football coach Stubby Lyons. "To solve that safety issue, we are taking down both of the old goal posts."
Crews from Coastal Repair and Maintenace of Seaside removed the north field goal post July, 9. The south end goal post will also be taken down.
"With the old goal posts, we've had some kids get hurt," said CRM owner Ron Dean.
"The old goal posts were built right on the end zone line. The players would be running toward the goal post to catch a pass and they would be looking back and smash right into the post."
Dean donated the $3,300 worth of materials and labor needed to build and install the new goal post with help from North American Pipe in Longview, Wash., and A-1 Ready Mix Concrete in Warrenton."Schools don't have the funding for this sort of thing so we just decided to help out," said Dean.
The new red goal post is installed five feet back from the end zone line and is supported by just one pole.
"So you've reduced the chance that the players will hit the post," Dean said.
Seaside High School football players Andy Pittard and Brook Johnson helped put up the new goal post.
"It means a lot," said Johnson. "The new goalpost will help keep our players safe."
"We came out to make sure it gets up and gets us rolling," said Pittard. "Now we have a brand new goal post and a new coach. It's the beginning of a new era for Seaside High School football,."
"We will have just the one new goal post," said Lyons. "That's all we need on the practice field."
Lyons believes this is one of the only true goal posts in south Clatsop County with the correct dimensions. "It is wonderful," said Lyons.
Lyons will host a football camp for the new team July 26 at Seaside High School. The team begins lite workouts Aug. 23.
Making the Dollar: Coastal Repair and Maintenance
The Daily Astorian
May 29, 2010
Coastal Repair and Maintenance
1725 N. Roosevelt Drive, Seaside
Coastal Repair and Maintenance, CRM, provides a wide range of services and it would be pretty difficult to go through a day on the North Coast without looking up to or putting a hand on one of their products. The store is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. Visit the website at (www.coastalrepairandmaintenance.com). For more information, call (503) 717-8223 or toll free at (866) 261-6617.
What does CRM offer?
"We provide quality welding and metal fabrication services. We fabricate and install flagpoles and have in-shop and portable welding services and all metal working needs. We specialize in fabricating and installing custom stairs and stainless steel cable railing. Ornamental iron railing is our forte. CRM also provides crane and boom truck service, flags and flagpole accessories, and RV and trailer components. CRM is also a licensed trailer dealer. Last spring we installed a 45 foot flagpole at a winery in California's Napa Valley. We installed the 45 foot pole at the turnaround in Seaside and many other places around the coast. The breezeway steel structure at the Seaside Hospital was engineered and fabricated by us from start to finish. I am a welder and do a lot of steel stairs. We also repair equipment like riding mowers, bull dozers and excavators, and we have a computer controlled plasma table for making parts."
How did you get started with this business?
"We began in 1996 installing flagpoles. I found that I needed a crane so we went into the crane business. With two cranes we can do a lot of odd jobs like installing hot tubs over fences, or setting trusses and beams. With my welding and fabrication skills, one thing led to another and we have become very diversified."
What can you tell us about your volume of business?
"We have put up hundreds of flagpoles and our volume has gone up every year. Lately not so much, but we are still growing. We just bought a lot next door so we can expand. We have a 14,000-square-foot facility, two cranes, four service trucks and 11 full-time employees to support a $3 million a year business. Our growth has been like a snowball rolling downhill."
What is your strategy for coping with the recession?
"Diversity is the key. You have to do more than one thing in this economy. The days of waiting for people to come in are over and one has to pound the pavement for work. We get a lot of support from the local community. I believe there are a bunch of people who realize how important it is to buy locally, and we buy our material supplies locally. The other key is our employees. We have the best welders and fabricators in the Northwest who are willing to work with us during slow times. Some may take three-day weekends, or we may cut back to seven hours a day, but no one gets laid off, and they all receive benefits. We are successful because of our employees."
Ron Dean, owner with wife and accountant Nancy
Gulls raise money for new library flagpole
By DONALD ALLISON
Seaside Signal
June 5, 2008
Seaside High School Senior Eileen La Montagne and SHS Junior Ashley Dean raised money selling pumpkins last winter as part of their Pacific Project, and they were so successful at doing it they were able to purchase a flagpole for the new Seaside Library.
The pair were on hand last week as CRM construction workers installed the tall flagpole. La Montagne said they bought 5,000 pounds of pumpkins in two truckloads from a grower in Washington County, and resold them in Seaside.
"We bought them in bulk and sold them for $0.30 per pound," she said.
The pair received guidance and donations from community mentors like Stubby Lyons, La Montagne said.
"We purchased the flagpole for $780 wholesale," La Montagne said. "CRM donated the crane service and the flag."
Dean said selling the pumpkins was a lot of work, as some of the pumpkins were as large as 45 pounds each, and most of the selling happened during October rain.
Photos by Donald Allison (Right) Eileen La Montagne (right) and Ashley Dean (left) show off the new flagpole they raised money to purchase for the Seaside Library. (Left) The new flagpole sits in front of the Seaside Library.
CRM Lifts Yacht Mold
By ROD JONES
Seaside Signal
November 29 - December 5, 2007
If you can't find a place to live on land, maybe you need to test the waters. A custom yacht builder is setting up shop in Seaside after purchasing a Portland company and moving it 90 miles downstream.
Russell Mead will soon be churning out fiberglass yachts from his shop on Lewis and Clark road near the Highway 101 intersection. Last week he moved the necessary gear into place, most important of which consists of the molds required to shape fiberglass strips into boat form.
His primary tool of choice is a 42-foot hull mold that weighs about 4,000 pounds. The mold is so large it had to be trucked in via Highway 30 because the Highway 26 tunnel would have been too narrow. The payload would have taken up both lanes of traffic through the tunnel making for a more difficult move.
Mead is excited to get started in his new environs, building custom boats from the ground up before they are transported north to the Columbia River, then to points beyond for delivery.
The name of his company is Cascade Yacht Works, an outfit that has links to more than 50 years in the business.
Mead said his biggest change for the company, besides being based in Seaside, will be the type of resin used in the fiberglass, making for a stronger finished product.
"The resin is kind of like maple syrup - it's thick and gooey, and it won't come out of anything." he said.
New Sign Dots Landscape
Dan Smith of Willie's More Power Electric installs wiring for the new Pizza Hut sign on S. Roosevelt across from Safeway. The electric company worked with Coastal Repair and Maintenance to put up the new sign on Friday, Sept. 8, which Pizza Hut was replacing due to winter storm damages the old sign had suffered.
Seaside Signal Photo by Melanie Kabanuk
GOING UP
By LESLIE PUGMIRE
Seaside Signal
December 19, 2002
WOW facility catches fire
Blaze causes about $500,000 in damage; service will continue
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE - Despite a fire Saturday that caused about $500,000 in damage, Western Oregon Waste is proceeding on.
"Our primary focus right now is making sure our services continue." Laura Leebrick, the coast operations manager for WOW, said today.
Seaside firefighters responded at 4:05 p.m. Saturday to a fire in the maintenance shop where trucks that serve Clatsop County and north Tillamook County are serviced. They put it out, but not before the building was badly damaged. The company's office suffered major smoke damage and is currently unusable.
The cause of the fire is unknown. The Clatsop County Fire Investigation Team will look into it this morning.
Leebrick thanked Ron Dean of Coastal Repair and Maintenance for offering to let WOW use his repair facility. The shop, at 1221 S. Jackson St. at the south of Seaside, suffered an estimated $200,000 in damage, Seaside Fire Marshal Chris Dugan said. The estimate for the trucks, equipment and parts inside was $300.000.
Leebrick said the shop and office will probably be closed for two to three weeks, but said anyone needing customer service can call 738-5717. She said the company will continue its garbage and recycling services uninterrupted. Locals can continue to use the recycling station on the property, Leebrick said, although it may be moved to another location while the company rebuilds.
Smoke was pouring out of the tightly locked building when Seaside firefighters arrived. "We took saws and cut the doors open," Dugan said.
Firefighters searched for the base of the fire, which was in the back. Dugan said they had to maneuver around forklifts, gas tanks and other equipment to find the base, and had to move some equipment. They were working in the dark.
Water from the hoses combined with the heat to create a great deal of steam. Dugan compared it to working in a sauna. Because the firefighters were unsure about the stability of the roof, they could not climb onto it to cut a ventilation hole. He said the steamy conditions were typical for fighting a fire in a metal building.
Dugan said it took the firefighters nearly an hour to put out the main part of the fire, and two hours more to eliminate hot spots. He said someone may have been hit by falling debris, but no one had to go to the hospital.
The firefighters were alerted by a 9-1-1 call. The Gearhart Fire Department, Medix ambulance and Seaside police assisted.
New pole for "Old Glory"
Man gives flag poles facelift
Seaside Signal
Life can be rough for a flagpole on the damp Oregon coast, but thanks to the efforts of Ron Dean and his staff at Coastal Repair and Maintenance, several flagpoles around town have received a much needed facelift. Most recently, Dean and his crew repaired the flagpole that stands in front of the Seaside Historical Museum.
The museum's pole had a broken rope and was in need of a paint job after a stormy winter. Dean picked up the pole and took it back to his shop, repainted it, re-strung the rope and replaced it in front of the museum. Then the crew re-hung the American flag.
"Our coastal environment is pretty hard on poles, especially the old ones," Dean said. "And it costs a lot of money to refurbish them properly. I had my eye on the museum pole for a few months, and then I saw that the rope was broken."
For his next project, Dean said that he has his eye on the flag pole in front of the Warrenton High Scbool pool.
"The reason to display the American flag is to take pride and have it look good," Dean said.Dean asks for no financial contribution for flagpole repair services, which he has been performing in Seaside since 1996. The locations he chooses for his repair services are often in front of schools and other locations that couldn't otherwise afford maintenance for their poles. Among the poles he has repaired are those at the Seaside Library, the swimming pool and the Girl Scout House.
"The reason to display the American flag is to take pride and have it look good," Dean said.
New flag pole at the Turnaround
Unit features internal rope system to prevent vandalism
Seaside Signal Staff
The end of the Lewis and Clark trail received a new accessory last week.
A new 45-foot high flagpole was mounted at the westernmost tip of the Turnaround, replacing the previous pole that had once stood where the now-familiar Lewis and Clark bronze statue resides.
According to Al Harwood of the city of Seaside's public works department, the flagpole being removed was installed in the mid 1980's. The new pole will have an internal rope system that can only be accessed by a locked panel.
The new pole will eliminate that problem as well as provide a safer structural element, according to Ron Dean, owner of Coastal Repair and Maintenance.
''The new pole does not have a 'cape' under the eagle," he said. Dean, who ha operated his business locally since 1997, said that he has discovered that the decorative concrete discs tend to crack with time and have fallen without warning.
