Boycotted inn fights back with strippers

Another young Tillamook mother slips into a skimpy, form-fitting black gown and steers to the same town to dance for tips at the only exotic club on the northern Oregon coast.

They, along with strip-club patrons, visiting families, longtime residents and retirees, mix it up in this quiet community. Dependent on vacation rentals and tourists, pint-size Oceanside -- population 326 -- sustains one cafe, one coffee shop, one nude adult entertainment venue -- and feuding citizens.

For the last three years, a bitter dispute over growth and development has divided the community. Angry neighbors boycotted the inn and restaurant because it had expanded upward. The man who had bought the business and tried to make a go of it ended up nearly broke. As a last resort, he brought in strippers in December.

Now a state land-use board is investigating the matter.

State officials had better hurry; many villagers are at one another's throats.

"Boycott the Anchor" signs are plastered on dozens of Oceanside homes. Bumper stickers proclaim "You Won't See Me at the Anchor."

At the center of the storm is the Anchor Inn and Grill. Trouble ripened a few years ago after the owner added guest rooms by building a third floor that, neighbors said, obstructed views. They questioned the building permit's legality and organized a boycott against the business. The building has since changed hands, but the boycott persists.

"This is where I wanted to retire, but they destroyed this," said Slawomir "Sam" Piskorski, current owner of the Anchor.

Piskorski, a Polish immigrant, former steel worker and real estate investor, said the boycott forced him to take drastic measures. He has abandoned hope of a peaceful retirement. Now he wants to sell the place and get out. But until it sells, he said, the strippers will carry on.

Efforts at compromise -- buyouts, property trades, remodeling schemes -- have flopped.

As both sides battle, the vacation rental season draws closer.

Most people visit Oceanside to fish, charter boats or go clamming, crabbing or hiking. The beach beckons surfers, hang gliders, paragliders and kayakers. A half-mile offshore, Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge gives rocky island sanctuary to tufted puffins, common murres, pelagic cormorants, seals and sea lions.