OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
Water
under
the bridge
Compiled by Bob Duke
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago this week — 2007
So far, California sea lions have been winning their contest for sur-
vival with the Washington and Oregon salmon heading upstream to
spawn. That may be about to change.
Washington, Oregon and Idaho are asking Congress for permission
to kill more than 80 sea lions a year to protect the salmon they feast on.
Since federal rules gave sea lions greater protection in the 1970s, the
population of these salmon predators has grown as more gentle efforts
called “nonlethal hazing” have not scared them away from their favor-
ite meat.
Sea lions on the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam have been
blasted with rubber buckshot, chased by boats, harassed by firecrackers
and rockets and subjected to noise from underwater speakers.
The sea lions and the salmon have potent allies. Backing the salmon
are the three Northwest states, American Indian tribes and four of the
region’s members of Congress. Backing the sea lions is the 10 mil-
lion-member Humane Society of the United States.
The confrontation involves two of the nations pre-eminent environ-
mental laws: the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Pro-
tection Act.
When it comes to wind and rain storms, Astoria has more
than its share — enough to uproot trees and undermine
hillsides.
But Astoria’s abundant wind and water are also great
resources that have the potential to produce clean, renewable
energy, and city leaders are looking to do just that. A hydroelec-
tric and wind power project feasibility study is now underway.
If results are favorable, Astoria could generate electricity to
sell to utility companies and generate revenue for the city.
50 years ago — 1967
Ten students in the marine technology department of Clatsop Com-
munity College will fly to San Francisco Thursday with their instructor,
Capt. J.S. Elsbree, to bring north an 80 foot boat, the Belle, owned by Els-
bree’s brother, J.H. Elsbree.
Elsbree is currently living aboard the vessel, a former Alaska cannery
tender which has quarters for a dozen people on board. He plans to bring
the boat to the East End Mooring Basin here and expects to make his
home in Astoria.
The collegians are making the trip to gain experience in practical
seamanship.
The City Council took under advisement Monday night a
recommendation by the traffic safety committee to increase the
penalty for overtime parking from 50 cents to $1.
Purpose of the recommendation, the committee said, is to
discourage the practice of “meter feeding” by people who leave
their cars parked downtown all day long.
LONG BEACH, Wash. — Organizations and residents on the penin-
sula have for almost a year appeared before or written letters to the State
Parks & Recreation department about appalling conditions of the North
Jetty road west of Fort Canby.
A trip on the road indicated it is in such poor condition, it is impossible
to travel in excess of 5 mph without causing damage to the car. In many
cases holes as large as 6 and 8 feet in diameter appeared.
75 years ago — 1942
The Daily Astorian/File
The U.S. naval minesweeper YMS-100 rides on the Lewis and
Clark River after her launching from the Astoria Marine Construc-
tion Co. ways Sunday. Three more of the craft are under construc-
tion and a total of 12 135-foot minesweepers will be built under
present contract. Launching cradle is seen in the foreground.
Most of Astoria and a big contingent of Navy folk from Bremerton and
Seattle were on hand at the bustling big Lewis and Clark River plant of
the Astoria Marine Construction Co. Sunday morning to watch the YMS-
100 slide majestically and with dignity into the water.
The YMS-100 was first to be launched of the four new 135-foot
wooden Navy minesweepers that have been under construction since last
summer in a big new iron-roofed shipbuilding plan just north of the old
Astoria Marine plant on the tidelands beside Lewis and Clark River.
The pinball machine is steadily beating out the parking
meter in the competition for John Public’s spare nickels, if fig-
ures in the city treasurer’s office are indicative of “which gets
what.”
Gasoline rationing to dealers in Astoria becomes more severe on
Thursday when a 13 1/2 percent reduction under the 1941 consumption
here is added to the present 20 percent reduction to make a total of 33 1/2
percent, dealers report.
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
The national championship
team behind Seaside Kids
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
T
he year 1956 represented
a time when baseball was
America’s national pastime
and every kid had a mitt with the
signature of Mantle, Mays or Aaron.
In Seaside, young players
starred not only for the tourna-
ment-bound Gulls’ baseball team,
but the Connie Mack Ameri-
can Legion team, with kids aged
17 to 19. The pitching was so
good, Seaside’s
Ed Rippet said,
that Jim Dick-
son — a future
major leaguer
with the Kansas
City Athletics —
played second-fiddle to ace Garry
Holmes.
Seaside Kids’ President John
Morris and members Rippet and
Jim Auld paid a visit to the Sea-
side Signal offices recently. They
were each children when Sea-
side Kids was founded in 1956,
and the experience was so pro-
found they helped create and sus-
tain a program that provides ath-
letic time and team experience
for kids to this day. “Active youth
today, active leaders tomorrow,”
Morris said.
“We followed that team, we
watched every game they ever
played,” Auld said. “That was
the age we were. We lived at the
ballpark.”
Seaside’s Connie Mack Legion
team played competition from
Portland, Forest Grove and
Eugene, culminating in a three-
day tournament held in Seaside.
Seaside won three games in the
finals, all of them by shutouts,
earning the right to represent the
state in the national finals held
in San Bernardino, California.
Holmes won two and Dickson
won one, including a six-hit shut-
out in a 1-0 thriller.
Bill Fague managed the squad,
assisted by coaches Chet Bowser
and Bob Paschall and train-
ers George Gray and Leo “Pop”
Leard.
When the Connie Mack team
won the tournament in Seaside,
Fague began a round of fund-
raising to get the team to the
tournament.
“He said, ‘Well, let’s see if we
can get some money and we’ll
fly them down there,’” Auld said.
“He went through town and peo-
ple started giving him money, and
he recorded every bit of money
he received and from who. They
got an airplane, got the kids to
Portland. None of them had ever
been on an airplane before, and
flew them down to San Ber-
nardino for this tournament,
billed as the West Coast World
Series.”
Amazingly, Holmes threw
two three-hit games, defeating
teams from Burien, Washington,
and Stockton, California. Pitcher
Hugh Springer won Game 2 in
a 1-0 shutout. Dickson, while
not on the mound, stayed in the
lineup and joined Bob Canessa
and Eric Blitz in the run-produc-
ing department. The team hit .374
in the series.
Seen from Seaside
Maybe you remember those
old baseball movies where fans
back in the day waited around for
File Photo
Seaside won a national championship in 1956 and spawned the or-
ganization Seaside Kids.
From that point on, it ran itself.”
Fague remained in charge until
his death in 1985.
Back to the future
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
Ed Rippet, Jim Auld and John
Morris, lifetime participants and
supporters of Seaside Kids.
telegraph operators to post the
scores.
Such was the scene in Seaside.
“You didn’t have a lot of infor-
mation going back and forth,
other than somebody phoning
information about the games and
positing it in the drugstore win-
dows,” Auld said. “People knew
the inning and what was going
on. When they won that thing,
everyone was elated.”
Seaside American Legion col-
lected 16 hits and 11 runs in the
finale against Stockton.
After the team plane arrived
back in Portland, the squad
returned to Seaside for what
the Signal called “an all-out
welcome.”
Hundreds of fans were wait-
ing to greet them at the Junc-
tion to escort the “Pacific Coast
champions” to the Elks Club for a
reunion and celebration.
After the party — including
a chicken dinner for 165 peo-
ple — Fague found he still had
money left over from the city’s
generous contributions. “He said
I can’t figure how to give it back,
so let’s use that money to create a
Seaside kids’ youth baseball pro-
gram,” Auld said. “From 1957
on, we operated as ‘Seaside Kids
Inc.’ No kid would be charged to
participate in our youth programs.
Seaside Kids, Inc. is launch-
ing its 61st year with a member-
ship drive. Funds provide pro-
grams for more than 600 South
County kids.
Activities include summer
baseball and softball, recreational
swimming, third- to sixth-grade
football, fourth-to-sixth-grade
volleyball and boys and girls bas-
ketball clinics. Games are played
in Cannon Beach, Gearhart, Sea-
side and Jewell.
Older teams play against teams
in the Astoria league and the
organization continues its affilia-
tion with the Oregon Junior Base-
ball Association. Full uniforms
are provided, and every athlete is
guaranteed playing time.
“It used to be most of our pro-
grams were in the summer,” Rip-
pet said. “Now they’re more con-
current with school. We’d like to
think we’re doing things for kids
in their spare time.”
Seaside Kids sponsors free
swims in the summer months.
Auld, Rippet and Morris made
a pitch for adult volunteers —
coaches, concessionaires, even
umpires. New programs, like
bowling, require reliable staff-
ing. “We need an adult person to
step up and say, ‘I’ll organize it,’
oversee it on a Saturday morn-
ing,” Rippet said.
Big days for Seaside Kids
include the Ducky Derby, the
Sausage and Pancake Feed and
the golf tournament, auction and
dinner. And everybody is invited
to support the organization.
“We get the people that send
money in are often older peo-
ple who don’t even have kids in
the program,” Auld said. “They
continue to send that check in.
They recognize the value of Sea-
side Kids. For us, we can all say
it gave us something to look for-
ward to and activities to partici-
pate in. It’s very important to get
kids out and get them involved
in some activities and learn
teamwork.”
R.J. Marx is The Daily Astori-
an’s South County reporter and edi-
tor of the Seaside Signal and Can-
non Beach Gazette.