Image provided by: Upper Left Edge; Cannon Beach, OR
About The upper left edge. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1994)
Abe said Where <k you want the k Ood mm J, "Out on Highway 6 1 " Bat) Dylan Highway 61 done7* sited O-dark. th irty . Friday morning, the llth of February. 94 Ab Childress tosses me a rag to wipe condensation from the windshield of his road worn 71 GMC pickup Frost rimes his pea-gravelled driveway At 7 a m the neighbor ho a ro lls over in bed. w inter ink dominating the sky A wisp of steam curls from my coffee cup I slouch low in the truck s seat, cheerful as a frozen turnip "Hand me that screwdriver on the dash" Ab lurches outside the cab, lif t s the hood, arcs the screwdriver across the sta rte r motor at the engine, and we have ignition A few sputters later, we achieve roar-up “Must be water in the gas tank“, he barks to me above the garbled stacatto of the C B radio stowed in the glove box 'we angle onto Highway 101. scuffing icy gravel, tools ra ttlin g 3nd thudding in the truck s aft section On Friday. January 14th, elephant boulders cascaded down the slopes of Neahkahnie Mountain, clogging Highway 101 and staunching tra ffic flow north and south on our coast Some say the Ancient Ones. Kant, patron of the mountain, Ice, Wild woman, w ild Man and others who inhabit the mountain s nether regions, were expressing displeasure at mans a c tiv itie s below Of that l cannot speak l can te ll you that for Ab and myself the highway blockage w3s most untimely we began constructing a home ,n Manzanita late in January we found ourselves commut mg for an hour-plus each day from Cannon Beach to Manzanita and back--a bleached-knuckle a ffa ir down Highway S3 that has neutralized the pigment in my hair and sent my blood pressure raging This morning, the llth of February, as we ra ttle east toward Necamcum Junction and the rising sun, I taste my nerves in n*ly throat Black ice sparkles as we fork south on 53 I feel like Slim Pickens in the movie “Fail Safe", riding through the sky on a nuclear warhead We edge southward past Horecny's spread and Hamlet Road Dawn trie s desperately to clim b over the eastern h ills and warm the Nehalem Valley The coffee dregs threaten to form a skin of ice at the base of my cup For log true kers, the trip down 53 is a cat and mouse, hound and hare a ffa ir--th e road a scrawny string of chuck-holed, shoulderless pavement, blind corners, and treacherous winter footing In our old truck w ith its slick condom tires, an icy morning is a run through the gauntlet, a flig h t down M I G Alley, a march w ith 'the 600" through the Valley of Death "Loaded logger, northbound. Milepost 3," we hear over the C B ‘ Slippery as greased whale snot this morning, T im»' "Yeah, did you see that boat that launched its e lf out through the trees back there7 Trailer must have le ft the road when it hit ice and went airborne" I cross myself and hunker lower in the seat Highway 53. like the rock song t it le of the 50 s, traverses "20 m iles of bad road" Some drivers stop completely as they approach the most dangerous curves in the higher areas between the Nehalem Fish Hatchery and the Sunset Highway Chuck holes gutter the pavement, tire tracks appear high on mud banks adjacent to the pavement, delineating the vectors selected by prudent, te rrif led drivers we growl south through angular h ills and watercourses Bergsvik Creek, Jack Horner Creek. Soapstone Creek, and the Nehalem River The rive r and its valley debouch from between mountains and lead south to the sea The dangerous travelling is past Ab and I yarn a few stories and relax near the grace of God's Valley just north of Mohler If those of us whove been forced to commute back and forth on Highway 53 due to rock slides survive maiming or death, I w ill entertain the presence of the miraculous I commend the general citizenry and the log truck dr ivers who proceed cautiously and courteously--folks thrown together in a hard place at a bad time A loaded logger moving north today stated the situation clearly on his C B radio as he approached the end of the detour "Loaded logger Milepost 3 Headed n o rth ' "loaded logger M ilepost? Headed north" "Logger, loaded, Milepost I and Goddam glad of it'" When Highway 101 opens again, I assure you. readers, I w ill be most grateful Serving All O f C let sop County Since 1976 'C oastal Landscape Specialist* 8 6 . t •> « 1 • -1 4 ara 6 i 8 I QUALITY TOOLS, INC. 2966 Hwy 10' N Seaside. OR 97138 Tom Brownson • Oosiyn • C onstruction • Irrigation • Rockones • Sod & Saod I awns • R etaining Walls • W ater Features • Native and O rnam ental Planting • Tractor Services 738-3074 SAWS ow ns G« s o t«S ; . U ‘’«ESSO«S S’ A’ OAAVEO.. ; V s ' MA TCXXS ÎM C V C .E Quincy »ugerman left this wor Id feb 2nd. 1994 r She had it in her w ill that if it became counter , i •• ' •.......the plug \ r>t! lupus She died at. she lived, honestly, passionately, and with a minimum of bullshit Quincy, when I met her and unt 11 her death, wor bed for OSPIRO, Oregw State Public Interest Rehear ch Qroup We worked toye’ her for about three years. and the last time I sow her was when she came to visit me at the book store here in Cannon Beach, with tier huge white mg A Or eat Pyrenees or something She had lost a lot of weight. again, and I didn t reuugrnye her fur a moment It scared me a little , perhaps my heart knew Quincy loved Cannon Beach, and would always find w«fys to come itiwn She got a lot of help from tfie active environmental community We were working on Measure 6 the Recycling in itia tive w ith the Cannon Beach Energy folks. Mary Anne. Rippey. Jim Kanrten. the regulars We were doing a ra ffle and fund raiser in B ill s and ever ytxxTy was having fun and we made money. and I felt at home Quincy had dr i ven us down in her truck She always hod a name for her trucks Mar y Anne ar r anged for us to stay in that tiny cabin r ight on the beach in front of Heystack rock I moved down soon after I took several road trip s with Quincy we worked the Oregon State Fair in Salem ’ oge’ her . talking recycling On the dr ive home we talked about Grateful Dead shows we d seen, and the sixties, and stuff we did and stuff we hoped to do Quincy was the Science per son at OSPIRO. she could tell you which companies in Oregon wer e guud guys and bad guys and back it up w ith data and explain the chem istry Ml I taught her a lot Quincy was respected in the Oregon State legislature and in the Environmental Community of Oregon for tier liar U wor k . her gr eat guud humor and Tier honesty She lobbied and resear ched and wrote and did news confer entes Everyone in Oregon who wor ked around the Environmental Folks had at least heard of her She was legendary for having seen the Or aleful Dead live over 3 0 0 , or 400. or I fo n t know if anyone but Quincy knows how many, times I'm sure she had plans to see them this spring Quincy reminded me of the .lewish aunt I always thought it would be nice to have EmmaOoldman of the 80 sand 9 0 s She had a senae about her , a style of her own She was a sister of the Feminist Movement, and nappity, a sister to the men she worked w ith She gave respect when it was deserved and commanded it always She w ill always have mine I would like to suggest that Quincy's friends a, OSPIRO and USPIRO, and thruugfmut the Environmental and P olitical Community, set up a fund to provide a scholarship in the E nvironm enlal/political sciences for a challenged young woman, and ask the Dead to kick it off And call it the Quincy Sugar man/Orateful Dead Memorial Scholarship for the Environment, P olitics and Rock A. Roll We need to w rite a grant We have lost a champion February again r ame through w ith a very necessary dose of sunshine Comes the year when, after a sodden Nov thru 'an . February tails to provide a sun break, we pi edict an immediate 50X drop in state population w ith the survivors all indicted as ax murderers February s t trial weekend dated Newport s annual s e a fo o d and W ine f e s t iv a l I o< il (and not so local' wine makers and seafood purveyors gathered in an immense tent on the far side of the bay to peddle anything from a taste to a truckload of their respective wares to tp p r o x im a te ly ? 0 .0 0 0 visito rs and a small coterie of »hell shocked natives Notable this year w ts the expanded number of vendors of I ering the festive an opportunity to indulge in that quintessential Northwestern seafood deln acy, the Vietnamese Spr ing Roll Terry (Terrible Terry) Thompson, Newport fisherman for some 30* years, has announced fie is running for State Rep from this d is tric t He hopes to replace the Hon Hedy Ri jken who has announced she doesn t intend to run for re-election The Honorable T errible7 Why no t7 Worfs for me Early to bed ind early to rise. 8» etc is probably a good and ra t tonal w.iy to run a life H ow ever. live so and you m iss some of the m ost entertaining things that occur in th is old wor Id Two th irty in the ly of em we find ourselves out of the devil weed, tobacco So oft to the local OuickyMart to get some Immediately in front of us in the line is an a ttra ctive lady of some 25 or th irty summers Ahead of her a youth of Jr High vintage The youth asks the clerk for cigarettes CLFRK “ I can t sell you tobacco unless you re IB and have ID You got to have hair on your chest to buy cigarettes here, boy " Youth m utters something and stomps out the door YOUNG LADY (sm iling) May I have a pack of FI Ropo Grandes please7" CLERK (also sm iling) "Well, I don t know Got hair on your chest7 ' YOUNG I ADY (smile widens to gaudy grin) "Yes' Regularly' Philip Thompson /¿'J c*fi is boh«’ a rc h ite c tu re A e n v iro n m e n ta l p la n n in g 25925 N.W. St Helens Rri , Srapptxivi-, OR 97056 (503)543-2000 V fT L F LOT I K t M UCH IW3