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
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