2C
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015
Courtesy Columbia River
Maritime Museum
These mystery knives
may have been used
by Chinese for poppy
harvesting.
HISTORIC
PHOTOS OF THE WEEK
Artifact or Fake?
By JEFF SMITH
For The Daily Astorian
T
Courtesy Columbia River Maritime Museum
Use of this knife is in question. It is in the collec-
tion of the Columbia River Maritime Museum.
his mystery item came to the Colum-
bia River Maritime Museum recent-
ly. The donor thought it might be an old
sailor’s knife and was curious about the
stamped words “The Shark” and “1842”
on the blade.
We know the USS Shark wrecked here
on the bar in 1846 and left behind some
carronades that lent their name to one of
our beach communities — Cannon Beach.
We also know that in 1842 the Navy
schooner was patrolling off Peru. Is this
knife an artifact from that ship? The donor
said he purchased it off eBay from a man
who found it in a tool box full of old tools
on a farmstead the family owned.
I decided to do a little investigating.
One friend pointed out that it was unlikely
that a sailor would have put “The Shark”
onto a blade, as sailors consider their
ships to be living things and therefore do
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referring to them, they would simply say,
“Shark” or “USS Shark.”
Another thought the blade arrangement
was somewhat troublesome for the mar-
iner’s knife, too likely to cut the user. An
Internet search suggested it could be an old
mariner’s knife, just like the donor had be-
lieved, and offered many similar examples
for sale or auction, all suggesting they were
from the 19th century or older. Unfortu-
nately the “net” also posited that they could
be modern knives used to harvest poppies
in China or cut and weave coir for rugs. A
drawing of a similar knife was found in a
French book about knives of the world and
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We may never know what it is for sure,
Courtesy Columbia River Maritime Museum
but one thing is certain, it is an object of
This knife is stamped with “The Shark 1842.”
curiosity.
Bill would allow
Warriors no more for a school mascot?
sharing of wage info Tribal backers,
CAPITAL
THE
By PETER WONG
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Workers
could not be punished for
asking about or sharing
wage information under
a bill that has cleared the
Oregon House.
House Bill 2007 went
to the Senate on a 34-24
vote Tuesday. All Dem-
ocrats voted for it, and
all Republicans against
it; one Democrat and
one Republican were ex-
cused.
The bill resulted from a
recommendation last year
by the Oregon Council on
Civil Rights, which issued
a wide-ranging report on
how Oregon can move to-
ward equal pay.
According to its report,
women earned 79 cents for
every dollar men earned
in Oregon in 2012, slight-
ly more than the national
average of 77 cents. The
gaps are greater for black
and Hispanic women.
Even in job categories
that employ a majority
of women, women earn
63.8 cents for every dollar
earned by men.
Rep. Shemia Fagan,
D-Clackamas, the bill’s
floor manager, said wom-
FREE
PUBLISHED THE FIRST FRIDAY
OF EACH MONTH
January 2015
en are less likely to know
about disparities in pay or
to speak up about them —
and the bill would offer
them protection.
The bill would make it
an unlawful employment
practice for employers to
punish workers for asking
about or sharing wage in-
formation.
An exception would ap-
ply to employees who have
access to such information
but disclose it to workers
who are not authorized to
have it; investigations, by
the employer or others, are
exempt.
But critics say the bill
would disrupt relation-
ships between employers
and workers.
Among other recom-
mendations of the council,
which presented its re-
port to state Labor Com-
missioner Brad Avakian:
A requirement for paid
sick leave; changes in
state-subsidized day care
for working families; re-
newal of child-care tax
credits scheduled to expire
this year, and more flexi-
ble work scheduling..
The Capital Bureau is a
joint project of EO Media
Group and Pamplin Media
Group.
ess in the
Chronicling the Joy of Busin
n
Columbia-Pacific Regio
schools battle
over mascots
By PETER WONG
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Even as the
state Board of Education
tries to write rules to regu-
late them, Oregon schools
remain adamant about keep-
ing tribal mascots — and
tribal advocates are just as
vocal in saying they must go.
The board will hear a
progress report at its meet-
ing Thursday in Salem and
is scheduled to adopt rules
April 9.
The board is trying to
implement a 2014 law that
allows such mascots if dis-
tricts come to agreements
with any of the nine federal-
ly recognized tribes in Ore-
gon.
Fourteen high schools
have tribal mascot names:
Warriors, used by Ami-
ty, North Douglas (Drain),
Oakridge, Philomath, Leb-
anon, Siletz and Warrenton;
Indians, used by Mohawk
(Marcola), Molalla, Rose-
burg and Scappoose; Braves,
moniker for Banks and
Reedsport; Chieftains, ad-
opted by Rogue River.
The board in 2012 gave
striverbusinessjournal
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Volume 10 • Issue 1
stry spo
allenges
Inside: Indu
copes with ch
Shellfish farm
an conditions
oce
nging
s optimistic despite cha
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Taylor remain
BUREAU
districts five years to phase
out such mascots. Law-
makers overrode it in 2013,
only to have then-Gov. John
Kitzhaber veto that bill.
Kitzhaber signed a revised
version in 2014 sponsored
by Republican Sens. Jeff
Kruse of Roseburg and Fred
Girod of Lyons, whose dis-
trict includes Molalla.
An informal work group
attempted to craft a rule, but
differences became evident
during a two-hour rulemak-
ing hearing last week con-
ducted by Cindy Hunt, gov-
ernment and legal affairs
manager for the Oregon De-
partment of Education.
Tony Mann, superinten-
dent of the Molalla River
School District, said he has
worked with the Confeder-
ated Tribes of Grand Ronde
on an agreement to retain the
name of Molalla Indians.
“The tribes expect to
maintain a mascot that gen-
uinely and respectfully rep-
resents the Molalla people,
the tribes, and all indigenous
peoples in the state,” Mann
said. “I humbly ask the
board to remain neutral in
matters related to this.”
He said the state board’s
role should be limited to
whether districts simply
comply with the procedure
outlined in the law.
“What I saw coming out
of the work group was the
necessity of having a rela-
tionship — not just a one-
time meeting and agreement
but an ongoing relationship
— with our tribal partners,”
said Paul Young, Rogue Riv-
er schools superintendent.
Larry Parsons, Roseburg
schools superintendent, crit-
icized a proposed require-
ment for districts retaining
tribal mascots to map how
they would close academic
achievement gaps for stu-
dents. He said such a re-
quirement should apply to
all Oregon schools.
Parsons also said it would
be impractical for Roseburg
to adopt a name of Roseburg
Cow Creek Band of Umpqua
Indians, the nearest of Ore-
gon’s nine federally recog-
nized tribes.
But tribal advocates say
it’s time for the 14 schools to
follow the lead of The Dalles
High School, which adopted
the name Riverhawks in-
stead of retaining Indians as
a tribal mascot.
“These mascots under-
mine the educational expe-
rience of all students, par-
ticularly those with little or
no contact with indigenous
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or native Alaskan peoples,”
said Se-Ah-Dom Edmo, in-
terim president of the Ore-
gon Indian Education Asso-
ciation.
“I think we can still be in-
vested in our teams without
mascot names or images as-
sociated with them.”
Edmo also said many
students come from tribes
outside Oregon and are not
represented by the nine fed-
erally recognized tribes.
Sam Sachs, a Portland
human rights commissioner
and an activist for racial jus-
tice, said the affected schools
should do something similar
to what his alma mater South
Albany High School did.
The school’s mascot is still
the Rebels, but there is no
Confederate flag — a sym-
bol that blacks take offense
to because of the legacy of
slavery in the South.
Sachs says if the board
proceeds to adopt a rule, it
will face a lawsuit from af-
fected student plaintiffs.
“I am done; there is noth-
ing left to say,” he said. “We
can list numerous human
rights organizations here and
throughout the country that
say this needs to stop, this
needs to end.”
The Capital Bureau is a
joint project of EO Media
Group and Pamplin Media
Group.
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