THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015
COMMUNITY
1B
A PIECE OF FAMILY HISTORY
TAKING THE PLUNGE
SLOTH NEEDS A FOREVER HOME
‘R
ecently, Mister and I have been redoing our bathroom,” Cindy
Munga of Warrenton wrote on her blog, OurShabbyNest.com.
She is pictured, inset bottom, with her husband, Karima. While clean-
ing out a little nook across from the bathroom, she discovered what she
thought was a bag of junk, which she put aside.
A week later, she went through the bag. “And there it was,” she
wrote. “A beautiful and intricately designed photo album. As Mister
and I looked through the pages, I really couldn’t tell who any of the
people were. We showed it to our family ... hoping maybe we had
found a piece family history. Well, we did ... except it wasn’t our fam-
ily.”
The album, which belonged to the family of J. V. Burns, dated back
to the 1920s or 1930s, and also included several letters. A few pages
from the album are shown. Cindy did some sleuthing, and found the
name was really Jack V. Burns (pictured inset, top) of Astoria, who
was a Clatsop County sheriff from 1911 to 1919 and 1933 to 1937, and
who also owned/operated a cigar shop.
“It is the coolest album I’ve ever seen,” Cindy declared, “but it’s
not doing any good sitting on my mantel collecting dust!”
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told the Ear, “but when that failed, I sent an email to Mac Burns of the
Clatsop County Historical Society. He ... said that they would love to
add it to their collection — so we donated it to the museum.”
“We’re not sure how this photo album ended up in our home,” she
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it. I am hoping that this will be displayed for all of our community to
see and enjoy. This little town of ours is full of rich history, and it sure
is special when a lost piece is once again added back to the puzzle.”
DON’T TOUCH!
I
t’s been a while since the Ear has mentioned tsunami survival
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Julian Sharpe’s Mukilteo, Wash. based 400-pound Survival Capsule
(http://survival-capsule.com).
The Union-Bulletin of Walla Walla, Wash., reports that the latest
endurance test involved dropping the pod 200 feet over Palouse Falls
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pod’s door opened and it sank at the bottom of the falls. It’s still there.
In February, the capsule made it over in one piece, but there are
still issues that need to be resolved before Sharpe himself will take the
Palouse Falls plunge in the pod, tentatively scheduled for April 26.
Stay tuned.
In the meantime, IDS Global Inc. (www.idsglobal.org) of Gig
Harbor, Wash., made a splash (sorry, couldn’t resist) at the Ocean
ore Goonies memorabilia: “Some of you Goonies know Shores, Wash., Razor Clam Festival in March with their prototype in-
that I’ve been considering selling my Sloth Stunt Mask, ÀDWDEOHHVFDSHDQGVXUYLYDOSRG7KH1RUWK&RDVW1HZVUHSRUWVKWWS
and that I went so far as to place it on eBay,” Randell Widner tinyurl.com/tsupod2). It is pictured, in a photo from the IDS website.
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posted April 7 on the Goonies 30th Anniversary Facebook
weighs around 100 pounds. Better yet, it folds up to about the size of a
page. His photo of the mask is shown.
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he could join us for the 30th Anniversary Reunion. The other for $6,000 to $7,000. Thankfully, there has been no mention of plans
reason is that I don’t want him to go to someone who is going to to test it on the Palouse Falls.
keep it away from his fans. ... After our reunion, we will again
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Only two Sloth masks were made for the movie and one got
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So here’s Randell’s question: “Where do you think (Sloth)
should live in the future?”
The Oregon Film Museum in Astoria, perhaps? Want to
chime in on the Sloth Mask’s fate? Join the Goonies 30th Anni-
versary group at www.facebook.com/groups/Goonies30th and
get your 10 cents in.
M
RETURN OF THE KING
T
‘M
RQGD\ZHUHVSRQGHGWRRXU¿UVWseal pup of the year!”
Tiffany Boothe of the Seaside Aquarium exclaimed.
“Harbor seal babies (called pups) are born in spring and sum-
mer and can be found resting on the beach while their mothers
search for food.” Her photo of the pup is shown.
“Well-meaning people sometimes think that a baby seal
alone on the beach has been abandoned,” she explained, “but
this is not the case. The mother is often nearby, watching, but
will not approach with people around. If the baby seal is moved,
it has no chance of reuniting with its mother.”
If you see a baby seal alone on the beach, leave it alone and
call the Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network Ho-
tline at 541-270-6830. And please, keep your dogs away from
it, too.
GOING GAFFE-Y
he Ear stands, and sits, corrected. Eagle-eyed April L. Salsburg
noted, “I think there’s a mistake with the Titanic article (from
the April 10 In One Ear
column). From what I un-
derstand, John Jacob As-
tor IV’s son was actually
John Jacob Astor VI as
there was already a John
Jacob Astor V in their
family.” Astor IV went
down with the Titanic,
and his son was born sev-
eral months later.
Well, that was news to the Ear, but by jiminey, April produced
a New York Times article about the birth, which you can check out
here: http://tinyurl.com/jakeVI. John Jacob Astor VI it is.
Then, a reader took exception to the phrase, “650 tons of oil were
shoveled into the (Titanic’s) boilers per day” in the same story, ob-
serving, “You can’t shovel oil.” Of course not. Well, you could, I
suppose, but it would be quite arduous. Clearly, a gremlin was at
work and caused “oil” to be typed instead of “coal.” The Ear dis-
avows all knowledge of the gremlin’s actions. Heavy sigh.
D
o you get misty-eyed thinking about Custard King’s yummy
burgers? Cheer up, it appears there is a reprieve in sight. The
Ear happened upon a new Facebook page, www.facebook.com/Cus-
tardKing, that offers hope for the custardless (and also provided the
photo shown):
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ry. Greg Glover, owner of Commercial Astoria and of 94.7 KNRK
fame, Franz Spielvogel, owner of Laughing Planet Cafe, and David
Demers,SULQFLSDOFRPPHUFLDOUHDOHVWDWHEURNHUDW+603DFL¿F
have purchased the building and the business.
“We three are huge Custard King fans and we want to bring it
back to its original glory. We want to provide great and consistent
service while using the best possible ingredients. Do not fear — we
will be doing burgers, fries, custard and awesome shakes. We will be
adding some much needed greens (in the form of salads). Stay tuned
so you can see our progress! Love, The Custard Kings”
Long live the kings!
HITCHHIKERS FIND A HOME
SHE’S STILL SMILING
MOON OVER PORTLAND
O
‘M
y neighbor, Bruce Ballweber, sent this photo of the most
recent lunar eclipse,” Astorian Joy Brewer wrote to the Ear
about the photo shown. It sure is an eye-grabber, and the artist is
Portland photographer Dawn K. Baker, the wife of one of Bruce’s
co-workers. Check out her Facebook page, “By My Own Eye Pho-
tography.”
Dawn said she was inspired and assisted by friend and fellow
photographer, Frank George III of Points North Photography, and
Pat Dickerson and Rebecca Evans, “whose willingness to travel
with me to bizarre places in the middle of the night make shots like
this one possible.”
“I think it is simply amazing,” Joy wrote, “and wanted to share it.”
n April 9, a 25-to-30-foot-long chunk of a ¿EHUJODVVERDW(pic-
tured) was spotted a few miles offshore from Seal Rock in Lin-
coln County, Chris Havel of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment reported. More than likely, it’s debris from the 2011 Japanese
tsunami. Like another boat that came in last year, it had several hitch-
hikers: about 20 yellowtail jack (pictured inset left) and a banded
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anese coastal waters. All photos are courtesy of the ODFW.
The boat was towed into Newport, and when the boat was
checked for radiation (think Fukushima), there were no signs of it
being above the normal, background level. On Monday, after the
plants and sea life were scraped off and samples were taken, the
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were removed from the boat’s holding tanks and are frolicking hap-
pily at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
‘W
hile at Freddie’s this evening, an elderly gentleman in a
wheelchair stopped me and asked me to smile,” Cyndi
Mudge (pictured right) wrote. “I was focused on my to-do list
and getting home, but I took a moment and smiled. He compli-
mented me — said my whole face smiled (it didn’t — I was too
tired I’m sure).
“Maybe it was because I looked tired and he took pity on me.
But he said I earned a Smile Award — which he doesn’t give
out very often. And so here it is. My Smile Award (pictured left)
from a complete stranger. What a sweet thing for him to do.”
A closer look reveals her award also happens to promote Sa-
bra J’s Attic in Cannon Beach, but what a clever, and nice, way
to get the word out.
“Yes, I know it’s an ad — but still — it was a great little
moment.”