OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015
Reconnect with your old friends;
protect yourself from wickedness
EO Media Group/File Photo
Retired Pacific County Sheriff Jerry Benning adored old cars and big motorcycles.
L
ast weekend as rain assaulted the house
like a terrorist seeking a way in, I com-
forted myself by salvaging black-and-white
negatives from the s — images of some
original friends back when we were ¿rst ¿g-
uring out who we were.
Throwing their photos on Facebook was a sort
of digital reunion, renewing connections with doz-
ens of cherished people.
I commend it to you all
— not Facebook necessarily,
but taking time to reach out to
those who knew us when we
were pimply, innocent, igno-
rant and inept. Our shared em-
barrassments make us stronger.
The fast-disappearing tradition
of sending Christmas cards
was a gesture in this direction.
Thanks to the Internet, we now
Matt
can do so much more, and in
Winters
real time.
Friendship is risky — the
danger of falling too closely in love, or hurting each
other’s feelings, or simply caring enough about some-
one that their pain in some way becomes our own.
But they are irreplaceable, the essence of a full life.
Even with miraculous technologies to bring us
together, negligently allowing friendships to whither
away or fray around the edges is a way of life. We
depend on television to provide safe, vicarious expe-
riences instead of having them ourselves. I’m as bad
as anyone.
Give yourself an old friend or two this Christmas.
Find their number or look them up on Facebook.
Apologize for not staying in touch. Rediscover why
you became friends in the ¿rst place. 0ake ¿rm plans
to meet in person, then follow through. It’s a weird
thing, but people up and die all the time. Next year
may be too late.
J. Glover/Submitted Photo
Nova, an American golden eagle in the care of the Southeastern Raptor Rehabilitation Center at
Auburn University.
Give yourself an old
friend or two this
Christmas.
L
S
peaking of friends and dying, I was saddened to
learn this week of the passing of former 3aci¿c
County Sheriff Jerry Benning.
He was from South Dakota and planned his year
around going to the Sturgis 0otorcycle Rally. He also
was an enthusiastic Democrat and savored politicking
the way a butcher enjoys carving a perfect steak. In
fact, he was a professional butcher before and after
becoming sheriff.
We weren’t close pals, but spent many hours con-
versing when he was in of¿ce in the s. 0ost
sheriffs I’ve known, maybe half a dozen in all, are
or were safekeepers of amazing tales. 0aybe their
storytelling talent is a cause and effect of being small-
town politicians, combined with the fact that they get
to know lots of juicy details about outrageous mis-
behavior and dubious judgment among our fellow
residents.
Jerry reveled in an anecdote. He’d get himself
laughing about some ridiculous situation, tell me
about it, and torture me by swearing me to secrecy.
In a serious vein, I know he was haunted by un-
solved crime mysteries that will now follow him to
his grave. One concerned a transient who, the theory
goes, hitched a ride from Astoria and was slaughtered
on a logging road on the north shore above Knappton
— perhaps the victim of a roving human-shaped
monster.
Something wicked this way came. Let’s pray it
passed on through.
A
peculiar report last week was the sort of thing that
makes life so funny and memorable on the wild
outer coast. We really should have our own reality TV
show.
The local funeral home, Penttila’s Chapel By the
Sea, was having issues with its pipes and called Don
Anderson, quite possibly the nicest plumber on the
planet, to come and see what was wrong.
Don rolled up in his van, made his way into the
building’s crawlspace, and just as quickly exited. He
went upstairs and told kind-hearted undertaker Dan
Hickey something like, “I think I’ve spotted part of
your problem. You have a bear living in the base-
ment.” While they talked, it rose from slumber and
lumbered away wildlife of¿cers were called to try to
¿nd it and escort it out of town.
It wasn’t up to anything at funeral parlor other
than freeloading a warm place to snooze, but neigh-
bors — including the Chinook Observer — had been
vocally wondering where the bear was hiding out that
was so often eating our garbage. Now we know.
In an example of small-town connections, Jerry
Benning’s close friend and retired Undersheriff Dale
Staudenraus is an associate at Penttila’s. (Before I leave
the subject, allow me to say that Penttila’s owners Ron
and Liz Hylton and everyone who works there are
among our area’s most genuine unsung heroes.)
astly, I’ve heard a report of a golden eagle liv-
ing, at least temporarily, around Upper Astoria.
They are astounding birds, the very de¿nition of
“majestic.” While sometimes confused with im-
mature bald eagles that don’t yet have their white
headdress, I’m inclined to believe this really is a
golden.
They’re not unheard of here 0ike Patterson in-
cludes them on his “Checklist for Birds of Clatsop
County,” though they are not on the Willapa Bay
list.
Bald eagles are a dollar a dozen near the Colum-
bia estuary, so it’s fun to learn of a golden. While
bald eagles are related to ospreys, golden eagles
are kin to red-tailed hawks and have always been
among my favorite birds.
Biologists believe they are much aided by clear-
cuts, which let them see what they are hunting.
They’ve been clocked diving toward prey at more
than mph.
Defending them was my publisher uncle Tom
Bell’s ¿rst major wildlife crusade. They were once
indiscriminately poisoned and shot by cattle and
sheep ranchers. I have a vivid childhood memo-
ry of driving with my parents in Wyoming’s Red
Desert and encountering a dead one that had been
nailed to a fence — cruci¿ed — its nearly -foot
wings outstretched, tattered feathers being slowly
eaten away by the unending wind.
I am con¿dent we will be in¿nitely better neigh-
bors to our goldens.
— M.S.W.
Matt Winters is editor and publisher of the Chi-
nook Observer and Coast River Business Journal.
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