THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2016
COMMUNITY
1B
HOLD YOUR FIRE
uesday is the 74th
anniversary of the
shelling of Fort Ste-
vens by a Japanese sub-
marine during World
War II. According to
“Life on the Home-
front” (http://tinyurl.
com/bombsteve), on
June 21, 1942, Cmdr.
Meiji Tagami slipped
his I-25 submarine
into the mouth of the
Columbia River with
some incoming ish-
ing boats, surfaced, and ired 17 shells at the fort from his 5.5-inch
cannon.
An in-depth video, “The Attack on Fort Stevens,” at http://tinyurl.
com/shelltalk describes the reaction at the fort.
“Everybody’s running around trying to get out,” Lester Mad-
ison recalled, “and I had to stop them at the head of the stairs to
get them to go … get their clothes on before they went outside. If
I hadn’t have, I’m sure they would have gone right outside without
their clothes on.”
Alden Addie was ordered not to turn on the searchlights, because
it would give away the fort’s position. The same logic was probably
used in the decision not to return ire — along with the belief that the
submarine was out of range.
Edwin Jolley recalled that when he relayed the order to Battery
Russell not to shoot back, they wanted to know on whose author-
ity. Col. Doney grabbed the phone and personally ordered the bat-
tery not to ire even one round, or he’d court-martial the whole 249th
Coast Artillery. His decision was a disappointment to many.
The shells that hit caused craters on the beach, one of which is
shown in a photo courtesy of the Clatsop County Historical Society.
Also, a baseball backstop was damaged, a power line was nicked, then
failed, and a soldier cut his head while rushing to his battle station.
The damage from the bombing may have been insigniicant, but
its historical value certainly wasn’t: It was the irst attack on Ameri-
can soil by a foreign power since the War of 1812.
YOU’VE BEEN FLOCKED
T
YUP, IT’S A HOAX
ast week there was a mention in
this column of the June 3 Clat-
sop Todo blog post about the “ Crea-
ture found off Oregon coast” (http://
tinyurl.com/noyeshoax). A photo of
the beastie from the blog is shown.
Well, folks, no surprises here, it’s a
hoax. The photo is actually of a stinky
decomposing critter that washed up in
Spain in August 2013, that the Weekly
World News proclaimed was El Ban-
galollo, “a serpent that can live in the
water or on land. He has teeth like
humans and is known to have come ashore to eat dogs, cats and …
horses (http://tinyurl.com/ElBanga).”
Quite fanciful, to be sure, but International Science Times
(http://tinyurl.com/stinkyhoax) says it’s more likely the remains of
a thresher shark or oarish.
It was a lot more fun as El Bangalollo.
L
BIBLICAL CRASH
ow’s this for a headline: “Noah’s Ark crashes into Coast
Guard Vessel.” Bet that caught your attention, maritime his-
tory fans, and yes, it really did happen on June 10. In Oslo, Nor-
way, as a matter of fact, according to a story in The New York Times
(http://tinyurl.com/arkgoesboom).
While being towed into the harbor, the ark ran into the docked
Coast Guard patrol vessel, and wound up with a gaping hole in its
side — above the waterline, fortunately. The patrol boat only suf-
fered a damaged crane. No one was hurt, and don’t fret, there were
no animals aboard the ark. Shown, a photo of the aftermath by Hkon
Mosvold Larsen, NTB Scanpix/AP.
The loating wooden replica was built by Dutch carpenter Johan
Huibers from 2005 to 2007, based on the biblical description —
after he had a dream about his home province in the Netherlands
being looded, according to the Ark of Noah Foundation website
(http://arkofnoah.org). It is the irst, and the smaller of two arks he
has built, and was sold to Aad Peters, a Dutch puppeteer, television
producer and philanthropist, in 2010. The vessel was scheduled to
make visits around Norway when the crash happened.
“I’m shaking now,” Huibers told The New York Times. “It’s a
terrible situation. It’s an awful dream, to have an accident with the
ark of Noah ... I have to help (Peters) out. I have to go to Norway
with wood, nails and a hammer to repair it.”
‘PAINTED LIKE THE RAYS
OF THE RISING SUN’
n Monday morning, Debby Bloom noted a strange sight on
Jim and Theresa Gannaway’s front lawn in Warrenton: a
lamboyance of pink lamingos. Yes, that’s the word for a bunch
of them, honest. A photo, sent in by the Gannaways, is shown.
So what’s the deal? It’s a clever fundraising prank by Young
Life North Coast to raise money to send needy teenagers to sum-
mer camp. Want to lock someone, or have your own lock for-
warded to a friend? Pony up $50 to Shane Spell at 503-739-0212
or shane@thenorthcoast.younglife.org. Want lamingo insur-
ance, so no one can send you lamingos for a month? It’s $25.
“Looks like I am going to have to buy some of their ‘lamingo
insurance,’” Jim said.
O
n June 11, the Maritime Archaeological Society doc-
umented the remains of the side-wheel wooden steam-
boat T.J. Potter, which are on the Astoria side of Youngs
Bay, for the society’s ongoing Coastal Survey Project, and
posted some photos to their Facebook page at http://tinyurl.
com/MASociety. One of the photos is shown, along with an
inset photo of the vessel in its glory days.
According to Mr. Wikipedia (http://tinyurl.com/tjpotter),
the Potter was launched in Portland in 1888 to make runs
from Portland to Astoria for $2.50 (about $62 now), and to
Ilwaco, Washington ($75 now). All meals cost $.50 (about
$12.50 now).
Known for her speed, she was sent to Puget Sound to
compete with steamboats there for a while, but inally
returned to resume the Portland to Astoria run. In 1901, a
rebuild increased the Potter’s gross tonnage by about a third,
slowing her down. The wheelhouse was given a dome and
lagpole, believed to be unique among Columbia River
steamboats at the time.
After the rebuild, the Potter started doing the Portland to
Ilwaco run, continuing even after being refurbished in 1910.
In 1916, the Potter was condemned for passenger use, but
used as a barracks boat for construction crews until 1920,
when her license was revoked. Abandoned on Youngs Bay,
she was burned and salvaged for her metal.
Professor Frederick Bracher described riding on the Pot-
ter as a child 1915: “The T.J. Potter was ... ponderously slow,
even when going downstream ... The monumental semi-circu-
lar paddle boxes, painted like the rays of the rising sun, arched
up as high as the boat deck; the paddle wheels produced a pro-
digious wake to port and starboard, as well as astern.
“On the main deck were staterooms for the elderly, the
rich, or the newly married; and a continuous seat ran all the
way around the stern. If the weather was good, there would
be deck chairs on the open afterdeck, and the glass-enclosed
lounge cabins were comfortable on cold or rainy days.”
It’s comforting to envision the Potter’s former glory, after
seeing what little is left on the shore of Youngs Bay.
O
FOLLOW THE LEADER
he Daily World of Aberdeen, Washington, reports that the
Ocosta Elementary School, a combined educational facil-
ity and tsunami shelter in Westport, Washington, is at last a real-
ity, and was dedicated June 11 (http://tinyurl.com/go-ocosta).
An illustration of the building is shown, courtesy of TCF
Architecture.
A four-year project completed at a cost of $16 million, the
37,590 square-foot building’s main attraction is a new multipur-
pose room/cafeteria/gym wing that is topped with an evacuation
deck that can hold up to 2,000 people and storage for emergency
provisions.
Anchored by 169 24-foot diameter piles sunk up to 50 feet
deep, and fortiied with steel beams and rebar, the gym is engi-
neered to withstand a magnitude-9 Cascadia Subduction Zone
megaquake, and a 40-foot tsunami — the roof deck is 53 feet
above sea level. The Daily World notes that the new wing makes
the school “North America’s irst vertical evacuation, tsunami
engineered Safe Haven building.”
Westport managed to do it. Why aren’t North Coast commu-
nities following suit?
T
THE RETURN OF ONE-EYED WILLIE?
CHOWZER: STILL MISSING
H
ere we go again … more rumblings about a sequel
to “The Goonies.” This time the quote comes from
“Mikey” himself, Sean Astin at the Phoenix ComiCon
earlier in June, according to Uproxx.com (http://tinyurl.
com/goonagain). A still from the original Goonies movie
is shown.
During a panel discussion at the event, Astin said, “In
the original Goonies, it’s not the only time that Mikey
would come face to face with One-Eyed Willie. That’s the
best I can do.”
Hmmm. Does that mean they will meet again in the
sequel? Actors are careful about what they say about
upcoming projects, and this sounded like a deliberate hint
that things are moving along with the sequel. Will we be
hearing something oficial soon?
The Ear checked out Astin’s Facebook page, to see if
there was a smidgen of a leak there. Nothing posted by
Astin himself, but several media outlets picked up on his
quip at ComiCon and posted to his page. The sequel spec-
ulation frenzy has been whipped up yet again. Stay tuned.
H
K, folks, Chowzer the Schnauzer, who is pictured, is still
missing. He was last seen by his “parents” Sean and Shawna
Lundry on April 30. Chowzer is 2 1/2 years old, weighs about 15
pounds, and stands about 12 inches tall and about 18 inches long.
Clatsop Animal Assistance reports that he’s been seen twice
recently with a young couple in Seaside — once on Necanicum
(between Eighth and Ninth) and another time on Broadway.
“I guess what I’d like to stress is that we want people to be civil
and non-confrontational if they think they see someone with Chow-
zer,” a CAA representative said. “Chances are anyone who has
him thinks they’re doing a good thing (by taking care of a scrag-
gly stray).”
“We want them to know how grateful we are for taking care of
him,” she added, “that there’s a reward for his return — no questions
asked — and that his family misses him more than they can say.”
If you see Chowzer, please note the time and location, and call
Sean or Shawna immediately at 541-965-3735 or 541-980-2549. It
might not be a bad idea to put those numbers in your phone now,
so you’ll be ready if you see him.
O