COMMUNITY
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2016
1B
SPREAD THE WORD
BOOMY McBOOMFACE
FOR OLD TIMES’ SAKE
att Gustafson aka ‘Gus’ was severely injured on July 4
while falling some trees,” his sister-in-law, Lexi Puhl wrote.
“He was life lighted to Legacy Emanuel (in Portland) and has sev-
eral vertebrae fractures in his neck and back, and many other broken
bones, and a long road of recovery ahead of him.” Matt is pictured
with his 2-year-old son, Grayton.
“The family would like to just really thank all of the irst respond-
ers and life-light staff who kept his spine safe!” she added, “The
doctors here at Legacy have said it’s a miracle that he’s alive, and not
paralyzed. And the staff at Legacy is just being amazing.”
If you would like to help the family, his sister, Lisa Sisley, has
set up the Matt Gustafson Donation Account, and contributions can
be made at any Columbia Bank branch. Plans are also in the works
for a fundraiser dinner Aug. 27 at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds.
For updates, check the Matt Gustafson Fundraising Facebook page
at http://tinyurl.com/help-Matt-FB
In addition, Lexi has set up a Gofundme page at http://tinyurl.
com/helpMattG. “Everyone that knows Matt knows that he is a great
guy who is always ready to help anyone,” she explained. “He has a
wife and a baby boy who love him very much.
“Any help and donations given would be very much appreciated,
and everything minus the GoFundMe fee will be given directly to
his wife, Tori, to cover medical expenses and help them survive this
horrible accident. Help spread the word!”
‘M
TRASHY FOOTWEAR
A
didas has
partnered
with the Par-
ley Ocean Plas-
tic Program to
create the Adi-
das x Parley
limited edition
running shoe,
whose upper
section is made
of
recycled
ocean waste
and illegal deep-sea ishing nets, according to Engadget.com (http://
tinyurl.com/netshoez). The unique kicks are shown, courtesy of
Engadget.
Don’t try to rush out to try and grab some, though. Only 50 pairs
are being made, and to snag one, you have to enter a contest, which
means uploading a video to Instagram and explaining your plan of
how to support Parley’s Ocean Plastic Program (www.oceanplastic.
com). Details are at http://tinyurl.com/parleypair, and the deadline
to enter is July 31.
Even if you don’t manage to win a pair, there’s still hope. There
are plans to turn ocean plastic debris into yarn iber for “other future
products.” Including shoes, perhaps?
BUCKLE UP
F
or maritime history buffs, the world’s fastest ship is the Fran-
cisco (aka Lopez Mena), built by Australian shipyard Incat,
which can travel at speeds up to 58 knots (66 mph). Incidentally, the
324-foot long catamaran is also said to be the irst high speed dual-
fuel passenger ferry, and the irst ferry of its type to use LNG as its
primary fuel, gCaptain.com says (http://tinyurl.com/ciscofast).
Sure, some speed boats can go faster, but the Francisco holds
1,000 passengers and 150 cars, and has an enormous duty-free shop
on board, to boot. Part of the speed can be explained by the fact that
the catamaran is made of lightweight, marine grade aluminum, and
is powered by two large gas turbines driving powerful waterjets. The
ship is pictured courtesy of Kim Clifford/Incat Tasmania.
If you’re interested in taking a ride, you’ll have to head to Argen-
tina. The Franciso’s area of service is on the River Plate, between
Buenos Aires and Montevideo, Uruguay. Buen viaje!
rom The Daily Morning Astorian, July 4, 1890 (http://
tinyurl.com/DAfourth):
• A.E. Shaw, a irst class bilk and would-be sport, is now
a resident of Pomeroy, Wash., where he is trying to make peo-
ple believe that he is a dentist.
• Inasmuch as the Western Union Telegraph Company
receives over $1,700 a month revenue from the Astoria ofice,
it does seem as though the company could afford one solitary
gas jet, and not compel men to work all night by the dim light
of one ill-smelling coal oil lamp.
• Gerry’s “Gem Theatre” was closed last evening, hav-
ing been neither a social or inancial success.
• A dificulty between neighbors at Uppertown on the 25th
of June, culminated last night in John Larson making com-
plaint against Mary Saverson for disorderly conduct and
loud and boisterous language towards his wife, Carrie Lar-
son. A warrant was issued by Justice May for the arrest of
Mrs. Saverson.
• Mrs. Delia Cross, of Brooklyn, is now Mrs. Capt. Cross,
of the steamer Oregon, though she was compelled to afix a
cross to the papers in place of her name. This is said to be the
irst case in which a woman has become owner and master of
a sea going vessel.
F
T
his column has more than once mentioned 21-year old Dutch
inventor and entrepreneur Boyan Slat (pictured inset), who,
starting as a teenager made it his mission to clean up the plastic
debris in the Great Paciic Garbage Patch (www.theoceancleanup.
com). The latest design for a device to use the ocean currents to do
just that is inally undergoing a sensor-monitored test, according to
The Guardian (http://tinyurl.com/boyanboom).
In June, a 328-foot long clean-up boom/barrier made of vul-
canized rubber, affectionately named Boomy McBoomface, was
towed 12 miles out to sea off the coast of The Netherlands. Anchored
via a cable sub-system at depths of up 14,000 feet, the boom har-
nesses ocean currents to trap loating trash so boats can collect it.
Boomy is pictured, courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup.
The money to fund this project was largely raised by Slat him-
self, but a portion of the funding came directly from the Dutch gov-
ernment to demonstrate their faith in him and in his invention. And,
if this current experiment is successful, a sea-trial will take place off
the Japanese coast in 2017.
“The key objective of these tests is to see if we can build some-
thing that can survive at sea for years if not decades,” Slat told The
Guardian.“We want to test the eficiency of the system, understand
its behavior, and see what damage it suffers over time from abrasion
or fatigue.”
When the testing is completed, the end goal is the deployment of
a 62-mile version of the boom in the Great Paciic Garbage Patch in
2020. Just in time, it would seem. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation
predicts that unless drastic action is taken, there will be more plastic
than ish in the oceans by 2050.
WHO KNOWS?
‘NOT FOR THE FAINT AT HEART’
C
he Norwegian-led Kon Tiki raft expedition may have
crossed the Paciic in 1947, but now, almost 70 years
later, another Norwegian sailing vessel, the oak Viking
ship Draken Harald Hårfagre completed a historic jour-
ney across the Atlantic, arriving in Newfoundland in June,
CBCNews of Ottawa, Canada, reports (http://tinyurl.com/
drakensail).
Believed to be the world’s largest Viking ship sailing in
modern times, the Draken was constructed using ancient
Norse ship-building techniques. It left Haugesund, Norway,
on April 24, carrying a captain and a volunteer crew of 32.
Since there is no below-deck on a Viking ship, the crew did
four-hour shifts of 16 men per shift, and slept in a tent under
the sail. Chores included rigging, food preparation, cleaning,
and manning the 25 pairs of oars.
The Draken Harald Hårfagre is pictured, courtesy of its
website, www.drakenexpeditionamerica.com, which explains
draken means dragon in English, and Harald Hårfagre (Fair-
hair) is the king who uniied Norway. Construction began in
2010 and more than 10,000 nails were used. The vessel is 115
feet long and 26 feet wide; the Douglas ir mast is 79 feet tall,
and the sail is almost 2,800 square feet of pure red silk. Natu-
rally, it has a carved dragon igurehead.
“It smells of timber and old tar rope,” Richard Winnel,
the commercial pilot who helped the ship navigate the Iro-
quois lock in Canada, told CBCNews. “Not for the faint of
heart,” he said of the voyage. “Exceptionally heavy weather.
Very wet, cold, temperatures of -2, the decks awash — cou-
rageous people.”
Capt. Björn Ahlander noted that the expedition’s pur-
pose is not just to relive and duplicate Leif Erikson’s voyage
to Vinland/Newfoundland in 1000, but to ind out if it was
possible for the Viking leader to have sailed inland, as well, to
explore and settle. Clearly, it was, indeed possible: Ahlander
made the statement in an interview after sailing the Draken
quite a distance up the St. Lawrence River to eastern Ontario.
T
orey Feldman has weighed in on will-there-won’t-there be a
Goonies 2 in an interview with Movieweb.com (http://tinyurl.com/
nogoonie), and has come up with a pretty good reason why it probably
won’t happen — aside from the fact there’s not even a script yet.
“Richard Donner is 87 years old,” Feldman noted. “And it’s
like, no one really wants to make it without him. He’s the driving
force behind it. He says it’s still alive. But as we all know … When
you get to that age, things slow down quite a bit. There is a big pos-
sibility that he might not want to keep driving it.
“So, I think without him, it doesn’t happen. And every day that
passes, that he doesn’t do it, there is less and less chance that it is ever
going to happen at all.” An illustration of the grown-up Goonies cast
is shown, courtesy of Movieweb.com
So what does Feldman think about good friend Sean Astin’s
recent quip at the Phoenix ComicCon, implying One-Eyed Willie’s
presence in Goonies 2? “… I have no idea what he is talking about,”
Feldman commented. “... I think it’s just one of those good old-fash-
ioned Hollywood rumor mills working again.”
But you have to wonder: Does Astin know something Feldman
doesn’t? Stay tuned.
FOWL PLAY
he renegade hen strikes again. On the loose in downtown Asto-
ria since early April — primarily in the Ninth/10th and Duane/
Exchange streets block — she has been spotted several times, but
is a very slippery character, and has eluded all attempts at capture.
She’s so comfortable in her new domain, she’s even left a few
tokens of her esteem: two eggs, shown in a photo taken Monday by
Sharon Collyer. “They were sitting under the U.S. Bank sign, on
the parking lot side,” Sharon wrote, “and I moved them over and
placed them on the mulch near the sign. A friend said she saw them
a day ago. The chicken was nowhere in sight.”
The runaway bird actually belongs to Chase Pettit’s mother in
Rosburg, Washington. If you’re able to catch her, please give the
family a call at 360-465-2734.
In the meantime, have some scrambled eggs.
T
COMMUNITY NOTES
SATURDAY
Lower Columbia R/C Society
— 8:30 a.m., back room at Uptown
Cafe, 1639 S.E. Ensign Lane, War-
renton. Local Academy of Model
Aeronautics (AMA) chartered radio
control model aircraft club meets for
breakfast and business. All model
aircraft enthusiasts are welcome.
For information, call 503-458-5196
or 503-325-0608.
Angora Hiking Club — 9 a.m.,
Sixth Street parking lot. Gnat Creek
Hatchery hike. For information, call
Arline LaMear at 503-338-6883.
Sit and Stitch Group — 11
a.m. to 1 p.m., Custom Threads,
1282 Commercial St. Knitting, cro-
cheting and needle work. For infor-
mation, call 503-325-7780.
Pug Socializing Club — 1
p.m., Carruthers Park, Warrenton.
For pugs and their owners. For
information, call Dave Kinney at
415-827-5190. Join online at http://
tinyurl.com/socialpugs
Columbia Northwestern Mod-
el Railroading Club — 1 p.m., in
Hammond. Group runs trains on
HO-scale layout. For information,
call Don Carter at 503-325-0757.
Spinning Circle — 1 to 3 p.m.,
Astoria Fiber Arts Academy, 1296
Duane St. Bring a spinning wheel.
For information, call 503-325-5598
or go to http://astoriaiberarts.com
SUNDAY
National Alliance on Mental
Illness (NAMI) Support Group
— 2 to 3:30 p.m., Seaside Public
Library, 1131 Broadway. Family to
Family Support Group, for anyone
with friend or loved one suffering
from a serious brain (mental) illness.
For information, contact Myra Kero
at 503-738-6165, or k7erowood@q.
com, or go to www.nami.org
— 9 to 9:45 a.m., Astoria Senior
Center, 1111 Exchange St. For in-
formation, call 503-325-3231.
Authentic Spiritual Conver-
sations — 3 to 4:15 p.m., Seaside
Public Library conference room,
1131 Broadway. Exploring spiritual
questions, doubts, practices and
longings in a space where every-
one’s needs are respectfully held.
All faiths, including “spiritual but not
religious,” agnostic and atheist are
welcome. For information, email
info@cgifellowship.org or call 916-
307-9790.
Scandinavian Workshop —
10 a.m., First Lutheran Church, 725
33rd St. Needlework, hardanger,
knitting, crocheting, embroidery
and quilting. All are welcome. For
information, call 503-325-1364 or
503-325-7960.
Line Dancing — 5:30 to 8 p.m.,
Seaside American Legion, 1315
Broadway. For information, call
503-738-5111. No cost; suggested
$5 tip to the instructor.
MONDAY
Chair Exercises for Seniors
Mothers of Preschoolers —
10 to 11:30 a.m., Crossroads Com-
munity Church, 40618 Old Highway
30, Svensen. MOPS group is a time
for moms to relax and enjoy each
others’ company. For information,
call 503-502-3118.
Senior Lunch — 11:30 a.m.,
Bob Chisholm Senior Center, 1225
Avenue A, Seaside. Suggested do-
nation $3 for those older than 60;
$6.75 for those younger than 60.
For information, call Michelle Lew-
is at 503-861-4200.
Columbia Senior Diners —
11:30 a.m., 1111 Exchange St.
Cost is $6. For information, or to
have a meal delivered, call 503-
325-9693.
Warrenton Senior Lunch
Program — noon, Warrenton
Community Center, 170 S.W. Third
St. Suggested donation of $5 for
seniors and $7 for those younger
than 60. For information, or to vol-
unteer, call 503-861-3502 Monday
or Thursday.
Astoria Rotary Club — noon,
second loor of the Astoria Elks
Lodge, 453 11th St. Guests always
welcome. For information, go to
www.AstoriaRotary.org
Parkinson’s Support Group
— 1 p.m., Peace Lutheran Church
library, 565 12th St. For informa-
tion, call 503-440-1970 or 503-440-
1985.
Peninsula Quilt Guild — 1
p.m., Peninsula Church Center,
5000 N Place, Seaview, Wash.
Newcomers welcome. Bring non-
perishable food donation. For infor-
mation, call Janet King at 360-665-
3005.
Knochlers Pinochle Group —
1 p.m., Bob Chisholm Community
Center, 1225 Avenue A, Seaside.
Cost is $1 per regular session per
person. Players with highest and
second highest scores split the
prize. Game is designed for play-
ers 55 and older, but all ages are
welcome.
See NOTES, Page 2B