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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 2016)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2016 COMMUNITY 1B RETURN TO SENDER? LITTLE BIRD MEETS BIG BIRD A POD OF PELICANS ast fall, an elderly friend in Ocean Shores, Washington, gave me a note in a bottle he had found ive years earlier on a beach near his home,” Alan Rammer of Montesano, Washington, wrote. “He did not want to open it, because someone had spent a good deal of time sealing it so well. No water had entered the bottle in the ive years he had it. He decided it was time to pass the bottle on and gave it to me (a retired marine science teacher) to ind the owner. “In March, I decided to open it at a membership potluck dinner for the Westport-South Beach Historical Society. Everyone had been asked to bring in their most unique beachcombed ind of the season. I thought this would be fun to open with everyone present. “ ... It was from a sixth grade student named Cameron (last name unknown) in Room 15 of Hilda Lahti Elementary School in Astoria. Counting the years back, he most likely was an 11th grade student at one of your Knappa area high schools this past year.” The letter was dated March 17, 2010, and said the message in a bottle was a class project to study ocean tides and currents. No mention was made of where the bottle went into the water. Cameron requested that whoever inds the bottle let him know, but that’s proving to be quite dificult. Alan received no response from the school, so as a last ditch effort he emailed the newspaper, enclosing copies of Cameron’s drawing (which is shown) and letter. Luckily, the Ear was able to reach Shannon Harrington at Hilda Lahti. “Unfortunately we asked the Cameron who matched the description, and he said he didn’t write it,” she said. “He was the only Cameron at that time in sixth grade.” Dead end? Hopefully not. Do you know who Cameron is? Do you recognize the drawing? If so, please call the Ear at 503-325-3211, ext. 257, or email ewil- son@dailyastorian.com. Alan would really like to return the bottle to its rightful owner. In the meantime, the bottle and original messages are safe, and on display at the old Coast Guard station in Westport, Washington. ‘L AROUND TOWN oming into Astoria across the new Youngs Bay Bridge Sunday, I saw a big white spot in the bay,” Bob Temple wrote. “I pulled over and took a picture, but couldn’t tell what kind of birds they were. Taking out my binoculars, I saw they were pelicans — at least 40 or 50.” They were near the pilings at the east end of the bridge, and are shown in Bob’s photo. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says the American White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, has the longest wingspan of any bird in Oregon, and lies with its neck withdrawn (http://tinyurl.com/peliwhite). “During the breeding season the top of the bird’s head becomes dusted with black and a horn grows on the upper mandible; this pro- jection serves as a target for aggressive encounters to avoid injury to the essential bill pouch, but is shed after the eggs are laid.” And by the way, a group of pelicans is called a pod. Two interesting tidbits: At great distances soaring locks of white pelicans have been reported as UFOs; and, there was no mention on the ODF website of white pelicans being at the coast, only inland, and mainly in Eastern Oregon. Yet here they are. “I have never seen that many pelicans in one spot before,” Bob noted. “I remember years ago when we spotted three of them lying down the river and were surprised seeing them. They were new to the area then.” ‘C JUST SAY NO rom the Around Town section of The Daily Morning Astorian, July 14, 1894: • F.H. Gramms, the grocer, attracted a regular circus crowd yes- terday morning on 12th Street, where he was trying to keep his seat on a bucking bronco that he had unwittingly allowed himself to mount. He may not be as young as he used to be, but he knows how to break in a sky-lifting bronco, as was evidenced by yesterday’s performance. • Tent life will again be popular this season at the beach, and many families will live in tents who have heretofore rented cottages. • James Bennett and Frank Spittle returned from their Nasel ish- ing trip yesterday afternoon. They had a splendid time, but found that someone had been there before them. F CASTING CALL re you such a big fan of Inde- pendent Film Channel’s comedy TV show “Portlandia” that you want to be part of it? If so, you’re in luck — SMH Cast- ing is looking for extras to work on Season 7. The casting website says: “We’ll be shooting in Portland’s streets, cafés, hiking trails, backyard sustainable organic farms and basement rock venues … And we’re going to pay you $9.75/hour to be you in these places! You’ll be rich!” Well, not quite, but your face just might make it onto the small screen, if you’re lucky. If you don’t know what being an extra is, it’s background work — you’re literally in the background, so the scenes have real people in them. A day of working as an extra boils down to “hurry up and wait.” Filming takes a very short period of time. Waiting for the ilming to start takes forever, so bring a book. Also, working as an extra isn’t a 9 to 5 job. It can happen at any and all times of the day or night, and on weekends, too. More often than not, you’ll receive very short notice of when and where to report, but if you have the showbiz bug, you won’t mind the inconvenience. If you’re interested, go to http://smhcasting.com/pdxiawelcome for more details. Oh, and in case you’re wondering what types are they looking for, the answer is simple: “Everyone and their grandma!” A little bird told the Ear that he and another local little bird saw a very big bird in our midst on July 7, perched in a tree near his house on Alameda Avenue in Astoria. Interestingly, he’s convinced it was a white stork — which is not native to Oregon, or even this conti- nent, for that matter — and he wonders if anyone else saw it. Little bird watched big bird for a half hour or 45 minutes through binoculars, so he got a very good look at it. He called the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, but they told him he was probably looking at an egret. Not so, says little bird, and the photo shown dis- plays the difference. The white stork is on the left, and the egret is on the right. Egrets are all white; the bird he saw was dark under the wings and had dark areas on its back. The only things the two birds seem to have in com- mon are a long, orange beak and long, spindly legs. And no, it wasn’t a pelican, either. OK, white pelicans are big birds, too, but have short legs in comparison. Apparently, the only known white storks in Oregon are a pair owned by Mac Embury (http://mypetlovesmacs.com), a bird trainer and handler in Grants Pass. The Ear emailed him asking if one of his storks could be on the loose in Astoria, but no reply was forthcoming. A HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN, JIGGETY urprises are still turning up after the 2011 Japanese tsunami. The boat Kaisho, swept out to sea during the disaster, wound up inally heading home, more than ive years later, according to a story in The Asahi Shimbun (http://tinyurl.com/boathome). The 20-foot long vessel, which belonged to a isheries experi- ment station in Miyagi Prefecture, was spotted overturned and drifting almost 4 miles off Miyakojima Island in Okinawa Prefecture in May. The boat — missing its wheelhouse and outboard motor, but other- wise in good shape — was returned to its home port in June, where it has been put on public display as a reminder of the tsunami. A photo of the Kaisho, taken by Tatsuya Sasaki, is shown. Scientists speculate the vessel probably traveled all the way to Hawaii before drifting back to Japan. Akio Oshino, an employee of the station doesn’t care where it went, as long as it came home. “The vessel’s return really moved me,” he said. “I am grateful to the person who discovered it.” S SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL here will you be on ‘C-Day,’ the day the Cas- cadia Subduction Zone blows a gasket?” asks author H.W. “Buzz” Bernard. In the case of his new book, “Cascadia,” the place not to be is Manzanita — the charming coastal town gets destroyed in the upheaval. In an interview with the North Coast Citizen (http://tinyurl.com/ byemanzanita), the author — a native Oregonian who now lives in Georgia — is familiar with the town because his brother is a part- time resident. “Manzanita became a focal point because I knew it well,” he said. “I always like visiting, it’s a cool little town. I talk a lot (in the book) about Laneda Avenue and the Big Wave Cafe and the Fourth of July parade.” Scenes also take place in Cannon Beach and on Neahkahnie Mountain. The inspiration for the book began about 10 years ago. While vis- iting the Oregon Coast, he saw one of the tsunami evacuation route signs, and wondered why they were needed. A little research made him aware of the subduction zone, and how dangerous it is, lurking off the coast, just waiting to blow. Despite the catastrophic events that dominate the story, Bernard insists it’s the characters that “really drive a novel.” Don’t start thinking you know who he’s talking about in the book, either, folks; he swears all of the characters are “fully ictional.” You can buy the book and see for yourself — check out his website at http://buzzbernard.com for links. “‘Cascadia’ is about something that will happen. We just don’t know when,” he explained. “Not that I would encourage anyone to move away from the Paciic Northwest, but people need to be pre- pared.” Even so, they probably shouldn’t read this at the beach. ‘W alaysian photographer Keow Wee Loong and a few cohorts made the news worldwide recently when pho- tos he took last month inside the radiation-contaminated red zone around the Fukushima nuclear power plant went viral. If you will recall, the plant was destroyed during the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and has been leaking radiation ever since. No, they weren’t allowed in, they evaded police patrols and snuck in during the night to explore four towns inside the red zone, wearing only gas masks and no radiation protec- tive gear, according to a Daily Mail story at http://tinyurl.com/ loongpix. The photographer is pictured in an abandoned store in a screen shot from a Daily Mail/Barcroft Planet video that accompanied the article. When he entered the area, he could feel a burning sensa- tion in his eyes and there was a heavy chemical smell in the air, Loong said on his Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ uglykiwi. Describing the experience as “amazing,” he said it was like a childhood dream of being all alone in a supermar- ket, and being able to eat up all the chocolate. Although in this case, eating anything at all would hardly be advisable. He noted that everything is exactly where it was after the earthquake struck, but just as if everyone vanished into thin air. There are even photos of clothes just hanging out of wash- ers and dryers. He found “food, money, gold, laptops and other valuables,” and was amazed that nobody had “looted this town clean.” Just guessing, but perhaps because no one wants radioactive loot? So why did he risk his life to enter the red zone? No, it wasn’t a thrill-seeking venture, he’s on a mission. “The radi- ation leak at red zone by the Fukushima Daichi power plant is damaging the environment and marine life in the Paciic Ocean,” he wrote. “Say no to nuclear energy today.” M