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