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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 2016)
OPINION 4A Founded in 1873 STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2016 28 years inside a large gathering of eccentrics BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Water under the bridge Compiled by Bob Duke From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers 10 years ago this week — 2006 More than 160 acres of beachfront property could be added to Fort Stevens State Park depending on negotiations between Clatsop County and the state of Oregon. Both parties have begun talks about a possible sale of county-owned DeLaura Beach, which borders Fort Stevens Park in Warrenton. The head of the county’s Recreational Lands Planning Advisory committee said the sale could put the land in the hands of an organization with more resources to maintain it, while generating money that could boost the rest of the county’s park and recreational holdings. But one county commissioner, Sam Patrick, opposes the proposed sale, questioning the state’s commitment to improving the site and whether existing uses could be limited or blocked. Astoria schools continue to struggle to meet standards under the federal No Child Left Behind education law, accord- ing to preliminary igures provided by the state Department of Education this week. While the overall student population across grade levels met or exceeded federal targets for the 2005-06 school year, economically disadvantaged and disabled students failed to make adequate yearly progress. After three hours of discussion at a special meeting Tuesday morn- ing, the Warrenton City Commission voted to pay the bill for a huge cost overrun on the Paciic Seafoods wastewater service line project. 50 years ago — 1966 C AROLE KING SINGS: “Doesn’t anyone stay in one place anymore?” That refrain from 1971 evokes wistfulness about leeting friendship. It turns out that I stayed in one place for quite awhile — 28 years. In the editor’s ofice of The Daily Astorian. If you stay in one place for almost three decades, you meet a lot of people. You witness a lot of com- ing and going — creation, destruc- tion and renewal. During an Astoria City Coun- cil meeting some 15 years ago, I had an epiphany. Everyone on the City Council and in the audience remained in character, just as actors are. They never dropped the veil. It hit me that all of us in this town are players in a one-act play, or perhaps a multi-gen- erational drama: Our Town, popu- lated with characters from Northern Exposure. Despite one-way trafic that caused congestion and delay, the Astoria bridge carried 4,332 cars, 207 trailers, 20 trucks and 30 motorcycles across the Columbia river Sunday. This is more than three times the maximum daily capacity of the ferry service that the bridge replaced Friday morning. Russell Smith, maintenance engineer for the Highway Depart- ment here, estimated that 1,200 to 1,400 vehicles was the max- imum daily capacity of the ferry service. The bridge carried 3,091 vehicles Friday and 3,300 Sat- urday before being inundated by the Sunday crush caused apparently by the decision of thousands of people within a 100-mile radius to come to Astoria and drive across the bridge. Special passenger train service will be operated over the SP&S Rail- way from Portland to Astoria on Saturday, Aug. 27, to accommodate per- sons wishing to attend the new bridge dedication ceremonies. Estimates of attendance run as high as 30,000 at Astoria where the completion of the bridge has been tied in with the annual Astoria Regatta. Quantities of dead hake, such as were found on the beach north of Gearhart this week, are a fairly common occurrence, Oregon Fish Commission laboratory staff members said today. “This happens every year, sometimes several times a year,” said Robert Loeffel of the laboratory. “We don’t yet know why.” They’re selling the queen of the Oregon navy here next week. The M.R. Chessman and its two little cousins, the Tourist II and Tourist III, are going on the block. 75 years ago — 1941 Hundreds of disappointed motorists sped back to Port- land, Salem and other distant points late Sunday after being deluded by erroneous reports in the Portland press that the new ten-mile Cannon Beach-Neahkahnie mountain section of the coast highway would be open temporarily for the day. Silk and nylon hosiery was selling like hot cakes in Astoria stores Saturday and Monday as panicked feminine shoppers rushed to stock up for the emergency. Nylon hosiery — of which the supply is limited by the manufacturer — was just about gone in town Monday, but most stores reported an ample supply of silk hosiery still available. Some said the supply of silk stockings might be gone in a week to ten days if the present rate of buying keeps up. Through the Looking-glass of Cabbages and Kings ▼▼▼ IT TURNS OUT THAT Astoria was just the right place for me. I am a connoisseur of eccentrics, and this place has beckoned eccen- trics for most of its history. And what is an eccentric? For me, it’s someone of vivid personal- ity, who stands apart through appear- ance, taste or behavior. In Astoria’s most accessible legend, the postwar Flavel family has been at the top of the heap. One of my early Astoria memo- ries — prior to moving here — was a Boxing Day party at the home of the bar pilot Ken McAlpin and his wife, Diana. Being a Canadian, Ken donned a kilt for the occasion. Rolf Klep — founder of the Columbia River Maritime Museum — was there. He left me with an indelible impression of a born salesman. Also there were Graham and Ann Barbey. And Dr. Edward Harvey, the town’s pioneering preservationist. Of that group, only Ann Barbey remains. She recently turned 95 and played a round of golf not long thereafter. All of us get a glimpse of the era that is ending. It’s up to us to pay attention to these images that will soon be obituaries and dusty legend. ▼▼▼ Famed organization Astoria Clowns will be one of featured events in August 27 Regatta parade in Astoria. Officials of Re- gatta association Thursday reported 80 entries in the annual parade, but noted lack of housing was outstanding problem at the moment. Officials requested any persons with extra hous- ing available for parade participants contact Jack Temple. This year’s Regatta, association members maintain, will be the finest in recent years as it will be coupled with the official opening of the Astoria bridge. (Regatta Photo) ‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said, ‘To talk of many things; Of shoes — and ships — and sealing wax — Of cabbages —and kings —’ WHEN MY wife and I moved here in 1987 with a 4-year-old son and a 1-year-old daugh- ter, one of our irst social occasions was Former a Sunday afternoon Police Chief gathering in the Ron Louie home of Ron and Jo Louie. Ron was the irst Chinese-American police chief in America. A Vietnam combat vet- eran who studied anthropology, Ron is never dull. At that gathering we met City Councilor Willis and Tiah Van Dusen. One of my irst business calls was on Mayor Edith Henningsgaard in her City Hall ofice. I remember the stunning vision of a ship moving up the channel behind Edith’s proile. As Christmas approached, we vis- ited the home of Blair Hennings- gaard and Paula Brownhill, then a husband-wife law irm. Bob McDonald then had irst bill- ing in Astoria’s oldest law irm. Sign painter Arvid Wunola, with severe curvature of the spine, walked in the choir processional of our church choir. B.J. Quinn Neikes was a sunny presence in that congregation. Jean Anderson’s aging soprano voice came from a pew behind us. The ever-creative Daymon Edwards was a parishioner as well. Down the street from our home lived Astoria’s longest-serv- ing mayor, Harry Steinbock. Willis would break Harry’s record. ▼▼▼ A LARGE MEASURE OF Astoria’s character is a collection of nooks and crannies. Some are gone. The Paciic Rim Cafe, under the bridge, produced a cheese bread that was a meal in itself. Doug Thompson took me there. My news editor, Tom Jackson, said Thompson, then a city councilor, was the one person in town with a vision of what this place could be. Many in my collection of vivid characters are associated with their workplaces. Barbara Hansel was perched on a stool at Parnassus Books. Tom Zielinski was behind the counter of Arlie’s, a kind of lunch spot the town has lost. Michael Foster The Daily Astorian/File Photo/2001 Mary Blake, executive director of the Sunset Empire Park and Rec- reation District, sprinkles rose pedals on then 93-year-old center- fold Gladys Souply, who has come to the pool for three years and was in the arthritis water exercise class. When asked about posing in the nude for the district’s fundraising calendar, Souply, the ef- fort’s most mature model, said, “I didn’t mind at all.” in the midst of the art collection he called home. The bespeck- led Kermit Gimre in his store or around town, wearing a wool hat and handing out Kermit wooden nickels. Gimre KMUN was a clubhouse of people, who may as well have been ictional, since you never saw them. Ed David had such halting delivery that the joke was you could get across the Astoria Bridge during one of Ed’s pauses. Elliot Narr of New Jersey, a jazz host, was the irst KMUN programmer whom this newspaper proiled. Others would fol- low: Ben Hunt and Chris Gilde. The eccentric Josh Marquis could be placed inside the District Attorney’s ofice, but his on-air jazz persona is a more conge- nial persona. The jazz buff Vern Barth, who revealed to me in the Astoria Post Ofice that he had every recording a certain vintage jazz catalogue had ever offered. ▼▼▼ SO MANY PLACES, SO many characters. Corinne Ricciardi inside her pioneering art gallery. The always sunny Bobbi McAllister inside the Gift Galleon. Ira Mittleman — who was an enjoyable guy until he wasn’t — inside a ground-breaking restaurant, Ira’s. The chef Ronnie Ma, whom the late Duncan Law learned was a ive-star chef. The star- crossed Lauren Arena inside her cozy Italian restaurant, Someplace Else. Betty Phillips playing the piano at Cafe Uniontown. One night I said: “Betty, you’re able to talk and play at the same time.” Somewhat surprised she replied: “I guess I can.” Doug Sweet at KMUN. Michael McCusker carried the weight of the Vietnam War on his shoulders. Rob- ert Striklin cultivating his cameo garden behind wrought-iron gates on Exchange Street. Polk Riley in his print shop. Bob Hauke looking out from behind the ish counter at Hauke’s Market. Jeanne Maddox inside her dance studio. ▼▼▼ CANNON BEACH WAS ITS own private preserve of charac- ters. Mayor Herb Schwab, Gainor Minott, John Buckley, Lucille Houston, Laurel Hood, Craig and Pia Shepherd, Mike Morgan, Claudia Toutain-Dorbec, Bud Kramer and, above all, my guide to Cannon Beach, Val Ryan, another connois- seur of eccentricity. Looking across the Colum- bia to the north inds us the sage of Gray’s River, Robert Michael Pyle. And in many ways the great- est eccentric of all — Al Venter, the South African journalist who joined our stage play and had as his Al house guest the great Venter Frederick Forsyth, author of Day of the Jackal. ▼▼▼ SOME BUILDINGS MERIT mention. The old Safeway, in which you could touch both sides of an aisle with your arms outstretched. The lobby of the Astor Hotel, when Shanghaied in Astoria was briely performed there. Coffee An’ in the Liberty Theater building. ▼▼▼ SO MANY FINELY DRAWN characters. The artists Charles Mulvey, Noel Thomas, Harry Bennett, Eric Weigardt and now, Darren Orange. Peter Roscoe. Carol Fenton. Donna Quinn. Bob Lovell. Roger Berg, Henry Wagner. Pat Roscoe. Janet Stevenson. Bill Barrons. Joan David, Lillian Johnson, Jean Dominey. Mary Blake. I have lost track of how many U.S. Coast Guard commanders I’ve known — from Tony Adams through Daniel Travers. Who could forget Capt. Gary Blore’s wife, the redoubtable Vera. And the super- intendents of Fort Clatsop, from Frank Walker through Scott Tucker, with Cindy Orlando having the lon- gest tenure. Vivid members of the clergy: Bill Arbaugh, John Wecker, Mark Butler, Father Nick, David Swee- ney, who is compelling in two set- tings, the pulpit and the stage. The Ficks (Steve, Mark and Cliff). Astor School’s Judy Bigby, Brian Borton, Ernie Atkinson and Karen Kenyon. The pool wiz- ard Bruce Buckmaster and the Reed-educated unassuming bil- liards shark Howard Clarke. Shawn Teevin. Eric Paulson. Dr. Norm Shatto. Jon Englund. And let us not forget the man worthy of his own short story — Grover Utzinger inside his amazing curiosity shop of a hardware store. The “capital E” eccentric carpenter, Bill Klur- man of Seaview, Washington, made walk-on appearances at the Shel- burne Inn. Joe Bakkensen, an insider during Bumblebee’s heyday. The late John McGowan, of Bumble- bee. Ditto for John Supple. Gentil- ity was deined by Jean Sandoz, the link to Bumblebee’s origins. Jerry Boisvert. Sheila Roley. Jim Sayce. George Fulton. Gin Laugh- ery, who created and ran Astoria’s most original boutique clothing store, Amaryllis. David Carlsen at a Stein- way grand. Don Haskell. Ann Gol- deen. Carol Newman. Tom Freel. Liam Dunne. Jennifer Gooden- berger. June Spence. Marge Bloom- ield. Ted Bloomield. Jo Robinson. Leena Riker. Karen Emmerling. Dale Perkins. Floyd Holcom. Joyce Lin- coln. The golf sage Dan Strite. Rich- ard Natzke. Sean Fitzpatrick. Karin Temple. And the list goes on … — S.A.F.