THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016
COMMUNITY
1B
UP IN LIGHTS
PRISMS LIGHT THE WAY
ALL RAMPED UP
ave you ever wondered about the grids with the little colored
squares of glass embedded in downtown Astoria sidewalks?
Jeff Daly must be psychic, because just as the Ear was pondering the
question, an email popped up from him that provided a few answers
from http://glassian.org
For one thing, historically, the pieces of glass were shaped like
conical lenses (pictured inset) to disperse the light more evenly. They
were embedded in a 4-foot by 4-foot grid of 100 (10 on each side).
Originally made of clear glass, years of exposure to the sun changed
the color to purple.
The idea actually originated as an adaptation of glass deck lights,
used on ships to illuminate the cargo hold. In the 1800s, these side-
walk prism lights (also called vault lights) were a handy and safe
way to get natural light into basements below the sidewalk. When
electricity became popular, vault lights weren’t needed, and the prac-
tice of installing them died off.
It’s estimated that Astoria has around 40 of these grids in the
downtown core — from Fifth to 17th streets, and from the Columbia
River to Exchange Street — many in sad shape. You can see a map
at www.sidewalkglass.com
Studio 11, in conjunction with the Astoria Downtown Historic
District Association’s (ADHDA) Sidewalk Tile Replacement Pro-
gram (www.astoriadowntown.com), is making glass replicas to
replace the damaged squares. The replacements are not true prisms,
but are made to look as close as possible to the original in shape and
color. And, as an incentive to businesses and property owners, the
ADHDA is offering to reimburse 50 percent of the cost of replacing
tiles that present a tripping hazard or pedestrian safety issue.
Wouldn’t it be grand if all of the broken or missing tiles down-
town were restored?
H
RARE SIGHT
M
arine biology enthusiasts will be interested to know that
a team of Australian researchers has been sending out
drones to study southern right whales and their calves, NewAt-
las reports (http://tinyurl.com/whiteright). Consequently, without
disturbing them, the whales can be measured, and the team can
learn more about their health and reproduction.
On one such overlight recently, a white calf was seen, swim-
ming alongside an adult. The pair are pictured in a still shot from
a Murdoch University Cetacean Research Unit video. Appar-
ently, a very small percentage of right whales are born white, but
they usually turn black by the time they’re a year old — so this
was a very rare sighting, indeed.
SHUTTERBUG BLISS
S
easide Aquarium’s Tiffany Boothe has accomplished quite
a coup, and the dream of many a photographer: She’s had one
of her photos published in National Geographic — both online
at http://tinyurl.com/tiff-NatGeo and in the September 2016 issue
of the magazine. Her image is one of the illustrations for the arti-
cle, “The Blob That Cooked the Paciic,” by Craig Welch, about the
effects of warm ocean water on the West Coast.
A section of her photo is shown. The caption is: “Jellyish-like
animals known as ‘by-the-wind sailors’ blanket an Oregon beach
near an old shipwreck. Some of the same unusual wind patterns and
currents that recently warmed the Paciic pushed these loating crea-
tures by the millions onto beaches from Southern California to Brit-
ish Columbia.”
T
he Ear bets not too many of you can say this has happened
to you: The Daily Astorian’s managing editor Laura Sell-
ers-Earl, and her husband, Carl Earl, systems manager for the
EO Media Group, got Jumbotron-ed at the Phillies game Tuesday
at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. And, it just so happened it
was Carl’s birthday. What a present!
“It was a most memorable moment,” Laura noted. You betcha.
y name is Emma Edwards, and I am one lucky lady!”
Emma wrote to the Ear. The once-active 83-year-old,
who used to walk three miles a day, wasn’t so lucky in April,
though, when she had a nasty fall. After being life-lighted to
a Portland hospital, she was told she had broken her sacrum,
a bone in her back.
“I didn’t even know I had a sacrum. I mean, really!” she
quipped on a video made by the Tongue Point Job Corps
Center (http://tinyurl.com/emmas-ramp).
Once she inally returned home to Warrenton, she could
only get around with a four-wheeled walker. But she was sud-
denly stuck at home — she couldn’t get out of the house unas-
sisted, as the irst step down was very steep. What she needed
was a ramp.
Her physical therapist recommended asking Tom Gill,
then-president of the Astoria Lions Club, for help. Soon
Emma received a call from Tom saying the Tongue Point Job
Corps Center carpentry class would take on the project, with
the Lions Club’s assistance. Garrett Reeves, construction
trade supervisor, and carpentry instructor Teresa Downey
then visited Emma to take measurements for the free-stand-
ing ramp.
When the ramp was delivered, Instructor Downey and
three students, Charles McDaniel, Kendra Ferra and Geor-
gia Vanallen installed it. “These three, they help each other,”
Emma observed. “One is holding this, one is pounding the
nail in, one is putting the screw in — I am so impressed.”
Emma and the students are pictured in still shots from the
TPJCC video.
“I have learned quite a few new things today,” Kendra
said. “I hope Emma enjoys her new ramp. Just seeing her face
light up — it makes my day go ’round.”
“It was fun,” Georgia said. “It was exciting to see her face
bright up. It is so cute.”
Emma is loving that new ramp, and is grateful to every-
one who helped make it possible. “Oh my goodness, I’m just
used to going down, down, down, and I don’t have to any
more,” she said, laughing. “… (Now) I just go VROOM out
there, you know? And so, I’m just eternally thankful. That’s
all there is to it.”
JUNK IS WORTH SAVING
‘M
AROUND TOWN
little nostalgia, from Dec. 9, 2011: The Flying Dragon (pic-
tured), a Chinese junk built in Hong Kong in 1925, was tak-
ing on water near Clatsop Spit on Monday, and the Coast Guard
showed up to help.
Have a little money stashed away? The boat’s for sale for
$148,500, and it’s a beauty. You can see more photos, and get the
details at http://tinyurl.com/astjunk
The 50-foot vessel has more than 1,000 square feet of can-
vas. Here’s a bit of the sales pitch: “ … She spent the major-
ity of her life as a ishing boat … She was bought by an airline
pilot and converted into a cruiser in the 1960s. Bought by North-
west Orient Airlines, the Flying Dragon was brought overseas to
Spokane, Wash., in 1974, to be the airline’s loating pavilion in
the World Fair. After the fair, she saw many owners, and eventu-
ally ended up in Astoria, being used as a brothel.” Honest, that’s
what it claims. After inding the junk in Kalama, Wash., in 2000,
the Flying Dragon was restored in 2001 by sculptor Jerry Jos-
lin, who designed and hand-crafted the interior. Joslin, originally
from Portland, died in 2005 (http://joslinstudios.com).
After being rescued by the Coast Guard, the Flying Dragon
was towed to the Port of Ilwaco to await further adventures.
Update: The Flying Dragon was sold a week after the story
was published. The most recent report found was of the boat
grounding in 2013 off Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico (http://tinyurl.
com/groundjunk).
A
I
n anticipation of fall, two
blustery little gems from
The Daily Morning Astorian,
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 1885:
• This little strip known as
the “Paciic coast,” has never
had a cyclone nor a tornado,
and never wants one, but what looked like a starter made
things lively south of Genevieve Street at four o’clock yes-
terday afternoon, just when the rain was falling several hun-
dred feet a minute.
It seemed to come out of the brush, looked like a wreath
of black vapor … and when it struck some old stumps back
of Carl Hanson’s, it sent them whirling, and the bark ly-
ing 368 feet in the air and water. Then it swung down, and
made another scoop at the hillside back of Capt. Gray’s, and
whirled northward toward Wahkiakum County.
If any children are missing, a note of inquiry to the postmas-
ter at Cathlamet might bring glad tidings of the lost little ones.
• At Alderbrook, August Norburg has been putting up a
two-story dwelling 36 by 54 feet which was almost inished,
the loors and windows remaining to be put in. Yesterday he
and a carpenter named Jno. Holmgren were at work in the
building when as quick as a lightning lash a gust of wind
from the south struck the building, which collapsed and fell
in a shapeless mass.
Men who heard the crash ran to the spot and succeeded in
getting Norburg out unhurt. Holmgren was struck and held
down by some of the heavy timbers, and when found was in a
sitting posture wedged tightly between some beams. He was
got out as soon as possible and carried to St. Mary’s Hospi-
tal … It is the opinion of the physician that he cannot recover.
Such furious blows of wind are fortunately infrequent.
The air was still immediately before and after the miniature
cyclone, and nothing else in the vicinity was disturbed except
some trees growing near the house, which were torn up by the
roots in the rush of the whirlwind, where there spent its force.
SEA SHEPHERD, IN ASTORIA?
id you see the Sea Shepherd (Conservation Society) was
in Astoria Monday?” Astorian Amy Stocky asked. She
took the photo shown, of their vehicles parked in Uniontown. In
case you don’t know, Sea Shepherd (www.seashepherd.org) is
an international nonproit, marine wildlife conservation organi-
zation, probably best known for aggressively hindering Japanese
whaling boats.
Amy wanted to know why they were here. “I tweeted them
but heard nothing back,” she wrote, “and have seen nothing on
their Twitter feed.”
The Ear checked the Sea Shepherd Facebook page, and there
was nothing about Astoria there, either. So, a call to the New York
headquarters was in order to see what’s going on. As it turns out:
Nothing. The vehicles that were parked here were purchased at a
Sea Shepherd auction by a “regular person,” and have nothing to
do with Sea Shepherd activities. Mystery solved.
‘D