Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 2016)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2016 Founded in 1873 DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager Water under the bridge Compiled by Bob Duke From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers 10 years ago this week — 2006 Two Clatsop County communities apparently heeded Clatsop Com- munity College’s call for a new $60 million campus. A majority of voters in Arch Cape and Cannon Beach favored the col- lege’s $25 million bond measure to help fund the project in the Nov. 7 election, according to a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of the county’s votes. But most ballots cast in the county’s other 31 precincts — including all eight in Astoria — opposed the measure. The proposal was defeated 61 percent to 39 percent overall. Alan Johansson would have marked his eighth anniversary as Warrenton’s city engineer and public works director next month. Instead, Johannson got a call from City Manager Ed Mad- ere after Tuesday night’s City Commission meeting informing him that commissioners had voted to eliminate his position, and the entire engineering department — effective immediately. Although the item was not on the agenda, Commissioner Terry Ferguson made a surprise motion at the end of the meeting. The phone call came as a surprised to Johannson, who had been at the meeting but had left early. “It was after I left. I didn’t have any idea,” he said this morning. Fire destroyed the Ilwaco Volunteer Fire Department building Thurs- day night, along with just about everything inside. No one knows for sure how the fire started, but Chief Tom Williams said he suspects it was an electrical fire in the old building’s wiring that sparked the blaze and set of the fire alarm. 50 years ago — 1966 Astoria merchants kicked off the Christmas shopping season last weekend with lighted streets and decorated Astoria Column, stores open until 9 Friday night, and a parade Saturday that drew more children than such events have ever done before. First steps to organize a local chapter of the national Coast Guard league took place at a meeting of about 25 local busi- ness men, Coast Guard officers and retired Coast Guardsmen in J.J. Astor Hotel Monday evening. Russians estimate they have caught about 22 mil- lion pounds of Pacific Ocean perch and hake off the U.S. West Coast this year. They also believe hake stocks are good enough to permit indef- inite fishing. Applicants for navy shore sta- tion service had an opportunity to see the U.S.S. Amber, former personal yacht of John Barry- more, when it was berthed at the naval section base here. The craft has a gun forward and is fit- ted out for regular patrol duties. The State Sanitary Authority Wednesday was warned that the Colum- bia River could suffer the same fate as other streams in the country if pro- posed recommendations for lowering pollution standards were adopted. But SSA spokesman Ken Spies said no testimony presented at Wednesday’s hearing here “gave any justification for changing the recommendation.” Spies, state sanitary engineer, has recommended adoption of standards for the Columbia that would allow four times the number of coliform bacteria in the river below the Vancouver Interstate bridge that is allowed upstream from that point. 75 years ago — 1941 Martin Johnson, 93, believed to be Astoria’s oldest resident, died Monday. Mr. Johnson was last surviving member of the original 30 men who organized the old Union cannery that was forerunner of the present Union Fishermen’s Cooperative cannery. This group acquired a tract which was later divided up to form what became known as Uniontown, colloquial term for Astoria’s west end. Site of the old union cannery is now occu- pied by the Elmore cannery. The war drums are really beating around the shores of the Pacific Ocean these days. The Japanese envoys are getting nowhere with their Washington conversations and the Japanese spokesmen back in Tokyo are sounding off as belligerently as ever. The United States, Britain and the Netherlands Indies are busy with war preparations on the biggest scale so far, and no wonder. They have little faith in Japan’s peace protesta- tions any more and suspect that any peace talk Japan now puts up is just a method of stalling for time. The Japanese are now definitely in a place where they must put up or shut up. The powers aligned against them have adopted the most firm attitude shown to date. If the Japanese really want peace, they must do more than say so – they must accompany peace gestures with some real concessions toward the demands of these nations which have denounced aggression. There is strong opinion that, if we must ultimately fight Japan, we might as well do it now when Japan has no chance of help from her axis allies. SOUTHERN EXPOSURE Holiday giving comes in many different forms By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian S EASIDE — The sound of coins rattling in a washing machine slot and the spinning of a dryer are hardly what you think of when it comes to charity. In Seaside, however, volunteers and supporters of Laundry Love are helping provide those in need with clean bedding, clothes and outer- wear. And once a month, they head down to the Sea- side Laundromat, where donations provide up to two loads of laundry free per family — no strings attached. The event earlier this month was described by organizer Shirley Yates as the largest one in the four years of the program’s existence. “We ended up using all our fund- ing within two hours,” Yates said. “It was so huge there was a line of peo- ple waiting to do their laundry an hour early. We usually go from 11 to 2. We had to shut it down at noon because we had used up all our fund- ing at that point.” Two seniors from Seaside High School, Marysol Alcantar and Chan- nene Prendergast, helped with the clothing drive as part of their Pacifica Project. Friends and supporters — including Victoria Daniels, Adrienne Alexander, Nevaeh Hazen and Carl Yates — found themselves busy fill- ing and refilling the coin slots, hand- ing out hot dogs and coffee and col- oring pages to the kids. Jeremy Mills of State Farm Insur- ance in Seaside donated the use of his garage to store and sort clothes. More than 30 families partici- pated in the event, receiving two loads of laundry per family, including detergent and dryer sheets. “They are so thankful, so recep- tive,” Yates said. “We feel so blessed. You guys have been so amazing in giving to people in our community.” Laundry Love takes place the sec- ond Saturday of every month at 1223 South Roosevelt Drive; the next event is 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 10. Holiday treasures Before I went over to the Holi- day Treasures Boutique last Thurs- day, PEO education chairwoman Diane Somers told me the event would exceed my expectations. She was right. I wasn’t prepared for the line that greeted the Holiday Treasures event of the Seaside PEO organization, the stacks of cakes, cookies and hand- crafted gifts. It took the PEO a couple of years to find the right type of occasion to share their fundraising mission, Somers said. First they tried a strawberry short- cake affair, then a garage sale during the annual Hood to Coast relay weekend. That was the year of the big storms and a power outage. In the aftermath, PEO changed course and conceived Holiday Trea- sures. Several PEO chapter members are also members of the Sou’Wester Garden Club, which maintains the cottage gardens through the spring plant sale fundraiser and hiring land- scaping services to supplement mem- bers’ “hands-and-knees” gardening efforts. Using Butterfield Cottage for a holiday fundraiser made sense. “It is not the typical craft sale venue and presentation, Somers said. R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian Gayle Spear and Marcia Hartill at the PEO Holiday Treasures event. R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian Shirley Yates shares the mes- sage of Laundry Love at Sea- side’s Chamber of Commerce breakfast Nov. 18. “Butterfield Cottage is a special place to us. It was such a success we didn’t need to reinvent the wheel, and strug- gle out to figure out a new idea each year.” At the event, Marcia Hartill and Gayle Spear greeted guests in their most becoming holiday garb: garish Christmas sweater and reindeer ant- lers. Marion Benke — described by Somers as “finance chair, visionary and chair of the fundraiser” — pre- sided over new arrivals. Benke told me she retired to Sea- side after “living all over” and man- aging a retail business in Beaverton. She’s been with PEO since 2006 and with the fundraiser for the past two years. “We support ladies who really need to go back to college,” Benke said. “Some are adults, some are not quite adults yet.” On a mission Education is their mission — PEO, with chapters in the U.S., Can- ada and England — stands for Phil- anthropic Education Organization. Scholarships are awarded to grad- uating seniors college students and women re-entering the workforce. Local PEO organizations sub- mit candidates to the state chapter, which awards the scholarship funds annually. “We always we look for goals and if they have focus in what they want to do,” PEO’s chapter president and former education chairwoman Jan Kenny said. “Most of the women who are returning are very committed and dedicated to getting their degrees and to doing really good commu- nity things,” she said. “They have a good future and are generally very successful.” Scholarship recipients study for degrees at all levels, and “lots getting their Ph.D.’s,” she added. “All our girls are success stories.” The Cannon Beach Chapter spon- sors two local women through schol- arships or low-interest loans: Alanna Kieffer, a junior majoring in biology and marine sciences and Raedetta Castle, manager of the Seaside High Start Program. Castle was selected to receive a low-interest loan, enabling her to pursue her MBA through Marylhurst University in Portland. “It’s a very rigorous process, so if you get a scholarship from us, you’re very deserving,” Kenny said. “I think it’s wonderful.” Holiday cheer Meanwhile, outside Butterfield Cottage at 10:55 the morning of Antique Treasures, the line was three deep and filled the parking lot. Holi- day cheer was just five minutes away. “This was successful, we really enjoyed putting it together,” Somers said. “It’s fun for us to see people come and enjoy what we do. I love working on events because you really get to know the people you’re work- ing with.” While this year’s Holiday Trea- sures was a one-day affair, guests will still have time to visit Butterfield Cottage for the Gingerbread Tea. The Butterfield Cottage will be decorated in Victorian holiday style and open from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, Dec. 3, 10 and 17. The museum and cottage are located at 570 Necanicum Drive in Seaside, four blocks north of the Seaside Civic and Convention Center. R.J. Marx is The Daily Astori- an’s South County reporter and edi- tor of the Seaside Signal and Cannon Beach Gazette.
