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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2017
CONTACT US
ewilson@dailyastorian.com
(503) 325-3211 ext. 257
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DailyAstorian
IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
WHERE’S JEANE LAKE?
‘I
live in Taree, New South Wales, Australia,” Sarah Martin
wrote. “I am hoping that you can help me find someone my
parents, Phillip and Jackie Donkin, are looking for. In 1972, a
young lady named Jeane Lake (pictured) came out to Austra-
lia as an exchange student from Astoria. She was about 16 at the
time.
“My grandparents, David and Norma Donkin, took her in
from another family until she went back to America. Unfortu-
nately, my grandmother lost contact with her over the years.”
Do you know where Jeane Lake might be? She graduated
from high school in 1976, and is probably in her 50s. She went to
work in the laboratory at the Portland Sanitation Department, and
married a man named Bob Miller. Her sister, Judy, married Dan
Miller (no relation), and there is a younger sister named Bobby.
Her mother’s name was Anna Lake. If you have any idea of how
to contact Jeane, please call the Ear at 503-325-3211, ext. 257, or
email ewilson@dailyastorian.com
“My parents would really like to find her, but have been
unable to locate her,” Sarah added, “I am hoping that you maybe
able to point me in the right direction, or find someone who may
be able to help me.”
BEACH GHOUL
MYSTERY DOCK
DOWNTIME WITH JIM KNIGHT
ast Friday, Nellie Hux was walking on the beach north
of Long Beach, Washington, and posted the photo
shown on Facebook. “Not sure what this big metal box is
that washed up,” she wrote, “(but) seagulls are enjoying it,
and I saw a guy dancing on it.” Which of course, got every-
body wondering what it was, and where it came from —
not to mention, who was that dancing guy?
It resembled the 2011 Japanese tsunami debris dock
that rolled in near Newport, but before anyone could get
a really close look, it disappeared. Most figured the city of
Long Beach had picked it up.
The Ear emailed Long Beach City Administrator David
Glasson, but he said the city had nothing to do with its
removal. He recommended I contact Scott McDougal
with the Pacific County Emergency Management Agency.
But the PCEMA “was never contacted about this debris,
and it was long gone before I was ever aware that it was
there,” Scott McDougal replied. “Judging by the pictures I
have seen of the debris on social media, it did not appear to
have been in the water for six years … It is, in my opinion,
much more likely that this was a recent piece of debris.”
So who took the dock off the beach? A little more
sleuthing revealed it was George Hill of Hill Autobody
& Towing in Ocean Park, Washington, who removed it for
the Washington Parks and Recreation Department. And, it
was quite an operation, since the dock was 40 feet by 10
feet by 3 feet, and weighed 8 tons. That’s a whole lotta
metal, and you can see the video of them moving it at
http://tinyurl.com/HillDock
The dock wound up at the local landfill on the penin-
sula. And its origins are not a total mystery, after all. “We
were told the dock most likely broke loose locally, and is
not part of the Japanese tsunami debris,” George noted. “I
would agree, as the zincs on the ends were all English writ-
ing.” Making Scott McDougal’s guess right on the money.
So, who’s missing a dock?
L
NOT SO SMOOTH SAILING
F
or a little summer fun, several photos of Astoria’s own glam-
our ghoul, Vampira (aka Maila Nurmi), as you’ve likely
never seen her before, vamping at the beach, on a Style Excess
blog post called “Summer chic according to … Vampira” (http://
tinyurl.com/vampbeach). Two of the photos are shown.
And, to go with the photos, an apropos quote from Maila’s
niece, Sandra, from the Vampira Facebook page: “I thought my
aunt was my own, private Cinderella. I’d never seen anyone quite
so beautiful and stayed as near to her as I could. Thirty-five years
later, Maila wrote to me saying her mother said that, ‘Sandy was
quite taken with you.’ And so it was, and remained so, for the rest
of her life.”
NOSTALGIA TIME
K, Astoria High School grads, this one’s for you. The Asto-
ria School District Facebook page, on Wednesday, posted
this: “Wow, we just uploaded our 30,000th picture into the
school district photo archives. That’s a lot of scanning and we
aren’t even close to being done yet.”
No they’re not kidding. Go to http://tinyurl.com/AHSphotos,
and you will see lots of folders of photos. Click on the “AHS” at
the top of the page to see the albums sorted by decade — the pho-
tos go back to the 1930s. The image shown is of the 1956-1957
student body officers.
As fun as it is to look at all those photos, there’s more. “Our
next part of the project is to collect your stories about the pic-
tures,” the post continues. “Below each picture is a comment
box where you can tell us what you remember about a class,
teacher or team. We want to hear your story so we can share it
on our new website. It’s free and it’s fun to share.” So get busy,
already, and start adding captions.
O
ome life-saving tidbits, starting with one from the May
13, 1890, edition of The Daily Morning Astorian:
“Maj. T. J. Blakeney yesterday inspected the surf boat
recently received here for the new life-saving station at
Fort Stevens (pictured courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard). It
was badly battered en route … but, putty and white lead is
a poor substitute for planks intended for use of shipwrecked
mariners in stormy seas, and the major declined to accept it
unless placed in proper trim …
“Maj. Blakeney also has given orders for the construc-
tion of a signal tower, and has also had constructed a tele-
phone line, which with the telegraph, will place the station
in instant communication with this city.”
But it didn’t say if the station tried out a new life-saving
device mentioned in the April 15, 1888 edition: “A patent
has been granted to Capt. Timothy Akin Sr., a New Bed-
ford (Massachusetts) pilot, for a rocket, or projectile, made
of metal and filled with oil, which is to be thrown from the
shore near or around vessels that are stranded. It can be
thrown from the same gun that throws the life-line across
stranded vessels.”
The rocket would sink, and the oil inside would float to
the surface, creating smooth water for a life-saving crew.
The captain planned to send the device to life-saving sta-
tions around the country to try out.
That same year, a German inventor, M.W. Meissel, came
up the idea first, to be used by commercial ships to smooth
rough seas (http://tinyurl.com/MWMeissel). Despite favor-
able testing results for both uses, the captain’s device seems
to have disappeared into history.
Ironically, in 1893, on a stormy night, two of his sons,
Capt. Timothy Akin Jr. and his brother, Fred, and four other
men launched a surf boat in heavy seas to save the crew on
a wrecked brig off Cape Cod, Massachusetts (also known
as the Graveyard). Five drowned, including the Akin broth-
ers, according to the Cuttyhunk Historical Society (http://
tinyurl.com/CaptAkin). Everyone on the brig was saved the
next day — whether with, or without, the use of the senior
Capt. Akin’s oil rockets is unknown.
im Knight, the Port of Astoria’s executive director, was fea-
tured in the Downtime section of Oregon Business magazine
in April (http://tinyurl.com/PortKnight), and had some interest-
ing things to say on several subjects, including his business role
model.
“My father was a mid-level manager for IBM,” Knight, who
is pictured courtesy of Oregon Business, said. “That man put on
a white shirt, suit and tie five to six days a week, and worked in
a small office or a cubicle week after week for over 30 years. He
worked hard to care for his five sons. He taught me perseverance
and overcoming obstacles and to rise to every challenge, no mat-
ter how difficult.” Skills that are surely coming in handy in his
current position.
J
UGLY DUCKLING NO MORE
ere’s to recycling on a grand scale: The Vard 1-08 Kilkea,
a retired 268-foot long container ship, is being converted
into a world class low fuel consumption expedition superyacht,
according to DigitalTrends.com (http://tinyurl.com/vardyacht).
The hull is ice-classed, so the Kilkea can travel in glacial cli-
mates, or any climate that can handle the vessel’s 16-foot draft.
It’s designed to carry up to 36 guests and can travel for up to 30
days without needing refueling or restocking. And let’s not for-
get all the amenities, including a helicopter deck, space for boat
tenders and small planes, etc. The yacht design, and the shell of
the Kilkea, shown are courtesy of the Edmiston yacht broker-
age (www.edmiston.com). Never has a container ship looked so
good.
Admittedly, the state of the art yacht has a pretty blah name,
but hey, you can always change it once you cough up the $72 mil-
lion you’ll need to buy it.
H
WHISPERING WHALES
S
ot much was known about baby humpback whales, and
how they made the strenuous 5,000 mile migration with
their mothers from their birthplace in the tropics to the feeding
grounds in the Arctic or Antarctic. A mother and baby humpback
are pictured in a photo by Fredrik Christiansen.
To learn more about how the calves survived this journey, sci-
entists from Australia’s Murdoch University and Denmark’s Aar-
hus University attached suction cup tag devices to eight calves
and two mothers before their migration began, NewAtlas.com
reports (http://tinyurl.com/whisperwhale). The tags transmitted
sounds and tracked movements for 48 hours before dropping off
and floating to the surface.
The data retrieved revealed something unexpected: Baby
whales are “whispering” to their mothers with soft grunts and
squeaks, a clever survival tactic so they won’t be overheard by
nearby predators or male humpbacks. You can hear the sounds at
http://tinyurl.com/babysqueak.
“This migration is very demanding for young calves,” study
lead author Simone Videsen Videsen said. “… Knowing more
about their suckling will help us understand what could disrupt
this critical behavior (such as ship noises), so we can target con-
servation efforts more effectively.”
N
COMMUNITY NOTES
SATURDAY
Lower Columbia R/C Society — 8:30
a.m., back room at Uptown Cafe, 1639 S.E.
Ensign Lane, Warrenton. Local Academy of
Model Aeronautics (AMA) chartered radio
control model aircraft club meets for break-
fast and business. All model aircraft enthu-
siasts are welcome. For information, call
503-458-5196 or 503-325-0608.
Angora Hiking Club — 9 a.m., Sixth
Street parking lot. Bayocean Spit hike. For
information, call June Baumler at 503-368-
4323.
Chinook
Indian
Nation
—
11 a.m. council meeting, Chinook
Tribal Office, 3 Park St., Bay Center,
Washington. Meeting is open to all tribal
members; attendees are reminded to bring
a potluck item. For questions, call the tribal
office in advance of the event at 360-875-
6670.
Sit & Stitch — 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Home-
spun Quilts & Yarn, 108 10th St. Bring knit-
ting, crochet or other needlework projects to
this community stitching time. All skill levels
welcome.
Columbia Northwestern Model Rail-
roading Club — 1 p.m., in Hammond.
Group runs trains on HO-scale layout. For
information, call Don Carter at 503-325-
0757.
Spinning Circle — 1 to 3 p.m., Astoria
Fiber Arts Academy, 1296 Duane St. Bring
a spinning wheel. For information, call 503-
325-5598 or go to http://astoriafiberarts.com
SUNDAY
Blacksmith Enthusiasts Meet — 10
a.m. to 3 p.m., Camp 18 Blacksmith Shop,
42362 U.S. Highway 26, Seaside. Partici-
pants welcome to bring their own forge and
anvil setup. Metal available to experiment
with; coal is provided. No charge, but do-
nations to the Camp 18 Loggers Memorial
Museum welcome. For information, contact
Mark Standley at 503-434-0148 or Herman
Doty at 971-306-1043 or ringinganvilde-
sign@gmail.com
Line Dancing — 5:30 to 8 p.m., Sea-
side American Legion, 1315 Broadway. For
information, call 503-738-5111. No cost;
suggested $5 tip to the instructor.
MONDAY
Chair Exercises for Seniors — 9 to
9:45 a.m., Astoria Senior Center, 1111 Ex-
change St. For information, call 503-325-
3231.
Scandinavian Workshop — 10 a.m.,
First Lutheran Church, 725 33rd St. Nee-
dlework, hardanger, knitting, crocheting,
embroidery and quilting. All are welcome.
For information, call 503-325-1364 or 503-
325-7960.
See NOTES, Page 2B