145TH YEAR, NO. 3
DailyAstorian.com
WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017
ONE DOLLAR
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Spectators watch the Fourth of July fireworks display in Astoria near the Riverwalk Tuesday. Independence Day festivities took place up and down the North Coast.
FOURTH ON THE NORTH COAST
SEASIDE
WARRENTON, ASTORIA
R.J. Marx
The Daily
Astorian
Colin Murphey
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH
Brenna
Visser
The Daily
Astorian
LEFT: Beach Drive Buccaneers at the parade. MIDDLE: Warrenton Police Department K-9 Officer Robert Wirt and Gabe prepare to lead the Fourth of July parade in Warrenton on
Tuesday. RIGHT: Cannon Beach local Brett Willyard shows kids a magic trick on Hemlock Street while they wait for the parade to begin. He’s been doing magic since he was 13, he said, and
performing it in Cannon Beach on the Fourth of July since 2013. Find more photos of the Fourth of July celebrations on Page 9A and online at DailyAstorian.com
Patriotic pirates
storm beach town
Seaside’s parade
for the Fourth
shines in sun
Seaside’s thousands of Inde-
pendence Day visitors. By
midday today, they will have
collected 12 to 15 tons of trash.
The Buccaneers are SOLVE’s
largest distributor of trash bags.
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Seaside parade
SEASIDE — Saying
“Arrrr ” in your fi nest pirate
voice is a signature of the
Beach Drive Buccaneers. Their
proudest moments come every
July Fourth as they anchor the
parade and lead the post-holi-
day cleanup, too. Just look for
the all-terrain vehicle on the
beach with the pirate fl ag.
The statewide beach
cleanup team, SOLVE, pro-
vides the bags to the Buc-
caneers, who share it with
For the Fourth of July
parade, early birds had lawn
chairs in place by 9 a.m., with
red , white and blue banners,
fl ags and bunting everywhere.
Led by a Seaside Police
car and followed by the Boy
Scouts, the march kicked off
at 11 a.m. from the corner of
12th and Necanicum, head-
ing up Holladay to Broadway
under cloudy skies and chilly
temperatures.
See SEASIDE, Page 9A
Food, festivities,
‘It’s small-town
fun and fi reworks America at its fi nest’
Warrenton
holds parade,
Astoria supplies
the big bang
By KAELIA NEAL
The Daily Astorian
W
ARRENTON —
Rachel Wirt, along
with two of her
three sons, sat on the curb of
Southwest Ninth Street during
the Old-Fashioned Fourth of
July Parade waiting to see her
husband.
Warrenton Police K-9 Offi -
cer Robert Wirt has led the
parade many times, Rachel
Wirt said. She and her family
have attended the Warrenton
parade for about 11 years .
“It’s an annual tradition,”
she said.
“The Fourth of July to me
means freedom (and) family.
For me it’s honoring the mem-
bers of my family who have
served ,” she said.
Hundreds of people lined
the parade route .
People in police cars, fi re
trucks and classic cars honked
their horns in celebration
while tossing candy to spec-
tators. Floats featured war
veterans, Miss Clatsop County
and the Astoria Regatta
princesses.
The evening ended with
a fi rework display at the
East Mooring Basin over the
Columbia River.
City celebrates
traditions and
patriotism
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH —
Thirty years ago, the Fourth of
July parade in Cannon Beach
consisted of one family march-
ing on Monroe Street with a
mission to celebrate patriotism.
It was Bob Teagle, a local
and a veteran, and his for-
mer wife, Leah, who started to
bring red, white and blue to the
streets of the resort town .
Thirty years later, Teagle’s
wife, Nancy, and the American
Legion have taken the reins
of carrying on a tradition that
blossomed from neighborhood
fun to thousands lining Hem-
lock and Spruce s treets .
Nancy Teagle started help-
ing with parade organizing
when she met Bob in 1996
and watched as the event grew
larger each year . After Bob
died in 2005, she chose to carry
out the parade in the “enthusi-
astic and patriotic” spirit of her
husband.
“What can I say? I’ve
always loved a good parade,”
Nancy Teagle said.
Red, white and blue
Floats fi lled with com-
munity residents adorned in
a variety of American fl ag
See CANNON BEACH, Page 9A
BABY BOOM
Coast Guard families bring bevy of babies aboard
Copter pilots
have six babies
in six months
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
By the time they reached
Longview, Washington , Lt.
Jon Ralston wondered if they
had made a terrible choice.
Before that December
night, the decision to have
the baby in Portland made
so much sense. Now, with
his wife in the passenger seat
breathing through contrac-
tions, doubt was creeping in.
They’d already made the
drive to Portland a few days
earlier and come back emp-
ty-handed. As a helicopter
pilot for the U.S. Coast Guard,
Ralston had limited medical
training, but the thought raced
through his mind: Maybe
he’d have to fi gure out how to
deliver this baby himself.
Later, safe in the Portland
hospital, the Ralstons named
their newborn son — their
third child — Ray. He kicked
off a mini-baby boom among
the families of the Coast
Guard’s Astoria-based rescue
helicopter pilots. Five more
babies would follow him into
the world over the next fi ve
months.
Group photos
Group photos of these
babies in their dads’ arms
made the rounds on Facebook
before Father’s Day.
The six babies are roughly
the same size. They are all
squishy-faced in a way that
makes grown adults contort
their own faces, mouth the air
like goldfi sh and talk high-
pitched, babbling nonsense.
See BABIES, Page 4A
Submitted Photo
The U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Astoria experienced a
mini-baby boom recently: six babies in six months born to
families of rescue helicopter pilots based here. Parents say
they feel lucky. All six mothers and babies had healthy preg-
nancies and births. More photos online at DailyAstorian.com