4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
Water
under
the bridge
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
last year, packed to the firm’s specifications by Pacific Shrimp,
Inc., of Warrenton, and the same marketing arrangement will
continue this season. McGowan said.
The young, the poor and the crippled of Atlanta
trudged through a foggy rain today to pay their last
respects to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Compiled by Bob Duke
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
75 years ago — 1943
10 years ago
this week — 2008
At 800 feet below the earth’s surface, things can easily go
wrong.
For the scientists and drilling crew installing geophysical
monitoring equipment in Naselle in the past couple of weeks,
that’s the depth that had to be achieved.
Overseen by UNAVCO, this installation is part of the
Plate Boundary Observatory project, an operation designed to
increase the understanding of earthquakes and other seismic
activity. UNAVCO is a nonprofit consortium funded by the
National Science Foundation and the NASA.
Replacing the staircase at the Astoria Column
will cost the city $200,000 if the City Council agrees
to a proposal presented at Monday’s meeting by
Jordan Schnitzer, president of the nonprofit Friends
of the Astoria Column. That’s almost half the pro-
jected $418,000 budget for fixing the steps, which
have been out of commission for months. Schnitzer
is aiming for the staircase, which spirals up the inte-
rior of the famous landmark, to be reopened to the
public by the first two weeks in July.
Astoria High School coach Dave Gasser returned from Til-
lamook Thursday as the winningest baseball coach in Ore-
gon history. Led by a fire engine, the team bus pulled onto
the school parking lot around 10 p.m. to a crowd awaiting its
arrival.
Given the fact that the Astoria Fishermen outscored Tilla-
mook in three games last year by a combined 50-3 — and 35-6
the year before that — a baseball game between the Fish and
the Cheesemakers normally wouldn’t draw much attention.
But there they were Thursday afternoon at Tillamook,
playing in front of radio, newspaper and television reporters,
including Astoria student Micah Dugan, filming for KGW
News Channel 8 in Portland.
The Daily Astorian
Bumble Bee Seafood’s new shrimp shell removing
machine is demonstrated by John Farrell, foreman in
charge of Astoria’s first shrimp cannery, which began
operation in 1968 at the Elmore cannery.
50 years ago — 1968
These are busy days at the Port of Astoria, as
indicated by the announcement that tonnage vol-
ume for the first quarter of 1968 was double the vol-
ume of the first quarter of 1967.
The Port is so busy that port commissioners are
looking at the East End Basin breakwater as a tem-
porary loading spot for log ships.
It is pleasant to have the Port booming like this,
for its prosperity spreads through the community,
but one wonders if the evident rapid acceleration of
the log export trade won’t bring reprisals soon.
Conversations have taken place in Japan involv-
ing officials of our government and log buyers, with
a view to persuading the Japanese to ease off volun-
tarily on their log buying, but it doesn’t appear that
these talks have produced much result.
Now the lumber industry, seeing more logs go
overseas each month, will become more demanding
that there be remedial legislation.
Astoria’s first shrimp canning plant began operations
Wednesday when Bumble Bee Seafoods started its newly
installed shrimp peeling and canning line at the Elmore plant.
Announcement of the new industry was made by John S.
McGowan, Bumble Bee president.
Bumble Bee started marketing north Pacific canned shrimp
The office of price administration today set out to con-
trol the cost of “eating out” by authorizing ceiling prices on
restaurant meals.
But officials admitted that although they can set maxi-
mum prices for the cost of a restaurant dinner, they have vir-
tually no control over the size of portions or the quality of
the food.
A far more abundant supply of fresh, deep-sea
fish will be available immediately it appeared today
as relaxation of commercial fishing regulations
along the Pacific coasts of Oregon and Washing-
ton were announced by Capt. W.H. Munter, district
coast guard officer at Seattle.
The rulings permit fishing fleets new liberties in
entering and leaving certain harbors and the Strait
of Juan de Fuca at night and in early morning.
The ports and waters to which the new regula-
tions apply are: Strait of Juan de Fuca, Quillayute
River, Grays Harbor, Columbia River, Depoe Bay
and Coos Bay.
The industrial council of the office of price administra-
tion is ready to recommend the first “break through” of meat
rationing lines and propose tripling the amount of the weekly
meat ration for loggers, it was learned today.
The council, it was understood, will propose that the pres-
ent ration of about two pounds a week be increased for loggers
to between six and seven pounds – the standard Army field
ration – to end work stoppages in logging camps. If granted,
the concession will place OPA under more pressure for simi-
lar concessions to miners and other workers who expend con-
siderable energy daily.
Too many violations of civil defense regulations
concerning dimming headlights of cars at night have
been reported recently, according to D.J. Lewis,
defense coordinator. The state defense council has
warned that many lights are not properly equipped,
and that drivers must depend on their parking
lights, which are unsatisfactory.
Why children in foster care system need you
W
e all hear and read about the issues
of child abuse and neglect and the
overburdened child welfare system.
It’s a serious problem in Oregon as it is in
many other states. It is all too easy to think,
“how sad,” and then turn your mind away from
a problem that seems too big to be able to do
anything about.
But for more than 100 kids in our com-
munity, that is not an option. They are living
in this situation every day,
without any choice and with
hardly any voice.
April is National Child
Abuse Prevention Month.
Just for a moment, remember
what being a little kid felt
JULIA
like. Pretend you are 7 years
MABRY
old. Then imagine what it
would be like to lose your
parents, your home, maybe your entire family,
your friends, neighborhood, and school, and
everything familiar, because your parents could
not take care of you. You have no choice in the
matter.
Then think about being introduced to many
people — police, foster parents, therapists,
social workers, judges, lawyers and more.
You know that these strangers are somehow
responsible for deciding if you will ever live
with your parents again. They don’t know you,
and you wonder what you can or should say to
them to make happen what you what to have
happen.
Hopefully, one of the people you meet is
a CASA (court appointed special advocate)
volunteer. If you have a CASA volunteer, you
will have someone to listen to you, to advocate
for you until your case is closed and you are in
a safe, forever home. You will have someone
who will keep a promise to be part of your life
during this difficult time and to respect you as a
person of value.
The chronic neglect that many foster youth
experience greatly impacts their self-esteem
and makes the CASA’s promises all the more
important. As one young woman said about her
CASA, “Thank you for caring and putting time
into me. Thank you for helping me feel safer
in the midst of what seems to be a civil war.
Thanks for putting time into my life so that
maybe someday I will be someone.” (Someone
There for Me,, CWLA Press, 2004)
CASAs are everyday citizens who take an
oath in front of a judge pledging to diligently
work toward what is in a child’s best interests.
CASAs are given authority to gather informa-
tion about the child from treatment providers,
teachers, foster parents, family and anyone else
who might have useful information. Through
their recommendations to the court, CASA
volunteers can influence the outcome in a child
welfare case, a very important role. CASAs
also have the ability to help a child regain trust
in adults in general.
As a former foster youth recently told a
National CASA Association
Anyone can make a positive difference in the lives of children.
crowd at a CASA event, the CASA might be
the only person in the child’s present life who
knows important things
like the child’s favorite
color, what games the child
likes best and the names
of the pets they have had.
She said, “We don’t need
anyone to save us; we just
need someone to believe
in us.” By visiting a child
regularly, listening to the
child, helping make sure
that the child’s needs are
met, and by being a friend,
a CASA can help a young
person who is sad, broken
and hurt. Having a caring
adult who has given up
time just to listen means
a lot to a child who may
have experienced a childhood without a consis-
tent, nurturing parent.
The most frequent reservation that people
have about being a CASA is that they are afraid
of the emotional toll that this work would take.
Maybe it’s just the fabulous volunteers that
we’ve been lucky enough to get, but this is
almost never an issue once
someone commits to being
a volunteer.
The abuse and neglect
have already happened;
the child is moving on in
some fashion, somehow,
and we adults should figure
out how to deal with our
own perception of their
experiences and do what
we need to do to support
that burdened child.
For most of us, the
worst part of being a CASA
comes not from having
to read or hear about the
sadder aspects of these
children’s lives, as painful
as that may be. It comes from working with
a system that is limited in what it can do for
these kids and families. The system limitations
are the reality for our kids and we as adults
need to, and usually do, find a way through
CASAs are
everyday citizens
who take an
oath in front of a
judge pledging to
diligently work
toward what is
in a child’s best
interests.
that frustration to get the best possible outcome
for a child. It feels good to know that you’ve
had some part in improving things for a child
and our CASA volunteers gladly take up that
challenge. As Sen. Betsy Johnson said at our
recent CASA event, speaking of our many
donors, “Tonight you can go home, put your
head on the pillow and say ‘I helped a kid.’”
That is how our CASA volunteers deserve to
feel every day.
Call the office at 503-338-6063 or email
casa@clatsopcasa.org to learn more or to join
our next training class; you can also get the
application and find out a lot more at our web-
site: clatsopcasa.org.
If becoming a CASA is not for you, this
month, and every month, there are countless
ways to help our children and families thrive.
On April 24, eight local nonprofits will offer
a buffet of opportunities to give everyone the
chance to “Be the difference – in someone’s
life.” Join us to find out how from 4-7 p.m. at
857 Commercial Street in Astoria and make the
world a better place.
Julia Mabry is executive director of the Clat-
sop CASA Program.