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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
Water
under
the bridge
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
75 years ago — 1943
Astoria will join Portland and the state of
Oregon in celebration of “Africa Victory Day” to
commemorate the allied blasting of the Germans
and Italians out of north Africa, it was announced
today.
Walter Underwood is chairman of the events,
which will start with the blowing of whistles and the
ringing of bells at high noon. An official proclama-
tion matching that of Governor Earl Snell will be
announced by Mayor Orval Eaton.
Compiled by Bob Duke
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2008
On a visit to Astoria, Bill Clinton called on Oregon voters
to cast their ballot for change.
The former president spoke outdoors to a crowd of 700
or more outside the Columbia River Maritime Museum. The
throng had been buzzing with anticipation at Clinton’s appear-
ance in Astoria to promote his wife Hillary’s candidacy for
the Democratic nomination. Clinton’s slightly late appearance
only added to the anticipation.
In his speech before hundreds gathered at the Columbia
River Maritime Museum plaza, he presented his case for mak-
ing Hillary Clinton the Democratic nominee for president.
Chief among his arguments was her stance on liquefied
natural gas.
Hillary Clinton’s backers boast that she, unlike her
Democratic rival Barack Obama and Republican nomi-
nee John McCain, voted against the Energy Policy Act of
2005, which took the power to site LNG terminals away
from states and gave it to the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission.
“It stripped you of the right to approve the siting of your
own LNG facilities, and that was wrong,” Clinton said.
Astoria and the North Coast are still abuzz after
President Bill Clinton’s visit.
Carol Abraham, of Astoria, was pumped. “It’s
the most exciting thing at this level of politics since
JFK came to Tongue Point in 1963. It’s a moment
in history.”
Developer Chester Trabucco described it as “a
very exciting day in Astoria.”
50 years ago — 1968
The new flagpole of the Astor library was dedicated in a
ceremony conducted by the American Legion, Clatsop Post
12, with Harold Dahlgren master of ceremonies. The metal
Alex Pajunas/The Daily Astorian
Former President Bill Clinton is joined on stage by As-
toria Mayor Willis Van Dusen and state Sen. Betsy John-
son at the end of his 2008 speech endorsing his wife,
Hillary, for the Democratic nomination for president.
pole was dedicated to the memory of late commander James
Wheatley of Post 12.
Company H of the Oregon State guard at Astoria was fer-
ried across the Columbia River last weekend by flotilla No.
57 here of the coast guard auxiliary, for maneuvers in the
vicinity of Chinook, Wash., against a theoretical “Jap land-
ing,” it was announced jointly today by Lt. Ben Coleman, of
the guard, and Commander C.A. Reynolds, of the auxiliary
flotilla.
The problem proposed that 3,000 Japanese infantry
completed a landing at Gray’s Harbor and immediately
took command of Aberdeen, Hoquiam and roads to
Portland and Seattle. Troops were rushed from Forts Colum-
bia and Canby (again theoretically) to engage the Nips at
South Bend, the Yanks to be reinforced from Portland and
Stevens.
The Oregon highway department has offered to
sell the city of Astoria the former 14th Street ferry
landing for $15,250, with a restriction that it be used
for public purpose only.
Dale Curry, city manager, said he is polling
members of the city council to see what they want
to do, but said he doubts the offer will be accepted
as the city government has no apparent use for the
property.
The tract offered totals 0.64 acres, mostly under-
water. It extends from 14th Street 255 feet eastward
along the SP&S tracks and extends riverward to the
pierhead line.
The 50th anniversary of air mail, which is being observed
nationally, almost coincides with the 30th anniversary of first
air mail flight out of Astoria, which occurred May 19, 1938,
Postmaster Dan Thiel has noted.
The first air mail flight out of Astoria was one of a series
of pick-up flights that carried air mail out of all corners of
the state to Portland, according to old postal records dug up
by Edward Aho of the Post Office staff and Andrew Olsen,
retired postal officer here.
W.J. Noll, who pioneered aviation in Clatsop County, flew
that first air mail flight, leaving Astoria at 11:35 a.m. with
stops in Tillamook, Sheridan and Hillsboro before delivering
the mail to Portland at 1:30 p.m.
Mrs. Leland Swanson of Warrenton has a ready
answer for anyone who complains that Victory gar-
dens do not pay.
While weeding in her garden last week she sud-
denly noticed a bright coin in the soil and thought
it was a penny: Upon closer inspection however, it
turned out to be a five dollar gold piece!
The coin bore a 1900 date. Gold coins have not
been in circulation since 1932 and even before that
were rare. Mrs. Swanson cannot explain how the
coin was overlooked before, because the garden plot
has been cultivated regularly each year and she her-
self gardened there last year.
Having finished his post-graduate course at the Harvard
school of business, receiving the Baker scholarship award,
Robert Lovell, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sherman W. Lovell, is
now enroute home with his bride, the former Mary Robinson.
He was one of 11 out of 400 finishing the course to receive the
scholarship award.
When he entered Harvard he enlisted in the quartermaster
corps, but last December was honorably discharged for lack
of physical qualifications. The Baker award is one of a long
series of scholastic achievements of young Lovell. At the Uni-
versity of Oregon he received the Koyl cup and was elected to
Phi Beta Kappa national honorary.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Thanks for support of
Warrenton Community Center
T
he Warrenton Community Center Advi-
sory Board recently held a “Break-
fast with the Easter Bunny” at the Commu-
nity Center on March 24. The breakfast was a
great success, and we want to thank the com-
munity for their awesome support.
A special thanks to all our great volun-
teers, Warrenton Starbucks, Pig ’N Pancake;
the Veterans of Foreign Wars 10580 and Aux-
iliary Detachment 1228, Lektro Inc., McCall
Tire Center, Columbia Bar Pilots, Colum-
bia Bank, Maddox Dance Studio, Warrenton
Deep Sea, Warrenton Kia, Ocean Crest Chev-
rolet Buick GMC Cadillac, Super Market and
Uptown Cafe.
“The Warrior Way” is alive and well, as 10
members of the Warrenton High School foot-
ball team helped serve our breakfast.
MEL JASMIN
Chairman, Warrenton Community Center
Advisory Board
Warrenton
What’s happening with
federal justice system?
W
hether you’re anti-Trump or pro-
Trump, everybody needs to ask: What
the hell’s happening with our federal jus-
tice system? As a lawyer most of my life, I’m
aghast.
For over 200 years, our country worked
well when government investigated crimes
and then prosecuted the perpetrators. The fed-
eral government today (through the Washing-
ton establishment’s “special counsel” charade)
hopes to find crimes by investigating those
with different political views. And it often
produces crimes — like lying to the govern-
ment. All those things are exactly what world
dictatorships have done for centuries.
Some say there’s an attempted “silent
coup” by the Washington establishment to
oust President Trump — the classic “out-
sider.” Regardless of your views on that,
what’s happening today are huge red flags.
Career government lawyers who’ve led the
FBI, and today’s top Department of Justice
(DOJ) lawyers, act like they’re accountable
to nobody, especially to Congress — even
though Congress has constitutional oversight
responsibility. As readily seen every day in
media reports, those same top government
lawyers act the same way toward the office of
the president. And recent media reports those
same government lawyers are now acting like
that to federal judges.
The power of our federal government is
massive, indeed. The DOJ and its top career
lawyers can easily destroy the life of any
American they disagree with politically. Yet
that’s exactly what happening today.
No doubt it’s hard to focus beyond our
daily lives and local politics. But what’s hap-
pening today to the presidency is bad news for
American democracy.
DON HASKELL
Astoria
Storytelling key
to a joy-filled lifestyle
W
e think in narratives all day long, and it
doesn’t seem to matter if they’re about
buying groceries or what we think about
work, our spouse or anything else. We make
up stories for just about every action and
conversation.
Twenty-five hundred years ago, Homer
spun a mesmerizing tale about the Trojan
horse. The Greek playwrights conjured great
stories. Shakespeare’s renowned for his nar-
ratives. And the Bible provides a plethora of
memorable stories.
Stories can put my whole brain to work in
a wide variety of formats. “The Tale of Peter
Rabbit,” “The Little Prince,” and Dr. Seuss’s
“The Cat in the Hat” were an important part
of my childhood.
I later discovered some of the greatest sto-
ries ever told: short stories like O. Henry’s
“The Gift of the Maji,” Ambrose Bierce’s
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Leo
Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” and per-
haps the very best of all, James Thurber’s
“The Catbird Seat” and “The Secret Life of
Walter Mitty.”
Comedians Jim Gaffigan, Dave Chapelle
and Chris Rock spin good yarns.
Movies like “Citizen Kane” captivate me
with their compelling stories. And musicians
like Harry Chapin (“Cat’s in the Cradle”) also
offer good stories.
I’ll always treasure the piercing wit of the
most honored columnist in history, Chicagoan
Mike Royko. And I value the many, well-re-
garded Daily Astorian and Chinook Observer
storytellers.
I think we’re hard-wired for stories. For
me, storytelling holds the key to a joy-filled
lifestyle.
ROBERT BRAKE
Ocean Park, Washington
Astoria is a
wonderfully kind city
O
n Saturday evening, May 5, I attended
a festival at the Liberty Theatre. I thor-
oughly enjoyed it all. The one thing I want to
mention is how kind so many people are. I am
pushing 95, walk with a cane, and don’t move
very quickly.
I had to park behind the Wells Fargo Bank,
and when I came up to cross to the theater,
a man stepped up and said, “would you like
help?” — and gave me his arm as we crossed
the street.
I proceeded inside, got my ticket, and
was going in to take a seat, when a man said,
“could I help you down the aisle?” I took his
arm and he walked with me until I found an
empty seat.
When the show was over, and I got up
to leave, here was the same man who came
down to walk me out. How nice!
Then I got out to cross Commercial Street
again, and a young man asked me if I would
like help crossing, and he walked me close to
my car and didn’t leave until I was inside.
Astoria is a wonderfully kind city. I was
very grateful for the assistance.
MARIE HAGLUND
Astoria
Thanks to Port officials
for speaking to class
A
ll our presenters in Exploring New
Concepts Of Retirement Education’s
(ENCORE) classes on the U.S. Constitu-
tion and local governments have enriched
our knowledge of the entities they represent.
The May 3 session featured Port Commission
President Frank Spence and Port Executive
Director Jim Knight. Both men provided the
members of my class an excellent opportunity
for direct contact.
Most of us knew those gentlemen only
through the newspapers; the opportunity to
hear and observe them much improved our
understanding of the Port’s situation and its
leaders. In spite of their travails, both leaders
answered our many questions with alacrity,
and exuded an optimism that bodes well for
an agency of vital importance to our city and
the entire county.
We thank and wish them well.
ERHARD GROSS
Astoria