THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2019 • B1
WATER UNDER
THE BRIDGE
COMPILED BY BOB DUKE
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
2009 — Pablo Bermudez, a line supervisor who has worked at Bornstein Seafoods for nine years, positions a hose to deliver ice onto the fi shing boat George Allen. It’s a family aff air
at Bornstein Seafoods for Bermudez. His mother, father, two sisters, brother and cousin work at the processing plant.
10 years ago
this week — 2009
S
eafood processing is full of tough jobs, many of
which are cold, slimy, repetitious — and even
dangerous, for those wielding fi llet knives.
Some tasks, such as extracting the cooked meat
from Dungeness crab legs, are just plain tedious. But
they need to be done fast to preserve the product and
get it to the market quickly.
Highly specialized local workers get the hardest
jobs done swiftly — and somehow make it look easy.
At Bornstein Seafoods, many of those workers are
Hispanic. They have migrated to the North Coast for
the high-paying jobs, which can yield $15 to $20 per
hour.
Plant manager Anne Espedal said about 90 percent
of the workforce at Bornstein’s is Hispanic.
Liisa Penner, archivist of the Clatsop County His-
torical Society, notes an immigrant succession in the
Astoria waterfront workforce. In the late 19th Century,
Astoria’s cannery workers were largely Chinese. By
the 1930s they were largely Finnish, with other Scan-
dinavian nationalities. Today, Hispanics are the largest
component of the waterfront workforce.
CHINOOK, Wash. — Ray Gardner, chair-
man of the Chinook Tribe, is heading to
Washington, D.C., this week to ramp up the
battle for federal recognition.
His trip follows the effort announced last
week by U.S. Rep. Brian Baird to introduce
legislation to bring the long-awaited recogni-
tion to reality.
Gardner was among those honored this
weekend at the unveiling of an alto relief
bronze sculpture at Dismal Nitch commemo-
rating the days the Lewis and Clark expedi-
tion, trapped by storms and rolling logs, near
starving, watched Chinook canoes traveling
easily past them on the raging river.
Those attending the event had no illusions
that without the Chinook, Lewis and Clark
and their party would not have survived.
Clatsop County’s unemployment rate rose slightly
from 9.9 percent in March to 10.3 percent in April —
a welcome plateau after several months of signifi cant
increases.
The rate was still higher than the national employ-
ment rate of 8.9 percent, and more than twice what
it was last April, but it was below the statewide rate
of 12 percent. Columbia County’s unemployment rate
rose to 15.4 percent in April, a signifi cant increase
from from the previous month’s 14.1 percent.
50 years ago — 1969
Fifty-eight graduating seniors at Astoria High
School “hit pay dirt” Friday at the annual awards
assembly in the school auditorium, when their names
were read as recipients of awards and scholarships
Mary Gustafson is winner of Crown-Zellerbach’s
$3,000 scholarship, Betty Justen won the AFL-CIO
$2,000 scholarship, Ann Yancey was awarded the Ore-
gon PTA $1,000, and Joann Youtsler the $1,000 Maria
Jackson scholarship.
The Astoria Coast Guard Air Station and
Cape Disappointment Motor Lifeboat Station
were each involved in a rescue mission over
the weekend, according to a spokesman at the
Air Station.
The freighter Rosaria, on its way upriver,
collided with a 20-foot pleasure craft just
inside the mouth of the Columbia, the
Coast Guard said, and the small boat sank
within three minutes. However, the accident
occurred very near the channel used by Cape
Disappointment lifeboats, and one arrived on
the scene quickly, piloted by Coxswain How-
ard W. Smith, BM2.
SPACE CENTER, Houston — The Apollo 10 astro-
nauts returned home today to a hero’s welcome and to
make the reports that will determine when man will go
to the moon this year.
The executive vice president of the North-
2009 — More than 100 people gathered around the base of “the Knob” at Ocean View Cemetery in Warrenton to
observe Memorial Day. Roads through the cemetery had been lined with fl ags and crosses similar to those that were
staked out to form a large cross on the knob.
1969 – Contestants for the title of Miss Scandinavia in the
Scandinavian Midsummer Festival in Astoria gathered in
costume, along with last year’s Miss Scandinavia, Marjie
Yost, seated at center. Each is of Scandinavian ancestry
— left to right, Martha Rasmussen (Danish), Aini Mattila
(Finnish), Arleen Swanson of Longview (Swedish) and
Carol Johansen (Norwegian).
west Aluminum Co. met Tuesday in Asto-
ria with members of the Astoria Port Com-
mission and Manager C.E. Hodges on who
will build dock facilities for Northwest at
Warrenton.
The city of Astoria and Astoria city fi remen
appeared headed for confl ict today over their fi rst pay
negotiation session since a court ruling last week that
the city must bargain further with the fi remen.
75 years ago — 1944
Ralph F. Harder, well-known Lewis and Clark
dairyman, had a narrow escape from serious injury or
death when his car was hit by an SP&S switch engine
at the foot of Ninth Street.
In all likelihood there will be new tires for
everybody next year, and “B” gasoline rations
may possibly be increased in the East and
Midwest sometime after July 1 of this year, it
was learned today.
It was also expected that rationing of new
synthetic rubber tires to “A” motorists would
get underway during the last three months of
1944.
Immediate construction work on building to house
a new marine supply store, and for the installation of
1944 — Roland Belanger, driver of this wrecked taxi,
escaped without a scratch when the machine went out of
control as he was driving along Bond Street.
equipment for the distribution of petroleum products
on waterfront property recently acquired at the foot of
15th Street, were announced today by Axel Englund.
For nearly 20 years Englund, a member of the city
commission, has been identifi ed with the Beebe com-
pany here. For six years he has been manager of the
local marine company store, a position he is resign-
ing June 17. Englund has made his home in Astoria
for 30 years.
Grocery baskets will carry “reasonably
plentiful” amounts of meat but less poultry,
canned vegetables, butter and lard during the
last half of 1944, the offi ce of war informa-
tion predicted today in a report on the food
outlook.
The Northwest logging and sawmill walkouts, in
protest to a WLB denial of minimum wage increases,
spread to Clatsop County woods today, as CIO loggers
left jobs in sympathetic action with mill workers, who
left all of Clatsop County’s sawmills this week.
Reportedly affected were the truck operations of
Van Vleet, Hollenbeck, Lerbvack and Gray and the big
Crown Willamette camp at Seaside. Others were said
to be closing down.
Last year’s prohibition of public sale and
use of fi reworks, pyrotechnics or other forms
of combustible explosives will continue in
force this year, with the exception of con-
trolled fi reworks displays which will be law-
ful when approved in writing by the ninth
regional civilian defense board, it has been
announced by Governor Earl Snell.