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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, JuNE 13, 2019
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IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
GONE SWIMMIN’
e’ve received some calls from people concerned
about elk swimming in Youngs Bay,” the Astoria
Police Department posted on its Facebook page on Mon-
day, with the photo shown.
“Elk are naturally good swimmers, even without les-
sons,” the post continued. “Perhaps they were chased
there, or were simply trying to cool down with our great
weather. In any case, they are safe and not in danger.
“If you have concerns about wildlife please feel free to
call the Oregon Fish & Wildlife Department or the Ore-
gon State Police Fish & Game.”
Not surprisingly, the story prompted one poster to won-
der: “Who calls the police when elk go swimming?” Good
question.
WHERE WERE YOU,
CARL NEBE?
‘W
‘THE ADVENTURE
OF A LIFETIME’
K, so you missed your chance to audition for the gru-
eling CBS show “Survival” on June 1 at the Chinook
Winds Casino in Lincoln City. But you still want to try out
for “the adventure of a lifetime,” so now what?
You can apply online year-round. You need to be 18 or
older, either a U.S. or Canadian citizen, and have a valid
U.S. or Canadian passport.
Before you start the actual application process, you
need to create, save and have handy: a video of yourself
and a good selfie. Check out bit.ly/survvidtips for guid-
ance on the video, but the all-important Rule No. 1 is: “Be
yourself!”
Once your video and selfie are done, you’re ready to
apply for the show, which you can do here: cbssurvivor-
casting.com/apply. And that’s it. If they’re interested,
they’ll give you a call.
O
BIGFOOT’S FBI FILE
Bigfoot item in the news was a real eye-catcher: The
FBI actually has a file on the elusive critter (bit.ly/
histbigfoot). Here’s why:
Back in 1976, Peter Byrne of the Bigfoot Information
Center and Exhibition in The Dalles submitted a speci-
men of unknown origin to the FBI (some hairs attached to
a piece of skin, pictured). He wanted to know what kind
of animal it came from, and requested a scientific analysis.
He also asked if they’d studied Bigfoot hair before.
Jay Cochran Jr. of the FBI replied, and said no, they
had not studied any Bigfoot hair, and they usually only
work on evidence from criminal cases. But, he’d make an
exception for Byrne. The full 22-page analysis of Byrne’s
specimen is here: bit.ly/FBIbigfoot
The result? “The hairs are of deer family origin.” How
disappointing.
A
n May, there was mention of Raimo Riedel inquiring
about his grandmother’s great-uncle, Carl Nebe (1864-
1923), who arrived at Ellis Island, New York, in 1893.
But his life from 1893 to 1897 was a mystery. Did
he live in Astoria? Astorian and genealogical researcher
Lauri Krämer Serafin got to work.
“Looks like Herr Nebe made his way out West via the
northern states,” she noted. There was a notice of a gen-
eral delivery letter waiting for him to pick up in the May
31, 1895 edition of the Bismark (North Dakota) Tribune.
The next clipping she found was in the Dec. 17, 1895
edition of The Daily Morning Astorian, in which Nebe
declared his intention to become an American citizen. An
announcement in the next day’s edition mentioned he filed
for land under the homestead law. You can see the clip-
pings at bit.ly/cnebe
“He did not finish the process and become a U.S. citi-
zen in Oregon,” Lauri noted, but “he had to file an intent
(to be able to buy) homestead land.”
There’s no evidence Nebe lived in Astoria. The home-
stead lot was on what is now U.S. Highway 26, and for-
ested, which suggests some kind of logging occupation.
His neighbor, Paul Hansel, a logger, was from Astoria,
though.
In 1897, Nebe probably left for Canada. While there,
Lauri’s research revealed he was a miner (although not a
very successful one), filing at least six claims.
“He is listed in the 1911 Yukon Census on Middle Hun-
ker Creek with his probable associate, James McCallis-
ter,” Laurie noted. “Unattached men in the logging, min-
ing and carpentry trades are difficult to follow.”
When he returned to the U.S. in late 1920, Nebe only
had about $450 (about $5,700 now).
Mr. Nebe came to a sad end, alone. His body was
found April 6, 1923. It was thought he fell in the river and
drowned — crossing boom sticks from a lumber mill —
while on his way to work as a dredge carpenter at the Port
of Grays Harbor, Washington.
I
CROSSING PATHS
GO WEST. PLEASE.
emember Boat-A-Lahti — the Hilda Lahti Elemen-
tary School/Columbia River Maritime Museum mini-
boat project — which kept heading east and grounding,
instead of sailing west to Japan?
After its last grounding on the Baja Peninsula, the
miniboat was rescued by Janet Hurd Harrington, who
winters there. “Yesterday (the miniboat) was loaded into
the back of Janet’s pickup truck,” Nate Sandel, education
director at the museum wrote in an update. “She’s going to
drive the boat home with her to Colorado.”
Before leaving, Janet took Boat-A-Lahti to show to
Baja school students; a Spanish website will be added to
the project so they can join the fun.
“Next week, Melissa Reid, whose class built the boat
last year, will pick it up from Janet and bring it to Astoria
for repairs,” Nate added. “The plan is to have the Knappa
students help with repairs, and relaunch from Baja next
school year.” Will it finally head west? Stay tuned.
R
‘EVERYTHING WE WANTED’
‘PROUD FIRE CHIEF
MOMENT’
won’t soon forget this day,” avid bicyclist Grant
Keltner posted on the Long Beach Peninsula Friends
of Facebook page about his “good deed for the day ride”
on May 31.
On Pioneer Road in Long Beach, Grant stopped to
take photos of some horses standing near a fence (one of
his photos is shown). As he started riding again, he noticed
a black car down the road. “Suddenly, directly across the
road from the car, I heard a woman crying and screaming
for help,” he recalled.
“There, lying flat on her back along an embankment …
was an older woman surrounded with about 2 feet of tall
grass. She had nicks and cuts on her arms and face, and
she was crying for help. Her right leg was sticking out at
an obscure right angle.
“I thought she had been hit by a car. I was scared for
her. I checked to see if her leg was broken; she looked at
me and said sympathetically, ‘I have a prosthetic leg, it’s
OK, it needs to be adjusted.’ She assured me she was OK.
Her name was Jill, and she was 62 years old.”
Grant immediately ran out into the road and flagged
down a couple of cars. He and one of the drivers picked
Jill up, and got her standing. “She told me she had been
feeding the horses,” he explained, “when she suddenly fell
down the side of the embankment.” Luckily, she had only
been stranded there for a short while. It was lucky he heard
her.
“Within 10 minutes she was ready to drive home,”
Grant wrote. He got back on his bike, and when he stopped
at a stop sign, Jill slowly drove up and rolled down the pas-
senger window.
“She thanked me several times,” he remembered, “then
said, ‘I believe our paths crossed for a reason.’ I nodded
my head in agreement. I looked at her and said, ‘I agree,
God works in mysterious ways. I’m glad I found you.’”
“Thanks to all those who helped. That’s what commu-
nity is all about,” he emphasized, “helping others in their
time of need.”
“Take care, Jill,” he added.
‘I
renda Penner was puzzled about a story in the May 26
edition of The New York Times (bit.ly/marikoweds):
“Mariko Mae Ashley and Michael Ye Han were married
May 24 by Paula Brownhill, a judge at the Clatsop County
Circuit Courthouse in Astoria, Ore.” The couple lives and
works in San Francisco. So, why were they married here?
“We got married in Astoria because we wanted my
102-year-old grandmother, Flora ‘Cookie’ Chan, to
attend,” Mariko explained. “My grandma’s siblings are
Anna Lum, David Lum, Johnny Lum and Nancy Lum
— and I was lucky to grow up having them in my life.”
David and his wife, Shirley, as well as his daughters Pam
and Julie Lum and Lori Lum Toyooka also attended the
wedding.
“My grandmother has lived in Astoria her entire life.
She was born in Astoria, and now lives in Clatsop Retire-
ment Village. … Back in the day, she was a nurse for Dr.
Kettlekamp, and she helped deliver nearly all of the babies
of the Astoria coast … I lived with my grandma for several
summers as a child.
“We chose to get married at the Clatsop County Court-
house because when I was in college, my first professional
job was as an intern for Josh Marquis, so … that court-
house is special to me because it’s where my career started,
and it reminds me that the work of justice has to happen
everywhere.”
“In the end,” Mariko added, “we wanted my grand-
mother to be there for our wedding, and she was, so we had
everything we wanted.
“We sat next to her on the bench after the ceremony and
read our marriage certificate, and didn’t say a word, but
there were some tears in her eyes, and she nodded.”
B
irefighters do more than emergency response,” Asto-
ria Fire Chief Dan Crutchfield, having a “proud
fired chief moment,” posted on the Astoria Fire Depart-
ment‘s Facebook page on June 4.
“Today, Astoria firefighters responded to a medical
emergency,” he explained. “This is common, as our depart-
ment generally responds to several emergencies every day.
In this case, the firefighters responded to an elderly gentle-
man who fell down and broke his hip while trying to weed
his planter.
“Once the emergency was over, our firefighters fin-
ished weeding for him. As a fire chief I couldn’t be more
proud of our staff. This is a great group of talented and
hard-working firefighters who do their job, treat people
right, give all out effort and have an all-in attitude.”
“Thank you Lt. Brett Bishop, Engineer Aaron Biele-
meier and Firefighter Carlos Gomez,” the chief con-
cluded. “You have set a great example for the rest of us
to follow.”
‘F