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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 2019)
B1 THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, AuguST 8, 2019 CONTACT US ewilson@dailyastorian.com (971) 704-1718 COMMUNITY FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorian IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON YOUTHFUL EXPECTATIONS A FOREMOST CITIZEN rom the Saturday, Aug. 8, 1885 edition of The Daily Morning Astorian: “Sixty million people participate in the (Ulysses S.) Grant memorial services today. From Maine to Ore- gon, from Seattle on the Sound to the sunlit waters of the southern gulf, a great nation mourns the loss of its foremost citizen — and yet, if the fervent wish of any- one of us could call him back from the tomb, would it be uttered?” A pretty snarky sendoff for a former president (1869- 1877) from a small city in Oregon, but Grant was no stranger to the area. In fact, Grant came west to Washington Territory in 1852-1853, before his rise to fame in the Civil War. He stopped in Astoria on the way and, during his time in the Pacific Northwest, used to visit Astoria merchant Adam Van Dusen‘s (1823-1884) at his Uppertown store. Grant’s dream was to settle in Vancouver, make his fortune, then bring his family out to join him. Bad invest- ments and worse luck sent him scurrying back to Mis- souri, broke, in a year. While out west, he wrote about our fair city in his jour- nal: “Astoria — A place that we see on maps, and read about, is a town made up of some 30 houses (I did not count them) situated on the side of a hill covered with tall trees, looking like pines, with about two acres cleared to give way for the houses. “There is nothing about the place to support it, only that it is near the outlet of the Columbia River and they have a custom house, distributing post office for the Ter- ritory, and a few pilots for vessels coming into the mouth of the river …” Clearly, Grant was not a man of great vision. (old300. org/ahistory.html) (bit.ly/WTgrant) F ‘EYEBALLS ON THE EVIDENCE’ PEOPLE SHAPING PLACES ngela Travers-Hayward of Debreslay Films ”reached out to us at the Chamber to connect her with local area residents,” Regina Willkie, Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce marketing manager wrote. “She is in the very early stages of creating a series of short documentaries that look at people who are help- ing shape the places they are from. She wants to profile young people (ideally 35 and under) working a variety of jobs, to show that caring for your community comes in a variety of formats.” “Who sticks out as someone who has made a real dif- ference?” Ingela asks. “It could be anyone in any kind of job — a librarian, small business owner, musician ... (we are) looking to shine a light on people who are really admired within their own communities by those who live amongst them.” In case you’re wondering, Debreslay Films (debreslay. com) — “dedicated to telling one-of-a-kind, inspira- tional, cinematic stories” — has done projects for CNN, Huffington Post, ESPN, AOL and “countless rap music videos and beyond.” Examples of their work is on the website. Want to suggest someone (or yourself) to Ingela for the documentary? Email her at ingela@debreslay.com with the subject line “Documentary Series — Oregon.” I any wondered why there was a naked guy rid- ing his bike — which, by the way, is completely legal in Oregon — on U.S. Highway 101 last Wednes- day, shown in a photo by Kegan Michael French. Well, here’s the explanation: “July 31 was my 50th birthday,” Astorian Michael A. “Sasha” Miller wrote. “It would be something lost in translation to try to express, in just a few words, what a much younger version of myself hoped for this birthday. The most painful thing to try to reconcile is my youthful expectations, not of myself, but of my culture and humanity. “My 20-year-old self would expect to single-hand- edly transform the world, but for my 50th birthday I just wanted to muster enough courage to poke fun at the absurdity of the leader of the free world’s moral pretensions, while we grow ever more culpable in causing so much pain and loss on a planetary scale. I also wanted to push back a little at how our culture has conditioned my own thinking. “When I was a child one of my most frequent nightmares was that I arrived at school without my shirt on. This completely harmless idea mortified me, such is the power and frequent falsity of social conditioning. “It’s true that I was without clothing, in my birth- day suit, and rode from Astoria to Seaside and back, but what others saw and what I experienced were very different. I just listened to the Beatles. Hon- estly, I had this pleasant idea of being a character in a 1960s film, a way of disassociating from my cultural conditioning. “I’m glad that none of the many people who filmed, or took a picture of me while driving, caused an acci- dent. You know that is against the law. “And for those who say there are far better ways to advocate for social change to abate climate change, I would, of course, say, ‘Yes there are.’ “And by the way, does anyone know how many people will die from being exposed to nudity this year, as opposed to auto exhaust and global warming?” M MEET THE BEETLES he Volkswagen Beetle is ending production, but that doesn’t mean it will be forgotten!” Perry Sun of New York wrote. “Vintage Beetles and other air-cooled Volkswagens were out in full force at the 21st Annual Highway 1 Treffen — a yearly coastal trek made by the owners of air-cooled Volkswagens from the Canadian border to the Mexican border over the span of 10 days.” “Aptly named after the German word for ‘meeting,’ this year’s Treffen brought together hundreds of VW enthusiasts and featured beloved, classic VW vehicles including a 1964 Beetle and 1973 Thing …” and Kar- mann Ghias and VW buses. “The drive kicked off on July 19 in Port Angeles, Washington,” he noted, “and made 10 stops along the way before concluding in San Diego.” Photos of the car- avan are shown, courtesy of AirheadParts; more are at bit.ly/2019treffen So, wonder no more why there was a Beetle invasion on July 19, our venerable city of Astoria was the VW enthusiasts’ first stop. The group left the next morning, heading for their next destination, Coos Bay. ‘T ‘A MOST PICTURESQUE SIGHT’ oring isn’t boring any more — the North American Bigfoot Center (fb.me/northamericanbigfootcenter) at 31297 S.E. U.S. Highway 26 is now open daily. The museum is owned by Cliff Barackman (cliff- barackman.com), “a dedicated Sasquatch field researcher for more than two decades.” If his name sounds famil- iar, it’s because he’s one of the cast members on Animal Planet’s TV show “Finding Bigfoot.” He is pictured with “Murphy,” and some Bigfoot track casts. He’s a man on a mission. “My job is to put eyeballs on the evidence and let the people decide for themselves.” Barackman told KPTV (bit.ly/CBbigfoot). “I don’t care what you think, I don’t care what anyone thinks, I know they are real, I have seen one; I am here to share the love of the subject with everyone.” B n September 1883, Charles Graham (1852-1911), an artist for the distinguished Harper’s Weekly in New York, visited Astoria. In the Aug. 2, 1884 edition of Harper’s (bit.ly/ hw1884), his illustrations (shown) of Pillar Rock, Tillamook Rock Lighthouse and a bird’s eye view of Astoria graced the pages of the popular journal to accompany a story, “The Mouth of the Columbia River.” An enlarged version of the illustrations is at bit.ly/HW1884 Inexplicably calling Pillar Rock a “resort” for fish- ermen, the writer noted that “from here they pursue their prey down to the mouth of the river, where it sometimes happens that they cast their nets so near the bar that the outgoing tide, rushing like a mill-race, sweeps them into the remorseless breakers.” Tillamook Rock Lighthouse was no less thrilling to the writer. “It is built on a rock so precipitous, and rising from the midst of a tideway so terrible, that no boat may approach it closely without being dashed in pieces.” He was also intrigued by the “huge derrick with a far-reaching arm (that) raises and lowers an iron cage in which are contained the visitors or supplies that reach the lighthouse from the mainland.” On a calmer note, Astoria was described as a “flourishing city” with an “immense salmon-canning business” whose products “have found their way into every market in the world, and today Columbia River canned salmon commands a higher price than any other.” “The canning establishments are huge unsightly structures of wood, built out over the river on piles. … But if these establishments are blemishes on the land- scape, the fishing fleet which sails out from Astoria every evening during the season presents a most pic- turesque sight.” I CALLING ALL CARS e need picture vehicles for a commercial pho- toshoot. All makes/models/years welcome to apply!” is posted on the Weeble Mountain casting agen- cy’s Facebook page (fb.me/weeblemountain), which pro- vided the image shown. “We’re looking for vehicle own- ers whose cars would be available for one day Aug. 13-16. We don’t need the owner to appear on camera, just the car! “Pay is $500/day for the use of your vehicle on cam- era (one day, To Be Determined (TBD)).” Here’s the link to apply: bit.ly/weeblecar; please submit only one vehicle at a time. “If your vehicle is not available for this particular shoot,” the post added, “please apply … for future con- sideration for picture vehicle work! We’ve been needing vehicles a lot lately!” ‘W GONE GOATS recent column mentioned that about 320 goats from Billy’s Goats Targeted Grazing Services were peacefully grazing to clear an area that had become a wildfire hazard near Wenatchee, Washington. Well the goats of Healing Hooves Natural Vegeta- tion Management, working in Issaquah Highlands, Washington, were a bit more fractious, and made a break for it, according to the Issaquah Highlands blog (bit.ly/gonegoats). As a result, the astounded residents were treated to the sight of more than 100 goats trotting (and snacking) their way merrily down Mulberry Street with their faith- ful herding dog, Gigi, romping along behind. A screen shot from resident Dmitriy Kot’s video is shown. The neighbors helped, and shepherd Craig Mad- sen and another herding dog, Nessie, managed to coax the goats into a dog park, where they could be corralled (with Gigi still bringing up the rear, mind you). The unrepentant goats were sent back home for a two-week break. A
