Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 2019)
B1 THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019 CONTACT US ewilson@dailyastorian.com (971) 704-1718 COMMUNITY FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorian IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON REMEMBER THE ‘BEATLES’? WHODUNNIT REDUX ‘IT’S HISTORY’ ‘M ‘A y name is Victoria Woods and live in Yorkshire, U.K.” Victoria wrote to Stephanie Miller of the Clatsop County Genealogical Society. “I was wonder- ing if you have any archives of your local paper of the day circa approximately 1964? “My father, Ronnie Woods, was in the Merchant Navy at the time, aged around 16, when his ship named the Aps- ley Hall docked in Astoria. Your local Astoria paper ran an article on the sailors titled ‘British ship brings Beatles to town,’ due to the attention the sailors got from all hav- ing long hair. “My father is 71 now, and not in good health; he often talks about this, and I would love to be able to trace the issue of the paper to cheer him up. I have already tried some research with (Clatsop County Historical Society archivist) Liisa Penner … I would really appreciate any help you could give me with this … I’m not 100% sure it was 1964, but it’s around that era.” “I searched the newspaper card index at the Astoria Library for everything I could think of, with no luck,” Stephanie wrote. “If I could just fi nd a close date, I can look it up on the newspaper microfi lm at the library. I am hoping someone who lived here in the 1960s might remember this, and be able to pin down a date.” Anyone remember anything about the Apsley Hall or the “Beatles” visitors? If so, please contact the Ear at 971- 704-1718 or ewilson@dailyastorian.com F un rerun from Oct. 2, 2015: Did you know that the Tourist II ferry was recorded in the National Register of Historic Places in 1997? Yup, it was added to the list by Kirkland Ferry LLC when the vessel was known as the MV Kirkland (tinyurl.com/T2NRHP). A photo of the Tourist II is shown, cour- tesy of the Clatsop County Historical Society. Here are some tidbits from the NRHP application: Fritz Elfving, a Swede, arrived in Astoria in 1907 and worked as a carpen- ter and ship builder. He began operating boats on the Columbia River in 1910. In 1921, he built a ferry landing at the foot of 14th Street. His fi rst Astoria auto ferry, Tourist I, started in service the same year. In 1924, Elfving commissioned Tourist II, which was constructed by the Wilson Shipbuilding Co. in Astoria, under the general supervision of Alfred Niemi, master carpenter. Joseph M. Dyer, who designed Tourist III (1931), may also have designed Tourist II. All three vessels had wooden hulls. Elfving’s success inspired rivals. “… The North Beach Transportation Com- pany in 1931 erected pilings in the water in front of Elfving’s 14th Street dock,” the application says.” Elfving responded with a legendary action … now known as the defi ning moment in the ‘Astoria ferry wars.’ “As he motored toward the dock, Elfving spotted the pilings from afar. He responded by backing up the fully loaded ferry, and then powering forward to splinter the barrier with the bow of the boat. It was reported that the shattered pilings fl oated towards the competitor’s ferry landing and temporarily disabled a vessel.” Sadly, there was no mention of which Tourist ferry did the honors that day. ONE MAN’S MISSION W hile being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Trau- matic Stress Disorder , Navy combat veteran Mark Guti- errez found out about Project Hero, which helps veter- ans and fi rst responders struggling with those same issues. “Moved by their mission, I wanted to help them any way I could,” he wrote on his Project Hero page (bit.ly/ MGprojhero). In mid-May, he set off from Washington, D.C., on his bike for an “adventure down, across and around this beau- tiful country” to support wounded veterans and meet local fi rst responders, as well as raise funds for Project Hero. On Tuesday, he stopped in Astoria and visited the Asto- ria Police and Fire departments. Now he’s heading to San Diego, his journey’s end. You can follow his travels at vagrantgoot.blogspot.com “I may keep pedaling after a break in San Diego,” he posted on his blog recently, “or I may fi nd a spot to settle down in, but what I do know is I feel good about what is on the way.” DISTANT COUSINS? las, despite the generous top-of-the-fold coverage given to the dastardly theft of our beloved skeleton, it has not yet turned back up,” Tony Kischner, owner of Astoria’s Bridgewater Bistro, wrote. He’s referring to a story that ran in this column on Sept. 19, about the mysterious disappearance of Mr. Skeleton, who had dangled from a rope below the glass fl oor inset by the Bistro’s fi replace for about four years. “Whodunnit?” he asked at the time. “Was it actu- ally shanghaied? Could it just be a prank? A disgruntled employee? I have no idea, but I would love to fi nd out, and I’m even willing to offer a free meal for any credible infor- mation that leads me to a) my beloved skeleton, or b) the culprit.” No answer ensued. “I could not envision not having a skeleton hanging below the glass fl oor for Halloween, so I recently pur- chased another one,” he reported. “Since I could also not envision risking my life again to climb a tall ladder under the building at low tide, I reached out to fearless Jonathan Swann, a former employee who now works at Brim’s Farm and Garden. “Jonathan cheerfully tied a hangman’s noose around Mr. Skeleton’s neck, quickly climbed up the ladder and attached him very securely to the beam below the fl oor.” The new Mr. Skeleton is pictured. “We feel almost whole again,” he added, “but still won- der … whodunit?” NO, NO, NO I n the wake of “The Goonies” cast members appearing recently at various comic-cons, the speculation arose once again about the possibility of a sequel to the iconic fi lm. One of TMZ’s reporters decided to fi nd out once and for all what’s going on, so he caught Corey Feldman on the street in New York, and asked him straight out if there was going to be a Goonies reunion (bit.ly/coreysez). “What reunion?” Feldman replied, laughing. “There ain’t no damn Goonies reunion! No, it’s a rumor, man, it’s a rumor.” “But we did these — you know — a few comic-cons, just appearances together, but that was it,” he explained. “There’s no campaign. There’s no Goonies 2 happening.” Feldman, who’s shown in a screen shot courtesy of TMZ, is too busy to even think about it right now, anyway. He says he’s working on a documentary, and a boxed set is coming out, and there are a few movies “in the pipeline.” Nope, not anything Goonie. It sounds like a sequel is off the table — for now, anyway. After all, anything’s possible in Hollywood. A VERY LIMITED EDITION ‘QUEEN OF CORPULENCE’ ‘I t’s not just the U.S. government that has fi nally recog- nized the existence of UFOs. … The Royal Canan- dian Mint had already jumped on the bandwagon with the release of its fi rst UFO coin in 2018. But recently the mint topped itself, and released a 1-ounce pure silver glow-in-the-dark rectangular “coin” commemorating a famous Canadian UFO incident that took place off the coast of Nova Scotia on Oct. 4, 1967. The coin is pictured, courtesy of the Royal Canadian Mint (bit.ly/glowUFO). “This coin brings attention to a story that many peo- ple don’t know about,” Laurie Wickens, Eyewitness and President of the Shag Harbour UFO Incident Soci- ety (bit.ly/UFOShag), wrote on the mint’s website. “The Shag Harbour Incident is one of the best government-doc- umented UFO crashes; even today, the case remains open and unsolved.” Want to order one? Too late. Only 4,000 were minted, and they sold out almost immediately. I found an old letter sent from America to my mother, Helvi Karppinen (nee Karjalainen), in Finland, to the town of Oulu, in December 1958.” Aila Lavin of Bolton, England, wrote. “The letter was written in Finnish by John K. Jackson, whose address was shown on the let- ter as 369 W. Niagara Ave., Astoria, Oregon. “In the letter that I referred to, John mentions my moth- er’s beautiful, ornate hand-writing. So my mother must have written to him sometimes.” “My mother’s family lived in a small Finnish village called Kuusamo, which is not far from the Russian bor- der,” she explained. “John K. Jackson will have been born there, or in a village in that area. “I believe John Jackson was my mother’s uncle, who had changed his name after emigrating to the U.S. In the letter, John asks for information about relatives, and he mentions that his second wife is called Olga.” If Jackson is, indeed, her great-uncle, his last name would have been Karjalainen before he changed it. “My grandfather was Matti Roopert Karjalainen (born in 1884, and died 1936 or 1937),” Aila noted. “Matti, as far as I can remember things I heard as a child, is the brother of John K. Jackson.” On the back of the photo of Matti, shown, it says “sister and brother in America.” “I wonder if you could publish this information in your paper,” she added, “and call for potential distant relatives to contact me. I am just curious to know if I have relations out there.” If you think you’re related to Aila, you can email her at ailalavin@yahoo.co.uk T he bears of Brooks River Falls in Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, noted for their weight gain after gorging on salmon in preparation for hiberna- tion, inspire an annual Fattest Bear contest. One of the largest contenders was a bear named 747. “Katmai’s geographic information system team made 3-D scans of bear 747, estimating the jiggly giant tips the scales at an eye-popping 1,408 pounds. His volume is 23.4 cubic feet, the size of a side by side refrigerator.” Although 747 is a truly impressive butterball, he did not win. “She is fat. She is fabulous. She is 435 Holly,” the park announced on its Facebook page on Fat Bear Tuesday, Oct. 8 (fb.me/KatmaiNPP). She is pictured, courtesy of Katmai National Park and Preserve. “And, you voted her the 2019 Fat Bear Week Cham- pion. All hail Holly, whose healthy heft will help her hiber- nate until the spring. Long live the Queen of Corpulence!”