A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2019
SPLAT!
IN BRIEF
Emergency test set for Wednesday
A test of the ClatsopALERTS! emergency notifi ca-
tion system will take place on Wednesday.
The test will send messages to residential and busi-
ness landline phones, cellphones, email addresses and
social media sites registered with the system.
Clatsop County plans to have quarterly tests.
The message will ask recipients to acknowledge
receipt, but not to call 911.
Road to Indian Beach closed
The segment of Ecola State Park Road that leads to
Indian Beach will be closed through Thursday.
Crews are removing trees that are at risk of falling
into the roadway during stormy weather.
The section of road leading to the Ecola viewpoint
and the day-use parking area will remain open.
— The Astorian
Earthquakes strike
off the Oregon Coast
Jeff Ter Har/For The Astorian
The aftermath of a pumpkin drop in Seaside.
BROOKINGS — Two earthquakes hit within 45
minutes of each other off the coast of the Oregon-Cal-
ifornia border.
KOIN reported the fi rst of the earthquakes hit west
of Brookings around 4 a.m. Monday. It had a 4.9 mag-
nitude. The second occurred about 45 minutes later,
west of Gold Beach. It had a magnitude of 3.6.
Both earthquakes were roughly 75 miles west of the
coast.
Lone Oregon Republican in
Congress will retire
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, the lone Republican in
Oregon’s congressional delegation, won’t seek reelec-
tion to a 12th term, throwing a huge district covering a
conservative part of the state up for grabs.
With less than seven months to go before the 2020
primaries, Walden’s videotaped announcement on
Monday sets up further changes in the U.S. House of
Representatives, which Democrats regained control of
in the 2018 midterm elections.
Walden is the 19th House Republican to announce
he or she will not seek reelection. Three other GOP
lawmakers have resigned.
Walden is a former chairman of the powerful House
Energy and Commerce Committee and now serves
as the top Republican on the energy panel. He was a
key player in GOP efforts to replace President Barack
Obama’s health care law but was considered a moder-
ate by many.
— Associated Press
DEATHS
Oct. 25, 2019
MALCOLM, Ned Irwin, 92, of Seaside, died in Sea-
side. Caldwell’s Funeral & Cremation Arrangement
Center of Seaside is in charge of the arrangements.
A 900-pound pumpkin drops in Seaside
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
SEASIDE — Seven-
ty-three feet, 4 inches. For
those who turned out to the
“Big Pumpkin Drop” on
Sunday in Seaside, that’s
how far a more than 900-
pound pumpkin will shatter
from 40 feet.
This year’s drop attracted
a crowd to the public parking
lot by the Seaside Civic and
C onvention Center, eager
to see how much damage
a pumpkin dropped from a
great height can make.
Motivated by Boomer
Barbosa of 94.9 The Bridge
and Celeste Kenneally of the
Seaside Downtown Devel-
opment Association, “The
Big Pumpkin Drop” returned
for the fi rst time since 2009.
The drop was part of a
weekend of events presented
by local businesses and
the downtown association.
“The weather was perfect,”
Kenneally said. “Everyone
seemed really happy, the
activities went really well
and Trunk or Treat was a
huge success for the fi rst
R.J. Marx/The Astorian
The pumpkin is raised in the air.
year. Everything’s been run-
ning really smoothly.”
This was Barbosa’s sec-
ond pumpkin drop, having
presided over one in Oran-
gevale , California.
“We’re doing the big
pumpkin drop for charity
and for the violence of it,”
Barbosa said. “I have been
involved with pumpkin
drops before, but they have
been gutted pumpkins.”
Jeff Ter Har/For The Astorian
The pumpkin is dropped.
The difference then, he
said, was the pumpkin was
hollowed out. “This pump-
kin is full of all of its goo and
all of its seeds. It will be a lot
messier for sure. I’m not sure
how that will play out.”
Hundreds of onlookers
stood by as the pumpkin was
slowly raised in the air and
the countdown began. Ten ...
nine ... eight ... seven ... six ...
fi ve ... four ... three ... two ...
one. Splat .
Half of the pot went to
the Warrenton High School
cheerleaders club, the fi rst
time they’ve had a cheer-
leaders club. The other half
went to the winners, Emily
and Ricky Fish, of Seaside.
The family was only 4 inches
off the mark, guessing a dis-
tance of 73 feet for the piece
of pumpkin that landed the
farthest from the center.
Oregon strike teams assigned to fi res in California
MEMORIALS
Saturday, Nov. 2
SIMONSON, Jasmine
— Celebration of life at
2 p.m., Pier 39 banquet
room, 100 39th St.
SKIPPER,
Vio-
let Grove — Memorial
at 11 a.m., Crossroads
Community
Church,
40618 Old Highway 30
in Svensen. Reception
follows in the fellow-
ship hall. Committal at
3:30 p.m., Greenwood
Cemetery, 91569 Oregon
Highway 202 in Astoria.
Sunday, Nov. 3
WALKER,
Darald
Lynn — Potluck at noon,
Alderbrook Grange Hall,
5995 Alderbrook Road in
Tillamook.
ON THE RECORD
Harassment
• Johnathan Lance
Kvale, 26, was arrested
Friday at Ninth and
Astor Street in Astoria
for harassment and disor-
derly conduct in the sec-
ond degree.
DUII
• Tyla Allynn Lit-
tle, 20, of Warrenton,
was arrested Sunday on
Jetty Road in Fort Ste-
vens State Park for driv-
ing under the infl uence of
intoxicants.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Seaside Planning Com-
mission, 7 p.m., City Hall,
989 Broadway.
WEDNESDAY
Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners, 5 p.m.,
Judge Guy Boyington
Building, 857 Commercial
St., Astoria.
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Gearhart Planning Com-
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6:30 p.m., work session, 698
Pacifi c Way.
THURSDAY
Clatsop County Recre-
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The Astorian
and wire reports
Fifteen Oregon strike
teams arrived in California
on Sunday to help fi ght two
wildfi res.
One group will assist in
fi ghting the Burris Fire, a
250-acre blaze in Mendocino
County. Another group will
assist in the Kincaid F ire in
Sonoma County.
A total of 271 personnel
have been deployed to the
fi res, including three from
Seaside Fire and Rescue.
This is the third year in
a row that the Oregon State
Fire Marshal has mobilized
strike teams through the
m utual a id s ystem to fi ght
fi res in California.
Firefi ghters
battled
destructive wildfi res in
Northern California’s wine
country and on the wealthy
west side of Los Angeles
on Monday, trying to beat
back fl ames that forced tens
of thousands to fl ee their
homes.
California’s biggest util-
ity, Pacifi c Gas & Electric,
cut off power to an esti-
mated 2.5 million people
in the northern part of the
state over the weekend in yet
another round of blackouts
aimed at preventing wind-
blown electrical equipment
from sparking more fi res.
And more shut-offs are pos-
sible in the next few days.
The blaze that broke out
last week amid Sonoma
County’s vineyards and win-
eries north of San Francisco
exploded to at least 103
square miles, destroying 96
buildings, including at least
40 homes, and threaten-
ing 80,000 more structures,
authorities said. Nearly
200,000 people were under
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo
A helicopter drops water as the Getty Fire burns on Mandeville
Canyon on Monday in Los Angeles.
evacuation orders, mostly
from Santa Rosa.
In Southern California,
the Los Angeles fi re erupted
before dawn Monday and
roared up slopes into well-
to-do neighborhoods, threat-
ening thousands of homes.
Tens of thousands of people
were ordered to clear out.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric
Garcetti said that the fi re
had grown to 500 acres and
that he had seen fi ve burned
homes. Fire Chief Ralph
Terrazas said he expects the
number to climb.
Los Angeles Lakers star
LeBron James tweeted that
he and his family had to
evacuate their home in the
city’s exclusive Brentwood
section. There was no imme-
diate word on its fate.
“I pray for all the fam-
ilies in the area that could
be affected,” he tweeted.
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Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
“Pretty please get to safety
ASAP.”
The fi re was burning in
the upper elevations of the
Brentwood area. The evac-
uation area extended west-
ward through Pacifi c Pal-
isades down to the Pacifi c
Coast Highway, encompass-
ing some of the most exclu-
sive real estate in California,
where celebrities and exec-
utives live in mountain and
ridgetop retreats that cost
tens of millions of dollars but
are surrounded by tinder-dry
vegetation.
David Boyle, 78, said he
awoke at 3 a.m. to his door-
bell ringing and police offi -
cers pounding on the front
door. They warned him
the wildfi re was advancing
toward his Brentwood home
near the Getty Center arts
complex.
“They said, ‘You need to
evacuate.’ I’m like, ‘When?’
They said, ‘Now,’” Doyle
said. He grabbed dog food
and his wife’s jewelry and
hustled his dogs out the door.
They went to a recreation
center.
“It’s a fact of life when
you live in this area,” he
said. “Every place has some
problem with disasters. Peo-
ple talk about earthquakes
here, but I don’t think it’s as
bad as hurricane season.”
Night-fl ying helicopters
made water drops before
daybreak, and airplanes
unleashing loads of water
and bright pink fi re retardant
joined the battle after the sun
came up.
The Getty, with its col-
lection of priceless art, was
built with special fi re protec-
tion features, and Los Ange-
les fi re Capt. Erik Scott said
it was not threatened.
But Mount St. Mary’s
University evacuated 450
students from its Chalon
campus nearby. And the
University of California,
Los Angeles, in the city’s
Westwood section canceled
classes — not because of any
direct threat from the fi re but
because of road closings and
evacuations affecting people
on their way to UCLA.
Similarly in Northern
California, some 40 school
districts in Sonoma County
canceled classes. And the
University of California,
Berkeley, called off classes
because of the power out-
ages there.
Fire conditions statewide
have made California a “tin-
derbox,” said Jonathan Cox,
a spokesman for the Califor-
nia Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection. Of the
state’s 58 counties, 43 were
under warnings for high fi re
danger Sunday, with fl ames
driven by gusts that reached
more than 102 mph.
Gov. Gavin Newsom
declared a state of emer-
gency over the weekend.
The biggest evacuation
was in Sonoma County,
where some people who
were packing up and fl ee-
ing Sunday had done so two
years ago, when devastat-
ing wildfi res swept through
Sonoma, Napa and neigh-
boring counties, killing 44
people.