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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 2019)
B1 THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, NOvEmbER 7, 2019 CONTACT US ewilson@dailyastorian.com (971) 704-1718 COMMUNITY FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorian IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON A POSITIVE ATTITUDE N orth Coast singer Maggie Kitson is still battling can- cer. “As many of you know, my mother Maggie had surgery in April 2018 to remove a cancerous tumor from her colon,” her daughter, Bridget Kitson, wrote on Mag- gie’s GoFundMe page, “Help Maggie beat cancer” at bit. ly/MaggieK “During the removal they also found several cancerous lymph nodes, which led to her being diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer that has metastasized. … The oncologist gave an estimate of a one-year life expectancy, or two to three years with chemotherapy. “Maggie has chosen not to do chemotherapy at this time, but is instead pursuing alternative therapies with a naturopathic oncologist in Portland. Unfortunately, these therapies are not covered by her insurance.” The tumors are growing, and new ones are appearing, making it difficult for Maggie to work. The money raised on GoFundMe will be used to support her and help pay for her medical treatment. In addition, there is a local fundraiser, “Maggie’s Night,” on Saturday at the Cannon Beach American Legion, 1216 S. Hemlock St., which features a silent auc- tion from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., and dinner from 5 to 8 p.m. The cost is $15 per person. “Through all of this, Maggie has managed to maintain a positive attitude with the help of her amazing friends, and the healing power of music,” Bridget added. “She wants you all to know how incredibly grateful she is for all the support from her community and fans. Especially the folks who show up to all her gigs, time and time again, to con- vey their love.” ALL WIRED UP COMMUNITY STRONG ‘T alking to my kids, Gage (13) and Darrian Cavett (5), about why I donated money at the store for the food baskets led to Gage asking if we had any more to give,” Kendra Cavett wrote. “While talking to him, he expressed the idea to maybe ask people we knew if they could donate food, so no one would be hungry during the holidays. I responded with, ‘I have a few friends I can ask.’ “This is an idea brought up by young children, and it is my belief that there is power in showing not only my children, but an entire community, that anything is pos- sible with a little support from those around you, regard- less of age. Sometimes the smallest of hands make the biggest impacts. “With the idea of a food drive in mind, and a quick pitch, and an even faster thumbs up from the owners of the Merry Time Bar and Grill, I was set free to reach out in the community. Community businesses have already been confirming that they will be helping to col- lect donated items to help support this cause, and more are responding daily.” Want to help? Look for the Community Strong Food Drive collection containers to donate nonperish- able food items at several Astoria businesses, including the Merry Time, which is the drive’s home base. To see a partial list of businesses, and the flyer, go to bit.ly/ KGDdrive Although the flyers say the drive runs until Nov. 17, the date has been extended to Nov. 21. Have questions or want to add your business to the list? Email Kendra at kkathleen1@yahoo.com “If we can show the impact to people of all ages, of our strength in community, great things can happen,” Kendra added. “We want to be an example to others, to encourage everyone, to get out and make a positive dif- ference in the community we live in. “Empower everyone to look for something, no matter how big or small, that can make even one person have a brighter day. We are, and will always be … Commu- nity Strong.” ‘I’M A SURVIVOR’ F rom The Daily Morning Astorian, Thursday, Nov. 7, 1889: “Astoria is now in instant communication with the surrounding points of Alderbrook, Fort Stevens, Ilwaco and Chinook. A cable will soon connect it with Til- lamook Rock.” In January 1889, the vice admiral of the Navy wrote to the Treasury Department requesting an appropriation of $6,000 (about $167,000 now) to install the telegraph cable to Fort Stevens for several compelling reasons: Tillamook Rock had no way to communicate with shore except via the lighthouse tender (which arrived every four to six weeks, weather depending); distress signals from the rock might not be seen for days; with telegraph, the lighthouse could notify the bar pilots and tugs of incom- ing ships; and time and money would be saved because the tender checkup trips would no longer be needed. (bit. ly/tillywire) FEELING SAFE T he Ear was delighted to receive an email from the Security Baron company that started off on a happy note: “Astoria ranked as one of the safest cities in Oregon, reveals study,” based on the FBI’s 2017 and 2016 Uniform Crime Reporting data. Astoria’s “safety score” is 57.22 (out of 100), with a rate of 3.65 violent crimes, and 45.35 property crimes, per 1,000 citizens, according to Security Baron’s “Ore- gon’s 50 Safest Cities 2019” website (securitybaron.com/ safe-cities/oregon). The photo shown is courtesy of Secu- rity Baron. Yet even with its low crime rates, Astoria came in at No. 49. If it makes you feel any better, North Bend was No. 50, Portland was No. 55 and Seaside was No. 56. By the way, the safest Oregon city is Junction City, with a score of 90.7. VENTER STRIKES AGAIN ‘A l Venter is at it again,” former newsroom colleague Patrick Webb wrote. “The former Chinook, Wash- ington, author, now has an East Coast home base. His new book, ‘The Last of Africa’s Cold War Conflicts,’ to be published within the next two months, chronicles dan- gerous combat actions and political maneuvering in the West African nation of Portuguese Guinea, now known as Guinea-Bissau. “Venter, a South African who is in his early 70s, is still visiting African war zones for first-hand views of combat operations. Most recently, he checked out United Nations peacekeeping efforts in the Central African Republic earlier this fall. He stays fit through a vigorous walking regimen. “Venter is a former correspondent for TV networks and major British newspapers, still writes for Jane’s interna- tional defense magazines and has been an active film doc- umentary maker. He has written books about combat tac- tics and diving with sharks. “He lived in Chinook some dozen years ago and made several friends on the North Coast. Among his visitors during his time in this area was his friend, fellow author Frederick Forsyth, who was researching National Park Service details for his 2006 novel, ‘The Afghan.’ That fic- tional work was of significant interest to Lower Colum- bia River readers because its plot featured a terrorist threat from a tanker loaded with liquefied petroleum gas.” BLEKKSPRUTGELEBALL A little something for marine life enthusiasts: The research vessel REV Ocean was in a fjord near Ørstafjorden, Norway, when divers spotted an enor- mous, undulating blob floating around at about 55 feet deep, LiveScience.com reports (bit.ly/blekksball). The divers were mystified. A few days later, REV Ocean posted on its Twitter feed (@rev_ocean) that it’s “actually an eggmass of 10-armed squid.” The screen shot shown is from the video “Blekk- sprutgeleball” (“squid gel ball” in Norwegian) via Live- Science.com, courtesy of YouTube/Ronald Raasch, who was one of the divers. For some time, scientists were puzzled about what these blobs contained, since they were so difficult to sample. But a 2017 DNA analysis revealed the spheres are actu- ally southern shortfin squid egg sacs, containing 50,000 to 200,000 eggs. “The dark mass is probably ink from the female squid, who injected it while making the sphere,” researcher Halldis Ringvold said. Blekksprutgeleball says it all. ‘I ’m a survivor. … Imagine waking up at 4:20 in the morning looking up at the ceiling. I tried to make a sound, only garbled noises coming from my mouth; I tried to move my body, and my body doesn’t respond — I was totally helpless.” Those are the words of a remarkable Florida grand- mother, Patricia McNeal, who literally didn’t take hav- ing a stroke lying down — a week later, she went for a 30-mile bike ride. “I wasn’t going to let my disability prevent me from getting on a bike ride,” she recalled. “I decided to start Heels On Wheelz (heelsonwheelz- inc.com) to show people with disabilities that just because you have a disability, doesn’t mean you have to give up.” And she certainly hasn’t. Her desire to raise stroke awareness and promote women’s fitness inspired her first cross-country bike tour, from her home town, Pan- ama City, Florida, to Los Angeles. This year, she’s bik- ing 4,000 miles from Seattle to Key West, Florida, to raise money to rebuild Panama City, which was dev- astated by Hurricane Michael in 2018 (fundly.com/ hometown-help). And, while on her latest adventure, she stopped in Astoria the weekend before Halloween. A movie buff, she visited famous local filming locations, such as the John Jacob Astor Elementary School, the old county jail and the Goonies House, took in the Astoria Column and dropped in at Bikes & Beyond. After a short visit, she was back on her bike again, and on her way. You can follow Patti’s adventures on her Facebook page (fb.me/heelzonwheelz), where she posted the following on Oct. 30: “What this mission means to me, as a stroke survivor and a passionate cyclist … I hope I can encourage more women to ride, and be a game changer.” “You don’t have to be perfect, to be a perfect cyclist,” she added, “you just have to Pedal Forward.” BRANDY’S STILL A FINE GIRL id you know that a Ford commercial was filmed at the Port of Ilwaco, Washington, last July? It was good news for the port, which received $5,500 for the inconvenience. The Chinook Observer (bit.ly/COF150) reported that “dozens of film crew” and “a cluster of directors, actors, sound engineers, set designers, camera operators and makeup artists,” and fog machines, arrived to film a new F-150 truck using its “smart” back up feature to launch a boat named Brandy (from Astoria), to the 1970s rock tune “Brandy.” Apparently, the commercial was released in August. Nobody mentioned seeing it on TV to the Ear until recently — a screen shot is shown — but you can also watch it on Ford’s YouTube site at bit.ly/ilwaco150 D
