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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 24, 2019)
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2019 • B1 WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE COMPILED BY BOB DUKE From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers 10 years ago this week — 2009 D errick Ray has survived two divorces and 23 grueling winters crabbing in the Bering Sea. He steered boats through 40-foot breakers and stayed up for fi ve days straight — watching imagi- nary pink elephants fall from the sky — while his boat pulled in a half-million-dollar haul of king crab. Thirty-fi ve years of commercial fi shing has taken a toll — on his joints, his family and his bank account. He doesn’t push himself or his crew as hard as he used to, but he hasn’t checked out yet, either. After all, fi shing is what he does best. “I was born to do this,” he said. The Seaside native fi shes in Alaska most of the year, but he always comes home during the holidays — to fi sh Dungeness crab, of course. The North Coast was on alert for potential fl ooding today as the weekend rain continued into this morning, blowing sideways in some parts of Seaside. The National Weather Service said the “chance of precipitation is 100% ” for most of today, perhaps easing off briefl y tonight, before resuming with showers through mid-morning Tuesday. If the fl oors in the Sanborn Building could talk, what tales they could tell. Salvaged after the 2008 Thanksgiv- ing fi re, the fi r fl oors are among the most striking fea- tures of the newly restored downtown Astoria landmark. The scuff marks acquired over the decades only add to the fl oors’ charm and the restoration authenticity. Now owned by business partners Mitch Mitchum and Rose Marie Paavola of Luottamus Partners LLC, the Sanborn was built in 1923 on the corner of 10th and Commercial streets on a site formerly occupied by The Daily Astorian offi ces and a livery stable. It was a year after the great Astoria fi re had destroyed Astoria’s downtown. Paavola and Mitchum both love old buildings. Their objective from the start was to restore the Sanborn to the way it looked originally. Fortunately, Luottamus Part- ners’ insurance picked up the seven-fi gure tab for the 11-month project. The Warrenton Fire Department moved its fi re engines out in front of the fi re station Wednesday to make room for tables of food items being sorted and packed in boxes for needy families. Volunteer fi refi ghters and their friends and family members were pitching in to pack and label boxes. Each box was numbered, so it could be matched up with names and addresses on a master list compiled by Fire Chief Ted Ames. Most boxes were picked up by recipients Wednesday and the fi re department delivered the rest. Santa Claus keeps an eye on who’s naughty or nice in Astoria’s Uniontown while stationed on the old Oregon Electric Railway caboose in 2009. Deckhands Dave Strickland, left, and Blake Burkholder sort crab on board the fi shing vessel Northern Endurance in 2009. Crabbers can only keep male crab over a certain size. ABOVE: The long, impatient wait for Santa is mirrored in faces of children grouped around a Christmas tree in Astoria surrounded by presents in 1969. LEFT: Mark Gelbrich, left, and Judge Jerry McCallister and ‘Ponjo,’ staging a scene in Astoria’s municipal courtroom to illustrate a situation which awaits violators of the city’s dog control ordinance in 1969. 50 years ago — 1969 Clatsop area residents observed Christmas in chilly, wet weather, most with family and friends. Roads in the area between Clatsop County and Port- land were wet, but little ice was reported, permitting res- idents to motor inland and to receive friends and rela- tives from points east, north and south. Members of the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Reserve delivered Christmas dinner parcels to 178 houses and some 642 persons throughout the county Thursday. Among the 642 were 401 youngsters. It’s an annual proj- ect of the s heriff’s r eserve. SALEM — The Oregon Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that the public has the right to use the dry sand areas of the ocean beaches for recreational purposes. In ruling that the dry sand areas are for public use, the Supreme Court, in effect, upheld a law desig- nating beaches below the vegetation line for public use. The decision was written by Justice A.T. Goodwin, who left the court today to become a federal judge in Portland. The court’s decision was based on the fact that people have used the beaches by custom. “My kids will have a Christmas,” vowed Virginia Skeen this morning, despite loss of the family Christmas tree and gifts when fi re destroyed their home at 2656 Grand Ave. in Astoria early Tuesday morning. “Everybody’s been just great. The YMCA gave the children shoes this morning, we got a box of grocer- ies (from an Astoria store) for Christmas, people have brought clothes for Tony and me. People have been really nice,” said Mrs. Skeen. SALEM — The Oregon Highway Commis- sion today ordered all ocean beaches closed to general use by motor vehicles. Chairman Glenn Jackson said the order means that the beaches from the California line to the Columbia River will be closed to cars and trucks with a few exceptions. 75 years ago — 1944 The auditorium of the Astoria naval hospital, equipped with a theater-size moving picture projector, this week became a functioning factor in the entertain- ment of service personnel. With a seating capacity of 500, the hall is the center of considerable planning for the Christmas week. Thursday night marked the beginning of moving pictures at the hospital. Lt. j.g. M. Goodman, hospital welfare offi cer, said that he plans to show fi ve movies per week. These pictures, pre-release fi lms, are being booked from Portland. Most of the work of installing the Typical of the North Coast building boom is this condominium development at the Gearhart golf course where a multi- stage housing project is planned by North Coast Development, a group of Portland and Seattle businessmen in 1969. movie equipment was done b y N avy personnel. Christmas shoppers began their last min- ute rush on Astoria gift stores today in earnest. With holiday merchandise rapidly disappear- ing from the shelves and counters of Astoria business places, selective shopping has all but gone by the boards, say merchants as they pre- pare for the fi nal assault of purchasers now interested in buying almost anything that will serve as a gift. SEASIDE — A description of a 21-day stay in a Ger- man prison camp and his escape is contained in a letter just received by Mr. and Mrs. E.E. Norelius from their son, Flight Offi cer Jack E. Norelius, who was reported missing in action on Oct. 30. A radio report last week that Norelius and a companion had escaped was the fi rst word the parents had had of their son since news that he was missing. Two recent real estate transactions of Clat- sop County farm property recalls much of the early history and development of the commu- nities of Olney and Lewis and Clark. Both the Kamm farm in the Olney district and the Ten- ity place in Lewis and Clark were the original homesites of prominent pioneer settlers in this lower Columbia River area. The Kamm farm was the original home of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Gray, who came to Oregon in 1836 and to Clatsop County about 1843, ‘44. Mr. and Mrs. Gray were infl uential in fur- thering the cause of Christianity and education here. In 1846 they assisted in the establishment of the fi rst Presbyterian church in Oregon. The church, now known as the Gray Memo- rial C hapel, on Clatsop Plains, is still the center of the religious work in the community. Of the seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Gray, the two best known in this area were J.H.D. Gray, an early Clatsop County judge, and Carolyn, who became Mrs. Jacob Kamm. ARMY AIR FORCES, Pacifi c Headquarters — Tech. Sgt. Bob E. Graves, Astoria, radio operator-top turret gunner of the Seventh AAF Liberator bomber “Texas Kate,” is a member of B-24 squadron commanded by Brig. Gen. Truman H. Landon, former commanding general of the VII Bomber Command, for its part in a daylong A rmy-N avy smash against Iwo Jima.
