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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 2020)
A6 THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2020 Boat: Patches relay a unique story Seaside: ‘We all Continued from Page A1 On impulse he wrote a note asking the owners if they had ever considered selling. He stuck the note in a plas- tic bag and left it on the boat. A few days later, the owners called and he bought the boat over the phone for $600. Built around 1907 or 1910, the John M came into being at a time when the iconic Columbia River gillnet fl eet was converting from sail to power. With sails, boats had to be rowed or sailed out and then towed, rowed or sailed back in — a time-consuming, tir- ing operation. When engines arrived in the early 1900s, the whole nature of the river fi sh- ery changed. “You could easily get from point A to point B, quickly,” said Sam Johnson, execu- tive director of the Colum- bia River Maritime Museum. “You could extend your fi sh- ing grounds immensely. You were able to draw and use bigger nets because you were under power.” Boats could catch and deliver far more fi sh than before, an effi ciency that con- tributed to the overfi shing of salmon in the region, John- son said. A federal survey from Puget Sound to the mouth of the Columbia River in the late 1800s recorded over 2,000 sail-equipped gillnet boats. Just 100 years later, when the Columbia River Mari- time Museum tried to fi nd an example for its collection, the wooden gillnet boats that curved to points at both ends seemed to have disappeared entirely. If the John M itself is an important piece of regional history, so too are the skills evident in the work done to rebuild it — craftsman- ship that, like wooden dou- ble-ended gillnet boats, is vanishing from the North Coast. Chuck Bollong, a kayak building instructor who teaches classes through the Columbia River Maritime Kent Craford Kent Craford’s two sons take a ride on a rebuilt historic gillnet boat on the Skipanon River in Warrenton. Museum, compares the kay- aks he makes to building a model out of a box. What Lahti and Petersen do is very different. “These guys start with raw wood and make every piece themselves,” he said. “There’s nothing pre cut, no parts you took of the shelf. It all comes out of their hands and heads.” He points to the John M’s combing, a ridge of wood that curves around the top for- ward section of the boat and keeps water from splashing in on the deck and helps guide the net. The combing is made of 12 foot sections of Ore- gon white oak that Lahti and Petersen steamed and shaped into a horseshoe. “Let me tell you, that in itself, the steaming and bend- ing with those complex angles and curves is an incredible skill,” Bollong said. “You don’t just go to anybody with a boatbuilding business and say, ‘Hey, do you do this?’” Craford thinks of the John M’s ribs and planks. The ribs, which start at the bottom, the keel, and come up vertically to the boat’s deck, are fairly straightforward in the mid- dle section of the boat. But at the ends of the boat, the frames have a lot of shape to them. They come to a point but they also fl are, skinny at the water line and wider at the deck. Multiple curves must be created. “If you just took a straight stick, you would have to take your top and bottom hand, twist in opposite directions and then bend it,” Craford said. “So imagine shaping that out of a piece of wood. It’s incredibly diffi cult and yet Ric does it in his sleep at this point.” That kind of skill requires an apprenticeship-type setting and years of time working on a variety of boats, Bollong said. It also requires a stash. “The hardest part of all is getting the materials,” Lahti said. Lahti’s storeroom is full of wood and components he has collected and set aside, pieces and odds and ends it can be diffi cult to fi nd now, or are very expensive. Lahti is also well aware just how rare his skills and experience have become in the region. “I have clients who dread the day I retire,” he said. Despite boat building schools like the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building in Port Townsend, Washington , he doesn’t see a new gener- ation rising quickly behind him. Still, Johnson is optimistic. “It’s erroneous to say these crafts will go extinct,” he said. “They could but we’re talking wood and that’s a very versa- tile tool … people can learn that again, and they do.” Beauty When you take a boat apart and rebuild it; when only 20 some pieces of the original boat remain; when the discarded remnants of water- and sun-faded wood that still hold a ghost shape of the vessel sink into the long grass and clover and some- thing sleek and streamlined emerges in a shipwright’s shop — is it the same boat? Well, said Johnson, after years of restoration, there’s probably not a single piece of original wood left in the famous USS Constitution, the U. S. Navy’s wooden-hulled frigate known as Old Iron- sides that is the world’s old- est commissioned naval ves- sel still fl oating. “And yet still that is consid- ered a complete restoration.” The John M is not a true restoration. While Lahti and Petersen salvaged original pieces and drew on traditional techniques and knowledge, they used modern tools and technology. They incorpo- rated materials that may not have been available or widely used in the region in the early 1900s. Absolute purists would say that the boat could not be called a replica unless it is exact. “So what,” Johnson said. “That doesn’t matter.” In many ways, the John M’s rebirth is true to the his- tory of fi shing vessels. Gill- net boats were work boats, Johnson said. They were built quickly and roughly. They were built to be repaired — Lahti has repaired his share over the years. The patches relay a unique story. What also remains true is the boat’s lines: The measure- ments unique to each ves- sel that, if recorded, allow a shipwright to build an exact copy. The form of the John M holds. And — crucially — the John M is a boat that is return- ing to the water. It will be out for people to see and appreci- ate. People are drawn to these types of old wooden boats, Johnson has noticed. There is an inherent beauty and ele- gance to them. The museum maintains a collection of boats represent- ing the evolution of fi shing in the region. Few people ever get to see them. But they will see the John M. “I do hope that it might inspire some others to restore some of the last few artifacts that are still seaworthy around the region,” Craford said. Chickens: ‘You see chickens everywhere’ Continued from Page A1 city would also pursue zoning violations for the hens. Garber and his neighbors have not been directly com- municating. The neighbors admitted to unintentionally raising a rooster they said they got rid of after learning its sex and are challenging the nui- sance fi ne in Municipal Court. They also claim to have got- ten rid of all their hens, which Garber alleges have been hid- den in their garage. “All throughout Warren- ton, if you drive through, you see chickens everywhere,” one of Garber’s neighbors said. “There’s chickens every- where. I’m sorry, but our eggs helped every single one of our neighbors get through this pandemic, when no one could work.” The situation sparked a longer-term policy discussion among city commissioners, who wrestled Tuesday with the home economics of peo- ple growing their own food during the coronavirus pan- demic with the concerns of residents like Garber. Commissioners agreed there should be no roosters to avoid noise. But they differed on hens. “My concern is for the people who are feeding their families, and they are,” Com- missioner Tom Dyer said. “Just like people who do rab- bits, too. And rabbits stink a lot worse than chickens, nor- mally. I have a tough time not letting someone feed their family.” Commissioner Rick New- ton wanted to limit urban chickens to four per prop- erty, with a process to resolve neighbor complaints. Mayor Henry Balensifer argued it’s not a high prior- ity for staff, but something the city needs to fi nd a conclusion on. “I get more people ask- ing about how can they get chickens next to their house and what’s the rules related to them as I do people who said, ‘I have a problem,’” Balen- sifer said. He noted another nearby nuisance fi ne in Hammond against a woman he said later decapitated and hung the body of a rooster from her fence in protest. The property still has numerous roaming hens. Commissioner Mark Bald- win took a harder stance, call- ing on the city to inform peo- ple chickens aren’t allowed and need to be removed. “I’d like to make a blan- ket statement,” he said. “Put it in the paper. Put it in a mailer. Do whatever and say, ‘Every- body has 10 days. Get rid of your farm animals.’ Period. Because if I was dealing with this — he’s dealing with it a lot nicer than I would. I would be making some chicken dinners.” Commissioners agreed it likely wasn’t a good idea to spend police time wrangling illegal chickens. Balensifer, noting the struggles of other cities in approaching regula- tions around urban chickens, called for a virtual town hall to collect people’s opinions. “I’ve probably fi elded a good fi ve or six of these every year,” Balensifer said of com- plaints about chickens on properties of less than 1 acre. “ ... Because there are so many people who do have it. Some people think of them as pets. Some of them do it for food. Some both. If the city’s going to go out there and start chas- ing chickens, and going to go cut them up, I have to be a lit- tle sensitive.” agreed it’s better to get it done now’ Tuesday. Requirements for The e stimated cost of on-site learning include 10 the 22,000 linear square or fewer positive cases per feet of facade is about $2 100,000 population in the million to $2.5 million. preceding seven days with Funds will be covered by 5% or fewer positive tests project insurance. in the c ounty in the preced- Removal of existing ing seven days. A hybrid learning model brick and panels begins at will offer high school stu- the end of August. Reapplication will take dents instruction four days place in September and per week with four classes October. The last bricks per day at 60 minutes each. There will be recorded will arrive in December, and the entire job is set to lessons, a class meet- be completed in early to ing, a homeroom or collo- quium, Penrod said, with mid-January. “We all agreed it’s bet- small group and full-group ter to get it done now given instruction. Middle school students the whole COVID situation and use that vacated school will receive instruction time to get that removal four days per week with and demolition complete,” fi ve classes per day, 45 minutes each. Bubenik said. Elementary school stu- At the former Heights Elementary School, now dents will receive instruc- known as Pacifi c Ridge, tion four days a week with repairs to the ceiling will a focus on community require additional struc- building and social and tural repairs, Bubenik said. emotional development. Students will receive Movers are delivering furniture to the new Sea- whole group and small side High School and mid- group lessons in core aca- dle school campus this demic areas. Music, physical educa- week and next, accord- ing to project manager Jim tion and guidance classes Henry, and administrative will be provided weekly. “Seaside Online staff will start the week of Aug. 24. Teaching staff Thrive,” a 100% online will be in the buildings program, will allow stu- dents to work starting Aug. at their own 31. pace using The total ‘WE KNOW district-pro- cost of the THAT NOT vided curric- $131 mil- ulum. Staff lion proj- BEING IN will check in ect requires a $9 million PERSON IS A with students two days a loan from CHALLENGE.’ week. the school “If fami- district, busi- Susan Penrod | lies fi nd this ness man- Seaside superintendent isn’t a good ager Justine fi t for them, Hill said. The school district is they can switch at the tri- experiencing a revenue mester to either compre- shortfall as a result of con- hensive learning or if there struction costs escalation, are schools, back in the environmental delays and building,” Penrod said. Special education and building reconfi guration, English l anguage d evelop- she said. While district prop- ment services will be indi- erties, including Sea- vidually designed. side High School, Gear- ‘Learning curve’ hart Elementary School Staff will use Wednes- and Broadway Middle School, have seen buyer days for professional interest and potential reve- development to collaborate nue, they “didn’t have the on the learning models. “We know this will be a success like we had orig- inally hoped, so we could high learning curve for our take that money and push staff and we want to make it back into the project,” sure we support them and Hill said. “We need a loan provide the learning that so we can fi nish the project they need to be successful and provide a high-qual- and pay our vendors.” ity education for our stu- Distance learning dents,” Penrod said. During the week of Oct. Every student will be 26, the school district will provided a Chromebook , review Clatsop C ounty and she said. The school dis- state data to determine if trict will purchase wireless the county and district see hot spots as needed. Cannon Beach Acad- declining trends in positive coronavirus cases and the emy will continue to build its own curriculum. rate of positive tests. “We know that not being “This will give us the information we need to in person is a challenge,” make an informed decision she said. “It’s not ideal. about reopening our build- Safety for all of our com- ings or to continue with munity, with making sure distance learning,” Penrod that our staff and our stu- said at the district’s board dents are safe, continues to of directors meeting on be our driving principle.” Continued from Page A1 Thank you for all of your help. I see real opportunity and have taken advantage for Gimre’s Shoes in the digital advertising that The Astorian offers. For only $100 monthly I get online exposure plus a free link to Gimre’s Facebook page. 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