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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, MARcH 11, 2021
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IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
A FEW ALARMING FACTS
WHO’S THAT LADY?
T
he 10th anniversary of the devastating March 11,
2011, Japanese earthquake and tsunami is today,
and the event should give North Coasters some pause for
thought, since the disaster originated in an undersea sub-
duction zone very similar to the Cascadia, just off the Ore-
gon Coast.
Here are a few alarming facts to contemplate from
LiveScience.com (bit.ly/2011tsu), along with Hokusai’s
drawing, “The Great Wave of Kanagawa”:
• The shaking from the 9.0 magnitude earthquake
— which shifted the earth on its axis and shortened the
length of a day by about a microsecond — lasted nearly
six minutes.
• In the year following the event, there were more than
5,000 aftershocks, the biggest being magnitude 7.9.
• Honshu, Japan’s main island, moved 8 feet eastward;
the island’s north coast dropped 2 feet.
• The tsunami was so far-reaching that it broke icebergs
off of Antarctica’s Sulzberger Shelf.
• The Pacific Plate slid 79 feet westward near the epi-
center of the earthquake.
• The tsunami wave reached a runup height of almost
128 feet at Miyako City in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, and
flooded inland for 6 miles in Sendai, a city on Honshu.
• An estimated 5 million tons of debris was swept out to
sea in the tsunami’s aftermath.
• And, one last note: The earthquake’s infrasound (low
frequency rumble) was picked up by a satellite orbiting in
space.
Here’s one more thing to think about: Is your “go bag”
ready?
GETTING ACQUAINTED
THE MYSTERY CONTINUES
O
R
ichard Botteri, a retired lawyer who lives in Port-
land, offered up a history mystery, for someone to
hopefully solve, about an Italian woman who lived in
Seaside in the 1950s who had a connection to Italian dic-
tator Benito Mussolini (pictured). Below is the short ver-
sion of his story; the full version is at bit.ly/BMusso
In 1955 or 1956, an Italian naval vessel visited Port-
land (or Astoria), and the Italian woman invited mem-
bers of the crew to a barbecue at her home. Richard’s
aunt, mother and sister also attended; he was deemed too
young to go.
It rained during the event, so his relatives and their
hostess gathered in the kitchen, where his aunt asked
about the woman’s Mussolini connection. Richard’s sis-
ter remembers the story.
In 1943, when World War II was going badly for Italy,
the woman was Mussolini’s secretary and lover. Mus-
solini had been removed as head of the Fascist Party
and was already in trouble. Worse yet, he had been sum-
moned by King Victor Emmanuel III, who had Mussolini
summarily arrested and imprisoned at a hotel up in the
mountains. Adolf Hitler rescued him, but Mussolini still
came to a bad end later.
“The generally accepted history is that Mussolini did
not expect to have any repercussions when he went to
visit the king,” Richard wrote. “However, the woman’s
story suggests something different. She accompanied him
to the meeting, but stayed outside. He warned her that he
might be taken prisoner, and if that happened, she was
… (to) not look at him, or acknowledge him in any way.
“She waited in a park nearby, sitting on a swing,
attracting no attention. When she saw Mussolini being
taken away, she remained in the distance without mov-
ing or saying anything. He did not look in her direction.
They drove him off. She never saw him again. If her story
is true, Mussolini was aware he might be taken. This
changes the history of this turbulent time in Italy’s past.”
Richard and his sister hope to learn the name of the
Italian woman (or of any of her family members), and
find out how she wound up in Seaside. If you can help,
contact the Ear at 971-704-1718 or ewilson@dailyasto-
rian.com
ne of Clatsop County’s most puzzling
cold cases, the disappearance of 17-year-old Joan
“Joanie” Leigh Hall on Sept. 30, 1983, got some atten-
tion on The Lars Larson Show (bit.ly/LarsonFutch) on
Feb. 26. Incidentally, Joanie would have been 55 on Feb.
24.
Larson was interviewing Jason Futch, a true crime
podcaster and missing persons advocate (anchor.fm/
fromthevaultpod). Although he now lives in Florida,
Futch used to live in Portland and has been following
Joanie’s case for several years.
When Futch recently made a public records
request to see Joanie’s case files, he ran into an unex-
pected roadblock, which is why he was on Larson’s
show.
Futch was informed that the investigative
records of the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon
State Police and the Astoria, Warrenton, Seaside and
Cannon Beach police departments are all sealed from
public disclosure under a protective order signed by
Judge Paula Brownhill on Dec. 10, 2018. He also said
the records of this almost 40-year-old case are sealed
until 2093.
And the mystery continues, with no end in sight.
MONUMENTAL MAP
F
TWO BIRDS, ONE STONE
A
little gem for history buffs: The Library of Con-
gress has completed digitizing the presidential
papers of 23 early presidents, consisting of more than
3.3 million images, including those of Ulysses S. Grant,
who visited early Astorian Adam Van Dusen at his store.
According to Smithsonian magazine (bit.ly/
SM23pres), the contents contain 13-year-old George
Washington’s geometry notes, Woodrow Wilson’s
love letters, Thomas Jefferson’s handwritten draft of
the Declaration of Independence (pictured) and William
Howard Taft’s telegram messages about the Titanic
survivors.
Theodore Roosevelt’s diary entry on Valentine’s Day,
Feb. 14, 1884, the day both his wife and mother died,
consists of a large black X and the words, “the light has
gone out of my life” (shown, inset).
Interested? Get acquainted with these former presi-
dents at bit.ly/LOC23pres
LOCAL BREVITIES
T
idbits from The Daily Morning Astorian, March
12, 1895:
• It is understood from good authority that the light
at Cape Disappointment will soon be changed from a
first-class light to a fourth-class light, probably a colored
light. The light now at the Cape will be removed to North
Head, a point about a mile north of the present location.
A road will be cut through to the new lighthouse from
Fort Canby, thence down onto North Beach. This will
give an excellent thoroughfare through to the beach,
which will be greatly appreciated by the residents of the
fort.
• Wanted: Position as driver or salesman in a store.
Speak English, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian. Address
C.P.S. in care of Astorian office.
un rerun: A map, drawn by Native American Ari-
kara tribal leader Too Né for Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark, was recently discovered by a University
of New Mexico graduate student, according to a press
release from the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Founda-
tion (lewisandclark.org).
Too Né drew the map sometime in 1805 or 1806 and
even joined the Corps of Discovery for a bit to attempt to
negotiate peace between his tribe and the Mandan.
The map points out landmarks such as “poisoned
water” and “place where one consults destiny” along
with where several native groups lived, including the
Arapaho blue bead people, Kansa bear people and peo-
ple who carry on their heads. The map is at tinyurl.com/
TooNeMap
One historian, Clay Jenkinson, noted that Too Né was
as important to the expedition as Sacagawea.
The map, he added, “represents the most important
discovery in the Lewis and Clark world since 55 letters
by William Clark were discovered in a Louisville attic in
the 1980s.” (In On Ear, 4/27/18)
J
eff Daly posted a news article on Facebook the
other day, accompanied by a one-word explanation:
“Interesting.”
The article, “Historic ferry returns to Astoria as tour-
ist attraction,” appears to be from The Washington Times,
dated Aug. 1, 2016.
The first three paragraphs are the same as the original
Associated Press wire story about the Tourist No. 2 ferry
coming home. But then, the narrative rolls off in a decid-
edly tongue-in-cheek direction:
“Engineers are studying the weight/lift ratio of the ship
built in 1924 to determine how many helicopters would be
required to place the Astoria icon to a dry resting place in
Heritage Square at a spot called the Safeway hole.
“The main floor could be used as a community
gathering spot for music, Sunday market and other events.
Affordable retail shops will be available for made in
Astoria products and the top floor will be made into
an Airbnb with income to cover the expenses of the
operation.
“Access would be through the Astoria Underground,”
which is Jeff’s local tour business.
Some actually believed Jeff’s “story” was true, and
the rest wished it was, since it solved both the what-to-
do-with-the-ferry problem and the unsightly hole issue. It
wasn’t until Jeff suggested that “pilot” Helmet John (John
Wedell) — Astoria’s street-dwelling icon — “is crunch-
ing the numbers and is willing to give it a try,” that the gig
was up.
Just think about it, though. The Tourist No. 2 is a
wooden vessel. How long would she last dry docked?
Well, the 186-foot HMS Victory (pictured inset), a
wooden British warship launched in 1765, has been suc-
cessfully dry-docked since 1922. She is a huge tourist
attraction at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in
Portsmouth, England. (hms-victory.com)
The Tourist No. 2 is only 98 feet long, but there’s still
a rather major obstacle to making Jeff’s pipe dream come
true: How to move her safely inland to the Safeway hole.
Helicopters? Teleportation? Blimp? That’s a conundrum
for greater minds to contemplate.
SAFE AND SOUND
F
or North Coast cat lovers: An incredible at-sea cat res-
cue happened earlier this month off the coast of Thai-
land, NationThailand.com reports.
When a fishing vessel caught fire and began to sink
8 miles out at sea, the crew abandoned ship. The Thai
navy was called in to check for any oil spillage, and as the
sailors approached the sinking vessel, they noticed four
drenched and terrified cats perched on a beam, with only a
few feet left above the water.
The crew immediately took action, Facebook user
Nookool.b reported. The crewmen jumped in the water
(Nokool’s photo is shown, inset) and carried each cat on
their backs until all four were saved. A closeup of one of
the rescuers is shown, courtesy of YahooNews (bit.ly/
fourcatz).
The four cats were dehydrated, but not injured, and are
healthy. The eight fishermen were fine, too. They were res-
cued by a passing fishing vessel, according to NationThai-
land.com.