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THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2021
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2021 • B1
WATER UNDER
THE BRIDGE
COMPILED BY BOB DUKE
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2011
ven though Jeff Skirvin won the title for the best
all-around logger at the eleventh annual Logging
Show at the Clatsop County Fair on Saturday, it
was his 17-year-old son, Warren, who had the enthusias-
tic support of the crowd.
For the fi rst time, Warren beat his father at one of the
main events of the logging contest, the modifi ed saw.
“It feels great. After these years of having him beat
me, and then to fi nally beat him at something,” said War-
ren. Modifi ed saws are normal chainsaws that have been
tweaked with special fuels and accessories to make them run
faster. Contestants are paired and timed to see how fast they
can cut through a log approximately 24 inches in diameter.
“Darn it, he beat me in one of my favorite events,”
the elder Skirvin said. “I think Warren is going to have to
sharpen his own chain from now on.”
Skirvin teaches forestry and art at Knappa High School.
Participating in logging shows is one of his favorite pastimes.
E
Rebecca Alfaro, 16, of Astoria, was crowned
2011 Regatta Queen at the Liberty Theatre Thurs-
day evening.
At the coronation, the three Regatta admirals
played a role. John Jacob Astor VIII helped crown
the new queen, Walldorf Mayor Christiane Staab
draped her in a royal robe and Martin Nygaard,
president of Warrenton Fiber Co., handed her a
bouquet of fl owers, according to Regatta Presi-
dent Eric Paulson.
LONG BEACH, Wash. —Dale Ostrander was, by all
accounts, dead.
But the 12-year-old boy is recovering in the hospi-
tal today after a surf rescue that has many using the word
“miracle.”
Doug Knutzen is part of South Pacifi c County Technical
Rescue, the volunteer team that spotted the boy in the water.
When Knutzen carried Ostrander from the surf on Friday
and handed him to paramedics, the veteran rescuer feared
the worst.
“I’ve been doing this since 1978,” Knutzen said. “It’s
something you never get used to, but I knew that the boy
was gone, absolutely gone.”
Ostrander was at the beach off Cranberry Road halfway
up the Long Beach Peninsula on a day trip with the Bethel
Baptist Church from Spanaway when he got into trouble in
the surf.
“They just went for a day and were just getting in ankle
and knee deep ... it wasn’t a swimming activity — but he got
sucked in,” said Denise Minge, daughter-in-law of Bethel
Baptist Pastor Terry Minge.
Less than an hour later, as nearly two dozen church mem-
bers prayed, cried and hugged one another on the beach,
Ostrander had been rescued from the ocean and was in an
ambulance being taken to Ocean Beach Hospital.
ABOVE: Jeff Skirvin won the all-around title at the 2011
Logging Show at the Clatsop County Fair. RIGHT: Dragging
a heavy cable with him, Charles Gann races in the Logging
Show choker-setting competition at the Clatsop County
Fair in 2011.
50 years ago — 1971
SEASIDE — The 50th anniversary of Seaside’s unique
sea wall and Promenade was observed Sunday afternoon
with the installation of a commemorative plaque at the
Turnaround.
Some 1,800 spectators were on hand for the ceremony
which saw the participation of the Sunsetters Drum and
Bugle Corps, the Seaside police reserve in a fl ag raising cer-
emony and various speakers who related pertinent historical
data about the Promenade.
LEWIS AND CLARK — April 2 was overcast
and drizzly as Blaine and Debby Anderson Huff -
man mounted their 350 Motosport Honda to fulfi ll
a high school dream of Blaine’s to tour the United
States on a motorcycle. “You’ll never make it”
were the words of encouragement they received
periodically as they stopped for gas and food. But
three months later, right on schedule, they made it.
The couple traveled 10,000 miles with only one
small mishap, when they hit a rock and blew the
front tire in Fernie, British Columbia.
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a motorcycle from the
surf in what was otherwise a quiet weekend for them despite
a big fl eet of pleasure crafts seeking salmon at the mouth of
the Columbia River.
A helicopter from the Astoria Coast Guard Air Station went
to the Cape Disappointment sands Sunday morning when a
report came in that a youth on a motorcycle was stranded on a
sandbar just north of the jetty by the fl ooding tide.
When the copter arrived, the boy was gone but the cycle
was still there. The copter landed on the beach, where
bystanders reported the boy had come ashore and left.
The Coast Guard rescued the cycle and turned it over to
the parents.
The state-federal split over the Astoria sewage
lagoon site widened today at a conference in Port-
land called by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Representatives of federal agencies reiterated
opposition to the Astoria selection at the old Ham-
mond mill near Tongue Point, saying that it would
destroy estuary areas.
State agencies supported the site because they
said it would best serve the needs of the people.
Former President Harry Truman will not be in Astoria to
welcome the Green Berets when they arrive around Sept.
4 for the completion of their trip from Missouri along the
Lewis and Clark Trail. The Berets reached Lewiston, Idaho,
Thursday to begin the water journey of their voyage.
Truman was invited by Capt. Harvey J. Schroeder, presi-
dent of the Clatsop County Historical Society.
75 years ago — 1946
Lou Staff ord, Portland golfi ng ace who went to the semi-
fi nals of the recent national public links tournament, scored
a 31 at the end of the fi rst nine holes of the qualifying round
of the Oregon Coast Tournament at Gearhart this morning.
Rebecca Alfaro was named the 2011 Astoria Regatta
Queen.
The USS Baya, an electronics experimental submarine,
docked overnight at the Port of Astoria in 1971.
Staff ord was fi ve under par.
This morning saw the fi rst qualifi ers tee off in the revived
tournament, being played this week for the fi rst time since
1941.
The compromise reached at Thursday night’s
meeting means that the Astoria School District
will be accepting the responsibility of educating
upwards of 50 Tongue Point youngsters at a tui-
tion far below the 1945-46 fi gure for the education
of Astoria students, according to the school board.
Organization of the Hammond Chamber of
Commerce for supporting the town to acquire
the U.S. Army mooring basin at Fort Stevens was
undertaken at a mass meeting in Hammond Mon-
day night.
Mayor James Hopkins and the town council
have been inquiring into the possibility of obtain-
ing the moorage, which can accommodate 250
small craft, for several months.
Built during the war when it was used by
numerous Army vessels engaged in mine oper-
ations and in transporting troops, the basin is
reported to have only one boat at the present time.
Two sections of Pier 3 were released Tuesday by the
U.S. Navy to the Port of Astoria upon the urgent plea of
the Columbia River Packers Association that it was in need
of storage space for canned fi sh. Within a month the Navy
expects to restore the rest of Pier 3 to the Port. Other proper-
ties of the Port will probably be retained for Navy use until
completion of Mott basin.
Finishing up of the decommissioning program of the
Navy here makes possible the release of Pier 3.
The Astoria school board agreed that children
of the housing project, located in the Fernhill Dis-
trict No. 18, might attend Astoria schools during
the 1946-47 school year, provided the Fernhill dis-
trict guaranteed $60 per pupil per year tuition.
Capt. Louis Peterson, of the Aletta B, discharged the sea-
son’s largest load of albacore at Van Camp Seafood Co.
today, estimated at more than 25,000 pounds. There was no
general pickup in albacore landings. Reports from fi shing
areas had a more optimistic tone than for some time.
Columbia River fi shermen today were ready to admit the
August run had shown up. Average landings jumped to 800
pounds and a few catches of more than 2,000 pounds were
reported. Barney Voy, of Astoria, fi shing for the Columbia
River Salmon Co., brought in 2,314 pounds, which was the
largest delivery reported today.
Steady employment for 250 men is off ered by
the reserve fl eet of merchant ships, according to an
announcement made today by the offi ce of Capt.
E.E. Thorne, reserve fl eet superintendent.
Six vessels of the fl eet of 31 have already arrived
and are in line. Ships will include tankers as well as
freighters, both Liberty and Victory types.
West Coast Airlines has asked for lease of space for its
local personnel building of the Astoria airport, eff ective Oct.
15, the Port of Astoria Commission disclosed at its regular
meeting Tuesday night.
This company was recently granted a license to establish
a passenger service in the Northwest, with two planes call-
ing daily in Astoria.