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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2021
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IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
‘MY HEART FEELS GOOD’
‘D
ante Williams delivered his help for Santa to the
Warrenton Head Start, as they were really in need,”
his proud grandmother, Brenda McKune, wrote. She and
her husband, Lewis, live in Warrenton.
Every year, Dante collects money so children who
wouldn’t otherwise have a Christmas present will not be
overlooked.
His generosity started when he was 7, when he col-
lected change for the Wishing Tree program. Children in
need write gift requests on paper bell ornaments, which are
hung on Christmas trees in local businesses. People pick a
tag off the tree, buy the requested present and turn it in at a
Wishing Tree collection center.
Dante was able to take four tags off the tree that fi rst
year, and has been helping other children each year since,
following the shining example of his grandmother.
Brenda started ScrapHunger, an event to feed those in
need, more than 10 years ago. The idea for the event came
to her in her sleep, after going to bed with a “heavy heart”
after realizing the Warrenton food pantry’s shelves were
getting bare one year.
“He’s already making plans for next year,” Brenda
noted. “He knows I’m hoping to start ScrapHunger again,
so he says we can add his helping Santa, and get way more
help. His ideas are running wild. But that’s good.”
Dante saved up $247 this year, and he’s grateful to
all who helped him. “We shopped and fi lled the trunk,”
Brenda reported.
“Grandma, there’s a lot of help needed this year,” Dante
told Brenda recently. “Santa is way too busy. I really like
doing this. My heart feels good.”
“I had a hard time keeping back the tears,” Brenda
recalled. “He’s 10 now. And he has no plan of stopping.
I’m proud of him.”
IF YOU’RE NAUGHTY, BEWARE
‘HE’S LIKE A PERSON’
A
friendly talking crow made the AP News circuit
recently when he turned up at an elementary school
in Grants Pass in November. He made himself right at
home, peeking into classrooms and pecking on doors. He
eventually managed to get into a fi fth grade classroom, and
noshed on some snacks.
The crow was quite taken with the children. He even
landed on some people’s heads, and was quite an enjoy-
able, chatty guest, aside from his swearing. Since the bird
was not inclined to leave, a wildlife control from the Ore-
gon State Police showed up, hoping to capture him. He
had no luck.
The crow, whose name is “Cosmo,” was actually
almost 20 miles from home. He lives with wildlife rescuer
JaNeal Shattuck in Williams , and is free to roam around
the neighborhood and visit, which most don’t mind.
But when Shattuck got back home from a Thanksgiving
visit, Cosmo was gone. She was heartbroken, and posted a
plea on Facebook for his return. “He’s like a person,” she
said, “not a bird.” She and Cosmo are pictured in a photo
from her Facebook page.
Eventually she found out that one disgruntled neigh-
bor had captured Cosmo and turned him over to an animal
sanctuary, and that he had been released in Grants Pass.
But when he was left there, he started looking for his home
almost immediately, talking to people and making a fuss.
Then Cosmo spotted and followed a van belonging to
one of Shattuck’s friends who lived in Grants Pass, and
that’s how he wound up at the school, and then in the fi fth
grade classroom of the friend’s child.
Once the child got home and told his father the story
about the talkative visiting crow, dad knew it had to be
Cosmo, and let Shattuck know. Her daughter, Daphnie
Colpron, arrived, and was able to capture the bird with
patience and sardine off erings.
Now Cosmo is happily back at home, well in time for
Christmas. However, being a sensible crow, he no longer
visits the nasty neighbors who had him shanghaied. And,
hopefully, they’ll all live happily ever after.
DEAR SANTA
C
hildren were writing Dear Santa letters to newspa-
pers by at least 1874, the Oregon Digital Newspaper
Program says, certain Santa could not possibly miss a let-
ter that had been published in a newspaper. Here are two
samples:
From the Rogue News in Ashland, Dec. 19, 1956:
“Dear Santa, I have not been a very good boy this year,
but I would like something. I would like some Tinker-
toys. Please bring my mommie a mink coat and my daddy
a Cad(illac). Please bring my sister a teddy bear. Bring
my neighbor Elvis Presley. (It does not have to be gift
wrapped). Bring my dog a bone, my cat a mouse and my
squirrel a nut. Robert Wasner. P.S. Please don’t forget my
Tinkertoys.”
And, it would be hard to top this whopper from The
Sunday Oregonian, dated Dec. 21, 1919: “Dear Santa
Clause. I’ve been waiting for you a long time. I am nine
months old. I want a trunk full of silk dresses and a neck-
lace with my Mother’s picture and a ring, with a ruby. I’ve
been a awful good girl. Arvilla.”
GO GOONIES
E
T
he Ear is very glad that as an earlet nobody mentioned
Krampus, as he would have scared the twizzlers out
of her. In case you don’t know, half-man, half-beast Kram-
pus is rather like St. Nicholas’ (aka Santa Claus) alter-ego.
The two travel together from house to house, and while
kindly Santa rewards the nice children with goodies to eat
and presents, devil Krampus attends to the naughty ones
— we aren’t talking about coal in the Christmas stocking,
here — and it ain’t pretty. Pictured, St. Nick and Krampus
visit a family. This may not end well.
Mr. Wikipedia says Krampus is from the folklore of the
Alpine countries, and is sometimes thought to be the son
of Hel in Norse mythology.
Whoever he is, now that we know about him, it
behooves us to behave. Or else.
ORA JOLABJOR
T
hanks to maritime writer Peter Marsh for this tip:
France 24 did a story about a special Iceland Christ-
mas beer, RVK Brewing’s Ora Jolabjor , made of …
peas and marinated red cabbage (mainstays in the nation’s
Yuletide dinner).
Master brewer Valgeir Valgeirsson (pictured) invented
the concoction. “It’s a 5.2% amber ale …” he noted. “The
beans and cabbage, they work more or less in the back-
ground. There’s tons of it in the beer, but it is not the main
fl avour profi le. So yes, it is very enjoyable by itself.” His
previous Yuletide beers have been made out of algae,
Christmas tree trunks and dried fi sh (which, he admitted,
“was strange”).
Note: The fi rst batch of Ora Jolabjor sold out “within
hours.” (Still shots courtesy of France 24)
LET THERE BE LIGHT
T
he Daily Astorian, Dec. 25, 1885,
reported a Christmas Eve surprise
for the city:
“Nine years ago on the ninth of this
month, J. C. Trullinger (pictured) lit
the fi rst street lamp in Astoria: it was
an oil concern such as has dimly dot-
ted the streets during the past year to the
exclusion of the Astoria Gaslight com-
pany’s better system, but it was a light,
and beat no light all to pieces. Last night
Mr. Trullinger lit the fi rst electric light
in Astoria.
“… At twenty minutes to seven last
evening, for the fi rst time in the history
of our city, the electric light streamed
out from a glass globe strung on wires
stretched from The Astorian building,
making all other lights look dim and
attracting hundreds of spectators who,
hurrying home with Christmas presents
for wife and children, stopped to see the
great luminous ball that shone like a sun
lighting up the streets that it intersected.
“… Another light had been put up
between Mr. Trullinger’s offi ce and his
residence, lighting up that portion of the
city, and plainly visible at Fort Stevens.
The other eight lamps, only 10 having
so far arrived, were burning brightly at
the mill, and will be distributed at var-
ious points throughout the city today if
possible.
“… The light last night was calcu-
lated to be 300 candle power more than
any of the lights now in operation in
Portland, a fact which is of interest to
Astorians, who naturally like to have the
best as long as it is going.”
Note: Trullinger was the operator of
Astoria’s fi rst electric plant, and owed
a large tract of land for logging, along
with WestShore sawmills and a 320-acre
farm. He also had seven patented inven-
tions, including the duplex axe.
ven “The Goonies” fans get a Christmas treat this
year. According Variety.com, Warner Bros. didn’t
give up on a Goonies-inspired TV show, and kept shop-
ping it around, even after the project was dumped by
Fox for being “skewed too young.”
The “Untitled Film Re-Enactment Project” revolves
around the story of a teacher and a group of high school-
ers who re create the original iconic movie shot by shot.
Many months after the Fox deal fail, and the COVID-19
shutdowns, and being renamed “Our Time,” the show is
a go, and now has a home at Disney+ , where it is being
redeveloped. The original movie cast is shown, courtesy
of Warner Bros.
The Donners’ Company, owned by “The Goonies”
late director Richard Donner, and his wife, Lauren
Shuler Donner, and Amblin Entertainment, whose
chairman is Steven Spielberg, producer of the movie,
are still involved. Now it’s all a wait-and-see.
PLEASE DON’T SING
F
un rerun: A Christmas song was created by a rti-
fi cial i ntelligence , Smithsonian.com reports. Hang
Chu, a Ph.D. student, trained a neural network using
100 hours of digital music, footage from the video game
“Just Dance,” 50 hours of song lyrics, and images with
captions.
After the network digested all that, he fed it a generic
photo of a Christmas tree and let ‘er rip. Researchers
dubbed the result “neural karaoke.” They were being
polite.
With a piano tinkling in the background, the mono-
tone female ish voice intones about: “lots and lots and
lots of fl owers,” and “I swear it’s Christmas Eve. I hope
that is what you say … I’ve always been there for the
rest of our lives. A hundred and a half hour ago. I’m glad
to meet you.”
“White Christmas” it ain’t. (In One Ear, 12/21/2018)