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THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2022
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2022 • B1
WATER UNDER
THE BRIDGE
COMPILED BY BOB DUKE
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2012
T
he Astoria High School C lass of 1952 graduated in
a simpler time. It was a time before rock ‘n’ roll:
Crooners like Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett and
Doris Day topped Billboard’s charts. “I Love Lucy” was
in its ﬁ rst season. Gas cost about 25 cents a gallon and life
expectancy was 68.4 years. Harry Truman was ﬁ nishing
his presidency, and the United States was in the middle of
the Korean War.
The 1952 seniors were football players, cheerleaders,
yearbook editors and glee club singers. They were the ﬁ rst
four-year class at Astoria High School since 1924, entering
together as freshmen.
Many of the 110 graduates went to college and trav-
eled the world. Some classmates entered careers in law
enforcement, sales, business, the maritime industry and the
military. Others have been architects, engineers, teachers,
nurses, dentists, mothers and fathers.
Now, most classmates are retired. Some have passed
on. Twenty-six of them met for their 60th high school
reunion Friday and Saturday.
WARRENTON – The Michelle D, a ﬁ shing
vessel based in Warrenton, ran aground late Sun-
day night, hitting pilings near the mouth of the
Skipanon River and getting stuck in the mud.
The U.S. Coast Guard Station Cape Disap-
pointment is monitoring the boat and waiting for
high tide in an eﬀ ort to dislodge it. Its pollution
response division is also monitoring the vessel to
ensure that the 300 to 400 gallons of diesel fuel
inside it doesn’t pose an environmental threat.
“The vessel operator claimed they had expe-
rienced rudder failure,” said Petty Oﬃ cer 3rd
C lass Nate Littlejohn, adding that the initial
report came into the Coast Guard around 11:40.
On Nov. 24, 1805, the Lewis and Clark expedition, by
majority vote, decided to cross the Columbia River south
into present-day Oregon, building Fort Clatsop and winter-
ing over before leaving for the east in March.
By Dec. 27, in a journal entry, Capt. William Clark
describes the party eating rotten meat out of necessity
because of a lack of salt used in brining the venison the
expedition depended on.
Ten modern explorers, with the help of interpretive
rangers from Lewis and Clark National Historical Park
and each playing a private or sergeant from the Corps
of Discovery, trekked down from Fort Clatsop to Sun-
set Beach last weekend, retracing the approximate steps
the expedition took to establish a beach camp, gather and
make salt needed to preserve their meat, ﬁ nd and trade for
whale parts and otherwise make the best of their time on
the coast.
The weekend was an immersion in all things Lewis and
Clark, one of the only adult courses put on by the national
historical park, which organizes several youth courses.
50 years ago — 1972
ILWACO, Wash. — The skull believed to be that of
powerful Chinook Indian Chief Comcomly will return this
month to the land of his people for the ﬁ rst time in 139
years.
The ﬂ attened skull will be buried with a simple cere-
mony in a secluded plot donated by the Ilwaco Cemetery
Association a nd marked only with a small plaque.
Descendants of the leader who greeted Capt. Robert
Gray at the mouth of the Columbia River in 1771 want the
burial to be unobtrusive so the gravesite won’t become a
tourist mecca.
They ﬁ gure Comcomly’s skull has been seen enough in
the last 139 years.
Years of struggle ﬁ nally resulted in the return of the
skull from England to Clatsop County, where it was placed
on display at the h istorical s ociety’s Flavel House Museum
in Astoria in 1953.
People are impressed by the sights and sounds
of a smartly stepping drum and bugle corps. Col-
ors ﬂ ashing, drums rolling in a steady cadence,
horns quickening pulses with lofty, soaring
soprano bugle calls and deep-throated basses
booming out their forceful tunes.
As they march down ﬁ eld or street, 400 arms
and legs move as one, drilled with military pre-
cision, heads snapping in unison, gloved hands
swinging together stride for stride, polished
shoes glinting as they raise and lower with quick
eﬃ ciency.
The Sunsetters, recipients of statewide
acclaim, are regularly called upon to perform
in parades and exhibitions in Portland, Med-
ford, Pendleton and other Oregon cities and in
places as far away as Edmonton and Calgary in
2012 – Twenty-ﬁ ve members of Astoria High School’s Class of 1952 gather for a photo for their 60-year reunion at Baked Alaska.
1972 – Buddy Stanley totes
a set of drums.
2012 – Paul Gascoigne, left, is the new acting deputy ﬁ re chief for Astoria, following the
resignation of Steve Strally. Wade Mathews, center, will now ﬁ ll the lieutenant role and
Aaron Bielemeier has been promoted to driver.
Alberta, Canada.
But getting to the top has been no easy task.
Just ask any of the 60-some corps members,
ranging in age from 11 to 19 years, how much
time they put into practicing, and most of them
will emphatically answer “a lot. ”
Jim Inﬁ nger, major-domo of the surprisingly
complex operation, says, “They’re good kids, and
they work hard.” His wife, Betty, estimates that
for every 15 minutes a member performs on the
competition ﬁ eld, more than 300 hours are spent
in practice.
Warner Bros. will be ﬁ lming in Clatsop County after
all. The ﬁ lm crew for the “Delphi Bureau,” now shooting
on location in Portland, will set up cameras in Westport
early Friday evening. They will ﬁ lm a chase scene with
one car leaping on to the Westport ferry seconds after the
vessel begins churning toward Puget Island.
The jump sequence is part of an ABC television
thriller now being ﬁ lmed in Oregon. Warner Bros. origi-
nally hoped to ﬁ lm the jump scene on the O ld Youngs Bay
bridge in Astoria after Multnomah County denied permis-
sion to use the Willamette River’s Morrison Bridge for the
same scene.
But state h ighway d ivision engineers said “no” to the
Astoria location, forcing Warner Bros. to secure permis-
sion from Wahkiakum County, Washington , road depart-
ment oﬃ cials who operate the ferry service on the Colum-
bia River between Puget Island and Westport.
After “cooling oﬀ ” a bit, the owner of an auto
repair shop next to the proposed YMCA swim-
ming facility in Astoria says he doesn’t think he
will attempt to halt the project.
Kenneth Heater, owner of C&C Body and
Paint Clinic, said he wants to talk with the YMCA
board of directors about plans for the new swim-
ming center.
Heater suggested Tuesday he would appeal
the Planning Commission’s decision to grant the
conditional use, but he said Wednesday it was
probably too late to do anything about it.
The structure which received conditional use
approval from the City Tuesday is planned for a
vacant lot between the existing YMCA and Heat-
er’s business on Exchange Street at 13th Street.
He is concerned that pile-driving work planned
for the swimming facility will pose a structural
threat to his building.
75 years ago — 1947
SEASIDE – Justice of Peace J.W. Pietaria today ﬁ ned
Donald Fay Clevenger, 18, Portland, $50 each on two
charges growing out of Clevenger’s driving a “hot rod”
roadster to Seaside.
State Trooper Harold A. Kieger said Clevenger showed
up in a routine road check. He gave a false name, the oﬃ -
cer said. Kieger also found that the car, owned by the boy’s
father, had switched license plates.
Later, when Kieger located the Portland youth in Sea-
side, he learned his true name and charged him with oper-
ating a car while his driver’s license was suspended. It was
suspended for three years before the latest arrest. The youth
testiﬁ ed that he was taking the car to sell it in Seaside. His
father was aware of the transaction, the court learned.
The new pilot vessel Peacock got acquainted
with her job Saturday. She was originally the
minesweeper 117, launched in San Pedro, Califor-
nia, in 1942, but her ﬁ rst trip to the bar with pilots
aboard Saturday had the air of a maiden voyage.
The 133-foot, wooden-hulled vessel had a
new coat of paint, new civilian communications
and 100 admiring guests when she put out to the
lightship.
The vessel was acquired by the Columbia
River Bar Pilots A ssociation to accommodate
the growing shipping industry of the river and to
shoulder the burden of the pilot schooner Colum-
bia, which will be placed on relief duty basis.
Sweeping by ﬁ shing vessels and other craft,
the Peacock cruised along at 12 knots and was
speeded up to nearly 15 knots. She has two
600-horsepower Cooper-Bessemer engines and
two Buda auxiliaries for light and power.
The Peacock is named after both the U.S.
s loop Peacock, which was lost on the north spit
on July 18, 1841, and the spit which eventually
was given the name of the man o’ war.
SEASIDE – A beautiful blonde, blue-eyed school-
teacher from the little town of Sutherlin is the ﬁ rst Miss
Oregon.
Jo Ann Amorde, who was M iss Roseburg, and is now
Oregon’s ﬁ rst candidate for Miss America, won the cheer-
ing approval of thousands on Sunday as she was chosen
from 17 contestants to receive the beauty crown.
2012 – The commercial ﬁ shing vessel Michelle D lists at the mouth of the Skipanon River in Warrenton.
Astoria a ttorney Harold T. Johnson said today
that oyster stew was his favorite – especially the
oyster stew served at the Astoria Elks C lub din-
ing room.
Last week, while eating lunch, he bit into
a pearl. He said the pearl was about a 16th of
an inch in diameter. Several jewelers eating at
the same table quickly gave him a “curbstone”
appraisal.
Johnson bragged that the pearl was worth
$38.50. The cook overheard him and wanted to
add that amount to the price of his meal. It all
ended with Johnson oﬀ ering to trade the pearl
for an elk’s tooth.