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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2020)
B2 Wednesday, January 1, 2020 HOOD RIVER NEWS | Hood River, Ore. Happy hoodrivernews.com YESTERYEARS Ned Year HR welcomes ‘little stranger’ in 1930 1910 — 110 YEARS AGO It was a beautiful day that the grange selected for their first all day meeting. The first day of the New Year and the first meeting of its kind to be held in Hood River County. As the hour approached for the “Gathering of the Clans,” grangers could be seen ap- proaching the Pine Grove Grange from all directions filled with the spirit of the day. The Happy New Year greeting gaily passed from one to the other until each heart responded to the touch of brotherly love. 1920 — 100 YEARS AGO Photo by Trisha Walker A HOOD RIVER “pear forest,” in winter Everyday is a gift From the want ads: Lost between Tucker Bridge and Hood River, a large crank for automobile. Finder will be rewarded for its return to Paris Fair. Wanted, to rent or lease, a good farm. Phone Odell 336. Wanted, competent ste- nographer. Apply Hood River Apple Vinegar Company. For sale, singing canaries. Apply 1227 State St., Hood River. For sale, one DeLaval Cream Separator. A1 condi- tion. Call 5951. 1930 — 90 YEARS AGO By NED MCFEENY “Pear forest.” That’s how a 6-year-old longingly referred to his grandma’s orchard. Best thing I heard all year. ■ So, I left you a year ago when the government was shutting down and with no park rangers around, people were stringing Christmas lights on ancient Joshua Trees. The image tantalizes me, on one hand, as the crummy crime against nature that it was. Or, a humorously offbeat way to celebrate the season — the closest we’ll get to a tannenbaum that was around when Jesus walked. All of the criminal year 2019 lay before us; the one thing we know will never recover from it is the Joshua trees. But, speaking of crimes, the shutdown did teach me one of two wonderful words: Protestors in a federal building were ar- rested for “crowding, obstructing, and incommoding...” ■ Incommoding ! And in the UK, the police term for fighting in public is “affray.” Hey, enough about Brexit ... I feel incommoded by the affray, so I will move on ... ■ 2020 will be the year that the term “the opposite sex” ceases to have use and meaning. ■ Business idea: A chain of “Participating” restaurants, as in, “get it now only at Participating ...” ■ I loved the inspirational poster I saw in a hospital this year: “Everyday is a gift.” Note the structure: Everyday. I agree: We should celebrate the mundane. Everyday really is a gift. ■ Business idea: Novelty utility meters fashioned after gar- goyles ... the spinning arrows instead of eyes. ■ I learned from personal experience that there is such a thing as “pseudogout” — a painful joint condition that’s like gout but not quite. Also known as “Boggy Knee.” Which is a term I actually like. ■ The word “oblivion” just keeps going on and on ... I think “oblivyin’” ought to be a verb for some endless task. While we’re at it we could make shove’l a contraction. “When you’re diggin’ and oblivyin’, a shov’l help you get there ...” even as far as Boggy Knee. ■ Maybe George Carlin once asked this: Why do sportswriters and broadcasters write or say that a team “plays host” — but they never say the visiting team “plays guest”? Perhaps so not to confused people when they use the verb “plaguest?” Like in Psalm 60: “With heavy things thou plaguest us ...” But enough about Tom Brady ... ■ ... who is not nearly as interesting as Salamao Mausse. The most compelling story I heard all year might be about the “meteorological department janitor” in Mozambique who hikes three hours several times a week to mow the lawn and clean the weather radar station built near the town of Xai-Xai (shy-shy) in the early 2000s. The station was constructed to alert farmers and ranchers when torrential rains will come and cause flooding, as meteorologists in the impoverished country try in vain to keep up with climate change. But the radar stopped working in 2013; no funds to fix it. Yet, Senhor Mausse goes three times a week to take care of the facility, hoping it will one day go back online. When the Xai-Xai location opened in 2004, then-President Joaquim Chissano personally attended the so-called baptizing of the installation and gave it a name: “Life Radar.” ■ We need a treatise on the rich and vital distinctions between street food and road food. ■ Who is this guy, Oz Moses, I keep hearing about? “It was done by Oz Moses,” they say. I think he’s as busy as Mo Mentum, whose best friend is Con Gusto. ■ Gone too soon, in 2018, Gord Dowdie of The Tragically Hip, whose sense of humor was razor sharp and Bay Rum bracing, once said during a concert: “I will remain motionless if you need a target.” Gord called for a “National Stupid Day,” saying, “We could have our own motto: ‘Who Are We Kidding?’” and adding, “If someone important asks you a question about something, do you answer it strictly because you’ll feel important?” Uh, yes. ■ While we’re talking music: Most prescient lyrics ... ever? “They’re putting us in identical little boxes/ No character just uniformity/ They’re trying to build a computerised community/ But they’ll never make a zombie out of me” That’s from a song called “Muswell Hillbilly,” by The Kinks. It came out in 1972 — 20 years before the home computer became common; yes, 35 years before “social media,” the Davies brothers sang about a conforming, cyber-prone “community.” See NED, page B5 A few prolonged toots of motor horn, an explod- ing moto exhaust and the exchange of a few Happy New Years was about all that marked the coming of the New Year outdoors in Hood River. At a dance at Pythian Hall, there was much jubi- lation as the last minutes of the Old Year passed and all joined with members of the Pythian band in welcoming the little stranger as he ar- rived. Most of the New Year’s noise was heard via the air, over radio, and quite a num- ber of families joined at radio parties to hear the New Year arrive in leading cities in the four time zones, and to take in the dance across the con- tinent. Hood River News archives J ANUARY 1 , 2000 Mike Ellis, technology coordinator at Hood River Valley High, adjusts wiring connecting computers throughout the school. Of the six computer labs at HRVHS, two include mostly old machines that freshmen use to learn the basics of computing. Photo by Steve Kadel. in one day, mailed in this city or carried in from rural routes. This amounts to around 3,000 letters more than were mailed on the heaviest day last year and sets a new high for the post office. The big day took place on Dec. 19, said Small. Residents commenced mailing letters, cards and packages earlier than in previous years, according to Small, who ex- pressed thanks for the early mailing practice. 1960 — 60 YEARS AGO Hood River County, which started the decade called The Fifties in a record-busting deepfreeze, winds it up this week amidst mild tempera- tures — and talk that the next 10 years will be more pro- ductive for the community’s economic growth than the last 10 were. Hood River population, counted in the official census of 1950, was 12,740 persons. Last estimated census here was made by the state, showing 1940 — 80 YEARS AGO 11,980 persons in Hood River Old residents, Monday eve- County. ning, were freely admitting that, tax their memories as 1970 — 50 YEARS AGO they could, they could not recall a more glorious Christ- It was a bustling season for mas than that of 1939. While “Aunt Margaret” Dobrinz this there were sharp frosts during year as she helped prepare the nights of Christmas Eve Christmas for her 421 children. and Christmas Day, the en- Mrs. Dobrinz was in charge of tire countryside was bathed the Hood River Community in sunshine and there was a Center program to serve as a total absence of chilly wind. clearing house this year for As usual, this season of the all civic group efforts to make year, the great majority of a happier Christmas for the residents were either at their disadvantaged. “I was really own homes or local friends’ pleased with the number of over the double holiday, and individuals and families who only a few were out of town. offered to help out this year,” Christmas of 1939 will long be said the coordinator. remembered, not only for its cheer, but also for its beautiful 1980 — 40 YEARS AGO weather. Let the record show that Joyce Elaine Graves, daughter 1950 — 70 YEARS AGO of Sheryl and Randy Graves, Hood River post office was the last baby born in Hood had its biggest day in his- River during the decade of the tory during the Christmas 1970s. She arrived about two rush season, reports Wm. B. weeks early on Dec. 31, 1979. Small, postmaster. The post It couldn’t have been a more office received 29,200 letters appropriate arrival. She’s the VERBATIM Only Snow Was Missing At Ski Party Enthused by a report on Tuesday from Mr. McMullen that seven inches of perfectly ideal snow had fallen in the neighborhood of the Spur road, members of the Hood River Ski Club left bright and early on the first day of this year for a day’s sport. When they arrived, it was to find an open landscape, bare of any snow fit for skiing. And then they heard the news that, after the report was phoned in, Old Borea got in his work and the new snow melted so rapidly that it was gone in a few hours. So the ski meet the first first grandchild for both Bob and Barbara Norton and for Merrill and Betty Graves. Both parents of the last arrival of the ‘70s grew up and went to school in the Hood River Valley — Sheryl in Pine Grove, Randy in Odell. When the new year broke, Hood River had still not welcomed the first baby of the 1980s. 1990 — 30 YEARS AGO Temperatures were chilly — even dipping below freez- ing — but that didn’t slow the pouring of the main slab for Hood River Memorial Hospi- tal’s new addition near 13th and May streets. Aware of the conditions, the contractor used special techniques to assure that the pouring could go ahead. There haven’t been many winters in Hood River when construction crews could work continu- ously without having to take a “snow and ice” break. But if conditions through the end of the year were any indication, this could be the first time in that area. of this year ended in a pic- nic, with weather conditions more like the middle of April than the first of January. But with the winter months still ahead, members of the Ski Club were yester- day planning a snowshoe trip — when they can find enough snow to travel over. Oh, yes, and Mr. McMullen is still wondering whether he got across with the ex- planation he offered the ski runners when they arrived at his resort on New Year’s. — Hood River News, January 3, 1930 2000 — 20 YEARS AGO Back in the dark ages of 1983, Hood River Valley High School boasted a grand total of six computers. Today, students at HRVHS have nearly 400 computers and several other technological instruments at their fingertips. The computer age has changed the entire ap- proach to learning. “We don’t even buy encyclopedias any- more,” Mike Ellis, technology coordinator, said. 2010 — 10 YEARS AGO While snow blanketed the ground outside, the Horizon boys basketball team’s defense blanketed The Dalles-Wahton- ka Eagle-Indians JV team Tues- day night to win the Hood River Lions invitational Tour- nament. With their offense coming in fits and starts. The Hawks clamped down on de- fense, forcing turnovers and turning them into points to pull away for a 51-36 win. ■ Compiled by Trisha Walker and Emily Fitzgerald, News staff writers COMMUNITY NOTES assistance project. There is no admission charge The Columbia Gorge Genea- to the Discovery Center for at- logical Society will hold its next tending CGGS meetings. A $1 meeting on Saturday, Jan. 11 donation is appreciated to cover in the downstairs classroom at room rental. the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, 5000 Discovery Drive, Lunch and Learn at the HR Library The Dalles. This month’s program will Thursdays at the Hood River be the “Individual Research Library beginning Jan. 9, it’s Assistance” project, said a press Lunch and Learn, a series of release. conversations about race, gender “The project consists of identity, immigration and the members collaborating with American dream. The conversa- other members in solving their tions begin at 1 p.m., and lunch research dead ends or brick will be provided. walls,” said a CGGS press re- The first Lunch and Learn conversation, focusing on home- lease. The project will run in Jan- lessness in the Gorge, took place uary and February. Members in December. are encouraged to bring their The Thursday, Jan. 9 conver- laptops and research data. sation is titled, “White Allyship A short business meeting will in Close-knit Communities.” The begin at 10:30 a.m., followed by event is co-sponsored by the the beginning of the research Oregon Humanities Project and CGGS to meet Jan. 11 Hood River will be facilitated by Alexis James. “What does it mean to be a white ally, especially in close-knit communities? And what does it mean to have the support of white allies?” asks a press release. “What is needed from white peo- ple in our communities to move the conversation about racism — both statewide and nationally — forward in a productive and respectful way? In this conversa- tion … participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge dif- ferent lived experiences without alienating friends and neigh- bors, and move toward action in their own communities. This conversation will set the table for bringing discussions about rac- ism, white culture, and identity to your dining room, living room, and backyard barbecues.” The conversation is free and all are welcome. 1631 Woods Ct Suite 102 Hood River, OR 97031 541-386-0826 Joe Guenther Financial Advisor edwardjones.com Member SIPC WKO-High Cascade Mills Buying Logs & Timber Douglas Fir White Fir Pine Deck and Fence Residential Fencing Deck & Porch Design Competitive Pricing Kevin Hickerson Contractor 541 / 490 / 2354 kevinhickerson1@gmail.com CCB # 89979 Jon Paul Anderson 360-921-1541 Mill: 509-427-8413 2022 Wind River Hwy • P.O. Box 8 Carson, WA 98610
