COFFEE BREAK
Saturday, August 12, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 5C
OUT OF THE VAULT
1979 total eclipse wows Eastern Oregon
A
large portion of the United
States is gearing up for a total
solar eclipse that will be visible
from coast to coast on August 21, 2017.
Beginning at 8:46 a.m. at Yaquina
Head Lighthouse near Newport on the
Oregon Coast, the eclipse will darken
a more than 60-mile-wide swath of
the state before moving on across the
continent. Most of Central Oregon is in
the path of totality, and it is estimated
that 5 million people will travel to
Oregon for its cloud-free viewing
opportunities. And it will be the last
time in our lifetime that Oregonians
will be able to watch a total solar
eclipse from home — the next one
to cross the state won’t happen until
June 2169.
The fi rst known documentation of a
total solar eclipse was made in China in
2137 B.C. The story goes that Chinese
astronomers, named Hi and Ho, were
tasked with bringing back the light by
banging drums and shooting arrows
at the giant serpent they thought was
swallowing the sun. However, they lost
their focus during an unfortunate bout
of heavy drinking, and lost their heads
to the royal executioner as a result.
The last time Eastern Oregon was
in the path of a total solar eclipse
was Feb. 26, 1979. The eclipse
began around 7:15 a.m., just as
schoolchildren would have been
on their way to school, and school
districts around the area either delayed
opening or opened early so kids would
have supervision during the celestial
event. Many districts geared the day’s
lessons around the eclipse, making
homemade viewers to safely view the
sun as it was gradually covered by the
moon’s shadow. The 1979 event was
an annular eclipse, meaning the moon
was a little further away and therefore
did not completely obscure the sun’s
corona, even at totality.
Local pilots loaded friends and
family into their planes and took
off from regional airports, seeking
a vantage point above clouds that
threatened to block the view. Hermiston
residents cheered when a break in the
cloud cover appeared just as totality
was imminent. Other residents traveled
to the nearest public observatory, in
Goldendale, Wash., where more than
a thousand people viewed the eclipse
from atop a butte above the Columbia
River. In Portland, people had to be
satisfi ed with photos taken by others;
their view was blocked by overcast
skies.
Before 1979, the last total solar
eclipse seen in Eastern Oregon occurred
on June 8, 1918. And though Pendleton
received 99.5 percent totality, many
residents traveled south to Pilot Rock
and east to Baker City to see the eclipse
in its full glory. The naval observatory
at Baker City photographed the eclipse
using a 65-foot camera, the largest in
the area.
Haven’t been able to score a set
of eclipse glasses? You can make a
homemade viewer with two pieces of
cardboard, a piece of aluminum foil
and tape. Cut a one-inch-square hole
in the center of one sheet of cardboard
and tape a piece of foil over the hole.
Poke a tiny hole through the center of
the foil with a sewing needle. To use
the viewer, turn your back to the sun
and place the cardboard viewer over
your shoulder. Use the other piece of
cardboard as a screen, moving it closer
and farther away to make the image of
the eclipsing sun larger or smaller.
Looking directly at the sun during a
total solar eclipse, even for a short time,
can permanently damage your eyesight,
as 121 people discovered during an
eclipse in 1970.
■
Renee Struthers is the Community
Records Editor for the East Oregonian.
See the complete collection of Out of the
Vault columns at eovault.blogspot.com
DEAR ABBY
Plans for happy future are upset by return of old rival
Dear Abby: I had a baby girl
parents and the child, like taking
with my longtime best friend,
formal pictures and such.
“Adam.” “April” is now 3 weeks
Am I irrational or crazy? I
old. I thought everything would
care about Adam because of our
be OK as co-parents because,
long history of friendship. I did
even though we’re not together,
a lot to help him get off drugs
we get along and almost never
and keep his life together, and
fi ght.
now here she is messing it up. I
Six weeks before April was
told him if he’s happy with her,
Jeanne
born, Adam began seeing a Phillips then fi ne, but I don’t want Jenny
girl we both knew from high
around my baby. We cannot
Advice
school. The girl, “Jenny,” and I
seem to come to an agreement
have a horrible past. She used
unless I fold. — Co-Parenting
to bully me.
On The East Coast
My problem with Jenny being around
Dear Co-Parenting: You are
is she’s disrespectful. She and Adam neither irrational nor crazy. I’m sorry
argue all the time because she forces your relationship with Adam didn’t
things that shouldn’t be a problem into work out as you had hoped it would.
becoming a problem. When I visit so However, if Adam marries Jenny, she
Adam can see April, Jenny often inter- will be April’s stepmother. It would be
jects her own opinions about my baby unrealistic for you to expect she leave
as if she knows better than I do.
the room when you bring the baby to
I recently found out that Adam is visit her daddy. In that case, it might
planning to marry Jenny. We have been be better if you accept the things you
fi ghting because I don’t want her around cannot change.
my daughter. Adam believes it’s not fair
Dear Abby: My fi ancé “Allan’s”
to push her out of the room when April great-grandfather recently passed
is around, and that Jenny should be a away. We lived with him, as did Allan’s
part of family events reserved for only mother and uncle. Allan was his full-
time caregiver.
My fi ancé’s mother is thinking
about buying the house and says we
should all pay rent to her. I have lived
here for six years and I’m comfortable
here. The one thing I’m wary about is,
if it becomes her house, that she’ll start
treating us like children.
Allan and I are in our late 20s. I’m
not comfortable walking on eggshells,
and I’m afraid she will make it clear
that we are living in HER house. In my
opinion, if people are paying rent, it
should feel like their home, too.
Am I being a brat? And once it
becomes her house, should I just lay all
my worries on the line to her? — Not A
Child In The West
Dear Not A Child: You are not
being a brat. You are an adult, and
an intelligent one. By all means lay
all your concerns on the table — the
sooner the better. That way, Allan’s
mother can either allay them, or you
and your fi ancé can make plans to fi nd
another place to live. If his mother
needs the income that would come
from having renters, she may be less
inclined to behave as you fear.
DAYS GONE BY
100 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Aug. 12-13, 1917
Col. J.H. Raley, who spent the day at
Meacham in huckleberry patches, came
across Tom Gurdane, former chief of
police who is now foreman for Smythe
Bros. out from Meacham. Gurdane told
him of the killing of three bear and of a
rattlesnake over four feet long all in one
week. The three bear were in one bunch
and were bagged at the same time. All
were full grown and the largest was
walking on his hind legs carrying off a
live sheep from the Smythe fl ocks. The
biggest bruin weighted over 400 pounds
and had tusks like a lion. One of these
tusks was brought back by Col. Raley.
50 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Aug. 12-13, 1967
Young at heart, F.S. Beddow of
Pendleton, who will be 92 Sunday, took
time from his gardening this week to
mount his favorite horse. Beddow came
to Umatilla County in 1904. Until 1912
he drilled wells. Then he homesteaded
near Hermiston. In 1926 he moved to
a 3,600-acre wheat ranch in the Cold
Springs area. He retired in 1945 and
moved to Pendleton. Beddow has been a
member of the Odd Fellows since 1907.
25 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Aug. 12-13, 1992
Buddhist custom blended with Chris-
tian icon at the Pilot Rock community
center Wednesday when a Japanese
family presented a memorial statue to
the Pilot Rock Presbyterian Church. The
stone fi gure, a traditional Buddhist Jizo,
is a gift from Katsumi and Kiiko Kusano
of Shiki City, Japan, whose 17-year-old
daughter Yayoi was killed in a car
accident near Pilot Rock in 1990. The
Kusanos also presented Pilot Rock High
School with a donation. Yayoi went to
school there while she was an exchange
student living with Charlotte and Gene
Cecil of Pilot Rock. School Superin-
tendent Darce Driskel said he hoped to
use the undisclosed amount of money to
enhance his students’ understanding of
Japanese culture.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Today is the 224th day of
2017. There are 141 days left
in the year.
Today’s Highlight in
History:
On August 12, 1867,
President Andrew Johnson
sparked a move to impeach
him as he defi ed Congress
by suspending Secretary
of War Edwin M. Stanton,
with whom he had clashed
over Reconstruction policies.
(Johnson was acquitted by
the Senate.)
On this date:
In 1898, fi ghting in the
Spanish-American War came
to an end.
In 1915, the novel “Of
Human
Bondage,”
by
William Somerset Maugham,
was fi rst published in the
United States, a day before it
was released in England.
In
1937,
President
Franklin D. Roosevelt nomi-
nated Hugo Black to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
In 1944, during World
War II, Joseph P. Kennedy
Jr., eldest son of Joseph and
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy,
was killed with his co-pilot
when their explosives-laden
Navy plane blew up over
England.
In 1953, the Soviet Union
conducted a secret test of its
fi rst hydrogen bomb.
In 1960, the fi rst balloon
communications satellite —
the Echo 1 — was launched
by the United States from
Cape Canaveral.
In 1977, the space shuttle
Enterprise passed its fi rst solo
fl ight test by taking off atop a
Boeing 747, separating, then
touching down in Califor-
nia’s Mojave Desert.
In 1981, IBM introduced
its fi rst personal computer,
the model 5150, at a press
conference in New York.
In 1985, the world’s
worst single-aircraft disaster
occurred as a crippled Japan
Airlines Boeing 747 on a
domestic fl ight crashed into a
mountain, killing 520 people.
(Four people survived.)
In 1992, after 14 months
of negotiations, the United
States, Mexico and Canada
announced in Washington
that they had concluded the
North American Free Trade
Agreement.
Avant-garde
composer John Cage died in
New York at age 79.
In 1994, Woodstock ‘94
opened in Saugerties, New
York.
Today’s
Birthdays:
Actor George Hamilton is
78. Actress Dana Ivey is 76.
Actress Jennifer Warren is
76. Rock singer-musician
Mark Knopfl er (Dire Straits)
is 68. Actor Jim Beaver is
BURNS
MORTUARY
of Hermiston
&
Hermiston
Crematory
685 W. Hermiston Ave.
Hermiston, Oregon
(541) 567-6474
www.burnsmortuaryhermiston.com
Home intruder
Accused burglar
cleans apartment, doesn’t fl ush, leaves
takes nothing
DNA for police
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP)
— A Virginia man returned
home from a trip and found
that his apartment had been
broken into — and cleaned.
Arlington County
Police say in a crime report
that shortly after 12 a.m.
Monday, a man returned to
his Arlington apartment after
a trip. He called police when
he noticed that his apartment
appeared to have been
cleaned and some items
had been moved around.
Nothing was missing.
WRC-TV reports the
man told police he doesn’t
employ a maid. Police
say the mystery cleaner
unlawfully entered the
apartment.
VENTURA, Calif. (AP)
— Investigators say a suspect
accused of burglarizing a
Southern California home
took a bathroom break and
left DNA evidence in the
toilet that led to his arrest.
Detective Tim Lohman of
the Ventura County Sheriff’s
Offi ce says the suspect did
not fl ush during the October
break-in in the city of
Thousand Oaks.
He says that allowed
investigators to collect
evidence to conduct a DNA
profi le.
That profi le matched
another DNA profi le in
a national database and
detectives tracked down the
suspect at his home.
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• Homes • Farms • Commercial • Build to Suit
For listings, visit
www.universalrealtyhermiston.com
Serving the world of Real Estate since 1964
541-567-0272
2150 N. First St., Hermiston
August 13th -18th
$1.00 OFF
Serving Families with
Care and Compassion
for 70 Years.
67. Singer Kid Creole is 67.
Jazz musician Pat Metheny
is 63. Actor Sam J. Jones is
63. Actor Bruce Greenwood
is 61. Country singer Danny
Shirley is 61. Pop musician
Roy Hay (Culture Club) is
56. Rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot is
54. Actor-comedian Michael
Ian Black is 46. Actress
Yvette Nicole Brown is 46.
Actor Casey Affl eck is 42.
Thought for Today:
“Wisdom is born, stupidity is
learned.” — Russian proverb.
ODDS & ENDS
CAROLLEEN
LOVELL
Certified Public
Accountant, LLC
• Super Fibration Smoothie
• Lean & Green Juice
Chocolate Vegan Soft Serve!
universalrealty@eotnet.net
985 N. First St., Hermiston, OR 97838
Commercial Land
for Sale!
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Noelle Clothing & Accessories
2.74 ac. Zoned Retail Sales Commercial.
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Carolleen Lovell, CPA
(541) 567-1780
Fax: (541) 567-0523
www.CarolleenLovell.com
635 S.E. 4th St.
P.O. Box 747
Hermiston, OR 97838
300 ft. of highway frontage on U.S. Hwy. 395
3 miles from downtown Hermiston.
Includes drilled well, pump house,
septic, power and other amenities
Call Carl Holt to inquire:
541-567-8249