COFFEE BREAK
Saturday, January 26, 2019
East Oregonian
C5
OUT OF THE VAULT
Dam break demolishes town of Rock Creek
By RENEE STRUTHERS
East Oregonian
A dam break 22 miles west of
Baker City in June of 1917 demol-
ished the town of Rock Creek. No one
was killed, but damage to buildings
and livestock and crop losses ran into
the thousands of dollars. The town
never recovered.
The first inkling the residents of
the tiny burg of Rock Creek, in north-
east Oregon, had of impending dan-
ger on June 27, 1917, was a wall of
onrushing water barreling toward
town at 8:45 a.m. Trees 75 feet long
were tossed end over end as the flood
carried tons of debris down the can-
yon toward the lowlands.
Rock Creek citizens saw the water
coming and moved to higher ground
but the town itself was flattened, los-
ing the pool hall, church, hotel, store,
blacksmith shop and lodge hall as well
as many smaller buildings. As the can-
yon widened and leveled out, the flood
slowed and little damage resulted in
the lowlands near Haines, but debris
and animal carcasses were deposited
up to three miles downstream.
By 2 p.m. officials investigating
the cause of the flood determined that
the Killimacue Lake dam had bro-
ken in the mountainous region west
of Baker. The exit of the lake was
dammed in 1917 to facilitate addi-
tional irrigation storage for local
farmers, and the lake was full to the
top of the dam. A strong western wind
blew up the day of the disaster, whip-
ping up waves and crowding the water
over the dam until it breached, releas-
ing 12 million gallons of water on the
unsuspecting valley below. When the
dam was inspected, it was found a
section of the dam 40 feet wide and
10 feet deep had broken.
Some residents speculated that the
dam had been blown up. A laborer
named Gray was arrested by officials
of the company owning the dam, but he
provided a solid alibi and was released.
The damage inflicted on the
once-bustling town of Rock Creek,
the decline of the mining industry in
the area and the advent of the auto-
mobile meant the residents had lit-
tle incentive to rebuild. A township
remains just outside of Haines, but no
incorporated town exists.
ODDS & ENDS
Man says emotional support alligator helps depression
YORK HAVEN, Pa. (AP) — A
Pennsylvania man says his emotional
support alligator helps him deal with
his depression.
Joie Henney, 65, said his regis-
tered emotional support animal named
Wally likes to snuggle and give hugs,
despite being a 5-foot-long alligator.
The York Haven man said he received
approval from his doctor to use Wally
as his emotional support animal after
not wanting to go on medication for
depression, he told Philly.com.
“I had Wally, and when I came home
and was around him, it was all OK,”
he said. “My doctor knew about Wally
and figured it works, so why not?”
Wally was rescued from outside
Orlando at 14 months old and is still
growing; Henney said Wally could
be 16 feet long one day. Henney says
Wally eats chicken wings and shares
an indoor plastic pond with a smaller
rescue alligator named Scrappy.
Wally, who turns 4 this year, is a
big teddy bear, in Henney’s words.
The cold-blooded reptile likes to rest
his snout on Henney’s, and “he likes to
give hugs,” he said.
The alligator has never bitten any-
one and is even afraid of cats, accord-
ing to Henney.
York Daily Record via AP/Ty Lohr
Joie Henney lifts his emotional support animal, Wally, up on a table on Jan. 14,
2019, to give a presentation at the SpiriTrust Lutheran Village in York, Pa.
Henney acknowledged that Wally is
still a dangerous wild animal and could
probably tear his arm off, but says he’s
never been afraid of him.
Henney’s background also indicates
a comfort with creatures like Wally. He
hosted a show called “Joie Henney’s
Outdoors” on ESPN Outdoors from
1989 to 2000, according to the York
Daily Record.
Henney frequently takes Wally
out for meet-and-greets at places like
senior centers and minor-league base-
ball games.
“He’s just like a dog,” Henney told
a woman at a recent outing to a senior
center. “He wants to be loved and
petted.”
DEAR ABBY
Sibling sees signs of abuser in teen who hits her
Dear Abby: When I read
a friend photograph them.
the column about the warn-
The counselor can inform the
ing signs of an abuser in your
proper authorities so he gets
archives, I was scared to real-
the help he apparently needs.
ize that my older brother is
Dear Abby: There is a
one. He has most of the quali-
woman in our group who
ties you pointed out except for
complains constantly about
the sex stuff.
her weight and keeps asking
He just turned 14, and he
for our reassurance that she’s
has just started dating. That
not overweight. She’s actu-
J eanne
P hilliPs
ally an appropriate size for
got me thinking. If one day
ADVICE
her height and maybe even a
he moves in with someone or
little too thin, but she thinks
gets married, how am I going
she is fat.
to warn the girl to watch
The rest of us are somewhat over-
out? I’m being hit, and I have things
weight and struggle trying to lose, so
thrown at me all the time, and I don’t
you can imagine how we feel when
want anyone else to experience that.
she goes on about this. She doesn’t
My parents have tried to get him pro-
fessional help, but it hasn’t worked.
hang around with women her size,
Please help. — Bruised Sister in San
and she’s competitive and insecure in
Francisco
many ways. We all care for her a lot
Dear Sister: I’m glad you wrote.
because, other than this, she’s a caring
You should not have to tolerate being
and supportive friend. She reads your
your brother’s punching bag, and
column, so I’m hoping she’ll read this
your parents should not allow you to
and realize how much it bothers us. —
be abused. Because your parents are
Chubby Friend in the South
unable to control him and get him the
Dear Chubby: Dream on! Very
help he clearly needs to control his
few people see a letter in my col-
umn and realize it is aimed at them.
emotions, tell a counselor at school
Because your friend’s constant need
about the violence you are experienc-
ing. Because he has left bruises, have
for reassurance makes the rest of you
uncomfortable, the person closest
to her needs to tell her the subject of
weight is now off-limits and why.
The woman may suffer from body
dysmorphia, a condition in which the
sufferer doesn’t perceive her body as it
actually is. People with body dysmor-
phia will see a fat person reflected in
the mirror even if they are anorexic.
It should also be suggested that the
person with whom to discuss her con-
cerns about being too heavy is her
doctor.
Dear Abby: I faked a secret
admirer. It’s getting me a lot of atten-
tion, but I did it because I wanted to
make my crush jealous. He thinks I’m
faking, and I’m pretty sure he also
thinks I’m needy and selfish. Now I
don’t know what to do. Can you help?
— Secretly Lying in Texas
Dear Secretly Lying: I’ll try. When
a technique doesn’t work, it’s time to
change course. Quit talking about a
secret admirer. If you are asked about
him, just say, “It’s over” — which is
less embarrassing than “The jig is up.”
Why your crush would call you self-
ish, I can’t guess. But if he asks you
what happened, my advice is to say, “I
like you better.” That’s the truth.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
On Jan. 26, 1998, Presi-
dent Bill Clinton forcefully
denied having an affair
with a former White House
intern, telling reporters, “I
did not have sexual rela-
tions with that woman,
Miss Lewinsky.”
In 1784, in a letter to his
daughter Sarah, Benjamin
Franklin expressed unhap-
piness over the choice of
the bald eagle as the sym-
bol of America, and stated
his own preference: the
turkey.
In 1788, the first Euro-
pean settlers in Australia,
led by Capt. Arthur Phil-
lip, landed in present-day
Sydney.
In
1837,
Michigan
became the 26th state.
In
1870,
Virginia
rejoined the Union.
In 1939, principal pho-
tography began for David
O. Selznick’s movie version
of “Gone with the Wind.”
In 1942, the first Amer-
ican Expeditionary Force
to head to Europe during
World War II arrived in
Belfast, Northern Ireland.
In 1962, the United
States launched Ranger 3
to land scientific instru-
ments on the moon — but
the probe ended up miss-
ing its target by more than
22,000 miles.
In 1988, Australians
celebrated the 200th anni-
versary of their country as
a grand parade of tall ships
re-enacted the voyage of
the first European settlers.
The Andrew Lloyd Webber
musical “Phantom of the
Opera” opened at Broad-
way’s Majestic Theater.
In 1992, Democratic
presidential candidate Bill
Clinton, appearing with his
wife, Hillary, on CBS’ “60
Minutes,” acknowledged
“causing pain in my mar-
riage,” but said past prob-
lems were not relevant to
the campaign.
In 1993, Vaclav Havel
was elected president of
the newly formed Czech
Republic.
In 2003, Secretary of
State Colin Powell, citing
Iraq’s lack of cooperation
with U.N. inspectors, said
he’d lost faith in the inspec-
tors’ ability to conduct a
definitive search for banned
weapons programs.
In 2005, A U.S. Marine
helicopter crashed in west-
ern Iraq, killing 30 Marines
and a Navy medic aboard.
A man parked his SUV on
railroad tracks in Glen-
dale, California, setting off
a crash of two commuter
trains that killed 11 people.
(The SUV’s driver, Juan
Alvarez, was convicted of
murder and sentenced to 11
consecutive life terms.)
Thought for Today:
“My experience of the
world is that things left to
themselves don’t get right.”
— T.H. Huxley, English
biologist
and
author
(1825-1895).
(509) 783-2416
DAYS GONE BY
100 Years Ago
From the East
Oregonian
Jan. 26-27, 1919
One of the freaks of the
recent fire at The Peoples
Warehouse is that some of
the canned goods boiled
from the heat. Much of the
stock shows evidence of
having cooked. Macaroni,
first treated to a shower of
water from the fire hose
and then warmed by the
fire, is in a partially cooked
condition, say those who
are working in the base-
ment of the store.
50 Years Ago
From the East
Oregonian
Jan. 26-27, 1969
A man from Blackfoot,
Idaho, was killed Sunday
when he was caught in a
snow storm while flying a
light plane. He crashed in
a wheat field near Hold-
man. Officials say James
Lawrence Lambert, 45,
was killed on impact.
His plane crashed about
one mile south of Lee
Weidert’s home on High-
way 395 at Holdman,
about 15 miles northwest Serving Families
of Pendleton. Lambert
with Care and
radioed the Pendleton Air-
Compassion
port control tower shortly
before he crashed, about for Over 70 Years.
2:29 p.m., that he was in
trouble in a storm. An air
and ground search was
immediately begun. Joe
Ferrucci, piloting a plane
belonging to James Shoun,
Round-Up Crop Dusters,
discovered the wreckage
about 4:45 p.m.
BURNS
MORTUARY
25 Years Ago
From the East
Oregonian
Jan. 26-27, 1994
The unfamiliar sound
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of metal blades clash-
ing in competition has
been echoing through the
gym at McCrae Center at
Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College. The age-
old sport of fencing has
been reintroduced into
the physical education
program at Blue Moun-
tain this year after a
short absence. Fencing
was bumped out of the
physical education pro-
gram a couple of years
ago at Blue Mountain,
but instructor Cindy Har-
nly has rekindled inter-
est and now teaches a
class of 10. Despite all of
the scraping metal, all of
the lunging and retreat-
ing, fencing is a very safe
sport. Harnly said that in
heated competition when
competitors are very
close they can sometimes
break a foil, but she hasn’t
seen anyone taken off on
a stretcher yet. “I have
never seen anyone hurt
more than a leg strain,”
she said.
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(541) 567-1780
Fax: (541) 567-0523
www.CarolleenLovell.com
635 S.E. 4th St.
P.O. Box 747
Hermiston, OR 97838