4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL August 12, 2015
O PINION
Disaster or no, it's high time
we got neighborly
BY JON STINNETT
Sentinel Editor
A
ll this talk of disaster preparedness has
me considering a new initiative, and it
might be something others want to look into as
well.
On Saturday, July 4, a
small earthquake that re-
portedly originated near
Walterville shook many
locals awake to begin
their Independence Day.
The next week, a har-
rowing account of the
massive earthquake that
should one day rock the Pacifi c Northwest ap-
peared in the “New Yorker” magazine, and sud-
denly talk of disaster preparedness dominated
the local discussion.
In speaking with representatives of the De-
partment of Geology and Mineral Industries, I
noticed my own personal lack of preparedness
in the event of a quake or other natural disaster.
The suggestion of a two-week stockpile of sup-
plies to have on hand in case of emergencies
brought on the realization that, at present, my
family has precious little in the way of resourc-
es to weather any storm until help may arrive.
This Saturday, the City of Cottage Grove is
hosting its fi rst Emergency Preparedness Fair
from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the helipad at Peace-
Health Community Medical Center, located at
1515 Village Drive. In addition to the informa-
tion necessary to begin preparing for emergen-
cies, the event also aims to introduce and famil-
iarize the community with the fi rst responders
and other agencies that will work toward the
safety and well being of residents in the after-
math of any disaster. I’m looking forward to
learning how to be more prepared, and I hope
others are as well.
But the possibility of impending calamities
brought on another realization. In speaking with
Cottage Grove City Planner Amanda Ferguson,
it came to my attention that the people who live
around us may have the opportunity to be just
as helpful in an emergency as the fi rst respond-
ers we typically associate with our safety.
“This will test us as a community — how we
work together,” Ferguson said. “I think small
towns will fare much better than larger cities
because a lot of us know our neighbors here and
can speak to those who are actually doing the
work.”
This statement in particular struck me, as I re-
alized a sobering fact — I don’t really know my
neighbors. My small family has moved around
Cottage Grove quite a bit in our time here, and
with a couple exceptions, we’ve never really
gotten close to those who lived closest to us.
Perhaps we’re just busy people, and we in-
deed fi nd ourselves hustling from work to play
and back with little time to spare, especially
this time of year. Maybe we’re spending too
much time inside and not venturing out to con-
nect with those around us. And we’re likely not
the only ones.
But it seems to me that we could be failing to
make these connections at our own peril. There
are many reasons to get to know those around
us, not the least of them being the fact that, sim-
ply due to their proximity, our neighbors can
be of profound assistance in dark times — and
vice versa, of course. Absent a disaster, there is
still a wealth of possibility involved in getting
to know those around us, not the least of which
could be the simple satisfaction of saying a sin-
cere hello in the morning or loaning out that cup
of sugar to make a favorite recipe possible.
And so I’m vowing to reach out, to offer that
fi rst hello to my closest neighbors and see what
may or may not come of the effort. It’s past time
to do it, I know, but there’s also no time like the
present, and who knows what wonders we may
discover.
Offbeat Oregon History
The wreck of the USS
Shark: Navy’s loss was
Cannon Beach’s gain
BY FINN J.D. JOHN
For the Sentinel
O
n Aug. 23, 1846, the doomed
American warship USS Shark
pulled away from Fort Vancouver for
its fateful voyage down the Columbia
and thence — so her captain thought
— out to sea and back toward home.
The Shark’s captain, Lt. Neil M.
Howison, was already behind schedule,
and with each passing day he got more
anxious to get out to sea before the rest
of his crew melted away into the sur-
rounding communities. He’d already
lost at least six, possibly more. And the
Shark was a Baltimore Clipper rigged
as a topsail schooner — a seagoing hot
rod of the fi rst order; she required a lot
of men to handle her. It wouldn’t take
many more defections before they were
all stuck here, half a world away from
home.
But fate seemed just as determined
to delay the ship as her captain was to
speed her along. First, when Howison
was getting ready to depart, he learned
that a commercial barque, the Toulon,
had hired the only river guide available.
To have the services of a local in get-
ting their ship safely out to sea, they’d
have to wait, possibly weeks, for the
Toulon.
Howison determined that he was not
going to wait for the Toulon. When he
embarked, it was without the benefi t
of a river pilot. But a few miles down-
stream, he found himself waiting for
the Toulon after all. Her newly hired
river pilot had guided her straight onto
a gravel bar.
Naturally, Howison couldn’t just
sail blithely past — although he surely
must have wished he could. And so
the Shark’s departure was delayed yet
again, by three days, while her crew
toiled with the Toulon’s to get her into
deep water again.
Then, at last, the little warship was
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Garland Burback, Ward 3:
942-4800
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Lane County Commissioners:
Cottage Grove City
Councilors:
Mike Fleck, At Large:
942-7302
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3444
Faye Stewart, East Lane Com-
missioner
Lane County Public Service
Building
125 East 8th Street
Eugene, OR 97401
Phone: (541) 682-4203
Fax: (541) 682-4616
Oregon State House of
Representatives:
Jake Boone, Ward 1:
653-7413
Jeff Gowing, Ward 2:
942-1900
Rep. Cedric Hayden (REP)
District: 7
900 Court Street NE
Suite H-379
on her way.
But now it was the weather’s turn to
be the agent of delay. A stiff headwind
forced the little ship to tack relentless-
ly back and forth for days, gradually
working her way down to the mouth of
the river.
When she fi nally arrived at the
mouth of the river, Howison spent a
day reconnoitering before choosing to
cross the bar at the start of the ebb the
following afternoon. But, not having a
pilot on board (or even a decent map
of the channel), Howison didn’t realize
what a serious mistake that was.
So out onto the bar the little ship ven-
tured, just as fast as she could sail.
Actually, she was moving quite a bit
faster than she could sail. The current
during the ebb tide can be an amazing
force on the Columbia bar, with all the
tidewater of the lower Columbia fl ow-
ing out to sea. When conditions are
right, it can top nine miles per hour.
And it doesn’t always follow the deep-
est part of the channel.
And so, on the afternoon of Sept.
10, Howison and his crew found them-
selves racing past the northern shores
of Oregon — riding a current carrying
them straight toward Clatsop Spit.
Belatedly realizing his predica-
ment, Howison hastily tacked across
the headwind and tried to make for the
northwest. It was no use. The pressure
on the ship’s keel from the current was
too great for the sails to overcome. The
ship continued slipping out toward the
breakers that lined the south side of the
channel.
In desperation Howison ordered the
anchor dropped. Again, though, the
force of an eight-knot current pushing
a 200-ton ship with its keel spread out
like an underwater sail was simply too
much. The anchor line snapped “like a
packthread” (Howison’s words), and
then there was little to do but brace for
impact.
When that impact came, it was de-
fi nitive. The vessel stuck fast, and im-
mediately the mammoth boarding seas
“began to break over her broadside,”
Howison recounted (after he was safely
back on shore, of course), “and told us
too plainly that she should fl oat over its
surface no more.”
Giving up the ship for doomed, the
crew then turned its efforts to getting
on shore before the relentless seas
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: (503) 986-1407
Fax: (503) 986-1130
Email: rep.cedrichayden@state.
or.us
Oregon State Senate:
Sen. Floyd Prozanski (DEM)
District: 004
900 Court Street NE
Suite S-319
Salem, OR 97301-0001
Phone: (503) 986-1704
Fax: (503) 986-1080
Email: sen.fl oydprozanski@
state.or.us
could reduce the little warship to its
constituent timbers. The fi rst thing they
did was launch the ship’s gig, with sev-
eral crewmembers along with $4,000 in
gold. But as they lowered it, the rock-
ing ship and pounding seas carried the
ship’s remaining anchor around from
where it hung beneath the bows and
smashed the little gig just as it hit the
water.
With the help of some heroic work
by other crewmembers, all the oc-
cupants of the gig were hauled back
aboard the ship. The box full of gold,
however, was gone, along with all the
ship’s papers.
Captain and crew alike took the hint.
They weren’t getting off the ship yet.
But the ebbing tide suggested another
possibility: Could they but hold out for
a few hours, the tide would fi nish going
out, and they might be able to make for
shore.
So the crew of the Shark settled in as
best they could, hanging on tightly as
walls of green-and-white water roared
down on them again and again.
And a few hours later, sure enough,
Please see OFFBEAT, Page 5A
Indoor tanning—more dangerous than sunbathing
BY JOEL FUHRMAN, MD
For the Sentinel
M
elanoma incidence has
climbed steeply in the
U.S., doubling between 1982
and 2011. The rise in melanoma
is projected to continue.
One con-
tributor to
these ris-
ing rates of
melanoma
is the use
of tanning
beds and
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
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other indoor tanning devices by
young people, especially young
women. Young women use in-
door tanning most frequently,
especially those in their late
teens and twenties.
About 20 percent of female
high school students and young
women 18-25 engage in indoor
tanning. Indoor tanning in young
people is especially alarming,
since indoor tanning before the
age of 30 increases melanoma
risk by 75 percent. Melanoma is
the type of skin cancer respon-
sible for the most deaths . In
2009, the International Agency
for Research on Cancer of the
World Health Organization
classifi ed UV tanning devices
as carcinogenic to humans.
In an analysis of 31 studies,
using indoor tanning at least
once was associated with a 16
percent increase in melanoma
risk, and more than 10 sessions
with a 22 percent increase in
risk. Indoor tanning is also as-
sociated with elevated risk of
other skin cancers—squamous
cell carcinoma (67 percent)
and basal cell carcinoma (29
percent). Tanning devices also
increase the risk of ocular (eye)
melanoma.
It is important to understand
that ultraviolet radiation can
promote cancer even if sunburn
does not occur. Even among
people who have never had
sunburn, those who use indoor
tanning are much more likely to
be diagnosed with melanoma.7
Though commonly associated
with a “healthy glow,” it is im-
portant to keep in mind that tan-
ning of the skin is not healthy;
in fact, tanning occurs after skin
damage has already occurred,
as the body’s attempt to prevent
sunburn with further sun expo-
sure. Tanning is the body’s re-
sponse to DNA damage in skin
cells from UV exposure, DNA
damage which is also a trigger
for skin cancer development.
Compared to sunbathing, UV
radiation from indoor tanning is
more intense. Tanning devices
emit both UVA and UVB radia-
tion, but primarily UVA; both
types contribute to skin cancer.
Tanning devices my emit UVA
doses 10-15 times higher than
the UVA emitted by midday
sunlight, giving indoor tanning
the potential to be much more
risky than sunbathing.
Giving up indoor tanning is
diffi cult for many people who
tan frequently, possibly be-
cause they have developed a
dependence. UV-induced DNA
damage, in addition to causing
tanning, also increases the ex-
pression of beta-endorphin, a
substance which has a positive
effect on mood, leading to rein-
forcing effects of indoor tanning
device use. One small study
giving opiate-receptor blocking
drug to frequent tanners report-
ed they experienced withdrawal
symptoms, implying addiction-
like effects.
Using sun protection when
you spend time outdoors and
avoiding indoor tanning de-
vices are the primary means of
preventing melanoma and other
skin cancers. Also remember
that carotenoid-rich foods, such
as leafy greens, orange vegeta-
bles and tomatoes help the skin
to combat the DNA damage
from UV light.
Dr. Fuhrman is a #1 New
York Times best-selling author
and a family physician special-
izing in lifestyle and nutritional
medicine. His newest book, The
End of Dieting, debunks the
fake “science” of popular fad
diets and offers an alternative to
dieting that leads to permanent
weight loss and excellent health.
Visit his informative website at
DrFuhrman.com. Submit your
questions and comments about
this column directly to news-
questions@drfuhrman.com. The
full reference list for this article
can be found at DrFuhrman.
com.
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