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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2020)
February 7, 2020 T he C olumbia P ress 6 Letters to the Editor Obituary J aCk F enton Salem Warrenton native Jack J. Fenton died at home in Salem, his family at his side, on Jan. 20. He was 85. Fenton was born at St. Mary’s Hospital in Astoria, the second child of Ames and Lulu Fenton. He attended Warren- ton schools and graduated from Warrenton High School in 1954. He played baseball, football and basketball in high school and excelled in baseball as a left-handed pitcher. The all- star threw a no-hitter and pitched in the state playoffs. He was drafted into the Army and went through ba- sic training at Fort Ord, Ca- lif. Later, he was stationed at Fort Lawton, Wash., where he served in the Nike guid- ed-missile program. He also pitched for the Fort Lawton Army baseball team. After his discharge, Fenton enrolled at Pacific University in Forest Grove, where he met his future wife, Louise Hill. They married in 1958 and had two children, Jeffery and Jennifer. The family moved to Eureka, Calif., where Jack worked for the American Ply- wood Association. Later, he took a sales position with the Borden Chemical Co. and the family moved to Dallas, Ore., where he remained until his retirement. Fenton was an avid golfer and loved to travel, spending time at their beach house in Lincoln City and wintering in Kona, Hawaii. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Louise of Salem; a son, Jeffery of Santa Rosa, Calif.; a daughter, Jennifer Fenton of Portland; a broth- er, Allen of Arch Cape; a sis- ter, Neva Jo Suhadolnik of Seaside; a grandson, Jay of Portland; and a granddaugh- ter, Anne of New Orleans. A celebration of life service is set for 2 to 5 p.m. March 7 at Illahe Hills Country Club, 3376 Country Club Drive S., Salem. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests dona- tions to the Salvation Army; the Salem Free Clinics, 1300 Broadway St. N.E. Ste. 104, Salem 97301; or Helping Hands of Salem, 1755 13th St. S.E., Salem 97302. Remembering Gordon Wahlman A community such as ours, which I have grown up and old in, has a lot of unique people. Some are referred to as “pil- lars of the community,” some I refer to as “characters of the community” -- those people go deep in my past and in- clude Slick Hartley, George Riley, Del Body, Jiggs John- son, and, of course, Clarence Kelson. But we recently lost another great one, Gordon Wahlman, known to most who knew him as “Gordo.” Anybody who didn’t know Gordo re- ally missed out on one of the treats of a lifetime. Gordo loved to regale peo- ple with stories about all he’d seen and worked on in his lifetime; how the train ran right in front of his house in Seaside when he was a young boy (and how you have to fig- ure out how to get back when you jump on for a ride); the cow path on the other side of the tracks that is now High- way 101 in front of Safeway; his love affair at an early age with an Indian, a Harley, and, later, a BMW motorcycle; how it was to work up in the woods in the old days; how a Free Obituaries The Columbia Press pub- lishes free obituaries of com- munity members who pass away. These free obituaries are 7 to 12 inches long and include a photo. We’ll do the writing for you. Those who want to write their own obituaries to hon- or a loved one may do so. These are $7.50 per column inch and can include a pho- to. Please call us at 503- 861-3331or send an email to office@thecolumbiapress. com. brand new day-old Caterpil- lar is under one of the run- ways out at the airport (the boss didn’t think it could get stuck until it did and pro- ceeded to sink out of sight -- “Need another Cat”); and many more. And he would often say something to you in Finnish, I believe, in refer- ence to his heritage. Gordo always would come by and ask, “What’s up Ricky?” And then we’d dis- cuss all the things going on in town, who’s doing what, or what he was tinkering on in the shop that his business cards said was “Fiddle Fart Construction.” He’d always close by say- ing, “Well, I better go. I love you. Tell Patty too.” You know how uncomfort- able it is for guys to hear or tell each other they love each other; I’m not very good at it, and just said thanks instead of what I should have said. So, Gordo, I’m very sad to say goodbye, and “I love you.” You brought great joy to mine and many others’ lives. Rick Newton Warrenton Ensign Lane woes expected I do not know anything about traffic management. However, I am familiar with the problems at the Ensign Lane exit of Tsunami Plaza directly adjacent to Wendy’s and opposite the southside exit from Home Depot. It seems to me a new exit behind Dollar Tree on the southwest corner emptying onto Dolphin Avenue would offer a new exit for access to Highway 104 going north if you turn right and go toward Warrenton by exiting left onto alternate Highway 104. If Oregon Department of Transportation would grant access from Tsunami Plaza on the east side it would al- low access to join the merge lane on Highway 101, which would be an option in place of Dolphin for anyone want- ing to travel south without exiting next to Wendy’s. I do not know if eminent domain would be required for this potential new exit. However, solving the traffic problem should have pref- erence over any particular property owner’s desire. A second option would be to add a stop sign on the Tsu- nami Plaza west entrance at Ensign Lane, which would provide normal right-of-way access to allow people to get out of the Plaza when traffic is heavy at the Ensign Lane exit. There also would need to be a stop sign placed on the south exit of Home Depot to allow people to turn onto En- sign Lane from Home Depot. There is a four-way stop sign at North Main and High- way 104 going toward Ham- mond in downtown War- renton which works fine for normal traffic flow and is a reasonable possibility for the exit next to Wendy’s and the Home Depot south exits. I do not know the contract specifications for the techni- cal experts who stated there would be no traffic issues at this corner. However, I think it’s poor contracting to not require a performance bond to protect against bad advice from people who were paid to know what they were recom- mending. For the city to have to use taxpayer funds to correct this problem, as was mentioned in the Columbia Press story, is poor planning by whom- ever was responsible for pro- cessing the application that created the problem. Scott Widdicombe Warrenton