The Columbia press., June 05, 2020, Page 8, Image 8

June 5, 2020
T he C olumbia P ress
Senior
History in the Making
Moments
A look at Warrenton’s top stories from
The Columbia Press annals
with Emma Edwards
Please tell me what day it is
I’m thankful my pill dis-
penser tells me what day of
the week it is. I’ve heard there
is a clock with no numbers,
just days of the week. Maybe
that would be good for me.
Does it seem like every day
is Saturday? I hope I’m not
the only one!
I used to be able to tell what
day it was by what was going
on.
Mondays and Thursdays
were senior lunch days. Tues-
day was do-my-column and
Pinochle day. Wednesdays I
tried to reserve for the doctor,
dentist or blood work as well
as laundry day. Friday was my
day off and shopping.
Saturday was clean-the-
house day. Sunday was the
day I’d go to church with fam-
ily and out to dinner.
In the old days, we used to
polish all the shoes on Satur-
days.
In our olden days, the clo-
sures of restaurants wouldn’t
have mattered much. Many
seniors of my vintage seldom
ate at restaurants and then
only on special occasions.
We didn’t take our six kids
to restaurants very often, ei-
ther. However, when we lived
in Red Bluff, Calif., we were
friendly with a retired military
captain and his wife, Melvin
and Lulu Wells. They took all
eight of us to an all-you-can-
eat buffet after church once in
a while. I can still picture all
the kids jumping for joy over
such a treat.
Where I grew up in Michi-
gan, Memorial Day (we used to
call it Decoration Day) marked
the beginning of summer and
the freedom to wear white
shoes and white trousers.
Maybe that’s why white seems
special to me even today.
Now all we have to worry
about is whether our mask
matches our outfit.
With the limitations on
beauty salons, we’re seeing a
lot more of that beautiful sil-
ver hair among our friends.
I heard a good remark about
gray hair the other day from
friend Diane Donnellan. I al-
ways liked to call gray hair sil-
ver as it sounds more elegant.
Diane says she likes to think
of gray hair as wisdom high-
lights. I like that even better.
And now we are thrust into
June. The old adage, time
doesn’t stand still, is so true.
Who’d have thought we’d be
in such a “stand still” time? As
an escape, we can make lem-
onade out of lemons, which
brings a response of “wow”
from many.
The “wow” response is of
Scottish derivation and be-
gan in the 1510s as a natural
expression of amazement, ac-
cording to the online Etymol-
ogy Dictionary.
It was brought to our coun-
try about 1924 and became ex-
tremely popular in the 1960s.
Special columns in The Columbia Press
Every week: Senior Moments with Emma Edwards
Week 1: History in the Making
Week 2: Financial Focus with Adam Miller
Week 3: Off the Shelf by Kelly Knudsen
Final week: Mayor’s Message by Henry Balensifer
9
City budgets are always hard to balance
t en years ago , J une 2010
• City commissioners approve a
$34 million budget for fiscal year
2010-11 and reject a 20 percent
water and sewer rate increase.
“That would just get us to break
even,” City Manager Bob Max-
field said. Mayor Gil Gramson
rejected that argument, saying
“There’s a lot of building going
on that should raise revenue.”
• Local business owner Pat
O’Grady pleads with the com-
mission to ensure there is always
a backup police officer on duty.
“We have only one officer per
shift and they’re working 10- to
12-hour days,” he said. “There is
no backup when an officer goes
out on a call. It’s dangerous.”
24 years ago , J une 1996
• City Manager Gil Gramson rec-
ommends making City Planner
Janet Wright’s position part time
so the city won’t have to dip into
its contingency fund to balance
the budget. The commission did
not accept the proposal.
• The Deep Sea Fishermen’s
Benefit Fund will take over the
annual Fourth of July parade
from Warrenton-Hammond Ki-
wanis Club, which had organized
the event for several years.
• Warrenton’s city employees
have chosen to unionize. They
voted to join the American
Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees.