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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2020)
The Columbia Press November 13, 2020 County works on emergency plans Clatsop County’s Emergen- cy Management Department has organized a team of local public safety agencies to de- velop a countywide emergen- cy communications system. The group will be working with ADCOMM Engineering, a Rhododendron-based pub- lic safety communications engineering and consulting company. Hospitals, school district and colleges, as well as local businesses also will partici- pate. Over the next few months, the team will take into ac- count all faces of the public safety communication sys- tem such as infrastructure, ownership, user needs, op- portunities for improvement and emergency communica- tions, County Manager Don Bohn wrote in his weekly re- port. Anonymous phone tips to be replaced online Crime Stoppers of Oregon stopped accepting anony- mous tips by phone begin- ning this month. The change still will allow secure and anonymous two-way com- munication with tipsters. Anyone wishing to submit a tip on any unsolved felony crime should visit crimestop- persororegon.com or visit the App Store and download P3 Tips for your smart phone or tablet. Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards up to $2,500 for in- formation leading to an ar- rest in any unsolved felony crime and tipsters can re- main anonymous. The nonprofit group is fund- ed by community donations, which can be made online by visiting the group’s website. 3 50 years ago, it seemed like a good idea to blow up that whale Fifty years ago Thursday, one of the state’s most infa- mous blunders occurred: the Florence Whale Explosion. Described by KATU-TV re- porter Paul Linnman as “a stinking whale of a problem” on the coast, the state decid- ed the easiest way to rid the beach of a decaying strand- ed sperm whale would be to blow it up. The idea was that the ocean and scaven- ger birds and other creatures would clean up the pieces. Linnman and cameraman Doug Brazil – and thou- sands of other spectators – lined watched as the Oregon State Highway Department brought in boxes of explo- sives and put them inside the beached whale. Brazil captured it on film from about a quarter-mile away and, decades later, his film has gone viral on the internet with an estimated 350 million views. The ex- plosion blasted blubber sky- ward, where it rained down on spectators, vehicles and roads. Linnman eventually wrote a book about it, “The Ex- Photos courtesy Oregon Historical Society Above: Explosives sent whale blubber onto specta- tors, cars and roads. Top left: A man examines a large piece of blubber that landed on a car. Left: A couple prepares to watch the state get ride of the decaying stranded sperm whale. ploding Whale and Other Remarkable Stories from the Evening News.” The Oregon Historical So- ciety decided to commemo- rate one of the state’s more bizarre moments by present- ing a live virtual conversa- tion with Linnman, Brazil and society Executive Direc- tor Kerry Tymchuk. The in- terview first was shown at 7 8 residents get help with home repairs The U.S. Department of Ag- riculture’s Rural Develop- ment program is investing $250,000 to support home re- pair programs for low-income residents and seniors in eight rural Oregon counties, includ- ing Clatsop. “Many families struggle to afford necessary but costly re- pairs to their homes, especially low-income households and seniors with fixed incomes,” state Director John Huffman. “These grants will give families peace of mind and help them to safely remain in their rural communities and homes.” Clatsop Community Action Team will help eight low-in- come residents complete crit- ical home repairs through a $50,000 grant. The grants will be used to replace sanitary wa- ter and waste disposal systems, update plumbing and heating systems and make accessibility improvements to the homes. USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to expand economic opportuni- ties and create jobs in rural areas. The assistance supports infrastructure improvements, business development, hous- ing, high-speed internet access and community facilities such as schools, public safety, and healthcare. To learn more or to sign up for the next round of sin- gle-family housing repairs loans and grants, go online to rd.usda.gov/or. p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12., and should be available short- ly after that on the society’s website. Linnman’s book also can be purchased online from the museum store. KATU donated the original 16 millimeter footage to the Oregon Historical Society in the late 1980s. The footage has been transferred over the years to various video for- mats and most recently has been scanned at 4K resolu- tion, about 4,000 pixels per inch. The society’s blog, Dear Or- egon, includes some of the newly digitized footage of the explosion.
