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.