The Columbia Press
Clatsop County’s Independent Weekly
www.thecolumbiapress.com
March 19, 2021
1
50 ¢
Vol. 5, Issue 12
Dim the lights, Adelmann
family is leaving town
Oregon State Parks
Visitors watch for gray whales off the coast at Cape Lookout near Tillamook.
Speaking of whale watching
The Columbia Press
Sorry, whale watching will not be
spoken here. Not this year.
The spring whale migration kicks
off each year in late March and can
last into June, yet the migration
of the coronavirus has yet to be
stopped.
So this year’s weeklong spring
break celebration – complete with
volunteers at key sites and signs
declaring “Whale Watching Spoken
Here” – is on hold for another year.
The Whale Watch Center in Depoe
Bay will stay closed too.
That doesn’t mean visitors can’t
enjoy the spring tradition on their
own.
“We urge visitors to explore parks
close to their homes and to respect
the communities they visit,” said
Lisa Sumption, director of Oregon
Parks and Recreation Department.
“Please, wear face coverings and
give plenty of space to other visitors.
If a park is crowded, consider visit-
ing another whale-watching site or
returning later.”
Most viewing sites managed by the
agency are open, with reduced ser-
vices in some locations due to limit-
ed resources.
A map of whale watching sites is
available online on the official whale
watching webpage on the Oregon
State Parks website.
Some of the best places to view the
whales are at the Lewis & Clark In-
terpretive Center in Ilwaco, Wash.,
from the South Jetty viewing plat-
form or anywhere near the Peter
Iredale Shipwreck in Fort Stevens
State Park, Ecola State Park in Can-
non Beach, and the Neahkahnie
Mountain Overlook on Highway 101
near Manzanita.
Before visiting a state park, check
the State Parks status map, which
shows which parks are open and
closed, as well as parks with reduced
services.
Some 25,000 gray whales will
pass by Oregon’s shores this spring
on their way to cool Alaskan waters.
Many will be accompanied by calves
born during the winter in the warm
lagoons off the coast of Baja, Mex-
ico.
The Columbia Press
Warrenton residents may
find it sad to see Mike and
Teale Adelmann go.
Their extravagant light
shows celebrating Hallow-
een and Christmas have
brought joy to residents
and life to the 1885 Dan-
iel Knight Warren House,
built by the city’s founder
and listed on the National
Register of Historic Places.
The couple are moving to
Cindy Yingst
New Mexico and the War- Mike and Teale Adelmann in front of the Warren
ren House has been sold.
House at Halloween in 2017.
The Adelmanns own Lift-
ing Large, a supply store for weight- than 2,500 items sold through their
lifters they started in 2004. In 2014, online store.
the couple moved to Warrenton and
But the expense of trucking items
bought the historic home on Skipanon to the rural area along with taxes
Drive across from Skipanon Marina. that hurt Oregon’s small and medi-
Eventually they built a 4,500-square- um-sized businesses has prompted
foot private gym and warehouse that them to return to New Mexico, Mike
serves as a distribution hub for more
See ‘Lights’ on Page 8
Officer’s tragic death was 25 years ago
the ticket booth, she saw an
ambulance drive by and then,
a short time later, her sister
March marks the 25th an-
pulled up “and she was just
niversary of the only death of
hysterical.” She broke the
a Warrenton police officer in
news to Elena.
the line of duty.
They immediately went to
Elena McMaster was just
the hospital, but her husband
21 when her husband, Rob-
never regained conscious-
ert “Bernie” McMaster, died
McMaster
ness.
March 9, 1996, while headed
“I should have gotten coun-
to an emergency call. They’d found seling,” Elena said. “Alannah is the
out three weeks earlier – on Valen- only thing that kept me from doing
tine’s Day – that they were expecting anything stupid.”
a baby.
Elena, now 47 and living in Asto-
That day she’d driven him to work ria, struggled with alcohol and an-
at the job he’d had just four month ger for a time. While she has not re-
before heading to her own job at the married, today she has a good job, a
Liberty Theatre. While working in
See ‘Anniversary’ on Page 4
By Cindy Yingst
The Columbia Press