10 years ago this week — 2013

She was 20 years old and wanted to leave home. And what better way than to join the WAVES?

June Tilley joined the U.S. Navy as part of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services in 1949.

She served for more than two years and only left because she had married a fellow serviceman and became pregnant. In those times, pregnancy ended a woman’s Navy career. If the rules had been different, Tilley said, she would have served out 20 years like her late husband, who retired as a chief hospital corpsman.

For that reason, Veterans Day has a very special meaning. It represents a time she earned freedom, found love and started a family of her own.

“People are patriotic, but I can’t describe for you the feeling that I have when I see the flag and everything at parades,” Tilley said tearfully. “It’s very special. I feel like I’m part of it. It was a wonderful time of my life.”

CANNON BEACH — A salmon-friendly project, involving large tree trunks strategically placed in Ecola Creek, is expected to improve fish habitat in the Ecola Creek Forest Reserve.

On a recent weekday, a Chinook helicopter recently airlifted 109 trees, mostly spruce, in the forest reserve and placed them at 10 preplanned sites along the creek, furnishing the fish with much-needed woody debris.

“One of the main deficiencies in our watershed is the presence of large wood,” said Jesse Jones, coordinator for the North Coast Watershed Association.

By depositing trees directly in the creek along its main stem, north fork and west fork, the project will restore the conditions that make salmon spawning possible.

It was a night filled with continued questions from opponents of a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Warrenton.

At a public meeting Tuesday at Astoria’s Liberty Theatre, staff members from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality were on hand to answer questions about how the proposed facility would handle emissions and wastewater.

Because of the Department of Environmental Quality’s limited involvement in the overall project approval, answers were related to what the state agency would be addressing.

Oregon LNG has submitted applications for air and wastewater discharge permits with the Department of Environmental Quality. The company and its affiliate Oregon Pipeline Co. will also have to get approval from additional state and federal agencies before the first phase of construction could begin.

SEASIDE — The U.S. Coast Guard rescued an injured surfer Saturday near Tillamook Head in Seaside. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Astoria transported the surfer to Seaside Airport and placed him in the care of a Life Flight helicopter crew who transported him to Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

50 years ago — 1973

Two U.S. Navy fliers ejected safely from a jet fighter plane over the mouth of the Columbia River this morning, shortly before the plane crashed, according to Lt. Miller Chappell, of U.S. Coast Guard Base Astoria.

Names of the two fliers who were stationed at Whidbey Island, Washington, were unavailable this morning. One was sent to Columbia Memorial Hospital with possible shoulder and back injuries. The other sustained only minor abrasions.

Dave Pfund’s Astoria Junior High School ecology class is in the dark — literally.

The kids decided to cut power use in their classroom Wednesday. Since then, lights have been lit only when Pfund finds them absolutely necessary.

The students, all seventh graders, figure out how much power they are using each class period by taking into account the wattage of each electrical device and the amount of time it is turned on, if any.

The room has 75-watt and 40-watt lights, the students discovered. They also found out how much current it takes to run such items as overhead projectors and the like.

They then turned to the electric clock and noted the time when lights, projectors and other electric-powered devices were turned on or off. They also learned how much power costs per kilowatt hour so they could figure up how much money they were saving.

A special Air Transportation Task Force began gearing up last week to curb declining air service to rural communities in Oregon, including a study of possible state subsidies for commuter airlines.

Astoria is the latest Oregon community to face the possibility of losing its existing air service as Hughes Airwest has announced plans to withdraw service at Clatsop Airport.

About 1.5 inches of weekend rain left the Seaside Golf Course with an extra water hazard. Both the Neawanna and Necanicum rivers overflowed their banks in some places Sunday afternoon after a steady downpour, but no serious flooding was reported.

Low-income families in Clatsop County will find it easier to maintain a balanced diet when food stamps become available here next summer, thanks to a decision made last year by Clatsop County commissioners.

The new program will mean the end in Clatsop County of the abundant food nutrition system still used by nine counties in Oregon. In addition, it’s expected to lower costs to the county and make it easier for people in need to get food, a state welfare spokesman said.

As of July 1, 1974, Clatsop County will end its abundant foods program and begin issuing food stamps.

WARRENTON — No final decision has been made, but American Metal Climax Co. is seriously considering legal action if Oregon adopts its recently proposed aluminum plant air pollution standards, an official said in Warrenton Wednesday.

The old man and sea?

Birdman of Tolovana? Close …

It’s John Webber, roving photographer from Sacramento, California. Webber, a retired U.S. Air Force officer, travels the Pacific Northwest in his trusty van, taking pictures which he sells at art fairs.

He’s been in the Clatsop County area the past few weeks, alternately getting soaked and marveling at the scenic beauty of the county.

“I’ve been wet all week,” Webber said through the gills of a gale-like sou’wester as he baited an army of Tolovana seagulls with bits of bread.

The photographer, who has studied under Ansel Adams, said he was “training” the gulls so that when the lighting improved he would be able to get close to them.

75 years ago — 1948

Clatsop County welfare workers have ceased taking applications for relief and are avoiding release of any funds, Bertha Thornton, the county welfare administrator, said Monday.

Thornton explained that her office has received no instructions from the state welfare office as to the handling of funds now on hand, despite the financial emergency resulting from the passage last Tuesday of an old age pension initiative measure.

Pending receipt of these instructions, Thornton said, her office is acting on the theory that they are practically insolvent and have no program.

BAYOCEAN — The town of Bayocean, which was launched as an island in the sea after a storm five days ago, still held 70 residents today who hoped it would become a peninsula again.

Another attempt to bridge a 250-foot gap as waves tumbled from the Pacific Ocean into Tillamook Bay was scheduled to start at low tide. Reports of evacuations were “all wrong,” said Bayocean Water Superintendent Russell Hoover.

The community’s road, drinking water and food supplies were cut off except for ferry trips.

How to improve traffic safety conditions in Astoria will be the No. 1 topic at next Monday night’s regular session of the Astoria City Council.

Traffic analysis of Astoria will be conducted by representatives of the National Safety Council and by James R. Banks, of Salem, director of the traffic safety division of the Oregon Secretary of State’s office.

Cannery employment in Astoria and vicinity now is at a fairly good level of about 1,200, Guy Barker, manager of the local branch of the state employment compensation office, said Tuesday.

Barker added that for this season of the year, this employment figure is fair and represents an increase over the level of two weeks ago.

The compensation office is looking forward to some relief from the pressure of claims which arose during the past three weeks, Barker said. Unemployment has been great in major industries of the area.

Settlement of the Pillsbury strike is expected to improve the local employment situation.

Astoria will shut up shop Thursday for Armistice Day, although there will be no formal community observance or celebration.

Gene Lowe, chairman of the chamber of commerce merchants’ committee, said that all stores are closing. Spokesmen for local automobile dealers said all automotive stores will join in the closing.