10 years ago this week — 2014

Just before winter break, science instructor Spencer Johnson’s students filed down a muddy nature loop west of Hilda Lahti Elementary School.

Tape measures in hand and waders on, they split into teams along a small, spring-fed stream on the western side of campus, searching for suitable salmon habitat and the future of their school’s program.

Astoria has one, so does Warrenton, and students in the first year of Knappa’s fisheries class are already exploring their own program.

“Anyone you talk to in fisheries, this is what got them interested,” said Johnson, who graduated from Astoria High School in 1996 and went through its fisheries program. He took over this year for Jeff Skirvin, the former forestry instructor who took a job in his hometown of Clatskanie. Johnson has 16 students in his fisheries class and 25 in a forestry club.

“I would like to make this a combined forest ecology and fisheries class,” said Johnson. “I actually want to give the kids a working knowledge of the scientific process.”

WARRENTON — The Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development has extended its review of Oregon LNG’s application for development of a natural gas pipeline and terminal in Clatsop County.

The state agency will wait an additional three months before making a decision on whether Oregon LNG meets the requirements of the Coastal Zone Management Act.

In a statement Tuesday, Peter Hansen, CEO of Oregon LNG, said the decision to wait before issuing a final decision would allow the company to continue to work with the state to provide the necessary information the agency might need to make a decision.

CANNON BEACH — A three-year undertaking by Seaview Estates, LLC, will soon result in a five-lot subdivision on a plat south of East Surfcrest Avenue, east of U.S. Highway 101.

Now that the utilities and infrastructure have been brought to the property, all that remains is for the Clatsop County Assessor’s office to subdivide the now-vacant parcel into five taxable lots. Each lot of 5,500 square feet will support a single-family residence.

In waders and rubber boots, Lewis and Clark National Historical Park staff and volunteers put old Christmas trees to good use Saturday.

The more than 20 trees had been dropped off since the day after Christmas up until Saturday. They were then used as habitat for juvenile salmon that have been documented in the tidal channels of the Colewort Creek restoration site as they develop into adults.

Excess Christmas trees were first placed at the site in April. Carla Cole, natural resources program manager with the park, hopes it will become an annual tradition in January.

“Every year, we’ll invite people out to put their trees in the channels,” Cole said. This first year included hot cocoa for helpers and was called the Cocoa and Coho Christmas tree drop-off.

50 years ago — 1974

Comet Kohoutek, billed as “the Christmas Comet,” and previously expected to be observable in the daytime has turned out to be an astronomical flop.

The reason Kohoutek was predicted to be the brightest comet since Halley’s is somebody goofed. The orbit of the comet and the expected brightness apparently were both miscalculated.

ARCH CAPE — Bare feet on cold, hard-packed sand on New Year’s Day.

Three swimsuit-clad figures cross the sun-bright beach at Arch Cape toward the ocean. A freezing wind strikes their bare bodies, but they continue on and into the water.

“Are they mad?” one woman said as she watched the retreating figures.

Not mad. The two men and one woman, now up to their knees in the icy water, were observing a tradition.

Eighteen years ago, Berkeley Snow plunged into the ocean for a swim on New Year’s Day and has repeated the walk almost every year ever since.

The Astoria Planning Commission accepted a set of detailed preliminary plans for the Astor House Condominium Wednesday night and settled a question about how much parking should be required for the 143-unit development.

All parking will be built on pilings over the Columbia River instead of on fill as originally proposed, Weller said.

He also explained a change in the configuration of the 130 slip marina which is part of the development.

The question about parking centered on the definition of the condominium. Will the development be a motel or an apartment house?

If it is a motel, it requires only 1.1 parking spaces per unit. If it is an apartment house, it requires two spaces per unit. Astor House will contain both permanent apartments, owned by the occupants, and rental units.

Plans show 1.28 parking spaces per unit.

Rumors of extraordinary 13-foot high tides next week are false and should be disregarded unless a severe storm with southerly winds hits the area, according to County Emergency Services coordinator Will Cross.

The highest tide expected at Tongue Point will be 10 feet on Tuesday, Cross said, and no flood damage should be expected from such a tide.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Year-round daylight saving time will go into effect in almost all parts of the United States Sunday as part of President Richard Nixon’s energy conservation program. It will be the first time the nation has been on year-round daylight time since World War II.

75 years ago — 1949

If you overindulged last night and have loused up the new year, here’s some things short of suicide that might put the hair back on the dog.

DON’T EAT — This just overworks your stomach, which somehow you have got to make last out the day.

GET OUT OF BED — When the door adjusts itself so you can safely walk through it, try going outside. Grab hold of a tree and take a deep breath. If you can make it to a neighbor’s house — don’t. He’ll be in trouble too, and the two of you might die before you can get each other to a doctor.

DON’T TELL WHAT HAPPENED — Your wife will not want to hear how much you put away. Besides, she’ll want to know who rubbed off the purple lipstick on your collar. Just don’t talk. Just moan. It won’t get you any sympathy, but you’ll blow a lot of fumes out that way.

DRINK SOMETHING OUT OF CAN — Anything orange, grape, tomato or carrot juice will make you feel like your condition will take an upward turn. It will.

DURING THE FOOTBALL GAME – Stay close to your radio. If Oregon’s losing, cheer up, maybe California’s taking a beating.

PUT THAT GUN AWAY — If you still don’t feel like living, unload your pistol and put a few slugs of coffee inside yourself. This won’t help, but it’ll keep the aspirins afloat for awhile.

DON’T CALL A DOCTOR — All doctors have good hangover cures, but none of them (and we tried six) could remember how to write in Latin.

So you quit reading this, eh? Good!

Sleet and snow ushered in a stormy new year in Astoria and the lower Columbia district, making streets and roads treacherous for late-hour merrymakers.

Small craft storm warnings flew and the coast guard reported blustery weather Saturday morning at the river mouth.

The first two babies of the year 1949 were reported Saturday morning by local hospitals.

The first arrival apparently was a 9-pound, 5-ounce boy born to Mr. and Mrs. Roy W. Gray at 12:46 the morning of New Year’s Day at Columbia Hospital.

A little less than an hour behind him came a girl, born at 1:35 at St. Mary’s Hospital to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Jackson. The little girl weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces.

Two and a half inches of snow fell in Astoria over the weekend and four persons were hospitalized Monday as the result of sledding accidents on hills made ideal for a seldom-enjoyed local sport.

The state highway department has changed its mind about rerouting U.S. Highway 101 between Astoria and Warrenton.

The department is abandoning the route across the tide flats from the present Youngs River bridge to a new crossing of Lewis and Clark River near the Astoria Marine Construction Co.

R.H. Baldock, state highway engineer, has recommended to the highway commission that it adopt a crossing of Youngs Bay paralleling the railway bridge, as proposed several weeks ago by the city of Warrenton.