10 years ago this week — 2014

Anyone who has attended an Astoria High School Fishermen home win, watched a cruise ship depart or celebrated New Year’s Eve on the Astoria Riverwalk might have heard of James Carruthers.

Or at least heard his horns.

The Hammond resident is a self-professed audiophile, and with the help of a growing accompaniment of roof-mounted ship horns, has been sounding off on special occasions in Astoria since the 1960s.

The noise comes from giant horns mounted on his gray Dodge Ram truck.

“When I was a little kid and up through teenager, noises would startle me if I didn’t expect them,” said Carruthers, the son of locally famous equipment manufacturer Eben Carruthers, “Because I kind of shied away from noises when I was young, maybe I was trying to compensate for them.

And Carruthers compensates in grand fashion, with more than three-quarters of a ton of air tanks and other equipment to operate Decibel No. 3, the latest incarnation of his changing lineup of horns, stacked into and onto his truck. His setup includes one KM Airchime and two Swedish Kockums Sonics air horns, putting out an estimated 120 decibels.

“It sounds like a locomotive horn at full volume and a ship horn at the same time,” he said. “I think a monster truck’s probably a little louder than my horn.”

Samantha Ferber loves the ocean.

As a child, Ferber found inspiration in the work of naturalist Charles Darwin and conservationist Jacques-Yves Cousteau. “Fish,” in fact, was one of her first words.

Now, the Oregon State University graduate, who specialized in marine biology, is putting her passion into practice as the city of Cannon Beach’s new Haystack Rock Awareness Program coordinator. A hiring committee unanimously chose Ferber from among 161 applicants.

“My life’s goal has been to save the oceans,” she told the City Council at a recent work session.

Ferber, who replaced Nala Cardillo, officially stepped into the position Nov. 25, but she has been involved with the program for the past three years, first as a seasonal rocky shore interpreter, then as the program’s volunteer coordination and education intern.

Warrenton Middle School students helped plant 100 Sitka spruce saplings Thursday at the Colewort Creek restoration site at Fort Clatsop.

Students were part of the “Math, Art & Nature” class taught by Heidi Lent. The students were led by three volunteers and three National Park Service staff from the resources division.

“The Sitka spruce trees they planted today will create and provide important habitat for a wide range of wildlife, plant life and help recreate the high-quality aquatic habitat we are restoring,” said Jennifer Bell, biological technician with the natural resources program at the park.

50 years ago — 1974

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has told the Port of Astoria it doesn’t have the funds to undertake a model study to determine the cause of excessive silting in the port’s berths.

The message was relayed to port officials through the office of U.S. Sen. Mark Hatfield, who asked the Corps to undertake the study.

Port officials have asked Hatfield’s staff to make the request for the model study once again, stressing that the silting problem is regional and beyond the Port of Astoria’s financial capability to solve alone.

The Paralla, the second roll-on, roll-off vessel to stop at the Port of Astoria, departed Monday after unloading nine containers, loading 74 containers and depositing a boatload of encouragement.

Port officials received no firm commitment that the vessels would be making regular calls at Astoria, but there were indications Astoria hasn’t seen the last of the ships with their large stern ramps.

“The words from the representatives of the owners of the Ro-Ro vessels was pretty encouraging,” explained Ray Holbrook, assistant Port of Astoria manager.

It’s a calming time in Seaside and temperatures in the teens coupled with a biting east wind can’t stop veterans from looking for their limit. Glen Beelar is one of those veterans. “I’ve been digging clams here for 50 years,” Beelar says with a grin.

Hitching up his hip boots, his net positioned properly at his side and his clam shovel firmly in hand, Beelar wades out into the foamy water as if he were strolling along Miami Beach in the summer. Beelar is used to Clatsop County’s cold coast. And he likes those clams.

The Astoria School District will run out of gas around the end of the month if it doesn’t come up with a new source of supply soon.

The district hasn’t gotten a gasoline delivery in 1974 yet and its previous supplier says none will be coming.

The district’s problem arose because it gets its gas through the state system and the state just killed its contract with its supplier in a dispute over pricing.

SEASIDE — The opposition hasn’t been able to slow the top-ranked Seaside basketball team, but the gas shortage might.

Seaside School Superintendent Charles Smith said today the district has only 21 gallons of gas left for all remaining extracurricular activities scheduled in January. And the state’s No. 1 Seaside squad is supposed to travel to Raymond, Washington, on Jan. 15, Tillamook on Jan. 18 and Scappoose on Jan. 25.

Gas to get the team to these games apparently will have to be bought on the open market or the students will have to make their way to the host teams’ cities themselves.

“Nope, I don’t need it.”

“Sure, you bet I will.”

Those were the reactions of two local gasoline dealers asked if they intend to comply with Gov. McCall’s voluntary every-other-day gas purchasing plan, which will begin Monday.

75 years ago — 1949

A series of accidents, most of which involved only property damage, were reported in Astoria after freezing weather kept snow and ice on streets and hillsides over the weekend.

Frigid temperatures prevailed over the Pacific Northwest for the third straight day Tuesday and engineers feared a collapse of the regional power pool would result as continued cold weather iced rivers and threw an unprecedented demand on outlets.

A collapse of the power pool was averted Monday, but engineers in Seattle said the Pacific Northwest faces the most critical 24-hour period in its history Tuesday night.

If your electric clock runs slow during the current power crisis, don’t reset it.

This is the advice of Arthur Dempsie, Pacific Power and Light Co. manager.

Dempsie said that decrease in frequency during critical periods causes the clocks to slow down, but that the frequency is speeded above normal after midnight to get the clocks back on the correct time. A master clock operated by the Northwest power pool governs this.

The severe cold spell clinging to Oregon today halted all barge operations on the ice-clogged Columbia River above Bonneville Dam.

Several barges were reported stuck fast. Caked ice virtually covered the upper river, reducing already short power production.

And below the Bonneville Dam shore, ice extended so far from both the Oregon and Washington sides that only a narrow channel remained open.

Between 20 and 25 fishing and pleasure boats were frozen in at the fishermen’s docks Wednesday morning and were unable to move, Harvey Hansen, dock manager, reported.

He said the ice was nearly 2 inches thick and that the boats could probably be freed if the owners desired to get them out.

Hansen said he couldn’t remember the last time boats had been frozen at the fishermen’s docks.

Dimmed-out Astoria slid through the critical power shortage period Tuesday evening without a drop in power frequency, manager Arthur Dempsie, of Pacific Power and Light Co., reported.

Dempsie said Astoria industry, businesses and citizens are cooperating admirably in the Northwest power pool’s program of conserving electricity.

The city of Astoria joined the conservation movement by shutting down two-thirds of its ornamental street lighting system Tuesday evening until 6:30. It will continue to do so as long as the critical situation continues.

An urgent desire for bubblegum caused it all.

At least, that was the conclusion reached by city police following the investigation of Tuesday incident in which two rocks were thrown through the front door of the Agate Grocery.

Police investigated the incident Wednesday and finally found the culprits — a little boy and girl, each five years of age.

The kids told police they went to the grocery loaded with cash, intent upon the purchase of bubblegum. Upon their arrival, they found the door locked.

Angry and hungry for bubblegum, they threw two rocks through the glass door but made no attempt to enter the store.

Police took no action in the case. The parents are paying for the window.