10 years ago this week — 2014

At approximately 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, Astoria 911 dispatch tipped the U.S. Coast Guard off that the commercial fishing vessel Zero Tolerance, a 27-foot gillnetter, was on fire in the vicinity of Binder Slough on the Youngs River.

Local fire departments on the scene reported that the boat’s owner, Kevin Hawkins, of Astoria, was being treated by local emergency medical services for burns.

Unidentified good Samaritans rescued Hawkins and possibly a second crew member from the burning Zero Tolerance, Deputy Chief Paul Gascoigne of Astoria Fire and Rescue said two people came in near the former yacht club with minor burns. The U.S. Coast Guard reported that the victim(s) were taken to the local hospital.

The symbiotic relationship between breweries and livestock owners has been made abundantly clear in recent weeks.

Regulations being proposed by the Food and Drug Administration caught the attention of craft brewers and farmers earlier this year, and now state and federal legislators are speaking out against this as well.

The changes could require spent grain from the brewing process to be dried and bagged before being fed to cattle, pigs and sheep, a costly precaution that many feel is unneeded and would likely lead to wastefulness.

“That’s really not feasible for us,” said Jack Harris, brewer and co-owner of Fort George Brewery in Astoria. “It doesn’t seem necessary.”

Sen. Ron Wyden met with Portland-area brewers Monday and gave a news conference where he said the federal regulation would put the alliance between brewers and farmers at risk.

GEARHART — After being absent from the golf course and Cottage Avenue for almost a month … they’re back!

The “Gearhart herd,” as we refer to them, is made up of almost 75 elk. They appeared around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night on the property of our neighbors, Susan and John Spring, who live on North Cottage Avenue between Second and Third streets.

We were able to stand less than a car length away, inside a fenced area, and watch them as they grazed on her garden and then graceful, one by one, jumped her fence and headed down Cottage Avenue toward the Gearhart Golf Links.

As part of a booming cruise industry, Astoria can expect 14 ships and upward of 28,000 cruise passengers this season, which starts May 8 with the Crown Princess and its 2,600 passengers arriving at the Port of Astoria’s Pier 2.

“The cruise industry is the fastest growing segment in travel,” said Bruce Conner, the Port’s liaison with the cruise industry, during a presentation at Tuesday’s Port Commission meeting. “In 2013, 21.3 million people took a cruise, 21.7 million in 2014.”

Six ships will pull up to the face of Pier 1 between May 8 to May 19, bringing with them upward of 10,000 passengers. The next ship won’t arrive until Aug. 27, when the MS Regatta, of Renaissance Cruises, drops in.

WARRENTON — The North Coast Fred Meyer this morning unveiled the finality of its nearly three-year, $18-million, 40,000-square-foot store mostly added to the grocery section. Store manager Justin Downs said that with visitors to the coast, the store can sometimes be the busiest in a district that includes Portland locations.

The remodel uncovered the cement floors, removed false ceilings, punched skylights through the ceiling and added large windows and motion-detecting LED lights to mix technology and nature and save the store on utility costs.

50 years ago — 1974

Should a girl who wants to play basketball at Astoria High School have to pick up paper on Gyro Field to pay her way while a boy has his way paid by the public school system?

Frank Russell doesn’t think so and neither do fellow members of the Astoria School Board. They voted unanimously Tuesday to fund girls’ basketball the same way all boys sports are funded.

District Athletic Director Vince Dulcich said in a report to the board, “There was never any intent to discriminate.” Girls basketball coach Elizabeth Hewitt seemed to agree.

But intent aside, girls basketball always has been under the Girls Athletic Association, a club, rather than the regular athletic department. And it always has been paid for privately, instead of publicly as other sports.

Dulcich noted basketball is the only high school level girls sport not a part of the regular program. He said girls volleyball, track and field, cross-country (when enough show up to make a team) and golf (in conjunction with boys) are handled by the athletic department.

Seven boys sports are part of the department’s program, he said.

Dulcich said girls basketball hadn’t been pushed previously because only four schools in the Coast Valley League have teams as opposed to 12 involved with girls track, 11 with volleyball, seven with tennis, seven with swimming and six with cross-country.

Dulcich said criticism of the district for its lack of support of the girls squad, which went to Oregon’s first state championship, isn’t valid.

A helicopter from the U.S. Coast Guard Air Base in Astoria aided the rescue of three California men who were thrown from their sinking tugboat Tuesday.

The tug Western Mariner started taking on water shortly after noon Tuesday and had three pumps in operation when two of the pumps failed.

The vessel went into a 45-degree list, and then a wave hit the vessel, throwing the crewmen from it, according to Lt. Mike Leeds at the air base.

The men were picked up by the Coast Guard vessels Victory and No. 44407, both out of Yaquina Bay. One crewman, David W. Eveans Jr., of Mendocino, California, was flown in serious condition to a Newport hospital.

WILLAPA BAY, Wash. — Two Astorians were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard from the chilly water off of Willapa Bay Wednesday night after the 50-foot fishing boat Silver Star capsized in rough seas and high winds about 5:30 p.m.

Ken Petersen, a Clatsop Community College marine science instructor, and Joice Yates, a neighbor of his on Fifth Street in Astoria, reportedly are doing fine today in Willapa Harbor Hospital despite spending two hours in 51-degree water awaiting rescue.

KNAPPA — Residents of Knappa and Svensen renewed their outcry for the construction of overpasses at two intersections on U.S. Highway 30 Wednesday at the first of three public hearings of the Clatsop Citizen’s Highway Advisory Committee.

The committee is trying to develop recommendations for spending Clatsop County’s share of $8.9 million allocated by the state to Clatsop and Tillamook counties over the next five years for highway improvement projects.

“These overpasses are vital to our to our community,” asserted Jim Van Osdol, one of the most vocal proponents of building the overpasses.

Overpasses are sought for both the Svensen Market Road and Knappa crossings.

75 years ago — 1949

The Port of Astoria dredge Natoma is pumping mud out of Cathlamet Bay at the rate of about 8,000 yards daily, despite the fact that various bugs have yet to be worked out of her new machinery.

The rate of output is expected to be increased materially as soon as the several minor difficulties are corrected.

The Natoma began work last week on the port’s contract to dredge 6 million yards of material from the new maritime commission permanent reserve fleet basin. Port officials believe that she will be able to complete the job well within the allotted time of 500 days.

The General Construction Co., which has a subcontract from Franks Construction Co. of California to dig out the other half of the basin, is expected to begin work next month.

General Construction Co. is using its electric dredge on a job near Longview and is expected to finish that job before moving to Cathlamet Bay.

City firemen continued to receive reports of broken chimneys throughout Thursday, and one report of damaged wiring was received in the wake of last week’s earthquake.

Wiring in a shop at 594 Commercial St. was inspected and reported to be in need of immediate repairs.

Broken chimneys were reported at 70 Bond St., 62 Commercial St., 24 Bond St., 2 Astor St., 547 Jerome Ave. and 862 Franklin Ave. A cracked chimney between First and Second streets on Commercial was spilling bricks on the sidewalk, it was reported.

Earthquake damage at the Tongue Point Naval Station was minor, it was reported today.

Reaction of people at the naval station was much the same as that in Astoria. Swaying buildings were emptied quickly during the tremor.

TACOMA, Wash. — The Coast Guard reported today that a large section of the cliff above Salmon Beach here, which was evidently loosened by the earthquake, slid into the narrows on the Puget sound side off Point Defiance with a roar early this morning.

WARRENTON — Two young men escaped almost certain death Friday night when they were caught in a jam of falling logs at the Fifth Street log dump here.

The men, Thomas C. Schmitz, of Wheeler, and James C. Halvorsen, of Nehalem, were taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Astoria by ambulance for treatment of injuries that were not considered serious.

Schmitz and Halvorsen were suffering extensively from shock, however, when they were rescued from the cold waters of the Skipanon River by firemen, who left their annual ball to rescue them.

Warrenton police were informed that the two men were trying to dump a log truck by the Nygaard boom at the log dump. They arrived after 8:30 p.m. when no boom operator was present.

There was a pile of logs along the dump, left there by other log trucks. Schmitz and Halvorsen tried to shove enough logs in the river to make space for their own load.

In doing this, they dislodged a key log and the entire pile of logs began slipping into the river, catching both of them.