From the editor’s desk

Published 8:00 am Saturday, October 26, 2024

Thank you for your interest in reading The Astorian. Here are a few stories that you might have missed this week:

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On Wednesday morning, recruits from the Astoria Fire Department got to work pulling apart a battered police vehicle that had been donated for training purposes.

Though firefighters go through extrication training six or seven times a year, this was their first time working with a police vehicle. In a split-second, life-or-death situation, the specialized training can make all the difference.

Fire Chief Dan Crutchfield said that because sheriff’s deputies, state troopers and police officers are constantly on the road, they’re just as likely to be involved in a crash as any other driver.

See the story by Jasmine Lewin by clicking here.

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A blank wall in Astoria’s downtown could soon undergo a colorful transformation.

CareOregon, together with the Portland Street Art Alliance, is hoping to sponsor the installation of a mural on the north exterior wall of the Astoria Armory, behind Bowpicker Fish & Chips. Similar murals have sprung up across Oregon, part of a statewide project to boost community mental health by instilling local pride.

Astoria’s mural — a 3,741 square-foot painted graphic that tentatively includes depictions of elements such as the Astoria Column, a salmon run and local flowers — is designed by Casey McEneny, a high school art teacher and muralist based in Newport. McEneny, who grew up on the coast and attended art school in Southern California, said his murals often draw on aquatic elements, and salmon are a particular source of inspiration.

“Salmon have always been really interesting to me because they’re kind of what I feel a lot of coastal people do,” McEneny said. “We’re born and raised here. We’re released out to the ocean, in a sense. And we go and we have our experiences and live our lives, and then we bring back everything that we’ve gathered back to our same little hometown, and then give back to our towns, which is kind of like spawning again.”

Read the story by Rebecca Norden-Bright by clicking here.

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People gathered at St. Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church on a drizzly Saturday afternoon in October to commemorate the church’s 150th anniversary.

The church’s steeple, adorned with blue trim, has long been a fixture overlooking Grand Avenue. Stained-glass windows filter sunlight onto dozens of wooden pews, each equipped with a paperback prayer book.

One of the city’s oldest church parishes, St. Mary was christened in October 1874 after several soldiers stationed at Fort Stevens made contributions toward the construction of a Catholic church.

In 1896, an adjoining school was built, initially dubbed the Holy Names Academy. After decades of financial difficulties, Star of the Sea, the oldest and last Catholic school on the Oregon Coast, closed in 2011.

Next fall, the white stone school building is set to reopen as Harbor Christian Academy, a kindergarten-through-second grade private school that has pledged to add one new grade level per year through eighth grade.

Take a look at the story by Jasmine Lewin by clicking here.

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— Derrick DePledge