10 years ago this week — 2014

SEASIDE — Farmers, ranchers and those interested in making a living in agriculture made it clear they reject the idea that the coast is the wrong place to put down roots.

“The presence of all these farms show that it’s patently untrue that ‘you can’t grow anything here on the coast,’” said Emily Fanjoy, owner of Peace Crops farm in Nehalem, in introducing the keynote panel of the third Grow the Coast at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center Saturday.

The theme was heard repeatedly during the convention as presenters discussed topics ranging from weed management and cost accounting to winter vegetable production and seed saving.

Farmers can grow many crops on the coast, said Teresa Retzlaff of 46 North Farm in Olney. She was one of three keynote panelists.

If you give students the chance to smell some herbs, they probably are going to want to touch some vegetables, too.

When you give them the vegetables, they’ll probably want to see who can pick up the largest pumpkin and admire the strange shape and texture of some mushrooms.

If they get to pick up pumpkins, feel mushrooms, measure kale and eat fresh pears, they probably will get excited about local, fresh and healthy foods.

That’s the belief behind the collaboration between the nonprofit North Coast Food Web and the Oregon State University Extension Service. It’s also the reason why the partners organized events at three Clatsop County schools during the week of National Food Day, Oct. 24.

SEASIDE — It began to look like an elk roundup on U.S. Highway 101 recently, and a few rescue personnel had to do the rounding up.

At about 5 p.m. Oct 21, the Seaside Police Department received a couple of 911 calls about elk roaming along the highway near the South Clatsop Community Food Bank at the old CRM building and the Seaside School District’s bus barn.

Less than a year after opening, North Coast Distilling’s Larry Cary is already getting national praise for his voluminous line of flavored vodkas.

Cary recently won silver and bronze in the flavored vodka categories of the Great American Distillers Festival in Portland for Bar Pilot jalapeno lime- and cucumber-flavored vodkas, respectively.

“Because I have to wait for stuff to age, that’s all I have to play with,” said Cary, who opened his distillery on the bottom floor of the Liberty Theatre building in February.

He sports a growing list of flavored vodkas. Along with the jalapeno lime and cucumber varieties, he’s turned out his plain Bar Pilot Vodka, along with lemon ginger, cocoa mint, chai, strawberry cucumber and gummy bear flavors. For Halloween season, he even released a candy corn flavor.

50 years ago — 1974

Most Clatsop County kids were pretty good Halloween night, law enforcement officers agreed Tuesday morning.

Except for a few rowdies and vandals, in fact, the younger generation showed every sign of being civilized, city, county and state officers said. But the evening was far from dull.

There were the usual Halloween pranks, spiced with a few unusual ones. About a dozen boys went too far and were booked for vandalism. The most serious offenses were the breaking of several windows and road signs, the smashing of a street light which started a fire when the electric wires snapped, and the destruction of a fence in Seaside.

In a world that is too often fast-paced and modern, it is refreshing to see someone doing something which reminds one of the “good old days” when everything seemed to be simpler and more peaceful.

That’s why Lenny Rogers is refreshing. He enjoys his work as a farrier — horseshoer — and he’s making a full-time living out of it.

This may not seem unique or even very different to the “horsey set,” but to one who knows little or nothing about the subject, Rogers is unique.

Rogers is the only hot shoer in the area, meaning he uses a forge similar to those used by blacksmiths on TV Westerns and years gone by.

The difference is that Rogers uses a gas forge instead of a coal forge and his operation is neatly compacted into the back of his pickup truck.

Unlike blacksmiths of years past, Rogers travels to his customer instead of the horse being brought to him. He drives his truck into the barn and sets up his portable coal.

The Clatsop County election picture was thrown into confusion late this morning when county Clerk Don Church discovered the courthouse computer had failed to count nearly half the votes cast Tuesday.

Church said early today a power surge brought on by a downed electrical line in east Astoria probably caused the computer to malfunction.

The computer problem forced the county to stage a massive afternoon recount of all ballots today.

The recount was completed at about 2:30 p.m. although the failure to register the votes of almost 4,000 county residents gave apparent winners Bill Wyatt (state representative), Chuck Hanlon (state senator) and Al Palmer (county commissioner) some anxious moments, each one emerged from the recount with his victory intact.

75 years ago — 1949

Astoria will get its share of the 137,000 long tons of bulk wheat to Japan to be loaded by 25 commercial cargo ships in November, according to A.E. Sutton, Portland, manager of North Pacific Grain Growers.

Port of embarkation officials estimated that two-thirds of the tonnage will be loaded at Columbia River ports of Portland, Vancouver, Longview and Astoria, the rest in Tacoma and Seattle.

Sutton said his corporation expects assignment of a steamer to load wheat in Astoria within 10 days, and that a full cargo is waiting here to be loaded at Port of Astoria facilities.

Sutton said rail movement of wheat here probably will increase, as a result of easing of a shortage of railway cars that has slowed movement in recent weeks.

The county welfare board Tuesday asked the state bureau of health for an immediate decision on whether to permit 10 patients to return to a Seaside nursing home.

Why the patients had not been moved earlier and whether the home is licensed to operate were disputed subjects.

The patients were suddenly ordered removed from Mary’s Nursing Home Saturday night when it was learned by the welfare administrator, Bertha Roth, that all but one of the help had “walked out,” leaving the patients, Roth said, “inadequately attended.”

The manager of the home, Mary E. Aschenbrenner, accused the employees of holding drinking parties and neglecting the patients during the owners’ absence.

The war assets division of the federal government is in the process of turning over the Astoria naval hospital tract of 54 acres to the city of Astoria.

The city was the sole bidder for the property when it was put up for bids by the federal agency. Bidding time ended Monday. The federal war assets division has put an appraised value of $65,000 on a 155-acre Fort Stevens tract containing 73 buildings, Mayor Merton Olney, of Hammond, reported following a meeting of the Hammond Town Council Tuesday night.

Olney said the only way Hammond could raise the money to meet this bid would be by special vote of the citizens, and that such an election may be held.

Mayor Olney said the Hammond council considers the appraisal too high and intends to send a delegation to inspect the fort Sunday and make their own appraisal.

The first eight months of 1949 have been lean for commercial fishermen, with the exception of those fishing for crab, smelt and shade, according to reports from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The service reports a 37% drop in total commercial fish receipts in Oregon ports during the first eight months of the year.

Statistics compiled by the fish commission reveal a total of 33,095,713 pounds of all species of fish taken to the end of August, in comparison to 53,106,097 taken for the same period in Oregon last year.

The offshore fisheries suffered the largest decline in receipts. Pilchard seiners had an entirely barren year in the Northwest and stayed in port when the expected pilchard run failed to appear off the coasts.

Tuna landing in Oregon was less than half of the 6,298,104 pounds landed during July and August of 1948.

Several recent complaints by local businessmen and others in Ilwaco that present ferry service between Astoria and Megler, Washington, is inadequate are being transmitted to the state highway department in Salem by the Astoria Chamber of Commerce, secretary Al Hetzel said Thursday.

The complaints have been that the Tourist No. 2, only ferry now on the run, cannot accommodate all the vehicles waiting for it, particularly on late afternoon runs.