85 YEARS AGO
November 23, 1940
Each year Grays Harbor motorists vie for low or unusual numbers on license plates. C.G. McDaniel, Olympic Highway resident near Hoquiam who has No. H-20, first sought and won it in 1935 because it rained so hard that year he “figured the chemical symbols for water surely fitted the country.”
William M. Hatch of the National Bank of Commerce, Aberdeen, clings to H-13 because he said today, October 13 was his mother’s wedding date and she was one of 13 children. “The way I figure it, that doubles my luck when I can get No. 13,” Hatch said.
For the sixth year in a row, J.A. Val Dalby, Hoquiam was given the coveted No. 1 license.
Motorists have until November 20 to obtain special numbers not already taken. License fees this year as before cost $3.25 plus an excise tax calculated on the size, model and age of the car.
November 28, 1940
An explosion and fire in a former apple warehouse at Toppenish, near Yakima, took a known toll of eight lives today, and other dead are believed to be in the wreckage.
At Dupont, near Fort Lewis, a unit of the Dupont powder company blew up, but no one was in the building at the time and no one was hurt.
A leaky gas main was responsible for the Toppenish horror. Twenty-five hundred pounds of black powder exploded at Dupont.
Sabotage is not suspected.
November 29, 1940
Orange and blue food stamps made their appearance on Grays Harbor today as welfare officials put the new system in effect and first stamps were sold to WPA and public assistance clients this afternoon.
The stamps are the same as cash for food, the orange stamps buying food for human consumption and the free blue stamps paying for foods listed as surplus commodities.
Two Grays Harbor youths were named today among 10 flying cadets from Washington who will be graduated by the army air corps in January. They will receive their ratings as second lieutenants in the army air corps reserve.
They are Sherman R. Beaty Jr. of Hoquiam and Alfred C. Nuttal of Montesano.
Nuttal was among the first to enlist from Grays Harbor in American’s expanding army.
60 YEARS AGO
November 23, 1965
Student officials at Aberdeen and Hoquiam high schools have joined together in asking fans and supporters of the neighboring cities to refrain from any acts of vandalism in connection with Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day football game and strive to display good sportsmanship during this holiday classic.
“We are one of the few communities that still have this traditional Thanksgiving Day classic. The actions of the students and adults during this time may determine whether this game will be continued in future years.
November 24, 1965
Student Body President Stu Elway was recently crowned “Most Irresistible Guy” at a Hoquiam High School Girls League pep assembly. Three girls received pep court honors including Patty Walsh, junior princess; Sharon McGuire, sophomore princess and Rita Verwiebe, senior queen.
Mrs. Jo Jackson and Mrs. Helen Fluery, matrons at the Grays Harbor County Jail, prepare three meals a day for the prisoners. Breakfast is usually cereal, buttered toast and coffee. Lunch and dinner generally consist of meat, vegetables, dessert, bread and butter and coffee.
In trying to meet a budget, the jail kitchen tries to buy seasonal items when they are at their cheapest and uses some deer and elk meat brought in from poaching offenses or road kills.
Any luxuries, such as Christmas candy, are generally paid for by the matrons themselves out of their own money. Deputies also usually contribute to provide such luxuries.
November 25, 1965
A general alarm was called last night by the Aberdeen Fire Department when all five trucks were used to bring a fire under control that threatened the Canton Cafe and the 40 and 8 Club in downtown Aberdeen. The call was answered by the central fire station at 8 p.m. and by 8:15 the fire had spread to alarming proportions beneath the building and the general alarm was sounded.
The 61st renewal of the Harbor’s Thanksgiving Day classic was Hoquiam’s for the initial 13 seconds, then overwhelmingly belonged to Aberdeen for the final 47 minutes and 47 seconds today as the Bobcats buried their rivals under an amazing six-touchdown barrage and a 39 to 6 victory.
November 29, 1965
Monday night TV programs include “The Legend of Jesse James,” “A Man Called Shenandoah,” “Peyton Place,” “Ben Casey,” “Dr. Kildare,” “The Andy Williams Show,” “Run for Your Life,” “Hazel” and “The Andy Griffith Show.”
35 YEARS AGO
November 23, 1990
Eating Thanksgiving dinner in a small trailer, Bob Snyder and his family felt a mix of thankfulness, wonder and worry.
Shifting caused by a minor earthquake last winter, plus heavy rains this week, have endangered their dream home. Slippage caused by the wind-whipped rains has carved out a pie-shaped slice of property — including part of the Wynooche River Road five miles north of Highway 12. The family’s cabin is smack in the middle of that slice.
Snyder, a courier truck driver for the Weyerhaeuser Co. at Cosmopolis, said it’s been a rough year all-around for the family. They bought the two-bedroom cabin in May of 1989 after Bob was medically discharged from the 2nd Ranger Battalion at Fort Lewis.
The cabin was to be their dream home, where they could rebuild their life in the country, they said. The family is now living in a tiny travel trailer they purchased last week.
The pastor at the United Methodist Church in Montesano where the Snyders are parishioners, cooked them a turkey and K Mart in Aberdeen contributed all the trimmings. The family is also thankful to the Red Cross for its help in providing a U-Haul truck to cart the furniture out of their cabin and giving them a place to store it.
November 24, 1990
Elma High School is the setting for a weekly program produced by students, for students, that airs every Sunday on the public access channel.
“Our goal is to cover news in and around school or things of interest, at least, to high school students,” said Dan Warren, instructor for the advanced computer class that produces the show. Topics addressed so far have included homecoming activities, opinions on the Gulf crisis and introduction of the school’s new staff.
Warren said the group vowed not to center on sports or other school programs that are already well known, and instead have discussed satellite teacher programs and TREND, a new drug and alcohol awareness program.
November 25, 1990
On the South Side and in Aberdeen’s west end, kids donned knee-high galoshes to splash around in foot-deep yards Saturday. To them it’s a game, but parents all over town warily watched the water creep up their front steps and seep uninvited into their living rooms.
Damages are expected to top $1 million.
The record rainfall of 7.02 inches that fell in 24 hours created flooding and drainage problems on just about every side street and half the thoroughfares in the flatlands.
Borrowing a page from her predecessor’s play book, Hoquiam Mayor Phyllis Shrauger erected an emergency gravel dike at Myrtle Street for the second time in 10 months.
Someone added a hand-lettered, red and white sign that read “Jack McGuire Memorial Dike,” a reminder of the dike that the late mayor ordered on his side of Myrtle Street in 1980. The Sage of Queets Avenue angered many Aberdonians but endeared himself to fellow east siders.
Street light globes apparently have become the favorite targets for air rifle owners in South Aberdeen.
Police said today about 100 lights have been broken in the past week or so, possibly by a juvenile gang which each night marches down some South Aberdeen street breaking every light on the route.
Workmen have retrieved a globe with neat holes in both walls, apparently made by a high-power “B-B” shot. The glass was smoked, indicating that it had been put out of commission while burning at night.
Police warned that anyone caught breaking the lights will be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
November 29, 1990
Taking a calculated risk on a shoestring budget, the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport last night decided to hire a captain to spend the winter charting the Lady Washington’s 1991 season.
The board authorized its chairman, Tori Kovach of Aberdeen, to negotiate a personal services contract with Les Bolton, 37, of La Conner, captain and owner of the passenger schooner Sylvia. Bolton has operated the Sylvia on Puget Sound for the past 11 years, running educational programs and scheduling cruises. Its 1991 season is nearly set so his vessel won’t be competing with the Lady Washington, board members noted.
Rhonda Steinman, a real estate broker involved in a number of community organizations, was appointed Wednesday to represent the South Side on the Aberdeen City Council.
Mrs. Steinman, 36, was elected from among three nominees to fill the 1st Ward vacancy created by the resignation of Diane Mason.
“I am concerned about and interested in the future of South Aberdeen as a whole,” Mrs. Steinman told the council members last week. “I have a strong commitment to Aberdeen and Grays Harbor and want to be part of planning for our future.”
Raymond Miller saw trouble ahead when last Friday’s downpour began sending an entire hillside of mud and debris on a collision course with his home at 513 Fifth Ave. in Aberdeen.
The shifting hillside was only the start,crashing into his home, sending mud oozing through new cracks in the concrete walls.
The basement foundation has ruptured under pressure of the cascading mud and the floor is destroyed.
Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom, Editorial Assistant at The Daily World. You can contact her at karen.barkstrom@thedailyworld.com or call her at 360-537-3925.
