85 YEARS AGO
April 29, 1940
Mrs. Joe Haek of Central Park waved a greeting to her son, Jack, this weekend but she didn’t have a chance to chat with him.
A squadron of army planes was flying over the Harbor when one swooped down over Central Park and circled the Haek house several times. Finally, Mrs. Haek realized what the exhibition was all about for she spotted her son in the pursuit ship waving at her. He is in the army air corps being the first to enlist here last November in the army expansion program.
April 30, 1940
Struck across the forehead by a falling limb about 9:30 o’clock this morning, Lawrence Masely, 44, died about a half hour later at Polson Logging company camp 6.
Masely, third rigger on a skidder, was rigging up a tall tree when a limb of an adjacent tree which was sheared off by the wind, struck his head.
May 1, 1940
A warm, damp April was whisked away in a blinding rain and southerly wind storm last night. The gale, of almost winter intensity, reached a force of close to 40 miles an hour from 8 o’clock to midnight following a day of steady downpour.
The Allman-Tuttle tug Tyee with a big raft of logs from Tillamook bay, rode out the gale between Grays Harbor and Willapa Harbor. She drifted north from Grays Harbor this morning and was unable to buck her tow against the strong ocean current flowing northward along the coast. Today, she was edging the raft offshore to get out of the current and so permit her to enter the harbor. She refused help from the coast guard cutter Onondago last night. The weather was too bad for the Tyee to risk crossing into Grays Harbor last night when she was off the harbor and in a position to enter. The wind and current then set her northward.
May 2, 1940
Aberdeen’s east entrance will be closed indefinitely Tuesday morning while city street crews blast rocks and dirt from the bluff along the highway, Jim Leitch, street superintendent, said today.
Two crews of three men each early today started drilling holes for the blasting. The recent heavy rain loosened some 20 yards of rock and dirt which came tumbling down beside the highway this morning.
It’s impossible to estimate how long the entrance will be closed. Traffic will be detoured on Sargent Boulevard.
May 3, 1940
R.H. “Tod” Sloan, veteran member of the Aberdeen Elks lodge, was presented with an honorary life membership in the lodge last night in recognition of 17 years service as chairman of its auditing committee. “He has worked hard and intelligently … and the entire membership is grateful to him,” said Exalted Ruler George Magee in making the presentation.
60 YEARS AGO
April 29, 1965
A strong earthquake shook plaster from the ceiling in Judge Warner Poyhonen’s chambers in Grays Harbor’s 50-year-old courthouse at Montesano at 9:30 a.m. today.
The quake, which lasted about a minute and a half, caused much concern in the county jail, where preparations were made to evacuate prisoners to the nearby county garage. The evacuation plan was dropped when it became apparent that no serious damage resulted from the quake.
The clock tower looked like “it was sitting on a flag pole, swaying in the breeze” during the quake, according to one observer.
April 30, 1965
Steve Joanoux, a businessman in Hoquiam for 40 years, will close the doors of the Athens Grocery, 916 J. St. for the last time today. Ill health, age and urban renewal development forced Joanoux, a 74-year-old bachelor, into retirement.
Joanoux came from Greece in 1916 after serving in the Greek Army and settled in Cosmopolis until 1925 when he moved to Hoquiam. Since that time he has owned and operated the Athens Grocery story.
35 YEARS AGO
April 29, 1990
About 1,500 timber industry supporters surged onto Riverside Bridge in Hoquiam and blocked traffic for 90 minutes Saturday, then peaceably withdrew as police stood by.
Northbound Highway 101 traffic backed up on the east side of the river. There were no arrests at the blockade. But three men who reportedly were drinking and got into a fistfight among themselves were arrested later.
April 30, 1990
• A gavel carved from a portion of the “Lone Tree” that once marked the entrance to Grays Harbor will change hands May 7 at the Aberdeen Pioneer Association’s annual banquet.
James Stewart of Montesano, a descendant of one of the first three families to settle in Aberdeen, will hand the gavel to Muriel Alger of Aberdeen, the incoming president.
The gavel was carved by J.E. Calder, a pioneer in 1882, former owner and editor of the Vidette, and a former Montesano mayor.
The Long Tree was a tide-land spruce on a sandy spit. For a number of years it was a landmark for those entering the harbor or approaching Point Brown from upriver. It blew over in a winter storm in 1934.
At 6 o’clock tomorrow morning a nine-passenger Cessna is scheduled to depart from Bowerman Field in Hoquiam. For the first time in more than four years, passenger air service will be available from Grays Harbor to Seattle.
Hopes are flying high that the Coastal Airways 35-minute connection to Sea-Tac International Airport will link Grays Harbor to the business boom on Puget Sound and beyond.
May 1, 1965
Being the parents of royalty kept Mr. and Mrs. Donald McCaw of L street in Aberdeen, on the go this weekend.
Last night, the McCaws were present at the Huntley Building where their son, Bill, was crowned Weatherwax High School May King. Following the coronation, they left on an all-night drive to Pullman in order that they might be at Washington State University in time to see their daughter, Julie Ann, crowned WSU May Queen at 10 o’clock this morning.
May 3, 1965
Anderson-Middleton’s sawmill, down since April 23 when a five-ton reduction gear on the band saw carriage broke, will resume operation at 8 a.m. tomorrow after a hectic cross-country search for a new gear.
A used gear was flown here yesterday by chartered plane from a Crossett, Arkansas mill, which, by some coincidence, ceased sawmill operations Friday night and plans to convert to a plywood operation.
The chartered plane cost $5,000 but no cost for the used machine is yet available. Cost to custom make the gear would be $13,500 and delivery would have taken 8 to 10 weeks.
35 YEARS AGO
May 1, 1990
In six years, the Aberdeen YMCA Youth & Government Program has gone from 10 students and one adviser to 55 students with 10 advisers. It is now the largest and most powerful delegation in the state and most say its success is due in large part to adviser Millie Hogue.
But last week Hogue accompanied her students to Olympia for the mock legislature for the last time. Her husband’s work has transferred the family to Ohio, and as soon as their Aberdeen house is sold, she will be joining him.
Jay Simons, this year’s youth governor, said he talked to some adults overlooking the freshman senate – an addition to the program this year – and they said the Aberdeen students even stood out there. “All I can say is that it is popular here and she’s the only reason it can be,” Simons said.
May 2, 1990
Hiring practices at the Grays Harbor PUD appear to favor friends and relatives of employees, and utility officials promise overall reforms.
While no laws have been violated, according to the Attorney General’s Office, PUD officials concede that the public utility’s hiring methods give the appearance of nepotism and that recruiting measures are ill defined. Of the 11 summer interns recently selected. for example, seven are children of current PUD employees or otherwise related, the utility’s general manager, Steve Romjue, confirmed.
Moreover, when the PUD has job openings for permanent positions, they are seldom advertised and applicants tend to be those who heard about the vacancies, through the grapevine from utility employees.
May 3, 1990
An Aberdeen postman was taken to Grays Harbor Community Hospital with serious arm wounds yesterday after a dog jumped a four-foot fence and attacked him.
Paul Muma, 57, was delivering mail into the box outside the fence at 319 North E St. when the dog, a two-year-old cross between a German short hair and Blue Heeler, leaped over the fence and sunk his teeth into Muma’s arm, the man’s wife said today. The dog them attempted to attack him again, but he kicked it and sprayed animal repellent at it, according to Jackie Coulter, an Aberdeen animal control officer.
“This is the 13th (dog) bite he’s had,” said Mrs. Muma, noting her husband has been a postal carrier just six years. “I’m getting tired of this.”
“We’ve got trouble … right here in River City!” bellows Professor Harold Hill.
The Grays Harbor Civic Choir and the Grays Harbor Symphony Orchestra presents “Music Man” this weekend and next at Grays Harbor College.
Robert Richardson conducts the orchestra and Michael Sturm has staged the entire production, the first show for the Civic Choir in more than eight years.
Robert Neisinger recreates the role of Professor Hill, a part he first performed in October, 1968 at the 7th Street Theatre. Nona Holm plays the role of Marian, the librarian.
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.
