85 YEARS OLD
September 7, 1940
It does not always follow that the bigger the ship, the bigger the whistle; but Grays Harbor believes there is something to it. Last night, as a demonstration, the new Grace line steamer Red Jacket rattled windows and made the family cat bristle with an exhibition of some real whistle blowing.
Insisting that Grays Harbor bridges open and make way, the Red Jacket loosed such a blast of sound that, it was facetiously commended, bridges as far south as the Columbia River gaped open and waited.
The new ship, sister to the Stag Hound and Flying Cloud, departed today for South Aberdeen from the Wilson mill to where she shifted last night from the Anderson & Middleton plant.
September 9, 1940
Port of Grays Harbor commissioners this morning set up a preliminary budget of $175,010 for the port’s next fiscal year. Estimated revenue and cash balance was set at $136,300 leaving $38,710 to be raised by taxation with a levy of 1.85 mills, lowest since 1920 when the port became an active and operating utility.
September 10, 1940
The big new American Plywood plant, promoted and built by Grays Harborites on the ashes of the former Aberdeen Plywood plant, will be ready and operating about a month from today, V.A. Nyman, manager, announced this morning. Nyman said the old Aberdeen Plywood company sales force will be with the new company, many of the old customers are still available and an experienced crew is awaiting start of the new plant.
• About a dozen tickets in the Aberdeen Elks reserved seat section at Stewart Field for Aberdeen home games remained unsold this afternoon, Secretary Earl Hunt of the Elks said. The seats are on the 40-yard line.
September 11, 1940
King George and Queen Elizabeth took cover under a police station today when an air-raid alarm sounded as they were touring bombed areas of southeast London.
As the sirens shrieked, the king and queen left their car and walked downstairs into the shelter. They resumed their tour when the “all-clear” sounded 10 minutes later.
Conrad H. Mann, chief auditor of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, today notified all Eagles lodges of the district that Grays Harbor and Willapa Harbor Eagles who might be conscripted or who might join any branch of the armed forces under the national defense program, will be carried as beneficial members of their aeries without paying monthly dues.
September 12, 1940
With Jupe Pluvius appearing on the scene this morning to put the finishing touch to the picture, the Aberdeen Bobcats today awaited the Shelton Highclimbers for the initial Harbor football contest of the 1940 season. The two teams will clash at 8 o’clock at Steward Field and 2,500 fans are expected to watch the game.
Starting for the Cats will be Louis Nicholas, and Ralph Thomson, ends; Jack Barnes and Bob Morgan, tackles; Russ Heikkila and Jack Blume, guards; Bob Rottle, center; Les Barry, quarterback; Al Boettcher and Ted Homchick or Dick Casey, halfbacks; Bill Howard or Bud Wyninger, fullback.
60 YEARS OLD
September 7, 1965
Reichert’s Meats, 30th and Simpson in Hoquiam, is advertising thick and tender T-bone steaks for 89¢ a pound; ground round for 59¢ a pound; extra lean short ribs for 39¢ a pound and beef hind quarters for 53¢ a pound
September 8, 1965
It’s going to be a wonderful season at the Driftwood Playhouse this year. The local amateur theatrical group has two comedies, a thriller and a musical on the bill.
Mrs. Jane Mezera will direct “Take Her, She’s Mine” in October, a warm and witty comedy that shows the impact of a family sending its oldest daughter off to college for the first time.
Val Pearson will direct “The Deadly Game” in November — a tightly woven thriller with an unusual twist. In February, Harbor playgoers will see one of the most heart-warming comedies of the American theater. “A Majority of One,” which starred Gertrude Berg and Sir Cedric Hardwicke on Broadway and Sir Alec Guinness and Rosalind Russell in the film. It will be directed by Betty Jean Gretsch.
One of America’s favorite musicals will be in the Driftwood arena in May. Dick Lane will direct Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “South Pacific.”
Tickets for the complete season cost five dollars.
September 9, 1965
One of Westport’s oldest and most historic buildings, the Fishermen’s Inn on Montesano Street, was swept by fire early this morning. Flames left a charred mess of most of the interior of the building which had been constructed as a two-story schoolhouse with a belltower in the early 1900s. The former school house lost most of its second story in a remodeling project many years ago. Prior to operating as the Fishermen’s Inn, it was known for many years as the Schoolhouse Tavern.
35 YEARS AGO
September 7, 1990
Now that Westport has begun surfacing its gravel roads, it’s an occasion for dancing in the streets.
For years, motorists and home owners have had to deal with the dust and rumble that come from 12 to 14 miles of gravel thoroughfares.
Over the past two weeks, the Westport Public Works Department surfaced four miles of gravel streets.
“I think it’s wonderful,” said Yvonne Miller, who lives on Pheasant Run off Surf Avenue. “It was dirty and dusty before. Now the cars stay clean and they’re not throwing dirt and dust on homes.”
September 8, 1990
Improvements to the Weyerhaeuser pulp mill at Cosmopolis have put it on the cutting edge of industry technology.
The 34-year-old mill is the first of its kind outside Europe to use oxygen as the primary tool to bleach pulp, converting from the standard chlorine-bleaching that produces dioxin, suspected to cause cancer.
Weyerhaeuser’s $9 million conversion, completed this spring, could eliminate 80 percent of the chlorine-based chemicals used to bleach the pulp white, says mill manager Truman Seely. Further reductions may be possible later, he added.
The Weyerhaeuser mill discharges about 20 million gallons of effluent each day. With the chlorine-bleaching system, the effluent contained about 2 1/2 tons of chlorinated organic chemicals daily. The new changes will reduce that to about 615 pounds per day, according to figures supplied by the mill.
September 9, 1990
Hoquiam may call it “Playday” but this timber town’s annual festival was flavored with rumbling workaday rigs and signs of serious concern about the industry’s future Saturday.
Anyone walking the street faced a forest of t-shirts heckling spotted owl preservation measures and fluorescent signs marking businesses and families “supported by timber dollars.”
At the equipment show on the Anderson & Middleton shake mill property, young would-be loggers climbed into huge trucks to sit in the operators’ seat and pretend.
Everything from diesel engines to truck trailers were on display, with several salespeople available to quote prices and make their pitches.
•An 8-year-old Hoquiam girl was recently recognized for her dance potential during a workshop in Hawaii at which about 100 students participated.
D’amara Oszman, daughter of Kathleen Walch of Hoquiam, received a scholarship to participate in another workshop to be conducted by Roland Dupree of the Dance Expo of Hollywood, Calif. Walch, who teaches dance on the Harbor, had been invited to join the company on tour in Hawaii.
She explained that the tuition scholarships were awarded to three age categories after a series of auditions and personal interviews.
September 10, 1965
A record enrollment for Grays Harbor College is already assured with 1,049 students registered when the official registration period closed yesterday, according to Registrar John Killian.
The seventh and largest renewal of the Grays Harbor Country Club Invitational Pro-Am golf tourney gets under way bright and early tomorrow, with the first of 30 foursomes slated to tee off at 8 a.m.
Thirty of the Northwest’s outstanding professionals will match strokes with 90 top amateurs in the 36-hole blue ribbon event of the Harbor golf season.
September 11, 1965
It took the Aberdeen Bobcats two quarters to come of age as a ball club last night.
In two halves of football as dissimilar as any Stewart Field has seen, the ‘Cats savagely wrested game control from Olympia in the final 24 minutes to wipe out a 12-0 deficit and stun the conference co-favorites 13-12 before 4,000 electrified onlookers.
Quarterback John Wilson’s 3-yard toss to Tom Morgan with a minute and 6 seconds remaining capped a second half of unbelievable Aberdeen domination and put the ‘Cats come-back effort over the top.
The entire ‘Cat forward wall — “name them all,” said Coach Al Eklund, “they were all great” — took over as boss of the ball game. Walt Failor, Tim Walker, Ron Dominoski, Matt Donovick, Bud Perrine, Ron Hondell and Mike White flattened the Bears with a minus 1 net yardage in the final two periods.
September 13, 1965
The Hoquiam Grizzlies scored the first two times they had their hands on the ball, had a third consecutive march interrupted by only a quick exchange of fumbles, then sailed the rest of the evening through a blizzard of substitutions and red handkerchief’s to record a 24-0 win over scrappy but out-matched Montesano in Saturday night’s shakedown at Olympic Stadium.
An estimated 2,200 fans saw Larry Paulson score two touchdowns and pass for another.
Lugging the leather for important yardage were Steve Ford, Milt McGuire, Steve Wise and Chuck Scott. And when coach Dave Gross ordered the aerial arm unlimbered, Paulson and his understudy, Jon Parker, discovered a host of capable receivers in Ford, Wise, Scott, Jack Irion and Bill Quigg.
September 7, 1990
Now that Westport has begun surfacing its gravel roads, it’s an occasion for dancing in the streets.
For years, motorists and home owners have had to deal with the dust and rumble that come from 12 to 14 miles of gravel thoroughfares.
Over the past two weeks, the Westport Public Works Department surfaced four miles of gravel streets.
“I think it’s wonderful,” said Yvonne Miller, who lives on Pheasant Run off Surf Avenue. “It was dirty and dusty before. Now the cars stay clean and they’re not throwing dirt and dust on homes.”
September 10, 1990
Pep Whiteside, the popular milkman who became an Elma municipal court official, has retired, leaving a legacy of common sense and hard work.
White has long had health problems and now is bedridden with congestive heart failure.
He stepped down as court clerk on July 13, having previously served as judge.
In a telephone interview with his wife, Eileen, who in turn posed questions to her husband, Whiteside could recall without hesitation the exact day he starting working for the City of Elma – “Jan. 1, 1971,” he said.
September 11, 1990
An 80-year-old train depot in Hoquiam could be transformed into a historic museum if the mayor and a couple of determined teenagers carry through with their plans, already two years in the making.
The plans by Mayor Phyllis Shrauger and teens Jeremy Korst and Jason Bosarge gained momentum Monday night as Shrauger announced that Burlington Northern Railroad has agreed to donate the depot and surrounding land to the city. “Burlington Northern does not make a habit of giving these stations away,” the mayor said. “It couldn’t have been done without these boys.”
September 12, 1990
Rose Marie Bruton, a second-grader at Elma Elementary School,
has been accepted to compete in the National Little Star pageant Sept. 18 to 23 in Daytona Beach, Fla. She is the daughter of Everett and Alice Bruton of Elma.
During the competition, Rose plans to do a dance number to a song by the group New Kids on the Block. There is also a scrapbook and photo competition.
• Aberdeen opened its volleyball season by trouncing Mark Morris 15-8, 15-4, 15-10 in a non-league match Tuesday in Longview. “I think we got the first match jitters out of the way,” said Bobcat coach Toni Houbregs. “The second game, they started playing with more confidence.”
Zorana Hagara served 15 points, delivered four aces and had five kills for the winners. Teammate Brenda Blancas served 13 points.
September 13, 1990
A doctor who lives in South Aberdeen near treatment ponds for effluent from the Weyerhaeuser pulp mill says he believes chemicals in the ponds contribute to a higher-than-normal cancer rate in humans and animals living nearby.
Dr. Howard Bryant made his comments at a public meeting Wednesday night in Aberdeen on proposed permit changes for the Weyerhaeuser mill at Cosmopolis.
“I’m not a environmentalist and I’ve got a lot of patients who work for Weyerhaeuser but my biggest worry is cancer on Grays Harbor,” Bryant said.
After the hearing, Bryant, who is a family doctor, counted off several people in the area who have cancer or have died of the disease. His 6-month-old dog died recently of cancer and two horses on his property have died, he said.
Cheryl Cutshaw, who lived near the ponds the past 11 years, said last night that her family sold its house and moved because of fear that the ponds were affecting their health.
“When animals start dying and galvanized fences rust away, some (environmental) standard isn’t being met,” she said.
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.
