Opinion
Icons - Clatsop County And Beyond
We are often assaulted with images of celebrities. These faces become icons of our culture. Celebrities come and go and thankfully most of them do eventually go. There are, however some that become iconic in the American psyche. Here I am talking about iconic persons such as Abe Lincoln, George Washington, John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe. These are persons whose faces are immediately recognized by most Americans at first glance.
In Clatsop County there are a few iconic faces as well. Though these people may not be recognized in a hundred years, they have a very good visibility factor going for them right now and would probably be recognized by most residents.
My list may differ from others, but please entertain my assumption that the people listed below are the ten most recognizable iconic figures in our county. There are people who when you see them you immediately know who they are because their photos have constantly appeared in the news paper or because they show up everywhere.
Retired Grocer and community activist, Skip Hauke
County Commissioner and former Warrenton Mayor, Jeff Hazen
Astoria Mayor, Willis VanDusen
District Attorney, Josh Marquis
Community Activist, KMUN broadcaster and supporter of local arts, Carol Newman
Cannon Beach Lamp Lighter and gardener, Jay Schwehr
Soil and Conservation Agent, former KMUN personality, fiddle player, Dave Ambros
Local singer and Hip Fish publisher, Dinah Urell
Large animal Veterinarian and former Clatsop College Board Member, Russ Hunter
Small animal Veterinarian and Astoria School Board Member, Brad Pope
There are others who have bigger name recognition in our county, but most people wouldn’t know them if they tripped over them because they keep their image out of the spot light.
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15 Comments
On Apr 11, 6:00 AM, Name (required) wrote:
all well and good for them, yeah, we never get tired of reading about Skip Hauke, Josh Marquis and Willis Van Dusen, but what about the Iconic characters that used to be so plentiful around here? Guess they’ve died off, but there’s a few new arrivals in the area, I suppose, who are filling the ranks of the dear departed colorful whacked out quirky personalities who used to make a trip downtown or along the waterfront almost the same as visiting another planet.
All we got now is Helmet John and even he is from California. Why cant we have some local iconic dingbats anymore?
On Apr 11, 10:44 AM, What Happened to? wrote:
Whatever happened to Chris and Jeff Stangland? Happy Feet, Wheaties box, etc ...
Whatever Mike Koskela? invented the shrimping machine ...
On Apr 12, 12:48 AM, A Proud Native wrote:
On Apr 11, 5:00 AM, Name (required) wrote:
All we got now is Helmet John and even he is from California. Why cant we have some local iconic dingbats anymore?
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Personally, I enjoy Helmet John and have had many discussions with him. You do know that while he is sitting outside at some table reading the newspaper that he is actually going over his stocks, right? He is actually quite personable, and one of my favorite local colorful characters.
And what, pray tell is wrong with California? Isn’t that why we are bringing LNG here, for all those folks California who don’t want LNG in there state???? Smart folks, those Californians.
And for your info, all those folks who are moving here are coming from Portland and Seattle. We moved here from Seattle 10 years ago and as of this writing, we have 37 of our artist and writer friends moving here this summer. They just love it here!
Don’t worry though, they will be bringing plenty of jobs, culture and lots of their own hard-earned money, especially considering that every single one of them owns their own business, which means they won’t be groveling for a low-paying job at the local LNG.
I just can’t WAIT to see them!
On Apr 12, 5:59 AM, Guy wrote:
So many artists and so little art. It will be fun picking them out by their silly hats.
On Apr 12, 7:39 AM, No Name (required) wrote:
On Apr 11, 11:48 PM, A Proud Native wrote
And for your info, all those folks who are moving here are coming from Portland and Seattle....and as of this writing, we have 37 of our artist and writer friends moving here this summer...
Oh really? Gosh, I didnt know that! You really must have the inside track on everybody and everything!
On Apr 12, 9:29 AM, Tut suite wrote:
They’ll just be handing out the low paying jobs, if they employ anybody at all.
On Apr 12, 11:48 AM, Sea Pea wrote:
“A Proud Native” wrote . We moved here from Seattle 10 years ago and as of this writing ...
obviously took honesty 101 from the marquis school of interaction with plebian masses. he is also offering math 101, ethics 101 and media 101.
On Apr 12, 6:39 PM, AnotherAstorian wrote:
And then there are those of us who have lived here our entire lives...and are saddened by the state of downtown. I, along with about 1,000 of my closest friends, are absolutely thrilled that a major industry might FINALLY make it here, while employing people with pretty high paying jobs. Astoria will NEVER be a year-round tourist destination, as much as we’d like it to be. The weather just doesn’t allow for that.
I’m so sick of the CAVEmen (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) who have moved here and want it to be JUST an artsy community...Astoria isn’t about art, it’s about industry - we have a working river here people.
And although I’ve pointed this out before in various areas...I’m also sick and tired of hearing that “all the gas is going to California”. The pipeline for Bradwood is 38 miles long, going to KELSO, WA, with many industrial users along the way. IF the Palomar pipeline gets approved, it would take additional supplies, but it has to go thru it’s own permitting process.
It makes me ill when I see these environmental groups trying to stop ALL pipelines...yes, there are some I wouldn’t agree with myself, but damn, stop them all and in 20 years, we will be paying through the nose for our natural gas. And yes, unless we start building our own windmills in our back yard, natural gas IS the best way.
Yes, there are three LNG projects proposed...but NO, not all three will be approved. Think about it.
On Apr 12, 7:06 PM, Jennie F. Decker wrote:
On Apr 12, 5:39 PM, AnotherAstorian wrote:
I’m so sick of the CAVEmen (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) who have moved here and want it to be JUST an artsy community...Astoria isn’t about art, it’s about industry
You got it! This town was built on enterprise and has a long standing history of production, industry, labor and shipping. These goofballs move here and immediately claim that nothing should occur because it offends their delicate sensibilities. They think that just because they’ve recently moved to Astoria the entire length of the river belongs to them and any activity upon it needs their express approval. How people aquire such a disengenous sense of entitlement boggles the mind.
On Apr 12, 7:21 PM, AnotherAstorian wrote:
Jennie...so right you are. Considering there are many more commodities every single day worse than LNG moving up and down the river, these people just don’t know what the heck they’re talking about.
Last accident? I think it was when a ship burned, because there was no way to fight the fire on the water. Gee, seems to me the firefighting tugs that Bradwood will bring to the river would be benefit the waterfront. Those boats will be available ALL along the river when not needed for the tankers coming in.
On Apr 21, 5:43 AM, nemo wrote:
On Apr 11, 11:48 PM, A Proud Native wrote:
Personally, I enjoy Helmet John and have had many discussions with him
I was talking to John the other morning and he said, “hey, is it cold out here or am I crazy?”
On Apr 21, 1:41 PM, Country Boy wrote:
My my, 37 writers and artist, and they all will have their own businesses paying family wage jobs, really?
I would rather bet on Bradwood landing for safe, clean highpaying jobs.
On Apr 21, 3:26 PM, cascadian? wrote:
On Apr 12, 6:39 AM, No Name (required) wrote:
On Apr 11, 11:48 PM, A Proud Native wrote
And for your info, all those folks who are moving here are coming from Portland and Seattle....and as of this writing, we have 37 of our artist and writer friends moving here this summer…
Oh really? Gosh, I didnt know that! You really must have the inside track on everybody and everything!
And all 38 of you will be calling yourselves “Proud Natives” within the year, fingers crossed, hands behind your backs, telling us what our history is and how lost we were almost falling for the promises of real industries rather than the dream weavers foggy descriptions of the future.
On Apr 22, 5:38 AM, A Proud Native wrote:
On Apr 21, 2:26 PM, cascadian? wrote:
And all 38 of you will be calling yourselves “Proud Natives” within the year, fingers crossed, hands behind your backs, telling us what our history is and how lost we were almost falling for the promises of real industries rather than the dream weavers foggy descriptions of the future.
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Why is there such a problem with my calling myself a Proud Native? It is of my opinion that *anyone* who has lived in the Pacific Northwest is indeed a Proud Native. But you can choose to disagree, hey no prob!
As for your “history” - get over it. Those good old days of big industry are over. My gosh folks, wake the hell up and quite living in the past. This is the year 2008! You all sound like a bunch of cry-baby whiners!
Waaaaaaa! I wanna job! Waaaaaaa! I wanna fish like we did back in the 19th century when “returning salmon choking the rivers so thickly that one could walk across the water dry-shod on their backs.”
I wanna fish so much that we wasted so much and threw so much back into the Columbia River and be incredibly wasteful of our natural resources . . . Oh yeah, I know all about Astoria’s history of waste of natural resources and its incredible greed.
A little more about Astoria’s very greedy history:
http://www.nwcouncil.org/history/CommercialFishing.asp
“Thus overfishing for all species was epidemic toward the end of the 19th century. Commercial salmon fishers often caught more than the canneries could handle. Canneries didn’t set landing limits until the mid-1880s.
Excess fish were simply dumped back into the river. (!!!)
Many of these would wash up on shore and rot, providing food for gulls and bears and producing an omnipresent stench — Astoria had a reputation for its fishy odor. (Still does, this comes from the Clatsop County Commissioners) Rotting fish also provided breeding grounds for disease organisms like the typhoid bacillus.
As many as 500 salmon might be dumped in a single night. (!!!) In her book The Trail Led North, Martha Ferguson McKeown quotes a cannery foreman describing life in Astoria in the 1880s:
There wasn’t no laws regulating what happened to the fish. The fishermen tried to catch all they could. The canneries agreed to take them. Every man tried to live up to his contract. Everyone aimed to make all he could.
Folks in Astoria got pretty sore, but that was about the smell more than about the salmon being wasted.” <----It figures
Wow! Seems like that kind of slash and burn thinking still exists right here on the good old NCO! Yeah, bring on the LNG, considering how well you all screwed up with the fish, let’s see how well you do with the LNG!
On Apr 22, 6:05 AM, Name (required) wrote:
On Apr 22, 4:38 AM, A Proud Native wrote
Wow! Seems like that kind of slash and burn thinking still exists right here on the good old NCO! Yeah, bring on the LNG, considering how well you all screwed up with the fish, let’s see how well you do with the LNG!....Oh yeah, I know all about Astoria’s history of waste of natural resources and its incredible greed.
Of course, the mere fact that nobody alive today was fishing in the River at the end of the 19th century dosn’t interfere with your cockamaime thinking when it comes to trying to blame someone. You just dont like Astoria, the people who live here and the history of the area.
You certainly arent a Native, and it’s probably a safe bet you arent even a native Northwestener. (Yawwwnnnn) How uninteresting you are.