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Water Under the Bridge Compiled by Bob Duke The Daily Astorian, May 11, 2005

From the pages of Astoria's daily newspapers

10 Years ago this week -- 1995

Sea Grant funds may top $150,000 this year.

Jim Bergeron has watched fishing change over a quarter century, through booms and busts and now this strange time that finds the Columbia River and surrounding waters empty of the wild salmon that built an industry.

From his well-lit office at the East End Mooring basin, Bergeron can look out to the marina that houses many of the commercial fishing vessels in the local fleet. It's hard to judge the state of the industry from his vantage point.

Many of the slips at the marina are empty at this moment as some fishermen are probably taking advantage of the shrimp season under way.

As Oregon State University's Sea Grant Extension agent since 1974, Jim Bergeron has tried to share his perspective with the people on the sharp end of this challenging world -- fishermen and their families.

Muriel is an old computer monitor with knobs to adjust the brightness of green letters on a black screen. User friendly? Not!

A plastic cover on the keyboard guides your finger to the correct command keys and keep wayward fingers from tapping the wrong ones. The enter key off to the right is in a different place than modern computers, and the plastic is cut out to expose it with a note attached: press here.

The computer system that replaced the card catalog at the Astoria Public Library more than 12 years ago is no longer a phenomenon. It's ancient.

After the city of Astoria budget committee approved an $80,000 proposal for new computers, library Director Bruce Berney began a search for a new computer system.

The remodeled John Day County Park ramp was officially unveiled last Friday during a ceremony attended by representatives from the Oregon State Marine Board, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Clatsop County.

After starting service to the North Coast area only three months ago, Green Belt Stages has departed.

In a sudden move Thursday, the Brookings bus company announced it was abandoning its Portland to Astoria run, following in the tire tracks of Raz Transportation, and Greyhound.

50 years ago -- 1955

Washington state highway officials were hoping to re-open highway 830 between Cathlamet and Longview late today after an unexpectedly large quarry blast of dynamite covered about 300 feet of highway with rock and debris Monday morning.

The state highway department said the debris was as deep as four feet in some places when workmen set to work to clear the road.

The United States Corps of Engineers dredger Biddle has begun its annual depth maintenance of the Columbia River bar, the engineers announced today, and will be working in this Lower Columbia area for most of the spring and summer.

While the bar is calm the dredge will work to maintain the prescribed 40 foot depth, but while the bar is rough the Biddle will work Desdemona shoals and other areas up as far as Miller sands off Altoona, according to W.O. Owen, resident engineer at Fort Stevens.

A total of 207 persons were arrested during the month of April by city police, according to their monthly report. Of these, 110 were minor parking violations. Those arrested included 185 adults, 22 minors.

Fines collected during the month totaled $1389.50. Meals for the prisoners cost $99.50.

The Lewis and Clark Sesquicentennial committee has been receiving letters from school children in a number of different states for information concerning the celebration and for facts about the famous expedition 150 years ago, according to Robert L. Hansen, chairman of the committee.

75 years ago -- 1930

Astoria, despite losses in population, has at least maintained her position among the cities of "10,000 and more" It is a splendid nucleus on which to build anew. What has been lost in ten years can be regained in five or less. The process calls for co-operation and work in equal measure. Let us forget the losses of 1920-30 and begin to build for the gains of 1930-40.

The British light cruiser Dauntless will pay a "goodwill" visit to Astoria on September 1 to 6 when she enters the river with her sister craft H. M. S. Despatch.

The Despatch will continue to Portland and will remain there during the time the vessels are in the river.

Astoria has an angling attraction worth advertising in the big steelhead trout which have been planted in Sunset Lake, by the state game commission according to an enthusiastic local angler, who came away with a pair of aching arms and three 17-inch beauties.

The steelhead planted two years ago are now about 17 to 18 inches long while some 600 more planted this year are from 9 to 10 inches long. The big fish put a heavy strain on all but the best tackle. They break water on striking and fight until they are in the boat. Anglers predict that if the fish get another year's growth that they will prove too much for ordinary trout tackle