75 years ago

Feb. 23, 1942

Extra-curricular activities undertaken recently in Ocosta high school reflect the war efforts of students, Superintendent Paul Hitchcock said today.

The woodworking class, composed of ninth grade boys under supervision of R.B. Seeley, has completed sets of regulation splints to be used in Red Cross first aid classes and emergencies.

Meeting the complete requirements of the Red Cross manual, the sets include nine finger splints, seven forearm splints, nine full arm and three leg splints. They were made from plywood and other scrap material left over after completion of the gymnasium.

Feb. 24, 1942

For the first time since the war started, Grays Harbor beaches last night went through a “real blackout.”

The state of alert lasted for about four hours and extended from the north Washington coast through both the north and south beaches of Grays Harbor and on south through Long Beach to the Oregon Coast.

It presumably was ordered in connection with the shelling by an enemy submarine of a California coast oil field, but neither the army nor any other official source clarified this point today.

Reports the blackout was ordered because an enemy aircraft carrier had been sighted off the Grays Harbor coast went entirely unconfirmed today.

50 years ago

Feb. 23, 1967

• In March and April the Grays Harbor/Pacific County Health District will perform its annual Tuberculosis Skin Testing Program in all schools. The Health District tests just 1st, 8th and 12th graders each year.

The test used this year is simple and less foreboding than ever. It is called the Tine Test. It is a little round dial with 4 small points that are pressed, almost painlessly, into the superficial skin for one second. There is scarcely a pause in the line and “no needle.”

• TV programs on Thursday evening include “Bewitched,” “F Troop,” “That Girl,” “Star Trek,” “Dragnet,” “Dean Martin Show” and “My Three Sons.”

Feb. 24, 1967

• Police continued this week to clear up burglaries and attempted burglaries and find that most of their problems are in connection with juveniles who are bent on a life of crime.

In the most recent case, a 14-year-old junior high boy was apprehended for breaking and entering a residence on E. Second St. in Aberdeen.

• Admitted Boston Strangler Albert H. DeSalvo, one of the most notorious criminals since Jack the Ripper, escaped today from Bridgewater State Mental Hospital in Bridgewater, Mass.

The 35-year-old ex-Army boxer, who said he killed 13 women, escaped five weeks after he was sentenced to life imprisonment for sexually molesting four women.

25 years ago

Feb. 23, 1992

Led by omm’A Givens’ 29 points, the Raymond Seagulls stayed alive in the Southwest Washington District Class B Boys’ Basketball Tournament with a 64-53 victory over Valley in a loser-out contest before a capacity crowd in Rochester Saturday night.

Senior guard Casey Collins, in his customary sixth man role, contributed 14 points and five assists.

Taholah found the going considerably easier in the first half of the doubleheader. Frankie Pope celebrated his 18th birthday with a triple-double as the Chitwhins crunched Cathlamet, 73-39.

The Chitwhins came up with an astonishing 34 steals and probably had close to half than number in breakaway lay-ins. Pope accumulated 17 points, 12 assists and 10 steals. Anthony Hobucket also tallied 17 points for the winners while Otto Tanner had 14 markers.

Feb. 24, 1992

In a scene repeated too often, a young girl falls victim to a drunken driver, her life slipping away as her mother pleads with the doctors to work a miracle.

But this time, the blood is fake, the mother is just acting, and the doctor hasn’t even made it out of the seventh grade.

Hoquiam Middle School students were producing a commercial to warn about the dangers of drunken driving, which certainly aren’t make-believe. The actors are all members of the “Skills for Adolescence” class. Last trimester the kids in Betsy Seidel’s class undertook the task of making schoolmates aware of the dangers of drinking and driving. This group is taking on a bigger task: raising awareness throughout the community. They’re using radio, television, posters and a door-to-door campaign to get their message across.

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom