75 years ago
January 12, 1944
Howard Oakland, novelty shop proprietor, today donated auto seat covers to the slipper material drive officially opened by Hoquiam Elks today. Quimby and Wilson Furniture store will contribute 250 pounds of carpet material, lodge officials said.
Any substantial material over 12 inches square is being sought by the lodge. Materials will be sent to state campaign headquarters to make slippers for military hospital use.
Campaign committeemen are John Gable, Everett Zigler, William Ward, Herbert Traff and Fred Ayers.
January 13, 1944
Mayor Harry Robinson Tuesday night took office for a four-year term. It was the start of his 11th year, the longest term to be served by any Elma mayor.
Harvey Robinson and Richard Johnson, councilmen, reelected, were sworn in for two-year terms.
Frank Smith, reelected, was sworn in as treasurer for his second two-year term.
Mrs. M.A. Smith, city clerk for 22 years, was reappointed.
50 years ago
January 12, 1969
Sunday, no newspaper published
January 13, 1969
A trio of sharp-shooting juniors — Rod Derline, Rod Seaberg and Greg Joines — sparkled in the stretch for Elma Saturday night as the fifth-ranked East County crew pulled out a 77-63 league victory over South Bend’s spunky Indians, who staged a smoldering second half rally.
It was the eighth win for John Donahue’s go-go gang, now 3-1 in West Central League action and hot on the heels of Raymond’s high-flying ‘Gulls.
Derline, Seaberg and Joines teamed up for 57 points and 33 rebounds and their outstanding efforts made it possible for injured teammate Ron Sheets to convalesce his sprained knee.
25 years ago
January 12, 1994
Asa Fishel, a Harbor pioneer who logged and ran a trucking business in the Quinault area in a career spanning more than 60 years, died Monday, Jan. 16, at a Hoquiam nursing home. He was 94.
The Fishels homesteaded in the Quinault area in 1910, and Asa was educated in one-room schoolhouses in Quinault and Neilton.
He bought a team of horses at age 17 and cleared land for $10 a day. A year later he began working with his father logging and cutting cedar.
Fishel also worked as a sawyer for the Saginaw Lumber Co. in Aberdeen and was a timber faller for the Polson Logging Co. He drove one of the Quinault School District’s first school buses for three years before starting his own log trucking business in 1939.
He retired from the trucking business when he was in his 70s. But he became restless after a year and drove a gravel truck until he was 80.
January 13, 1994
In the end, it won’t be the travails of the timber industry or the lingering fallout from the recession that dooms David Milbourn’s $1.4 million brush-clearing business.
The Montesano entrepreneur says it will be the state Labor & Industries and skyrocketing worker’s compensation rates that force him to close his doors.
D&R Contracting employs about 50 full-time employees. “I could add 50 more,” Milbourn says. But those on the existing payroll will be out of work in two months, when the company’s contracts end.
“(L&I’s) running me out of business. It’s 100 percent L&I’s fault,” says a disgusted Milbourn, who started his brush and tree trimming company in 1976 with a drill and an acetylene torch.
Last March, Milbourn was paying $2.79 an hour per employee to L&I.
In April L&I reclassified the business as more hazardous, and Milbourn saw the rate jump to $8.08 an hour per employee. This month it rocketed to $11.14 and next year he’s slated for another increase.
Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom
