85 YEARS AGO

April 10, 1940

Sonja Henie, film actress and skating star, arrived in San Francisco weak and wan today as a result of a throat infection which necessitated an emergency operation at sea.

The operation for a perri-tonsilar abscess was performed two days ago by Dr. M.W. Brachvogel of Aberdeen, Wash., a passenger and acquaintance of Miss Henie.

Miss Henie became ill shortly before boarding the Hawaiian liner at Honolulu. Her temperature ranged around 102 degrees prior to the operation.

April 11, 1940

Winston Churchill today told the house of commons “great losses have been suffered by the German navy” in a continuing air and naval battle launched by Germany’s invasion of Norway.

“We have greatly gained by what has occurred in Scandinavia and northern waters in the strategic and military sense,” he said. “Hitler has made as great a strategic and political error as Napoleon when he invaded Spain.”

April 17, 1940

Forty Harbor boys were enrolled in the CCC at the armory yesterday and another enrollment opportunity will be offered Friday morning, the welfare office announced today. Youths wishing to enroll were asked to apply at the office, 305 South F St. in Aberdeen.

It was pointed out that the CCC is not limited to boys from families receiving public assistance but that its opportunities have been opened to all qualified youths.

April 18, 1940

Totem grocery stores in Aberdeen and Hoquiam are advertising asparagus for 5¢ a pound, 2 dozen oranges for 49¢, a dozen eggs for 19¢, 2 pounds of coffee for 39¢ and a pound of bacon for 20¢.

April 19, 1940

Orders for machinery for a new plywood plant in Aberdeen were placed today as the chamber of commerce announced that a campaign to raise $150,000 in community stock was meeting enthusiastic response.

Plans for the new plant are being studied already and it is contemplated that it will be in production within five months. Schafer Brothers, one of the principal backers of the new plant, has pledged it first option on its peeler logs and two other logging companies have made similar offers, assuring a continuous log supply.

60 YEARS AGO

April 17, 1965

Grays Harbor County’s three 200-bed portable disaster hospitals will be checked for deteriorated pharmaceuticals next week by M.A. Collison, custodial officer for the Public Health Service.

Drug supplies for the disaster hospitals are maintained at St. Joseph Hospital, Grays Harbor Community Hospital and the Elma City Hall.

Any drugs suspected of deterioration will be removed and replaced with fresh supplies.

April 19, 1965

The first condominium apartment-motel anywhere on the Washington beaches will appear at Ocean Shores within a few weeks.

When completed, the Gitche Gumee condominium will contain 60 recreational living units, in five separate buildings, and cost between $750,000 and $900,000.

In a condominium, each apartment or unit is bought and owned separately, and may be resold the same as a private home. The apartment owners jointly own land and other common facilities.

A relatively new thing in building, the condominium has been spectacularly successful in ski resorts such as Aspen, Colo. and Crystal Mountain, Wash.

35 YEARS AGO

April 11, 1990

The Easter performance at the Ocean Shores Baptist Church this year includes singers who can’t read words yet, let alone music.

Co-directors Connie Lindsey and Donna Smith feel the Tiny Tot Choir they’ve been coaching since last year has accomplished quite a lot. It features about 16 singers none of whom are over 7 years old. At their upcoming performance on Easter, the group will recite a Bible verse and sing three numbers with sign language accompanying one song.

“It’s a lot of hard work, but we all thoroughly enjoy it,” said Lindsey, wife of Rev. Danny Lindsey. “This gives children a special part in our church service. We wanted them to get involved.”

April 12, 1990

The spotted owl really isn’t the issue, both sides of the emotionally-charged dispute agreed Wednesday during a debate at St. Martin’s College in Lacey.

But beyond that and a shared concern for the fate of the people caught up in the crisis, there wasn’t much common ground for biologist Gene Dziedzic of Lacey and Bill Pickell of Hoquiam, Manager of the Washington Contract Loggers Association.

A panel of scientists recommended in a report released last week that the allowable timber cut in Northwest national forests should be reduced by 25 percent and by 30 to 40 percent on Bureau of Land Management lands to protect the owl’s habitat.

“We are talking about two endangered species; both are extremely important to the issue,” said Dziedzic, a former 30-year employee with the state Department of Game. “The spotted owl is a symbol of something far more important — the ancient forest. The other is the logger — what has happened is not his fault.”

Pickell said that 5 million acres in set-aside lands existed before the latest report and that is plenty. If the report’s recommendation is followed, the new set-asides “figures to $90 to $100 million per pair of spotted owls.”

Moreover, the northern spotted owl is declared threatened or endangered it would mean 10,000 jobs in the state of Washington, he said.

April 17, 1990

Schools and roads will suffer right along with loggers if timber harvests are cut drastically to protect the northern spotted owl, a group of public officials said today.

“Those of us in the logging communities have had the ax dropped on us,” Hoquiam Mayor Phyllis Shrauger said. “We cannot take another gutting of our cities such as we had in 1980 to ‘82 during the timber recession.”

April 18, 1990

She went to swim and act as a goodwill ambassador for Aberdeen, Washington State and the United States.

But when Gina Veloni, an Aberdeen High School senior, returned from China and Hong Kong last week, she came back with four medals, many friendships, some “great” buys in Hong Kong, an understanding of different cultures and rich memories from “the best experience” of her life.

She was one of 21 teens selected for swimming or diving skill, leadership and grades to be a part of the Washington Cultural Exchange team.

The 18-year-old, who has been a member of the Bobcat swim team for four years and the Aberdeen YMCA Sea Otters for eight, surprised herself when she brought back three silver and one bronze medal.

April 19, 1990

Hot dogs at the snack bar were a buck and a quarter, truck tractors sold for upwards of $50,000 and logging towers for old-growth timber went for pennies.

That’s a quick review of prices paid at a huge equipment auction in Hoquiam Wednesday. As one person said, “There are a whole lot of people here just to see what their stuff is worth,” should worsening industry conditions force them to sell.

The auction was staged by Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers International. For some it was just another auction.

But for many others, the ones who came to commiserate, the sale was as much social affair as business. The topics of conversation were the same all over the sprawling North Hoquiam site: “If it wasn’t the spotted owl, it’d be the spotted frog,” said one man, offering his view on the main topic of conversation.

One of those making his way through the crowd was Hoquiamite Don Bell, stopping every few feet to visit with men he’s known for more than 30 years in the logging business.

With the exception of a small amount of equipment he will keep to do some road building work, Bell sold everything at yesterday’s auction and he’s going out of the logging business.

Also selling large lots of equipment and down-sizing their businesses were T.J. Spradlin Inc. and Dave Williams Logging, both of Hoquiam, and Willapa Logging Inc., of Raymond.

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.