On this day, May 5, 1903, James Beard, US culinary expert, author (Delights & Prejudices), was born in Portland, Ore.
Also on this day, May 5, 1945, A Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing Mrs. Elsie Mitchell, the pregnant wife of a minister, and five children after they attempted to drag it out the woods in Lakeview, Oregon. The balloon was armed, and exploded soon after they began tampering with it. They became the 1st and only known American civilians to be killed in the continental US during World War II.
Also on this day, May 5, 1945, Bly minister Archie Mitchell, his pregnant wife Elsie, and five children from Mitchell's Sunday school class were on a Saturday morning picnic. Thirteen miles northeast of Bly, or about sixty miles northeast of Klamath Falls, Mitchell parked the car, and Elsie and the children headed to Leonard Creek. Mitchell later remembered: "As I got out of the car to bring the lunch, the others were not far away and called to me they had found something that looked like a balloon. I heard of Japanese balloons so I shouted a warning not to touch it. But just then there was a big explosion. I ran up there--and they were all dead." It was a Japanese balloon bomb. They were 70 feet tall with a 33-foot diameter paper canopy connected to the main device by shroud lines. Balloons inflated with hydrogen followed the jet stream at an altitude of 30,000 feet.
Most waterways in the bill are not even classified as rivers
According to many experienced foresters, Oregon's forests need better management and they think that Oregon needs more forest thinning to reduce wildfire risks, but a new bill making its way through Congress will make this job more difficult.
S.192, introduced by Senators Wyden and Merkley, restricts thinning and other forest management activities on three million acres of Oregon's federally-owned lands. County commissioners throughout Oregon have
expressed concerns about the bill and oppose it.
The bill will add nearly 4,700 miles of Oregon “rivers†to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. But most of the waterways in the bill are not even classified as rivers. Many are small creeks and tributaries that don't even carry water year-round, and are overgrown and ripe for wildfire. Yet the bill adds half-mile buffers where thinning and public access will be restricted.
Wildfires over the past two years have devastated Oregon's rivers, watersheds and nearby communities. We need to reduce wildfires risks and maintain safe public access, and follow the science.
--Staff Reports| Post Date: 2021-09-16 13:38:01 | |
