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Scappoose runs away from Y-C for a 49-10 Cowapa League victory, Page A13 Wednesday October 10, 2012
TODAY’S WEATHER
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Sunny PAGE A12
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50 years after the Big Blow BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
KYLE BOGGS / The Chronicle
St. Helens High School boasts soccer coaches from three countries other than the USA. They are, from left, Simon Date from England, Daniel Banful from Botswana and Ryoma Ajisawa from Japan.
Igniting passion Coaches from three continents spread their love for soccer at St. Helens High School BY KYLE BOGGS The Chronicle
Melting pot may not be the first term that comes to mind when thinking of St. Helens. Spend some time around the high school soccer fields though, and it just might. Both boys and girls head coaches are from overseas, as is one of the four assistants. That means of the six coaches on staff, four different continents – including North America – are represented. The ultra focused Ryoma Ajisawa has coached at the school three years now after moving to Eugene from Tokyo in 1991 to play soccer at Lane Community College. He is coaching the boys this year after spending two years as the girls head coach. Simon Date and his dry wit
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came over from England on Independence Day in 1993 to play at Oregon State University. He became the head girls coach this fall. Daniel Banful is the newest of the group to step foot in St. Helens, arriving on July 4 of this year. His addition as an assistant coach from Gaborone, Botswana – with stops along the way for school in England and some professional soccer in Ghana – provides a voice of deliberate instruction. At more than 10,000 miles, Banful’s trek from southern Africa to St. Helens is the farthest of the trio. All three of them agree, however, that how they see the game here is a long ways away from how they saw it growing up in their home countries. There’s a passion for soccer felt in England or Japan or Botswana that isn’t shared in the United States, where the NFL rules the roost and the NBA and MLB fight for attention as well. That isn’t the case in the homelands of these three men. “Soccer is like breathing to some of us,” Banful said. Date and Ajisawa agreed. When talking with any of the three of them about the sport, passion is a word often repeated. That’s rooted in constantly playing soccer growing up. “Here you guys have three seasons. We don’t have that. It’s just straight soccer – one year, all soccer,” Ajisawa said. That translates to higher skill levels and a need to excel fundamentally in order to play on the competitive club teams. Ajisawa said when he tried out for FC Tokyo, he needed to be able to juggle. He needed to be able to juggle a lot — three sets of 300 juggles. “If you don’t do that, you’re not gonna be in there,” he said. That was needed simply for tryouts. In Botswana, tryouts emphasized conditioning (although Banful said he remembers seeing people easily juggle 100 or more times nonstop). Banful remembered the first three days of tryouts spent running laps around the field in 104-degree temperatures – 34 laps the first day, 40 the second, 20 the last. “We’d train hard,” he said. But they made sure they were ready for soccer tryouts because unlike here, soccer – known as football to the rest of the world – was king. “In England, if you quit football there’s no other option. You can play rugby or cricket, but they’re lame. See COACHES, Page A12
On Oct. 12, Oregon will mark the 50th anniversary of the Columbus Day Storm, known also as “The Big Blow.” The storm was among some of the most powerful storms to hit the Pacific Northwest. It caused widespread damage and was linked to 46 deaths, most in California due to heavy rains and mudslides. St. Helens schoolteacher Olive Moffitt was among the fatalities. Moffitt died on Oct. 13 a Portland hospital from injuries sustained during the storm. Across Oregon, the storm left behind millions of dollars in damage. Downed trees destroyed cars and homes, power lines were knocked out, hundreds of people were injured and many livestock died comafter being trapped in are flag pole The Plaza Squ be collapsed barns. r ca is yed th ose Planes belonging pletely destro to Jack Keudell “The Columbus Day Four trailers at R were a , er ll Fu e rlen of St. Helens were Storm is the benchmark Manor Trailer Court longing to A heavily damator, . mpany oper aged at the Scappo co e on ph le storm for which all other hit by a gust of wind te ose Airport it and of p ed on to during the 1962 Co storms are compared to when it land lumbus Day s roof. r’ ca e th h ug storm. across the Pacific Northsmashed thro west,” said Steve Pierce, even comes close to the furor Portland to St. Helens (for one president of the Oregon Chapter of the Columbus Day Storm.” intrepid traveler, the trip took 191 American Meteorological Society. Just ask anyone who grew up in hours), playing outside in the wind, or “This storm was not only the storm of Columbia County, and they’re sure to watching the St. John’s Bridge buckle the decade, but the storm of the cenhave story about the Big Blow – tury for the Pacific Northwest. There See STORM, Page A2 whether it was a record long trek from has yet to be another tempest that
Bridge worker presumed dead after falling from bridge BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
LONGVIEW, WASH. – A Mississippi man who was working as part of a construction crew on the Lewis and Clark Bridge, which spans the Columbia River between Rainier and Longview, is presumed drowned after falling from the bridge while working on Oct. 7. Charles William “Bill” Wiley Jr., 40, was working for Odyssey-Geronimo JV contractors of Houston, Penn., as part of crew working to repair the
Courtesy photo
bridge for the past several months. Cowlitz County 9-1-1 received a call from a
worker on the Lewis and Clark Bridge who reported that a fellow construction worker had fallen from the
A tale of two candidates BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
As part of our ongoing coverage of the 2012 elections, we asked both candidates in the race for Columbia County Sheriff to discuss their plans for the department and what challenges the department faces. Excerpts from those answers are below. The full text of each candidate’s bio and responses to the questions can be found online at TheChronicleOnline.com. The Candidates Jeff Dickerson is currently serving as sheriff and was elected in 2008. He also served with the Oregon State Police for 20 years. Dickerson was appointed by the governor to serve on the State Interoperability Executive Council working to improve radio communications for first responders in the Columbia County region. Dave Fuller has lived in Columbia
County since 1960, graduating from Scappoose High School in 1973. He served as a U.S. Marine, receiving an honorable discharge in 1976. He holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology from Southern Oregon State University. After graduation, he moved to Portland and joined the Portland Police Reserves. He then joined the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office in 1983, where he served until retiring last month.
bridge around 11:30 a.m. Boats and rescue crews from both the Cowlitz and Columbia County Sheriff’s offices were called in to begin an immediate search of the river. Also joining the search was the U.S. Coast Guard, which provided a helicopter and boat, local tug boat operators, several private recreational boaters and someone operating a boat provided by the contractor. Wiley’s body has not been recovered but has been presumed drowned. The search was officially See BRIDGE, Page A2
Automotive students invest in school’s future BY SHARI PHIEL The Chronicle
Q: If the sheriff's office's annual budget continues to decline, what changes or cuts would you make to patrol, administration and or jail services? Dickerson: The Sheriff’s Office budget has declined 40 percent since 2009. If it continues to decline (a high probability), we will do what we have been doing: find ways to keep our varied responsibilities intact. We will continue to rely on relationships and agreements
ST. HELENS — For the past several years, students from the St. Helens High School automotive skills program have been saving their pennies (and nickels, quarters and dimes). Now, they’re putting those savings to work for themselves and for future automotive students. According to automotive teacher Mike Herdrich, the students are taking $8,000 from their savings to help purchase a new hoist, which was recently installed. The hoist is valued at $25,000. The students are also
See SHERIFF, Page A2
See STUDENTS, Page A2
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