If you said “Oregon”, I’d only think of two things, & unbelievably, the both occurred on the exact same day!
First, that bruiser, figure skater Tonya Harding was born. To celebrate this most auspicious day, the Oregon Highway Division, which had jurisdiction over beaches(!) decided to remove a stinking, 45’, 8 ton dead whale on a beach using a half ton of dynamite!!! This allowed Paul Linnman to give us the best “B” sentence the world has ever known, thanks to George Thornton, the world’s formost expert in what NOT to do with dead whales.
On the off chance you don’t know the story, The blast blasted blubber beyond all belivable bounds.
I agree that they used a bit too much dynamite on the whale but, as an Oregonian, I’m more embarrassed by us being known as the home of Tonya Harding. What a piece of work she was.
The job was left to the Oregon highway department, since all of Oregon’s beaches are technically public highway up to the high water line. Declaring the beaches to be highways was a stroke of genius from governor Oswald West. The original intent was from the days when there were few roads on the coast and people drove on the beach when possible. The wonderful result was that all 400 miles of Oregon coast remain public property up to the high water line and cannot be publicly owned. I still drive on the beach when clam digging.
So the job of getting rid of the whale was given to the guys who usually drag the dead deer and elk to the side of the road and let them rot, at least they used to. Now they pick them up and take them to a dumping area and let them rot. Progress!!
They probably did not have the needed expertise for the job.
Never seen this before, why wasn’t the dead whale drug back to the ocean and let nature do what it does to other dead whales.
I am sure someone could have used a rigging and/or block tackle, at high tide to a tug boat, with the aid of a crane and bulldozers to drag the carcass back to sea.
My guess is that they didn’t do this for two reasons. First, they’d have to tow it very carefully so they didn’t rip it apart. They’d have to tow it far out to sea as the tides tend to push stuff towards shore & a 45’, 8-ton whale doesn’t decay overnight.
Second, no big BOOM from playing with 1000 lbs of dynamite. :o
It sure was genius. Hotels cannot build giant fences extending into the beach or otherwise impede Oregonians who want access and enjoyment. There are no easement issues. In effect the entire coastline is one very long public state park. No advertisements, no private property rights, no profiteering. Its our beach not their beach.
In his book * Make Your Own Monstrosities with Tooth and Nail, * builder - designer George Daniels proposed a method of trash disposal: an explosive charge underneath your garbage. “All you need do is light the fuse and count to three, and the resulting blast sends your garbage all over the neighborhood. Once your neighbors have seen it work they’ll beat a path to your door.”
I note that to this day, media coverage of the event continually fails to mention the bowl of petunias inexplicably found near the whale’s carcass. I have to think “coverup”.
I wonder what kind of insurance claim the owner of that ragtop Cadillac made? That (broken front windshield and rear window + crushed convertible structure) must have been $40 of damage!
