Latest news with #DailyTelegram
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Navy planned to bomb wreckage of one of worst Central Coast maritime disasters
Over 100 years ago, the U.S. Navy had its worst peace-time disaster, just south of the San Luis Obispo County line. Seven destroyers were wrecked and 23 sailors lost their lives when a squadron on a speed training exercise went astray in what has since been called the Honda Point disaster. A navigation error had fatal results when ships turned too soon and crashed squarely onto the rocks on a foggy September night in 1923. The Bay Theater in Morro Bay is hosting a benefit showing of 'Disaster at Devil's Jaw' a documentary about the disaster on May 19 at 5:30pm. The showing supports Morro Bay's Maritime Museum. For years, the wreckage was a lasting embarrassment and macabre tourist attraction south of Lompoc on what is now Vandenberg Space Force Base. The aftermath was also immortalized by commercial photographer Frank Aston, who recorded major events then displayed prints at his studio to attract customers. The Daily Telegram at the time rarely paid to engrave and publish local photos, so this was an effective draw in the 1920s. Even as late as the early 1980s, there were still pieces of wreckage that could be seen on the rocks. The Navy proposed to bomb the embarrassment to bits in 1928, but apparently it didn't accomplish the goal. Two pictures ran on the front page of the Daily Telegram on Feb. 7, 1928. A watermark shows that the engravings were provided by the Newspaper Enterprise Association, the national Scripps news service. The upper image was the ungainly Curtiss F-5l flying boat. It was a significant anti-submarine craft during World War I, but with a payload of only four 230-pound bombs, it was unlikely to destroy the destroyers. It was an open cockpit aircraft that must have been an uncomfortable assignment. The lower image is similar to one of the Aston photos. Here is the story with typos corrected. Residents of San Luis Obispo will recall the disaster of the seven U.S. navy destroyers at Point Honda, near Surf, just below the county line, something over four years ago. First news of the disaster came through the S.P. (Southern Pacific Railroad) operator at Surf to the train dispatcher's office in this city, and a relief train was made up here and rushed to the aid of the injured men. Physicians and nurses from this city, with food blankets and other emergency supplies were sent to the scene of the wreck. Word of the disaster was sent out to the world through the Daily Telegram news staff. An official letter of thanks from the Secretary of the Navy to the officials and people of San Luis Obispo, for their services, was sent to Mayor Sinsheimer, following the wreck. Hundreds of residents of this section viewed the battered war vessels on the rocks, driving as far as the road went and then walking out to the scene of the crash, immediately after the wreck and on Sundays and holidays for months afterward tourists drove to the spot. Point Honda is off the highway, but near the Southern Pacific Coast line right of way, and is difficult to access by car.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
What was it like fighting measles before vaccine? 1918 article warns of disease
Walk through an old cemetery and the tragic sight of small grave stones marking the final resting places of children is a common sight. Childhood mortality was commonplace from the early 1900s and earlier. When parents of the 1950s and 60s were given the chance to vaccinate their children against potentially fatal childhood illnesses they took advantage of the highly publicized inoculations. The sense of relief was real with the generation before — I grew up knowing older family members who had endured life-long injury from diseases like polio. Today severe consequences of childhood illnesses are being seen again where science skepticism has taken hold. Humans relate to story and anecdote told by the fireside but have a harder time with applying critical statistical analysis to real life choices. Given the choice of a convincing story told around the campfire and an empirical table of data, most people relate to the story more than the numbers. And sadly in some cases gathering accurate health data is being threatened by cutbacks in the only workforce charged with collecting and making sense of it. How do we address firefighter cancer rates, pregnancy risks and a host of other questions if no one is gathering the baseline information? It is ironic that today's anti-science digital storytelling was enabled by the scientists who invented the internet and devices that navigate it. The digital fireside has a lot of stories of questionable origin. Also ironic that people who distrust numbers and secretive organizations are fed information via a mathematical algorithm. Social media companies have an incentive to keep clients engaged and enraged but not accurately informed. The mission of most subscription-based sources is weighted toward accuracy but having a paywall limits the number of viewers. As satirist Jonathan Swift said; 'Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it.' And the visual storytelling that often accompanies vaccinations is cringe inducing. It is almost impossible to take pictures of the actual story, prevention, the absence of disease. The most common images, someone getting stuck with a sharp needle, accompanying stories since the 1950s, isn't an inviting calling card. Sadly in 1918, there was little medicine could offer at the time for many illnesses except ride it out. In the late 1910s, the Daily Telegram carried a women's page with the tag lines 'You and your friends' and 'Women who are doing things.' It carried a mix of news on fashion, health and organization activities. It also had advertising that recognized that women had control of key buying decisions. The page had advice for the person who would most likely be the household caregiver should a health crisis hit. This story ran March 15, 1918, as World War I was raging in Europe. The movement of troops would facilitate the transmission of contagious illness. The four decks of headlines of the day have been edited here since they just repeat the story. Never before in the history of the state, according to Dr. W.H. Kellogg, secretary of the California State Board of Health, have measles and German measles been so prevalent. During 1917 there were 23,500 cases of these diseases reported to the State Board of Health, and during January and February of this year not less than 9,000 cases of these diseases have been reported. While nearly all cases have been of a very mild type, occasionally the disease has appeared in a very severe form. Since most fatal cases of measles occur in children under five years age, parents should take special care in protecting very young children from becoming infected. The best way to control measles is to isolate all cases as soon as suspicious symptoms occur. The chief difficulty in the control of the disease lies in the fact that it is more 'catching' in the early stages before any rash appears. Prompt isolation, however, helps to reduce the prevalence of the disease. The State Board of Health does not advise closing the schools during an epidemic of measles, provided a system of inspection of school children is maintained. The best results are obtained through keeping the schools open and excluding all pupils who show any early symptoms of illness, such as fever, sore throat, or the symptoms of a common cold. The regulations of the board require the isolation of all cases of measles and German measles. Health officers and citizens should comply with these regulations in order that the wide prevalence of these diseases may be reduced. The presence of measles among our soldiers will not help to win the war.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
How state earthquake regulations changed the face of this SLO County high school
At a recent basketball game in Atascadero, I noticed banners celebrating the high school's 100th-year anniversary. But when I began to research newspaper clippings on the subject, I quickly became confused. A combined high school district was formed in a 1920 election that consolidated districts in Atascadero, Santa Margarita and Pozo. The measure won overwhelmingly, according to the Daily Telegram of March 1, 1920. The totals were 512-4 in favor. At the time, it was named the Margarita Black Union High School District. The mascot name, Greyhounds, was selected in a contest and announced in the Daily Telegram on Dec. 16, 1933. 'The selection met approval, since it conveyed the idea of the school colors, gray, with orange and at the same time indicating speed and cunning, and a determination to win the race,' the article said. The May 14, 1935, Daily Telegram carried a note that the student body had requested a name change. They made a unanimous appeal to the county Board of Supervisors asking the name be changed to Atascadero High School, which was granted. So after being completely confused, I sent an email to Stacey Phillips, executive assistant to the superintendent of the Atascadero Unified School District. Phillips, Lon Allan and others wrote a book on the history of the school, 'AHS: The first 100 years.' Phillips said the move to form a high school district began in 1919, and the first class of five girls graduated in 1921, the same year the original high school building was dedicated. COVID disrupted the actual century celebration, so it's a case of better late than never. In January 2017, the school was in the process of tearing down the last of the old buildings and cracked open a time capsule buried in the walls. A story by Lindsey Holden documented the contents of the 95-year-old copper tube: newspapers, photographs, coins and blueprints. It was lucky to last that long. There aren't many century-old school buildings in California. When an estimated 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Southern California in March 1933, many schools collapsed. The moderately large earthquake was one the of largest modern-era quakes at that time. Unreinforced masonry walls fell into piles around buildings. One child was killed, though the toll would have been much higher if it had struck during school hours, instead of shortly before 5 pm. The Long Beach quake produced photos of catastrophic failures, and the Field Act was the result. Schools had to be built or retrofitted to a higher standard. Many of the old, stately buildings were torn down. The bell tower at Atascadero was one such structure to be removed. And because of that, one of the original Atascadero High buildings was once caught in a strange legal limbo. Phil Dirkx wrote this story Sept. 12, 1972. An Atascadero school building is unique because of its unsafe condition. It has become a precedent-setting case. The building in question is the old gym-theater building on the Atascadero High School campus. It was built in 1922. It was rehabilitated in 1934, the year after the state Field Act set the standards for earthquake safety for school buildings. At the time it was believed to meet the requirements of the Field Act. However, in recent years engineers hired by the Atascadero Unified School District have declared it unsafe for students to use, according to the standards in the Field Act. Since then the students have been generally kept out of the building except for an Air Force ROTC class that will meet there this year with the doors open and on a limited basis. The Atascadero Unified School District has applied for a state loan which is available to replace buildings that have been condemned because of the Field Act. The amount of the loan is based on the square feet of the building being condemned. The gym-theater building has 18,126 square feet. If this can qualify for replacement under the state loan program, it can approximately double the amount that can be financed. District Supt. David Gray says that without the gym-theater square footage, the district can borrow enough to build the library-instructional materials center it is planning at the high school at a cost of about $275,000. If the gym-theater can qualify, the district would also be able to borrow enough to build a music room, agriculture shop and other shop additions. This would mean the total cost of the new construction at the high school would be between $500,000 and $600,000. The district hired the State Office of Architecture and Construction to examine the building in August. The engineers from that department declared the gym-theater unsafe for student use under Field Act Standards. Gray says that this makes the big building the first school building in the state to be declared unsafe despite its having been rehabilitated after the Field Act was passed. Gray said that because of the precedent-setting nature of the case, the State Office of Local Assistance was unable to make a decision on the loan application. He will have to take it before the local Allocations Board. This board is made up of two state senators, two assemblymen, the director of the Office of Local Assistance, the associate superintendent of Public Instruction and the deputy director of General Services. Gray said he will appear before this board in Sacramento on Sept. 20.
