Memorial rite recalls day etched in minds ~ Anniversary of Mt. St. Helens eruption

HOFFSTADT BLUFFS, Wash. -- When Mount St. Helens erupted 20 years ago, Paul Nickell's mother and stepfather were camping there. It was as if the mountain swallowed them. Their bodies were never recovered. Nickell felt hopeless sorrow seeing their
names on the list of those presumed dead. "It doesn't seem real until you see their names on a list," he said.

On Thursday, the 45-year-old Portland resident saw Ellen and Robert Dill's name on another list. But this one brought him comfort. It's on a plaque memorializing the 57 people who died in the mountain's May 18, 1980, eruption.

"The deaths were always a footnote," Nickell said. "This is a long time in coming." More than 300 people gathered for the memorial service at Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center, which overlooks the north fork of the Toutle River midway between Castle Rock and the mountain's crater.

Cowlitz County commissioners unveiled the plaque and dedicated a grove of trees to the mountain's victims. "I enjoy this right here," Sheryl Bales said as she sobbed and tapped her sister's name on the plaque. "I just want people to remember." Bales, a 33-year-old Longview resident, lost her only sister, Karen Varner, in the eruption. Varner and her fiance, Terry Crall, had been camping in the Green River Valley when the mountain blew. "Twenty years later, it's still fresh," said Madelin Varner, Karen and Sheryl's mother.

"A lot of focus has been on recovery of the mountain," said Michael Lienau, a Camano Island, Wash., filmmaker who survived a smaller eruption days after the cataclysmic one in 1980. "For me it was very personal." He showed part of his film, "The Fire Below Us," which tells the stories of survivors and those who lost loved ones in the eruption.

"For a lot of them, the shadow of Mount St. Helens is still heavy," Lienau said. That may have kept families and friends of those who died away. Few of them attended the ceremony. Cowlitz County Tourism Director Mark Plotkin, who organized the event, said his department tried to reach all the victims' families but kept no RSVP list.

Salem resident Ted Kirkpatrick didn't hear about the event, but he commemorated the anniversary in a different way. The 33-year-old hiked six miles up the south flank of the mountain to the crater's rim. It was his first visit to Mount St. Helens since it erupted and killed his mother, Joyce Marie Kirkpatrick of Newberg. Mount St. Helens fascinated his mother, he said. His parents had split, so he and his brother and sister often spent weekends with their mother camping on the northwest side of the mountain. That weekend, the Kirkpatrick kids couldn't make it.

"I knew where she had gone. I hoped and prayed somehow she had gotten out," Ted Kirkpatrick said. Months later, he learned from the 11 o'clock news that her body had been recovered. "I've had a lot of animosity toward that mountain," Kirkpatrick said. The hike was his way of making peace with it.

Hard feelings may have kept others away from the memorial service, said Van Youngquist, who was a Cowlitz County commissioner when the mountain blew . He said many victims' families thought the government drew the boundaries of restricted "red-zone" areas too small, allowing entry to places that proved to be well inside the blast zone. "It's the red-zone, blue-zone thing. They thought their families were in safe areas," Youngquist said. "But nobody knew what would happen." Nickell agreed. "It was a cataclysm bigger than anyone imagined."

The formerly cone-shaped peak lost one-seventh
of its height during the avalanche and eruption,
dropping the summit elevation by 1,314 feet.

"At 8:32 Sunday morning, May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens' summit and much of its north flank crumbled in a hugh landslide, triggering massive explosions that ripped through the sliding debris. 57 died when the volcano erupted." ... The Oregonian

"1980 Mount St Helens volcano in Washington, USA erupted, killing 100 people. A cloud of ash 2,500 miles long and 1,000 miles wide was created." ... Source: Ananova - Mount St Helens erupted on this day in 1980

DATE-(UTC)-TIME Latitude Longitude Depth Magnitude Q COMMENTS
yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss degrees degrees km

2002/05/16 14:44:25 43.48N   126.60W   10.0 4.1       C OFF COAST OF OREGON
2002/05/16 13:15:04 5.40S   151.48E   33.0 5.3       A NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
2002/05/16 11:00:10 29.70N    51.79E   33.0 4.5       B SOUTHERN IRAN
2002/05/16 03:46:04 53.74N   160.22E   87.7 4.4       B NEAR EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA
2002/05/15 19:43:25 55.84S    28.14W   33.0 4.6       B SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
2002/05/15 19:17:17 42.74N   139.22E   33.0 4.3       B HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
2002/05/15 18:09:20 24.69S   178.89E 500.0 4.1       B SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
2002/05/15 17:54:49 42.23N   121.90W    8.4 4.3          <SEA> OREGON
2002/05/15 10:23:07 34.58N   139.15E 148.1 4.3       B NEAR S. COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2002/05/15 09:20:55 23.01S    68.11W 125.4 4.9       A NORTHERN CHILE
2002/05/15 07:06:20 43.49N   127.01W   10.0 5.4       A OFF COAST OF OREGON
2002/05/15 04:42:42 24.63N   121.57E   10.0 4.3       B TAIWAN
2002/05/15 03:46:05 24.60N   121.94E   10.0 6.2       A TAIWAN

Mount St. Helens remembered: 'God is speaking'
Mount St. Helens: Lessons in life from the zone of destruction
Mount Rainier: Danger at our door
Mount St. Helens remembered: Volcano drew 3 million visitors in 1999
Johnston Ridge hike reveals rebirth at Mount St. Helens

7 Wonders of Mount St. Helens
Mount St. Helens And Catastrophism
Mt. St. Helens - Fast Facts <--- Good before and after pics here

catastrophism:

catastrophism, originally, the outdated geological doctrine that the physical features of the earth's surface, e.g., mountains and valleys, were formed during violent worldwide cataclysms, e.g., earthquakes and floods. This theory, easily correlated with religious beliefs, was systematized by Georges CUVIER, who argued that all living things were destroyed and replaced with wholly different forms during these cataclysmic events. In the 18th cent. the doctrine was attacked by James HUTTON, who advanced the doctrine of UNIFORMITARIANISM. Late 20th-cent. theories of meteorite or comet impacts upon the earth (see MASS EXTINCTION) revived elements of catatrophism, and modern geological theories are somewhat of a synthesis of the two doctrines.

The scary part about "Stratos".is their plumbing lines...they may have several tubes leading to one main..and that main being plugged primarily by various composite lava.
The subducting plates generating fluid energy ..the volcanoes the release point.
Several Catastrophist thinkers..Dr Victor Clube..Napier.. and Grand-dad..Immanuel Velikovsky site off world gravametric distortion as a prime mover in rapid plate boundry activation..movement..and failure of locked plates.
A comet..or large asteroid passing near the earth carries gravemetric properites which find their counter..or reaction in and by the earth.
Gravametrics heat the earths interior..creating fluidity.. wave energy movement..even hermonics..which destabilize the norm.
Like a microwaved coffee that has sat to long..the contents must come out..the earth the same..as per gravametic distortion.
Should a comet pass near the earth..and generate sufficient gravametric "Tugging"..the energy would burst along the Cascade conduit.. many of the Stratos would blow violently..with thier plugs blocking release.

Recently we have seen "Long period" comets arrive,some suddenly..out of nowhere..never recorded before in history.
Long ago the Northwest U.S. was buried miles deep in Lava...some Native legends speak of the Lava flows..of rivers boiling..of forests ablaze..of few surviving the experience.
During a past romp in the U.S...was parked below Mt Shasta.. a strato,...intimidating would best describe the feeling upon being near this volcanoe..
The town below it is named "Weed"..I drove away thinking.."Ya..that makes sense..for those who wish to live near a potential Krakatoa"

>The town below it is named "Weed"..I drove away thinking.."Ya..that makes sense..for those who wish to live near a potential Krakatoa"

Weed = tares -- weeds sown among the wheat, and left until the harvest to be burned. The tares are burned first. Mt. 12:34-43. It is best not to be a tare. DB Cooper may have got millions in his sky heist of NW Airlines but what good did it do him? When Mt. St. Helens blew, some of the money washed downstream.

N. California is full of left wingers and overage hippies who probably grow their own...weed.

Country life is closer to that of the original Jewish herdsmen who raised animals, sacrificed them and saw blood and the consequences of sin. Farmers see life and death, blood, gore and pain involving animals and while city dwellers tend think of meat as coming in a plastic-wrapped styrofoam tray and or from McDonald's labeled, "Have it your way." Those are very different worldview. In Bible days people understood that sheep were to follow the shepherd, but today sheep and cattle are rounded-up by dogs and don't know the Shepherd. He who chases the sheep instead of leading them is the butcher. Today as JBTs round-up Christians, starting at the edges of the herd with the McGuckins and the Christines, we can be certain that truth is fallen in the street:

Isa 59:14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. 15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

For those who hold the truth in unrighteousness and love the things of the world, there is a train wreck coming. The formerly Christian nation has given birth to those who know not God. Whether country people or city people, too many have given their minds to the globalist worldview pumped 24/7 from television, movies and the media. That media is controlled by the globalist power elite have melded the worldviews of country people and city people until people who pretty much do what they are told.

"Ah consensus … the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies in search of something in which no one believes, but to which no one objects; the process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead. What great cause would have been fought and won under the banner 'I stand for consensus'?" — Margaret Thatcher

The churches in Grants Pass displayed their fruits of ungodliness when they failed to help the Christines in their hour of need and therefore betrayed them and manifested themselves as the unfruitful works of darkness, despisers of them that are good and pretty much the whole 2 Tim 3 list of a form of godliness.

2 Timothy 3:1-7 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

I am a great respecter of volcanoes and don't want to be close or downwind when one goes off. Mt. St. Helens sent a cloud around the world and others in history have darkened the skies and changed the weather for months.

A man had a dream in which he was in a tall building in downtown Portland, OR in an office strange to him, at an unfamiliar desk and seeing both Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens erupting at the same time. He thought the dream was silly until later when he got a new job and sat down at his desk and recognized the office and the view from his window of both Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens, exactly as he saw in the dream. He said he knew it would happening. Anyone watching the NEIC Earthquake List regularly will see the Pacific plate is rattling like a pot on the stove which was left on High and frequently there are quakes on opposite sides of the lid. As we see all these birth pangs come on the world, it is a good day to repent.

2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

Boomer the dog is well named.

There was an airplane that flew over the mountain the day preceding the eruption. It used some sort of heat detecting photography to determine what was hot and how hot. Had they developed the film of their findings immediately, they would have determined how dangerous it was and that they should have made their red zone much bigger and removed people up there. They didn't develop the film until Monday, the day after the mountain blew.

The wonders of science.

ON THE RECOVERY ~~~

"...The first hint of trouble came on March 20th, 1980, when the mountain gave a violent shudder, bouncing the Richter needle to 4.1. On March 27, the first eruption opened a crater and sent a plume of ash and steam 7,000 feet into the air. Quake followed quake in the next few weeks. Scientists had long expected this. Now they predicted a major eruption." Corps: Before the Eruption

"A magnitude 5+ earthquake at 8:32 a.m. set the blast in motion. Huge masses of rock began sliding down the mount's north flank, releasing gas pressure inside. Within seconds the whole north face exploded in a cloud of ash, rock fragments, and hot gases rushing northward at speeds up to 120 miles per hour. Once uncapped, the eruption continued vigorously until late afternoon. The top 1200 feet of the mountain rose in a billowing dark-gray plume of pulverized rock 11 miles high, and began drifting east.
Meanwhile, the avalanche of rock, mud and ice released by the earthquake roared down the mountain, turned westward and surged 17 miles down the North Fork Toutle river valley; one of the largest landslides in history. Another part of the slide pushed north across the valley, overtopped the ridge and flowed down South Coldwater canyon. The eastern part rammed into Spirit Lake, raising the lake level about 200 feet and blocking its outlet with debris hundreds of feet deep. Massive mudflows choked the Toutle and Cowlitz rivers and brought shipping to a halt on the Columbia River. The Corps, responsible for navigation and flood control, quickly became involved.
Corps crews found the worst flood danger on the Cowlitz along I-5, where the channel was nearly full of mud and debris. The Corps went to work raising levees and roads, removing debris and clearing blocked creeks between Castle Rock and Longview. At the same time, ships were stranded in port or going aground on mudflows that had come down the Cowlitz and filled the Columbia channel overnight from its previous 40-foot depth to a mere 14 feet. For nine miles up and downriver, nothing moved but mud and water. The Corps' three hoppers dredges and the Port of Portland's pipeline dredge soon arrived on the scene from other jobs. More pipeline dredges came on contract a few days later. When shipping was partially restored on the Columbia River, two of the huge dredges were hauled overland through Longview in the early morning hours to new work sites on the mud-choked Cowlitz. ..." Corps: The Crises and Response

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