Lögberg-Heimskringla - 19.01.1990, Page 6

6 • Lögbeig - Heimskringla • Föstudagur 19. Janúar 1990
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Retiring Commissioner recalls port’s past h'“'sra"“"'t:i'n';ilK
by Margaret Haberman
Courtesy of the Bellingham Herald,
Just where did T.B. “Tut” Asmundson
pick up his kingly nickname? He was bom
Thordur Bernard Asmundson. His given
name stems from his Icelandic heritage.
Asmundson was tagged with “Tut”
while working his way through the Uni-
versity of North Dakota in Grand Forks at
a delicatessan.
He was called “Ted” then. So was an-
other worker at the deli.
So to defuse the confusion, another
employee put the royal moniker on him
after the ancient Egyptian King
Tutankhamen, whose tomb was discov-
ered in 1922.
“The nickname stuck on me,” Asmund-
son said.
“Tut” remembers one night in the late
1950s when he circled Whatcom County
in his small propeller plane, searching the
inky gr ound for the lights of Bellingham’s
airporL
The Port of Bellingham commissioner
made a circuit over the city and spotted
several familiar traffic signals to get his
bearings so he could land safely.
“I had a hell of a time finding the air-
port,” the 83-year-old Asmundson recalled
as he flipped through his wallet to find his
old pilot’s license, dated SepL 20,1957.
“There were practically no lights. Just
to be sure, I flew over the city to find the
main intersections.”
Today, Asmundson said, Bellingham
Intemational Airport is a beacon of eco-
nomic development and a perfect example
of how the port has spurred growth dur-
ing the more than three decades since he
first ran for the commission at the urging
of local businessmen.
He was elected to the three-member
commission in November 1954 and en-
tered office in January 1955.
Asmundson’s final commission meet-
ing isTuesday, when he and his two col-
leagues are expected to approve an envi-
ronmental study that will lead to an 1,800-
foot extension to the airport’s main mn-
way.
The next day, he officially retires. He
said he wants to travel more and spend the
winters in a warmer climate, but will con-
tinue his general law practice.
Asmundson didn’t leam to fly until af-
ter the port acquired the airport for $1
from Whatcom County in 1957.
At that time, he said, “It had very few
facilities of any great value. It was really
nothing but a bunch of old wooden han-
gars. We kept putting money into the
airport to improve it.”
Commercial jet service began in 1985
with the advent of Pacific Southwest Air-
lines, now US Air.Thisyear, about 150,000
passengers are expected to board planes
in Bellingham. By 2000, that figure could
jump to 500,000 people, port estimates
show.
“Certainly the increase in passengers
and freight traffic since the advent of jet
service has made Bellingham Airport one
of the most rapidly growing airports in the
United States,” Asmundson said.
Though the airport is one of the jewels
in the port’s crown, he said he is most
proud of the overall devel-
opment during his tenure.
“I hesitate to say any one
single thing was the most
important,” he said. “I think
it’s an accumulation of all of
the many developmentsthat
we participated in. I think
the major thing is thatthere
has been a steady growth
and improvement in the op-
erations of the port and all
its facilities.”
Amongthe highlights, he
said, are the successful
wooing of the Alaska state
ferry system to Bellingham
this year after an on-and-off
campaign spanning more
than 20 years, developing
the Squalicum and Blaine
harbors, and the expansion
of the Bellingham Cold
Storage Co. food process-
ing complex.
Building up the port’s
shipping business at the
Whatcom Intemational Shipping Termi-
nal also was a crucial achievemenL he
said.
“Today, WIST is a significant factor
and this year we wiU surpass all previous
years in tonnage and in income. That is a
very significant factor in port’s eamings
and cash flow,” he said..
Earlier this year, port officials said the
amount of cargo that crosses the dock at
the shipping terminal this year is expected
to beat a nearly 20-year-old record of
506,000 tons in 1970.
Both the shipping increases and fixing
waterfront docks helped boost Whatcom
County’s fishing industry, Asmundson
said.
“They added significantly to our ability
to take care of the fishing fleeL and wegot
a lot more boats in and a lot more activity
which over the years has increased sig-
nificantly to where it’s a major factor on
the waterfront today.”
The burgeoning role of the port in
Whatcom County’s economy hasn’t come
without criticism. Several citizens groups
have sprouted up to keep an eye on port
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projects such as the Bellingham Cmise
Terminal in Fairhaven and airport im-
provements.
The public scmtiny is a switch from 30
years ago when meetings drew only a few
people and didn’t last long, Asmundson
said.
“ITl tell you what it was like then. We
hardly ever saw anybody. We didn’t
really have much to do except look at a
few leases,” he said.
“Our offices were in one of the old
warehouses. It was a real dump. It had
wooden benches. I sometimes felt em-
barrassed to bring anybody in. The aver-
age person’s garage was probably better
than our offices were.
“But now, it takes a major number of
what’s going on.”
Asmundson’s law office is decorated
with mementos from his time as port
commissioner: a photograph of him with
Commission President Peter Zuanich and
Commissioner Ken McAulay and honors
from various state and regional port asso-
ciations he has served over the years.
He described himself as a behind-the-
scenes player who doesn’t like to grab
attention, a low-key leader.
His humor comes through from a sign
on his desk, “Don’t ask me to think. I was
hired for my looks.”
“I’ve always tried to make known how
I felt about anything that we’re doing down
there,” Asmundson said. “I don’t get the
headlines because I don’t hke that. If I
have some complaints about internal
operations, I make it a point of privately
discussing those with the department head
or whoever’s involved.”
He has thought about retiring before,
but he said, “It seemed about every time
my term would be coming to an end, we
would be involved in some rather signifi-
cant project and development that I felt
justified my continuing to stay on.”
An advisory committee is to be formed
to help the other commissioners look at
candidates to replace Asmundson.
If he had a piece of advice for his suc-
cessor, he said it would be: “Do your
homework. What ever the decision is,
make sure you have the facts. Don’t be
concerned about the criticism. You are
never going to please everybody. Just
follow the procedure, that’s all you can
do.”
Asmundson said he’ll miss the com-
missioners and the port staff and will have
to adjust to being “an outsider looking in”.
But he won’t fade away.
“TheyTl probably hear me spout off in
port meetings during the period set aside
for public comments.”
Submitted by Cecil Swanson
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