The North Coast times-eagle., July 01, 1997, Page 2, Image 2

PAGE 2
THE DUNAL AQUIFER
Once we stabilized the dunes, Clatsop Plains became
a very desirable place for folks to live. It's close to the beach
and rural enough for summer homes, retirement cottages, golf
courses and upscale subdivisions. Camp Rilea, Glenwood
Village and Cullaby Lake are the only Plains communities that
have any kind if sewvage treatment facilities and they vary in
effectiveness. Everyone else uses the old fashioned septic
system, wrfiere untreated effluent is discharged directly into
the very porous soils that occur here. Surf Pines, the county's
largest (and maybe only) gated community, practices an inter­
esting kind of closed loop recycling. They draw their domestic
wwater out of the acquifer, run it through their household plumb­
ing and discharge it back, untreated, into the acquifer. The entire
towwn of Gearhart is unsewvered, although they buy their potable
wwater from the surface wwater source maintained by the City of
Warrenton.
DEQ monitor wwells are now detecting some impact from
all of this on the groundvwater. The fact that contamination is not
far worse speaks clearly about the regenerative capacity of the
acquifer, but remember — dilution is not treatment. One high
ranking DEQ bureaucrat wvas recently quoted as saying that the
towwn of Gearhart should have built a sewwer system years ago.
Gearhart, it should be mentioned, seems quite happy wth the
status quo.
Providing sewwers for all of Clatsop Plains would certain­
ly do a lot to preserve the acquifer for future generations, wwho
undoubtedly wll need it if Corporate and State interests continue
to plunder the planet, but it presents an interesting dilemma.
Using State land use lawws, which require the protection of
resources like the dunal acquifer, it may be possible to slow
grovwth on the Plains, preserving the beauty that people value,
but existing septic systems would continue to operate. Building
a sewer collection and treatment system, and getting all proper­
ties connected, wwould help protect the acquifer, but would then
probably concede growth, allowwing Seaside and Warrenton to
gradually grow together into one very long strip mall like the "20
Miserable Miles" in Lincoln County. These are not easy choices
for local politicians, especially those who understand the ques­
tion. Most elected officials pay close attention to thoughtful and
concise citizen input, and it is actually not completely futile to let
them know how you feel about issues like this.
BY JIM WILKINS
Clatsop Plains can be loosely described as the area
extending from the north end of Seaside northward to the north­
ern boundary of Camp Rilea. It extends from the ocean beach
eastward varying distances, generally several miles. It is formed
almost entirely of sand, deposited from the Columbia River over
many thousands of years. Until the impact of western civilization
it was a windblown wild place with dunes forming and reforming,
marching solidly to the east.lnterdunal waterways once extended
from Warrenton all the way to Seaside, and the original occu­
pants of this region used these to traverse north and south in
their canoes Vestiges of these waterways can be glimpsed just
south of Camp Rilea, and southward by the Country Club.
We ingenious Americans, however, took exception to
this strangely chaotic beauty and, through the use of jetties,
dune stabilization plantings and the filling of the interdunal
waterways, managed to bring this unruly land into conformance
wth the rigid order so preferred by, for example, the United
States Army Corps of Engineers.
Underneath this now tamed landscape lies another
natural wander, The Dunal Aquifer. Recharging out of the Coast
Range at the rate on tens of million of gallons per day, this
resource is one of the largest sources of clean water in the
Northwwest. As wwe continue to overpopulate our planet and to
spew all sorts of chemicals into the air and water, the value
of this resource is increasingly apparent. All large community
water systems in Clatsop County rely on surface water as a
source. Surface water is obviously vulnerable to contamination
and federal law now requires treatment (usually filtering or floc­
culation, or a combination) in an attempt to make it clean
enough to drink. Until recently the dunal aquifer was very pure,
requiring no treatment, and very wwell isolated from the pollutions
of modem man.
Substantial research has been done in the past twwenty
or thirty years on the acquifer and related geologic issues. Some
of this information can be found at the Public Library in Astoria,
and a lot more can be gleaned at the Clatsop County Soil and
Water Conservation District and the Federal Natural Resource
Conservation Service. If you are really interested in this issue, I
wiould recommend a visit wwith Dr Kathy Taylor at the CREST
(Columbia River Estuary Study Task Force) office in the Post
Office building in Astoria.
Jim Wilkins owwns a construction company and restau­
rant in Astoria, and is a former Astoria City Councilman.
STOP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Do you feel that your home and community are safe
so long as violence occurs all around you? Clatsop County has
high rates of interpersonal violence and the majority of incidents
happen wwithin families.
Most often a man hurts and even injures a woman
Next most often, a parent hurts or even injures a child. A
serious domestic violence problem does exist in our midst.
Local families have members hurting one another in
ways wwe consider criminal, and much of it goes on out of sight,
even beyond the reach of the law. Women with limited means
to escape, as well as children and elderly parents, go through
frequent terror as self-entitled perpetrators inflict pain and chaos
that most people don't wwant and many abhor. The true tragedy
in our community is not only that we have not stopped these
crimes, but also that wwe have yet to create a coordinated multi­
agency response to address this problem as vigorously as pos­
sible.
Our community is far from alone in this problem. In fact,
a statewide council recently published the Oregon Protocol
Handbook: A Collaborative Approach to Domestic Violence,
a work called for by the Oregon Supreme Court and the Oregon
Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence, then funded by
the State Justice institute. The council took great care in recom­
mending how any Oregon community could effectively address
domestic violence.The effort depends on a practical understand­
ing of wily domestic violence occurs, on a broad-based commu­
nity commitment to stop this violence, and on a comprehensive
community-wwide response.
That means wwe need:
-Strong and consistently enforced standards and poli­
cies for holding perpetrators accountable.
~To support law enforcement and criminal justice to act
swwiftly and strictly.
WAR ON DRUGGIES
TO THE EDITOR
I wwould like to take a moment to express my gratitude
to the legislators in Salem for their efforts to recriminalize the
possession of less than one ounce of marijuana.
As a former college instructor wtfio left academia to
practice criminal law, I am fully awware of what this legislation
will mean to my checkbook. I laud all efforts to construct jails,
treat a medical problem (addiction) as a criminal matter and
generally increase my caseload
Funding education does nothing but engender a sense
of self-worth and a broadened awareness of the richness of life
and enhances one's chances of financial success It does
nothing for my criminal-law practice. In fact, funding education
cannot help but endanger my income, since education exposes
students to the richness of life found in art, music, theater, math
and science.
Education does nothing but dissuade students from
vandalism, theft, drug use and violence — all activities upon
wwhich my practice is dependent
By diverting public funding from education to the
criminalization of possessing less than an ounce of marijuana
(a substance that has been demonstrated to have some positive
medicinal uses) my criminal-law practice is enhanced and my
financial security ensured.
~D. MICHAEL HATCH
(Salem)
-Funding to guarantee victim safety and to support their
advocacy
-Education for professionals and agencies wwho wvork
wvith the problem as well as victims and people at risk.
-Social change to overcome the insidious force of any­
one feeling entitled to. permitted to or supported in establishing
control over another through violent, abusive treatment.
Last November a number of concerned community
members, now knowwn as the Clatsop County Domestic Violence
Task Force, started meeting to establish a local protocol for
domestic violence intervention.
The Task Force wvas formed to raise awareness in our
community and to ensure safety to victims and people at risk.
We strive to ensure that perpetrators are taught to be account­
able for their actions, and to support the justice system in its
effort to confront criminal actions.
Task Force members believe that our community needs
to appreciate several fundamental concepts and key words in
the current theories of domestic violence These concepts and
words appear in the Protocol Handbook An "assault" is an
incidence of physical violence that is legally defined and the
necessary focus of law enforcement, prosecution and defense
"Battering" describes a relationship with persistent
"abuse " A reported and prosecuted "assault" or lesser offense
is repeatedly found to be the tip of the iceberg People affected
(victim, perpetrator, family members and friends) wwill avoid
disclosing the rest of the story in many cases, as these people
don't recognize the hurt caused by abusive treatment.
Abusive treatment becomes a powerful component in
the dynamics of a relationship. "Battenng" is a form of relation­
ship that includes subtle as wwell as dramatic and terrifying harm
to its victim.The victim often becomes engaged in the process of
making the relationship wvork or may know of no other wvay to be
in a relationship.
The batterer is an individual wwho must be held account­
able for his(the overwhelming majority are men)actions, feelings
and beliefs. The victim is an individual, too.wvho needs help to
recognize her (the overwhelming majority are wvomen) rights and
options.
One thing our community needs to recognize is that
domestic violence is too often understood to be a series of
violent acts that can be stopped by training the man to control
anger outbursts and coaching the woman to avoid provoking
him
Instead, domestic violence must be understood as one
person taking and maintaining control in a relationship. That
person typically feels entitled to manage and even emotionally
or physically beat down his partner or family members in order
to stay in control
The evidence can be very subtle as wwell as quite
dramatic. For some, it is hard to even think about domestic
violence in these terms, let alone adopt this understanding
as one necessary for solving the problem
One reason it is hard to think about is that some of us
vwauld have to look at our own misuse of powwer and the harm wwe
have caused people wwe love
Another reason is that many of us are not ready for
the memories it stirs up about times wtfien wwe have felt hurt
by someone who loved us (or whom wwe thought loved us).
The Clatsop County Domestic Violence Task Force
wwants to inspire our entire community to join in its efforts —
the work needs many hands Considering our culture's history
and structure, men more than women need to take a stand and
actively rebalance the powwer in every love-based relationship
That wwill be a big step towward stopping the violence
around us
-LAYNE HOOD (& 15 OTHERS)
THERE IS A STORM
'There is a storm," I say.
'We are busy," they say.
"No look, look," I say,
"the clouds are on the horizon."
'We are in control." they say.
"It will go away, it doesn't exist;
if you persist we will change the rules. “
"It is wwith anger I wall respond," I say.
"you cannot prevent tragedy by changing the rules,"
"Suf we can prevent you," they say.
And so they change the rules.
'There is a storm," I say.
'We are busy," they say.
"No look, look," I say.
'The clouds are on the horizon."
'We are having fun," they say.
"Where is the marijuana petition?" they say
"I came here for the music." they say.
"It cannot be done," they say.
"You are undemocratic," they say.
"It is nuclear weapons, “ they say.
"It is Central America," they say.
"It is old growth, “ they say.
"It is whales and seals," they say.
"It is us,” I say.
'There can be no compromise
wth life support systems," I say
"We cannot settle for less,
we must do it together."
"You cannot mix issues, “ they say.
"The time is not right, " they say.
"You cannot do four petitions, " they say.
"You cannot do three petitions. " they say.
"You cannot do two petitions, " they say.
"You cannot do one petition, " they say.
"You cannot, * they say.
The citizens' legislatures.
The legislatures.
The siting councils.
The protection agencies.
The corporations.
The foundations.
The environmental organizations.
The peace groups.
The governments of the wworid.
The dictatorships.
The democracies.
The churches.
The media.
The people.
The end.
-LLOYD K. MARBET
Old Trojan Nuke Buster Lloyd Marbet
celebrates his 50th birthday July 12.
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