OPINION
6A
T HE
D AILY A STORIAN
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2015
A tribute to dispatchers
T
he second full week in April
is designated as National
Public Safety Telecommunicator
Week.
member where they live, what their
name is, or what they just saw. And
then, they’re to calmly provide all
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher
WKDWLQIRUPDWLRQWRWKHRI¿FHUV¿UH-
¿JKWHUVRUSDUDPHGLFVZLWKRXWHUURU
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
In appreciation for all that the WKH¿UVWWLPHDQGHYHU\WLPH
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
dispatchers in this county do for
Dispatchers are expected to be
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
the public, I would like to share a DEOHWRGR¿YHWKLQJVDWRQFH²DQG
Tribute to Dispatchers as penned do them well. While questioning
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
by Chief Thomas Wagoner from the a frantic caller, they must type the
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
information into a computer, tip off
Loveland, Colo., Police Department. another dispatcher, put another caller
SAMANTHA MCLAREN, Circulation Manager
I would also like to personally RQKROGDQGOLVWHQWRDQRI¿FHUUXQD
thank each of you for the job you do plate for a parking problem. To miss
day in and day out, every day. You all the plate numbers is to raise the of-
¿FHU¶VLUHWRPLVVWKHFDOOHU¶VLQIRU-
are an amazing and talented group!
— Jeff Rusiecki mation may be to endanger the same
Emergency Communications RI¿FHU¶V OLIH %XW WKH RI¿FHU ZLOO
manager, city of Astoria 911 never understand that.
Dispatchers have two constant
companions, other dispatchers and
A Tribute To Dispatchers:
Someone once asked me if I stress. They depend on one, and try
thought that answering telephones to ignore the other. They are chas-
for a living was a profession. I said, tened by upset callers, taken for
granted by the public and criticized
“I thought it was a calling.”
And so is dispatching. I have E\WKHRI¿FHUV7KHUHZDUGVWKH\JHW
ome 25 years ago many Astorians questioned whether they found in my law enforcement career are inexpensive and infrequent, ex-
wanted the place to be a tourist town. In some ways, it that dispatchers are the unsung he- cept for the satisfaction they feel at
roes of public safety. They miss the the end of a shift, having done what
was a needless question. With a world-class maritime muse- excitement of riding in a speeding they were expected to do.
Dispatch-
um, with Lewis and Clark’s winter 1804-1805 home nearby car with lights
ers come in all
ÀDVKLQJ DQG VL-
DQGZLWKWKHMXQFWLRQRIDJUHDWULYHUDQGWKH3DFL¿F2FHDQ rens
shapes and siz-
wailing. Dispatchers are
es, all races,
They
can
only
tourists were coming. But Astoria in 1990 lacked great places
both sexes and
hear of the bright expected to be
to stay and eat.
ages. They
RUDQJH ÀDPHV
able to do five all
are blondes, and
The county Historical Society leaping from a
Kyle Spurr has reported that
brunettes and
visitor numbers at the Columbia has created a new attraction in the burning building. things at once.
redheads. They
They
do
not
get
River Maritime Museum, Clatsop 2UHJRQ )LOP 0XVHXP ([HFXWLYH
are quiet and
to see the joy on
County Historical Society muse- Director McAndrew Burns noted the face of worried parents as they outgoing, single or married, plain,
ums and Lewis and Clark National this small museum has had an out- see their child begin breathing on its beautiful or handsome. No two are
Historical Park are “through the sized impact. Housed in the for- own, after it has been given CPR.
alike, yet they are all the same.
They are people who were select-
Dispatchers sit in darkened rooms
roof.” All of those attractions have mer county jail – which appears in
HGLQDGLI¿FXOWKLULQJSURFHVVWRGR
looking
at
computer
screens
and
the movie The Goonies±WKH¿OP
VKRZQVLJQL¿FDQWJDLQVWKLV\HDU
talking to voices from faces they an impossible job. They are as differ-
Each of these places has been museum has become a cult attrac- never see. “It’s like reading a lot of HQWDVVQRZÀDNHVEXWWKH\KDYHRQH
enhanced over the past decade. For tion. Assuredly it will be swamped books, but only half of each one.
thing in common. They care about
the Lewis and Clark bicentennial during the June festivities marking
Dispatchers connect the anxious people and they enjoy being the life-
in 2004-05, two things happened. the 30th anniversary of the release FRQYHUVDWLRQV RI WHUUL¿HG YLFWLPV line of society — that steady voice in
angry informants, suicidal citizens a storm — the one who knows how
Congress enlarged Fort Clatsop’s of The Goonies.
When some Astorians resisted DQG JURXFK\ RI¿FHUV 7KH\ DUH WKH to handle every emergency and does
boundaries and its scope to include
FDOPLQJLQÀXHQFHRIDOORIWKHP² LWZLWKVW\OHDQGJUDFHDQGXQFRP-
VLJQL¿FDQW VLWHV RQ :DVKLQJWRQ¶V the notion of becoming a tourist the quiet, competent voices in the promised competence.
riverfront. And the park creat- town, they conjured images of a night that provide the pillars for the
Dispatchers play many roles:
ed the Fort to Sea Trail. As Park place that would lose its innate bridges of sanity and safety. They are therapist, doctor, lawyer, teacher,
Superintendent Scott Tucker told charm. But the best truism is that expected to gather information from weatherman, guidance counselor,
Spurr, local visitor count is up con- if you make a place more com- highly agitated people who can’t re- psychologist, priest, secretary, su-
siderably, because of the park’s fortable for its residents, visitors
DOVR ZLOO ¿QG LW PRUH DWWUDFWLYH
trails system.
The Maritime Museum under- That’s exactly what’s happened in
By TIMOTHY EGAN
went a major refurbishing and Astoria. The new hotels and restau-
New York Times News Service
expansion in 2002. Since its re- rants, the Riverwalk and amenities
opening that year, the museum has such as the Fort to Sea Trail make
magine him in the last week
attracted more than 1.1 million vis- this place a better home and visitor
of his life, 150 years ago this
magnet.
itors, a phenomenal outcome.
Founded in 1873
Better for residents,
attractive to visitors
S
There’s a message in local museums’
phenomenal visitor growth
pervisor, politician and reporter. And
few people must jump through the
emotional hoops on the trip through
the joy of one caller’s birthday party,
to the fear of another caller’s bur-
glary in progress, to the anger of a
neighbor blocked in their drive, and
back to the birthday caller all in a
two-minute time frame. The emo-
tional roller coaster rolls to a stop
after an eight- or 10-hour shift, and
they are expected to walk down to
their car with steady feet and no
queasiness in their stomach, because
they are dispatchers. If they hold it
in, they are too closed. If they talk
about it, they are a whiner. If it both-
ers them, it adds more stress. If it
doesn’t, they question themselves,
wondering why.
Dispatchers are expected to have:
the compassion of Mother Theresa
• the wisdom of Solomon
‡WKHLQWHUYLHZLQJVNLOOVRI2SUDK
Winfrey
• the gentleness of Florence
Nightingale
• the patience of Job
• the voice of Barbara Streisand
• the knowledge of Einstein
• the answers of Ann Landers
• the humor of David Letterman
• the investigative skills of Sgt.
Joe Friday
‡WKHORRNVRI0HODQLH*ULI¿WKRU
Don Johnson
• the faith of Billy Graham
• the energy of Charo
• and the endurance of the Ener-
gizer Bunny
Is it any wonder that many drop
out during training? It is a unique
and talented person who can do this
MRE DQG GR LW ZHOO$QG LW LV ¿WWLQJ
and proper that we take a few min-
utes or hours this week to honor you
for the job that each of you do. That
recognition is overdue and it is insuf-
¿FLHQW%XWLWLVVLQFHUH
I have tried to do your job, and I
have failed. It takes a special person
with unique skills. I admire you and
I thank you for the thankless job you
do. You are heroes, and I am proud to
work with you.
— Chief Thomas Wagoner from the
Loveland, Colo., Police
Department, 1994.
Remains from Lincoln’s last day
In that sense, the Homestead Act
was the Dream Act of today. It had
a path to citizenship and prosperity
for those in this country who were
neither citizens nor prosperous.
Consider the vision to stitch
month.
a railroad from east to west, an
6KXIÀLQJFORWKHVKDQJLQJORRVH-
enormous tangle of infrastructure.
In 1862, Lincoln signed legisla-
ly on the 6-foot-4-inch frame, that
tion spurring construction of the
tinny voice, a face much older than
transcontinental railroad. That
someone of 56.
same year, he approved a bill that
“I am a
led to the creation of land grant
tired man,” he
colleges.
said.
“Some-
Today, Congress will not even
n this place of ports and boats, it airliners we will be able to accom-
times I think I
approve enough money to keep de-
can seem irregular to consider the modate will make the airport a viable am the tiredest
crepit bridges from falling down,
importance of airport, airplanes and VWRSIRUDLUFDUJRPLOLWDU\ÀLJKWVDQG man on earth.”
and has whittled away funds to help
À\LQJ VNLOOV 2XU VWRULHV ODVW ZHHN an array of other functions.
working kids stay in college. It’s
Springtime
laughable to think of Republicans’
It’s also encouraging to see lo- in Washington,
drive home the point that the Astoria
approving of something visionary
start-
Regional Airport is, if anything, cal people endeavor to keep the lilacs
and forward-looking in the realm
ing to flower.
gaining in importance and that a American tradition of civil aviation
of transportation, energy or educa-
The
Capitol
Timothy
cadre of area citizens has a renewed alive. The new Astoria Flying Club Dome finally
tion. Government, in their minds,
Egan
harkens back to traditions of the mid- free of its scaf-
passion for civil aviation.
can never be a force for good.
In 1864, Lincoln signed a bill
Although our area has struggled 20th century, when there was an ac- folding. His
that
allowed California to protect
month
began
in
triumph
against
without lasting success to keep a tive dream of making small, private
the
Yosemite
Valley and the Mar-
the
largest
slaveholding
nation
on
commuter airline interested in serv- airplanes nearly as ubiquitous as cars
iposa Grove of giant Sequoias —
earth. Richmond fell and was set
ing local passengers, there clearly and pickups.
wild land that would eventually
DILUHE\LWVUHWUHDWLQJUHVLGHQWV2Q
Think of how
In more recent times, the com- April 4, Abraham Lincoln, with his
are a number of other perfectly vi-
become part of the National Park
able economic and strategic uses plications and distractions of mod- 12-year-old son, Tad — his birth-
much the party system. Republicans of today are
openly hostile to conservation, a
IRUDVLJQL¿FDQWDLUSRUW7KHUHORFD- ern life along with factors like day! — walked the smoldering
of Lincoln has
largely Republican idea.
tion of the U.S. Coast Guard Sector higher insurance costs have erod- shell of the rebel capital, walked
The great, nation-shaping ac-
a mile or so, pressed by a throng
Columbia River command structure HG LQWHUHVW LQ OHDUQLQJ WR À\ OLJKW
turned against
complishments of Lincoln’s day
of liberated blacks, to sit as a con-
to the mouth of the Columbia is one planes. But there remains an en- queror in the seat of the Southern
happened only because the South,
the expansive
of the most obvious reasons for the thusiastic group of private pilots White House.
always with an eye on protecting
slavery and an estate-owning aris-
“No day ever dawns for the
airport’s relevancy, but the Columbia LQERWK&ODWVRSDQG3DFL¿F:DVK
political
tocracy, had left the union — rid-
River Bar Pilots, Lektro, Brim FRXQWLHVZKRÀ\IRUIXQFRPPXWH slave,” wrote a man who had once
philosophy
ding Congress of the naysayers.
been
owned
by
a
fellow
man.
In
Aviation, UPS and others also see it to jobs elsewhere in the region and
Today, the South is solidly Re-
Richmond, thereafter, all days had
as key to their ability to serve local VRPHWLPHV ¿QG ZD\V WR WXUQ WKHLU dawns.
of Lincoln.
publican and solidly obstruction-
À\LQJVNLOOVLQWRDOLWWOHLQFRPHRQ
customers and community needs.
ist. The party is also solidly white.
2Q WKH GDZQ RI KLV ILQDO GD\
Most likely thanks to the Coast everything from aerial photogra- April 14, Lincoln rises as usual at the expansive political philosophy No, they’re not slave-apologists,
7 a.m., breakfasts on coffee and of Lincoln. Not the emancipation though many fail to recognize the
Guard component of airport use, the phy to sightseeing jaunts.
Flying small planes can be a tre- an egg. He meets with his cabinet, of 4 million people — Northern active, toxic legacy of the Con-
Federal Aviation Administration is
being particularly helpful in facilitat- mendously effective way of interest- confers with an ex-slave, lunch- Democrats who died on Southern federacy. And no, their insults of
es with the unpredictable Mary battlegrounds, and certainly the 3UHVLGHQW 2EDPD ² FDOOLQJ KLP D
ing a thorough reconstruction of the ing young people in careers in avi- Todd. They have plans to attend Republicans who held power then, king, an incompetent, an outsider,
airport’s Runway 13-31, to the tune ation and at the same time imparts ³2XU $PHULFDQ &RXVLQ´ ,Q WKH get their share of credit for end- echoing some of the slights against
of $4.6 million, plus a very welcome a working knowledge of everything box at Ford’s Theater that evening, LQJWKH2ULJLQDO6LQRIWKH8QLWHG Lincoln — do not in any way make
2EDPDWKH/LQFROQRIWRGD\
JUDQW IURP WKH 2UHJRQ from meteorology and mechanics a white supremacist fires a single States.
But beyond: Could the Repub-
But you can say this with cer-
Department of Transportation. As a to electronics and practical math. shot from a Derringer. The bul-
let penetrates Lincoln’s brain and licans who control Congress in tainty: what unites the Republican
consequence, airport owner Port of As one local pilot remarked for our lodges just behind his right eye. 2015, the party of no, ever pass a Party, on this 150th anniversary of
$VWRULDZLOOJHWD¿UVWFODVVUXQZD\ VWRU\ À\LQJ FDQ JHQHUDWH D NLQG RI The most significant casualty in a Homestead Act? That law, which the murder of Lincoln, is that they
for as little as $30,000. This is still spiritual serenity for participants — war that took more lives than any went into effect the very day, Jan. are against the type of progressive
a painful expense considering the an enhanced awareness of the natural other in the nation’s history dies 1, 1863, Lincoln’s wartime exec- legislation that gave rise to their
3RUW¶V¿QDQFLDOVWUDLWVEXWLUUHVLVWLEOH world that percolates through soci- the next morning — the first presi- utive order to free slaves in the party. Lincoln is an oil painting in
breakaway states did, carries a the parlor, to be dusted off while
ety. Some might go so far as to say dent to be murdered.
FRQVLGHULQJWKHEHQH¿WV
Now think of the legacy on this clause that very few Republicans Republican leaders plot new ways
Along with the airport’s other WKDWDQDWLRQWKDWÀLHVWRJHWKHUVWD\V anniversary of the American pas- would support now.
to kill things that he would have
runway, 8-26, which was recently re- together.
Former slaves, famine Irish, approved of.
sion play. Think of free land for
Nothing in politics is static.
We’re fortunate to have an in- the landless, the transcontinental Russian Jews, single women, Mex-
GRQHZH¶OOKDYHVXI¿FLHQWFDSDFLW\
to receive planes as large as Boeing creasingly healthy airport, one that railroad, the seeding of what would icans who didn’t speak a word of Things will change. Party philoso-
737s in a variety of weather and wind OLQNVXVWRWKH3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVWLQ- grow into national parks, the grant- English — all qualified to claim phies will flip, new alliances will
ing of human rights to people who 160 acres as their own. You didn’t emerge. What we know for sure
conditions. It’s probably safe to say WHULRULQZD\VWKDWDUHSUR¿WDEOHDQG had none.
have to be a citizen to get your again comes from Lincoln: “Fel-
that the recent talk of scheduling 747 looking ahead to natural disasters,
And think of how much the par- quarter-square-mile. You just had low citizens, we cannot escape his-
stops here will not come to pass, the reassuring.
tory.”
ty of Lincoln has turned against to intend to become a citizen.
I
Healthier airport makes
for a stronger local society
I