OPINION
6A
T HE
D AILY A STORIAN
Founded in 1873
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
SAMANTHA MCLAREN, Circulation Manager
Good outcome for
Astoria’s library
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2015
The giant rats that save lives
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF
New York Times News Service
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here in rural Angola, tailing a
monster rat.
This is a Gambian pouched rat,
a breed almost 3 feet from nose to
tail, the kind of rat that gives cats
nightmares. Yet this rat is a genius
as well as a giant, for it has learned
how to detect land mines by scent
— and it’s doing its best to save hu-
mans like me from blowing up.
Nicholas Kristof/The New York Times
A Gambain pouched rat — dubbed “HeroRats” by their handlers,
searches a minefield near Malanje, Angola, March 13. Land mine de-
tection can be a dreadfully slow and inefficient task, and the rats,
trained to detect the scent of explosives, are a radical innovation.
These rodent mine detectors have
been dubbed HeroRats, and when
\RX¶UH LQ D PLQH¿HOG ZLWK RQH WKDW
seems about right. You’re
very respectful, and you
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In contrast, a HeroRat can screen
just hope this HeroRat
2.5 pounds, which is a lot of 100 samples in 20 minutes — ambling
doesn’t have a stuffed nose.
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,¶P KHUH EHFDXVH ¿YH
I think I found my rat: a each, and pausing when one is posi-
years ago, my kids gave
scraggly codger named Bo- tive for tuberculosis. The rats are also
me a HeroRat for a Fa-
ban who is just the right age much more accurate than a human
he Astoria City Council’s Monday decision to build ther’s Day present through
to have been trained when with a microscope. In the clinics where
HeroRats are now doing the detection
GlobalGiving.org.
I
didn’t
my kids sponsored the rat.
a new library on Heritage Square, as part of a mixed-
actually take physical pos-
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use building, makes sense. In fact, it’s an idea that was na- VHVVLRQ IRUWXQDWHO\ EXW
product designer, started the LQ ODEV WKH QXPEHU RI WXEHUFXORVLV
HeroRat program after puz- SDWLHQWV LGHQWL¿HG KDV ULVHQ SHU-
scent around 15 years ago when Astorians gathered at the the gift helped pay to train
Nicholas
the rat to sniff out explo-
zling about how to improve cent — meaning that more patients are
Kristof
Columbia River Maritime Museum for a visioning session sives. And now I’ve come
mine detection. As a boy, diagnosed and treated, preventing the
:HHWMHQV KDG NHSW UDWV DV disease’s spread.
about the future of what was then called the Safeway block. WR PLQH¿HOGV RI UXUDO $Q-
Apopo pampers the rats, which get
gola to hunt for my rat.
pets, and he came across an article about
The stand-out favorite which emerged from that process was
There are 39 HeroRats here, and the use of gerbils for tasks involving better health care than most Ango-
lans. The rats work only a couple of
they underscore the way the aid world scent detection.
a mixed-use building.
KRXUVDGD\WKH\JHWKRWLQPLGGD\
is
increasingly
embracing
innovative
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In a nutshell, the concept is a
There is power in building a
and they retire at age 6
approaches to old challenges.
scholars, who suggested
public space — a library — on the new library space rather than living
when they become less
I’ve seen land-mine detection in Gambian pouched rats,
The
JURXQGÀRRUZLWKRWKHUUHWDLORI- with the limiting factors of the cur- Afghanistan and elsewhere, and it’s in part because they com-
dependable.
¿FHVRQWKHVHFRQGÀRRUDQGZRUN- rent space as well as the adjoining GUHDGIXOO\VORZDQGLQHI¿FLHQW7\SL- pensate for very weak
GHEDWHG ZKDW WR
rats are do ³:H
with them after retire-
cally, men in body armor walk in pre- eyes with a superb sense
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ment,” Adamo recalls.
paid in
This is not a new concept.
The most curious aspect of the cise rows holding metal detectors in of smell. They are called
“It would be very unfair
IURQW RI WKHP :KHQHYHU WKH\ FRPH “pouched” not because
Downtown Astoria — largely built council’s deliberations on the li-
bananas, to just, er,” — he paused
across metal, they stop and painstak- they are marsupials but be-
in 1923 — has retail on the ground brary’s future is the role of Larry ingly brush away the soil until they see FDXVHWKH\¿OOWKHLUFKHHNV
embarrassed,
peanuts, slightly,
ÀRRUDQGKRXVLQJDERYH
Taylor, the defeated candidate for what it is.
looking for a euphemism
with nuts and other good-
Usually it’s an empty AK-47 car- ies, and then bury them un- avocados — “get rid of them.”
For the city of Astoria, mixed mayor. Derrick DePledge reported
So the HeroRats
use on Heritage Square has two 7XHVGD\ WKDW ³:KLOH WKH OLEUDU\ tridge or a nail. Sometimes there is derground — relying upon
spend
their golden years
PHWDOHYHU\IHZLQFKHV(DFKWLPHWKH
scent
to
recover
their
cach-
and
GLVWLQFW EHQH¿WV :LWK KRXVLQJ debate has been about preserva-
nibbling on avocados and
whole process stops until the soil can es later. Another advantage
RI¿FHVUHWDLODQGDSXEOLFXVHWKH tion, there is a political ingredient. be brushed away.
apples. hanging out with their
of Gambian pouched rats
building would bring density and Larry Taylor, the Intel technolo-
KDQGOHUV :KHQ WKH WLPH
In contrast, the rats scamper along is that they have an eight-
new vitality to downtown. The oth- gy manager who lost to LaMear on leashes. They respond only to the year life span that offers
comes, the handlers lay
them
to
rest
in
a rodent cemetery, with
scent
of
explosives,
so
scrap
metal
a
lengthy
return
on
the
nine
months
of
er positive is that mixed use can in November, has been involved
several
people
present
to pay respects.
doesn’t
slow
them
down.
training
needed
to
detect
land
mines.
tap more than one capital invest- in both the campaign to save the
To me, HeroRats are an example
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ment and revenue stream. Libraries :DOGRUIDQGWKHPRUHUHFHQWDSSHDO
metal objects, a human with a metal Apopo, that trains the rats in Tanzania of an explosion of innovation taking
are ripe for philanthropic gifts and on behalf of the existing library.” detector can clear only about 20 square DQGWKHQGHSOR\VWKHPWRPLQH¿HOGVLQ place in the philanthropic world —
grants. Private developers will Defeated candidates deal with their meters a day. A rat can clear 20 times various countries. Apopo is also now and seeing large gains in productivity
as much.
branching off into using HeroRats to as a result.
¿QG WKH RWKHU VSDFHV DQ DWWUDFWLYH disappointment in different ways.
Apopo is also an example of aid
“Rats are also more reliable,” said detect tuberculosis — a disease of pov-
investment. There is public invest-
Heritage Square would be a
groups
connecting donations to par-
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erty
that
kills
1.5
million
people
a
year
ment available for urban housing. good outcome for the city’s library.
ticular tasks in a way that donors can
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$JURXQGÀRRUUHWDLOHUZLOOSURYLGH A mixed-use development would after a while, but rats just sniff away.”
A huge challenge with tuberculosis is easily relate to. Through Apopo.org,
a revenue stream.
be excellent.
The rats are paid in bananas, peanuts, diagnosis. It takes a trained health work- you can “adopt” a HeroRat for $84
avocados and apples, and they don’t er with a microscope all day to examine a year. Take it from me, this makes
need body armor — partly because about 25 samples of sputum to deter- D WHUUL¿F 0RWKHU¶V 'D\ RU )DWKHU¶V
they’re too light to set off land mines. mine if they are positive for tuberculosis. 'D\SUHVHQW
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Mixed-use building on Heritage
STuare Farries tZo bene¿ts
LNG rears its scary head
T
Do we want to be a West Coast
colony for a New York company?
he triumph of money over
democracy is a theme of the
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whether that will be the outcome of
a decision to turn parts of Clatsop
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export terminal and pipeline.
As outlined by our news story
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Regulatory Commission is com-
pleting a draft environmental im-
pact statement for the Skipanon
Peninsula terminal and 87-mile
pipeline that would connect it with
the regional LNG distribution net-
ZRUN$¿QDO(,6ZLOOIROORZFRU-
recting any technical details and in-
corporating public comments about
the draft, with document comple-
tion expected early in 2016.
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process, granted by Congress, in the-
ory to facilitate national interests by
getting energy products to and from
where they are needed. Carrying out
“coordinated national energy poli-
cy” envisions not allowing local or
regional feelings to get in the way.
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)(5&ZLOOEHQRPRUHELDVHGWKDQDQ\
other large federal agency and may
conclude that building massive LNG
facilities in the direct path of periodic
massive tsunamis is not a great idea.
On a more immediate basis, the
Columbia River bar remains dan-
gerous despite a robust Coast Guard
presence, late autumn and winter
wind storms fairly often reach hur-
ricane strength, and the Columbia
estuary is jammed with small com-
PHUFLDO DQG UHFUHDWLRQDO ¿VKLQJ
boats for weeks at a time. This is the
migratory bottleneck for migrating
salmon, steelhead, smelt, shad and
other species. A large new industrial
site in the midst of all this warrants
strict examination.
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able to objectively weigh all these
considerations is an open question.
Like all such bodies, it both draws
personnel from the industry it reg-
ulates and cycles employees into
those industries. They are not in the
business of saying “no.”
Oregon agencies, as well as fed-
eral ones such as the U.S. Army
&RUSV RI (QJLQHHUV DQG 12$$
Fisheries, must be zealous in ensur-
LQJWKDWHQHUJ\SUR¿WVDQGK\SRWKHW-
ical national energy interests don’t
overwhelm other legitimate issues.
These factors must be part of the
decision to forcibly install LNG as
a new neighbor for the people and
wildlife that have long committed
to live here. So, too, must the possi-
bility that the presence of LNG here
would serve as the foothold for oth-
er heavy industry along what is now
a remote rural shoreline.
Are Clatsop County residents
united in opposing Oregon LNG’s
plans? No. But recent county com-
mission elections have evidenced
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have made clear their doubts about
the project. Nor are all residents op-
posed to new heavy industry here.
Under circumstances in which new
QHLJKERUV GHPRQVWUDWH D ¿UP FRP-
mitment to preserving the values that
draw and keep residents here, most
new industries would be welcomed.
However, Oregon LNG, a sub-
sidiary of Leucadia National Corp.,
a New York-based holding compa-
ny, has long since abandoned any
pretense of community outreach or
inclusion. A corporation that does
not return local phone calls cannot
be expected to become a respectful
and accommodating new neighbor.
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Hollywood stars trump Harvard brains
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inclusion in the episode.
Regardless, it exposed Gates, a trust-
all me an idealist, but I’d ed authority on the African-American
like to think that the halls experience, to accusations that he’d sold
out. It diminished him.
of higher education are less vul-
But wasn’t that inevitable from the
nerable to the siren calls of fame moment he hitched scholarship to show
and fortune than other byways business?
³:HFRQÀDWHZKDWD3%6VSHFLDOLV
of American life are.
AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke, File
with academic work,” Carol
I’d like to believe in a
Anderson, who teaches at Dr. Mehmet Oz, vice chairman and
bold dividing line between
(PRU\8QLYHUVLW\WROG-DPLO professor of surgery, Columbia
academic virtues and ce-
Smith in The New Republic. University College of Physicians
³:HKDYHWRXQGHUVWDQGWKDW and Surgeons, testifies on Capitol
lebrity values, between in-
so much of what we see there Hill in Washington in June.
tellectual and commercial
is packaged for a nonaca-
concerns.
demic audience that wants coffee extract, raspberry ketones and
But Henry Louis Gates
the picture of really deep, other faddish weight-loss supplements.
Jr., a renowned Harvard
intellectual discussion but is Admonishing him, Sen. Claire Mc-
professor, and Mehmet Oz,
not quite ready for what that &DVNLOO QRWHG WKDW ³WKH VFLHQWL¿F FRP-
Frank
a surgeon on the faculty at
munity is almost monolithic” in its rejec-
means.”
Bruni
Columbia, get in my way.
:KDWGRHVWKHDXGLHQFH tion of “products you called ‘miracles.’”
I link the two because
Also remember that the British
of The Dr. Oz Show want?
they’re both in the news, not because
To judge by what Oz gives them, it’s Medical Journal published a study of
they’re equally in thrall to the televi- winnowed thighs, amulets against can- scores of his show’s medical recom-
sion camera or identically unabashed cer and breathless promises of “magic” mendations, saying more than half
GLGQ¶WKDYHVRXQGVFLHQWL¿FEDFNLQJ
peddlers of something other than fact. and “revolutionary” breakthroughs.
And bear in mind that the Sony
2]LVE\IDUWKHPRUHFRPSURPLVHG¿J-
Oz has morphed not just willingly
XUH %XW *DWHV WRR H[HPSOL¿HV ZKDW but exuberantly into a carnival barker. emails included one that showed Oz to
be eager, as Vox
happens when a lecturer is bathed in He’s a one-
reported, “to
bright lights and gets to hang with Ben man morality
Dr. Oz has
use his platform
$IÀHFNZKRZLOOVRRQEHRQVFUHHQLQ play about the
on the show to
Batman’s billowing cape.
temptations
morphed …
help expand So-
$IÀHFNZDVDJXHVWODVW2FWREHURQ of mammon
Q\¶V ¿WQHVV DQG
the PBS documentary series “Finding and the se- exuberantly into a
health-tracking
Your Roots,” in which Gates takes lu- duction
of
carnival barker.
devices mar-
minaries — Sting, Stephen King, An- applause, a
ket.” Sony is
gela Bassett — on journeys into their Faustian par-
one of the producers of Dr. Oz.
SDVWV$IÀHFNVLJQHGXSIRUWKHWULS
able with a stethoscope.
But well beyond Oz, there’s an un-
But when he learned that he had a
Many Americans probably had no
slave-owning ancestor, he asked that LGHD WKDW KH UHPDLQHG DI¿OLDWHG ZLWK settling corruption of academia by ce-
the detail be excised, according to Columbia — he’s vice chairman of its lebrity culture.
Many professors do double duty as
communications between Gates and surgery department — until they read
his friend Michael Lynton, the chief ex- last week about an email sent to the television pundits, even though sound
HFXWLYH RI 6RQ\ (QWHUWDLQPHQW 7KHLU university by 10 physicians around the bites, which are inherently unsubtle,
exchange was part of the hacked Sony country. They accused him of “promot- run counter to what scholarship exalts.
HPDLOVUHFHQWO\VKDUHGE\:LNL/HDNV
LQJTXDFNWUHDWPHQWV´IRU³SHUVRQDO¿- And educational institutions choose
³:H¶YHQHYHUKDGDQ\RQHHYHUWU\ nancial gain” and urged Columbia to speakers largely — and sometimes
solely — for their star power. The Uni-
to censor or edit what we found,” Gates sever its ties with him.
wrote to Lynton, going on to fret over
He’s expected to defend himself on versity of Houston spent $155,000 to
the “integrity” of the series. “He’s a television later this week, and his pub- schedule Matthew McConaughey for
PHJDVWDU:KDWGRZHGR"´
licity machine has gone into overdrive, its commencement next month.
Maybe he’s more learned than we
Gates left the detail out.
seeking to discredit the physicians and
realize. Or maybe erudition counts for
After the disclosure of this late frame the issue as one of free speech.
last week, he insisted, unpersuasive-
But don’t forget that he was called less than buzz, even in those enclaves
O\WKDWWKHFXWUHÀHFWHGQRWKLQJPRUH before a U.S. Senate panel last year to that are supposed to be about deep, du-
than the need to make room for other explain his on-air gushing about green rable things.
By FRANK BRUNI
New York Times News Service
C