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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 6, 2015)
OPINION 6A T HE +ow many marriages are done in church? 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 HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Water under the bridge Compiled by Bob Duke From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers 10 years ago this week — 2005 The basement at Astoria City Hall looks just like the one at your grand- parents’ house. At the end of a steep staircase there’s a big, dimly lit room ZLWKFHPHQWÀRRUVDQGDPXVW\VPHOO3LSHVKDQJIURPDORZFHLOLQJDQG “stuff” is stored everywhere. The basement at City Hall is bigger and there’s an old bank vault in its dank interior, but otherwise it’s just the same. It’s probably not where you’d want to store important historical documents. But that’s exactly where several hundred irreplaceable original construc- tion blueprints for many of Astoria’s historical buildings were kept — until this year. Now, nearly 600 of those drawings have been professionally scanned DQGSODFHGRQ'9'VWKDWWKHSXEOLFFDQYLHZDWWKH$VWRULD3XEOLF/LEUDU\ the Clatsop County Historical Society’s Heritage Museum and Astoria City +DOO3HRSOHFDQPDNHE\LQFKSDSHUSULQWRXWVRISDUWLFXODUSODQVDWWKH OLEUDU\IRUFHQWVDSDJH Richard Rowland, one of the North Coast’s most innovative artists, received statewide recognition Wednesday. Clatsop Community College’s ceramics and sculpture instruc- tor, who serves as head of the college’s art Department, was hon- ored with a Governor’s Arts Award. Gov. Ted Kulongoski presented the award at a ceremony at Willamette University. Rowland is an innovator in wood-¿red ceramics. +e is known for the workshops he conducts at his wood-¿red anagama-style Dragon Kiln in Youngs River, involving college students, local and regional artists, and ceramicists from around the world. The kiln has become a gathering point for artists and friends. Hungry sea lions feasting on chinook salmon at Bonneville Dam were FKDVHGRII7KXUVGD\E\KDUPOHVVXQGHUZDWHU¿UHFUDFNHUVDQGQRLVHPDNLQJ guns that biologists hope will keep them away for good. But if the scare tactics fail, the states of Oregon and Washington may have to ask for federal permission to trap or even kill the playful and intelligent marine mammals, which are protected under federal law, just like the salmon. 50 years ago — 1965 William J. Talbot, Portland U.S. Army district engineer, has announced transfer of 18.1 acres of land at Cape Disappointment in Paci¿c County, Wash., at the mouth of the Columbia River, from the Portland district to the U.S. Coast Guard. +e said the land, which is part of the former )ort Canby 0ili- tary Reservation, will be used by the 13th Coast Guard District to expand its lifeboat station at Cape Disappointment. The Corps of Engineers owns 940 acres of land on the cape. Both the north jetty and jetty “A” at the mouth of the Columbia River are located on the land. A Coast Guard spokesman in Seattle said the Coast Guard plans to close the Point Adams station across the river at +am- mond and consolidate the two installations. Personnel now at Point Adams – about 25 – will be transferred to the Cape Disap- pointment Station. General economy of the lower Columbia area advanced in April, the Or- egon Employment Service has reported, despite storms that hampered ship- ping and shutdown of major plants for repairs and construction. /RJVKLSPHQWVFRQVWUXFWLRQZRUNDW:DXQDDQGRQWKH$VWRULDEULGJH FRQWLQXHGWRVWLPXODWH0DQDJHU5REHUW0RUULVRQRIWKH$VWRULDRI¿FHRIWKH Oregon Employment Service reported. 75 years ago — 1940 If there were any large numbers of Chinooks in the lower Co- lumbia River Sunday night, the Astoria gillnet Àeet couldn’t ¿nd them. One of the most disappointing season openings on record was generally reported. The high boat in deliveries up to noon had less than 200 pounds. One cannery said that its record catch was 142 pounds. In the wake of the recent Oregon supreme court decision which held that operation of a “baseball” type of pinball machine for amusement only was not in violation of anti-gambling statutes, several pinball machines have made their debut here. There is said to be some question whether any type of pinball machine would get the blessing of the supreme court, even though it was played for sheer joy. Unless the machines “pay,” there is no apparent grounds for action by the district attorney in view of the supreme court decision. William Boyd as “+opalong Cassidy” stages a new roundup of action and thrills in Clarence E. 0ulford’s “Santa )e 0arshal,” the Paramount western thriller, opening tonight at the Riviera Theatre. Also on this same program is Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper in “The Champ.” A seven-year struggle for national recognition was successfully culminat- ed yesterday for Astoria’s Sea Scout ship Flying Cloud with the announce- ment from the national headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America that the local ship has been selected as one of the ships of the national Sea Scout Fleet. This honor, goal of all Sea Scout units, is bestowed each year upon the outstanding ships of the nation. The number of ships in the National Fleet, 35, is relatively small in comparison with the number of Sea Scout units, which WRWDOLQWKH8QLWHG6WDWHV Only four ships from the northwest were selected for the national Fleet. %HVLGHVWKHORFDOVKLSWKHUHZHUHWKH5DQJHUDQG&ROXPELDRI3RUWODQGDQG the Rainbow of Hillsboro. The Flying Cloud’s bid for fame lay in the successful Sea Scout regatta staged in Astoria last June, in which Sea Scouts from all along the Columbia River participated. In addition to this event, the local ship engaged in an ac- tive part in the annual Astoria regatta. THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2015 P 5(6,'(17 )5$1./,1 Roosevelt dubbed the 6XSUHPH &RXUW RI WKH V as “nine old men. FDR’s implication was that the justices were out of touch with the nation’s dire situation in the midst of the Great Depression. The court’s conservative majority had thrown out a few of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. During oral argument concern- ing gay rights last week, Justice Antonin Scalia raised a question that is becoming archaic in this century. Asked Scalia: If there is no ban on gay marriage, can cler- gy refuse to perform a marriage of a gay couple? It seems to me that clergy already has that latitude. I’ve witnessed it in Astoria. The larger question Scalia’s query prompts is: What percentage of marriages are done by clergy these days? Of the four weddings my wife and I have attended in the past two years, two were con- ducted by a rabbi, the other two ZHUH RI¿FLDWHG E\ OD\ PLQLVWHUV with licenses from the Universal /LIH &KXUFK 'XULQJ WKH V WKH 8QLYHUVDO /LIH &KXUFK ZDV D counterculture organization that li- censed ordinary people to conduct ZHGGLQJV0\XQVFLHQWL¿FUDQGRP sampling tells me it is much more mainstream these days. ‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said, ‘To talk of many things; Of shoes — and ships — and sealing wax — Of cabbages —and kings —’ Through the Looking-glass of Cabbages and Kings AP Photo/Dana Verkouteren This artist rendering shows Washington attorney Douglas Hall- ward-Driemeier arguing that states must recognize same-sex mar- riages performed elsewhere, April 28, during the Supreme Court hearing on same-sex marriage. Justices, from left are, Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito Jr. and Elena Kagan. H.L. Mencken said that marriage is an economic arrangement źźź +/0(1&.(16$,'7+$7 marriage, at bottom, is an eco- nomic arrangement. It is certainly a contract. No matter whether churches enter the wedding pic- ture, the logic behind gay marriage is that two people who choose to make a long-term commitment should be allowed the protection of having their relationship made legal in the eyes of the state. źźź ,7:$6$'(/,*+7726(( Anna King in Astoria last week. She is the only journalist who covers the Hanford Nuclear Reservation full time. She reports IRU 1RUWKZHVW 3XEOLF 5DGLR D consortium of stations in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Describing Anna, I’ve often said you would not pick her out of a lineup as what she does for a living. She conveys an exuber- ance that I don’t associate with the :DVKLQJWRQ RU 3RUWODQGFHQWHUHG źźź AP Photo Henry L. Mencken, “The Sage of Baltimore” and America’s most fa- mous cynic, pictured with his wife, the former Sara Haardt, aboard the liner Europa on their return to New York following a Mediterranean cruise, April 5, 1934. sedate world of public radio. Anna calls herself a “radio cowgirl.” I take every opportunity to rec- ommend the Hanford tour. The place is not to be believed. Rich- land, Wash., itself is fascinating — WKHODUJHVWFRQFHQWUDWLRQRI3K'V LQWKH3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVW The Cannon Beach hoteliers — 7RP'UXPKHOOHUDQG3DWULFN1RU- ¿HOG ² DUH EXLOGLQJ D ZDWHUIURQW hotel in Richland. It will be worth the trip. BEN HUNT BROKE ground Sunday afternoon by stag- ing a jazz concert in the McTavish 5RRPRIWKH/LEHUW\7KHDWHU7KH room’s acoustics showed well for vocalist Nancy King and pi- anist Steve Christofferson. The room’s Steinway upright showed great tone color in the hands of Christofferson. Race, class and neglect in America ly educated; life expectancy As Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution writes: among less educated whites “Blacks have faced, and has been falling at rates rem- will continue to face, unique very time you’re tempted to iniscent of the collapse of life challenges. But when we expectancy in post-Commu- say that America is moving look for the reasons why nist Russia. forward on race — that prejudice less skilled blacks are failing And yes, these excess is no longer as important as it used deaths are the result of in- to marry and join the mid- dle class, it is largely for the equality and lack of oppor- to be — along comes an atrocity to same reasons that marriage tunity, even in those cases puncture your complacency. and a middle-class lifestyle where their direct cause lies Paul Almost everyone realizes, I hope, that in self-destructive behav- is eluding a growing number Krugman the Freddie Gray affair wasn’t an isolated ior. Overuse of prescription of whites as well.” incident, that it’s unique only to the extent drugs, smoking, and obesity account for So it is, as I said, disheartening still that for once there seems to be a real pos- a lot of early deaths, but there’s a reason to see commentators suggesting that the such behaviors are so widespread, and poor are causing their own poverty, and sibility that justice may be done. that reason has to do with an economy could easily escape if only they acted And the riots in Baltimore, destruc- that leaves tens of millions behind. like members of the upper middle class. tive as they are, have served at least one And it’s also disheartening to see It has been disheartening to see useful purpose: drawing attention to the some commentators still writing as if commentators still purveying another grotesque inequalities that poison the poverty were simply a matter of values, debunked myth, that we’ve spent vast lives of too many Americans. as if the poor just mysteriously make VXPV¿JKWLQJSRYHUW\WRQRDYDLOEH- Yet I do worry that the centrality of bad choices and all would be well if cause of values, you see.) In reality, federal spending on race and racism to this particular story they adopted middle-class values. May- may convey the false be, just maybe, that means-tested programs other than impression that de- was a sustainable ar- 0HGLFDLGKDVÀXFWXDWHGEHWZHHQDQG Shrugging bilitating poverty and gument four decades SHUFHQWRI*'3IRUGHFDGHVJRLQJXS alienation from soci- ago, but at this point in recessions and down in recoveries. your ety are uniquely black it should be obvious That’s not a lot of money — it’s far less experiences. In fact, that middle-class val- than other advanced countries spend — shoulders much though by no XHVRQO\ÀRXULVKLQDQ and not all of it goes to families below as you means all of the horror economy that offers the poverty line. Despite this, measures that correct one sees in Baltimore middle-class jobs. attribute it and many other places The great sociol- ZHOONQRZQÀDZVLQWKHVWDWLVWLFVVKRZ is really about class, all to values ogist William Julius that we have made some real progress about the devastating Wilson argued long against poverty. And we would make effects of extreme and ago that widely decried a lot more progress if we were even a is an act rising inequality. social changes among fraction as generous toward the needy of malign Take, for exam- blacks, like the decline as we imagine ourselves to be. The point is that there is no excuse ple, issues of health of traditional families, neglect. and mortality. Many were actually caused for fatalism as we contemplate the people have pointed by the disappearance evils of poverty in America. Shrugging out that there are a number of black of well-paying jobs in inner cities. His your shoulders as you attribute it all to neighborhoods in Baltimore where life argument contained an implicit predic- values is an act of malign neglect. The expectancy compares unfavorably with tion: If other racial groups were to face poor don’t need lectures on morality, impoverished Third World nations. But a similar loss of job opportunity, their they need more resources — which what’s really striking on a national basis behavior would change in similar ways. we can afford to provide — and bet- is the way class disparities in death rates $QGVRLWKDVSURYHG/DJJLQJZDJ- ter economic opportunities, which we have been soaring even among whites. es — actually declining in real terms can also afford to provide through ev- Most notably, mortality among for half of working men — and work erything from training and subsidies white women has increased sharply instability have been followed by sharp to higher minimum wages. Baltimore, VLQFH WKH V ZLWK WKH ULVH VXUHO\ declines in marriage, rising births out of and America, don’t have to be as unjust as they are. concentrated among the poor and poor- wedlock, and more. By PAU/ KRUG0AN New York Times News Service E