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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 12, 2015)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2015 Big goobers Cruise Host volunteer is proud of Astoria W ell, once again we have shown the world just what big goobers we are here in Clatsop County. We expect thousands of people in town for the Goonies event, and we dress our Astoria Column so it looks like a giant penis with a condom, especially at night. Then, in spite of years of talk about becoming a tourist destination, we have gone to great lengths to scare off the only thing attracting any tour- ists, sea lions. “Dorca” the orca was a nice touch. It looked so JRRG ÀRDWLQJ EHOO\ XS RQ WKH national news. The sea lions must be laugh- ing themselves silly at the attempts to get rid of them. I know the rest of us are. Keep up the good work. DAVE BERGQUIST Gearhart FRIDAY EXCHANGE I worked as a volunteer Cruise Host May 14 while a ship visited Astoria. I am so proud of our community. I had the privilege of helping an 87-year-old Australian woman take care of a cou- ple of concerns. She needed a replace- ment part for her hearing aid, and had also broken a tooth during her current 30 days cruising since leaving Hong Kong. She accompanied me in my car, and off we went. questionable working condi- tions, by workers who are all but slaves, or at best indentured. To think that this can be happening, and that we aren’t outraged by it, is stunning. The American worker was the envy of the world just a few \HDUVEDFNDQGQRZ¿QGVKLP- self making poor wages, often working two jobs just to make &RORUIXOÀDJV a meager income. We must f the person suggesting beach change this. balls for sea lion deterrence The answer is to do what was a female, then it’s easy to has been done for centuries understand the local reluctance past. We must tax and encum- to try this method. Pure sexism. ber these cheaply made goods I think there will also be and encourage the purchase of UHOXFWDQFH WR WU\ WDOO ÀDJV DV products “ Made in America.” a method of cormorant deter- We must impose tariffs and UHQFH 7KLQN VFDUHFURZV ÀDJ embargoes on products that style. Birds hate them. I mean are produced by poorly paid WKRVHFDUORWFRORUIXOÀDJVDORQJ workers, and/or under condi- sidewalks everywhere. These tions that would violate our are cheap. No more than two own labor laws. Not only will would be required for a test. it help American workers, but J. E. BOLES it might stimulate better wages Portland and conditions for foreign wage earners. Both are desirable out- Wyden for president comes JACK GUYOT t this point in time, Hil- Astoria lary Clinton seems to be the only nominee acceptable to the Democratic Party. The only 6WRSWKHFDQ he state of Oregon has other announced nominee is been playing a long-run- from New Hampshire — who is registered as Independent, ning game of Kick the Can in but now is running as a Dem- UHJDUG WR WKH OLTXH¿HG QDWXUDO ocrat. He is 73 years old. That gas terminal and pipeline pro- alone makes him an undesir- posed for Warrenton. Our new able presidential candidate. governor, Kate Brown, claims I believe that Hillary Clin- she will “insist that every reg- ton would be better served if ulatory board and agency do its she had a viable opponent at the job fully and correctly” (The Democrat Party Convention, Oregonian, May 31) which is now almost a year The can that continually away. I personally have been a gets kicked is the Consisten- supporter of President Obama’s F\ &HUWL¿FDWLRQ 2UHJRQ /1* policies, and I believe that he requested such a letter from has done the most of any recent Oregon Department of Land president to provide for our na- Conservation and Develop- tion’s peace, prosperity and to ment in July 2013. Seven times promote world peace. this state agency has ducked the +H KDV KDG D GLI¿FXOW WLPH question, and repeatedly kicked because he has been a minori- the can down the road. ty president, with a Republi- Seems like this letter is just can-dominated House of Rep- one more item on the check list, resentatives (and now even the but it turns out the Consistency Senate) who have disagreed &HUWL¿FDWLRQ LV WKH NH\ WR WKH with him at every turn and have kingdom. When Oregon noti- tried to block many of the suc- ¿HV WKH )HGHUDO (QHUJ\ 5HJ- cessful policies he has promot- ulatory Commission that the ed — such as the antinuclear application does not comply proposed agreement with Iran, with local and state law, then the closing of Guantanamo, according to the Coastal Zone and a variety of economic and Management Act, the applica- ¿QDQFLDO PHDVXUHV WR HQVXUH tion cannot move forward on economic stability. the federal level. The person whom I think is In October 2013, Clatsop PRVW ÀH[LEOH SROLWLFDOO\ ² DO- County commissioners voted though he, too, switched par- 5-0 that the 42-mile pipeline, ties on some votes — is U.S bisecting Clatsop County, does Sen. Ron Wyden, who is a lot not meet local land use codes. like President Obama because Will Gov. Brown uphold Or- his parents were refugees who egon land use law, which re- came to this country seeking quires consistency with local freedom. Wyden’s family came land use regulations? from Europe. His father was a The path to denial is refugee from the Holocaust in clear. On April 29, the Land Nazi Germany. Use Board of Appeals upheld Ron Wyden was born in the the Clatsop County decision. U.S., and so is constitutionally Our state agencies have the eligible to become president. tools they need to end this 10- JACK L. GRAVES year nightmare. They simply Garibaldi await decisive leadership on the issue of exporting fossil on the Columbia River. 0DGHLQ$PHULFD Right now, Gov. Brown lthough I applaud the pres- holds this key in her hands. Will ident’s recent call for mod- she back our locally elected of- eration in the cost of college for ¿FLDOV DQG WKH SHRSOH RI &ODW- our young people, I feel that sop County who have clearly, the administration is overlook- consistently said no to Oregon ing an even greater urgency, LNG? and that is jobs for the working The action is simple. We class. call upon Gov. Brown to deny Ever since the Reagan WKH &RQVLVWHQF\ &HUWL¿FDWLRQ years, the specter of foreign DQGLQIRUP)(5&WKDWWKH2U- competition for jobs in manu- egon LNG proposal does not facturing has hung like a shroud meet the land use laws of our over working Americans, and state. VWLÀHG DQG WKZDUWHG DQ\ HIIRUW Gov. Brown can do better to relieve their anxiety. Pres- than Kick the Can. We urge ently, foreign-made goods are our governor to stand up for available in our stores in di- the people and laws of Oregon. rect competition with goods CHERYL JOHNSON made by American workers in Astoria American factories. Since there are little or no restrictions on &KLOGDGULIW their import and sale, they are ometimes, this world turns in direct and unfair completion around an axis my heart with products made here and by FDQQRWIDWKRP)RU\HDUV,¶YH American workers. If the Asian workers were listened to, and agreed with, being paid at a corresponding those who accuse conservatives wage rate, it would be a fair (in general) of being devoted competition, but they are not. to the unborn, but not the born, Many of these goods and prod- with those with the potential to ucts are manufactured under be, but not those who already I A T A S The hearing center had the nec- essary replacement part for her hearing aid, and did not charge her a cent for their assistance. Next, I took her to my dentist, and he was able to address her concerns; and again there was no cost to her. Both businesses treated her with the ut- most care and concern and enjoyed visiting with her, and she shared where she was from and how im- are. But recently, I’ve been reminded of both liberals and conservatives can fail kids, who should know the love and pro- tection of their arms. Through friends (foster parents) I’ve come to know several of the foster children in our community, an un- happy circumstance a great number of people are trying to change, despite a constant replenishing tide of challeng- es and children. There is one boy’s fate that particularly grieves me, at present. He’s 6. I’ve been told he was moved to this coun- ty because no one wanted to adopt him where he’s from. Now, it seems he’s likely to be moved to another county, for the same reason. Of course, the older he gets, the less like- ly someone will claim him as their own. Here’s a boy that two coun- ties of liberal and conservative adults have said no to being his mom and dad, to offering him that most essential element in human happiness — family. Here, “family values,” and “lib- eral values” seem empty words, used more to blame others than achieve any real good. ,WZLOOEHDYHU\VDG)DWKHU¶V Day for one boy, and that is a VDG UHÀHFWLRQ XSRQ RXU FRP- munity, both liberal and con- servative. Don’t brag about As- toria to me for a while, I don’t want to hear it. +DSS\)DWKHU¶V'D\2UQRW M. ALEXANDER “SA- SHA” MILLER Astoria pressed she was with Astoria. A veteran world traveler, she shared with me the friendly, capable assistance that she received in Astoria would be the talk at her dining table that night, and was an experience she’ll never for- get. I am so fortunate to live here and call this remarkable community my home. CINDY HANSEN Warrenton the beginning of the 1970s, income inequality has sky- rocketed; union membership has collapsed, while execu- tive pay has become obscene. President Eisenhower’s demo- cratic promise of a free college education has been quashed. College is now out of the reach of our middle class. While the military corporate complex grinds on to perpetual war, our privacy has disappeared down a black hole. Is it any wonder that ordi- nary Americans can all agree that our democracy is broken, because there is too much mon- ey in politics? Maybe there is too much transparency in government? Individually, citizens may be protected by the secret ballot box, but Congress has no such protection from corporate bul- lying and bribery. The tsuna- mic rise of the cost of running IRU RI¿FH VLQFH WKH V KDV compounded their reliance on special interest Political Action Committees. Our slide to self-destruction began after Congress lost all its privacy, with the quiet passage of the Legislative Reorganiza- tion Act of 1970 under the guise of “transparency.” Maybe it is no accident that Oregon Rep. Julie Parish, who moved with her House Bill 3505 to quash safeguards now in place that shield our VWDWH¶V HOHFWHG RI¿FLDOV ZLWK her double speak — that it was about money in poli- tics and democracy), is from the “right” side of the aisle? Maybe complete transparen- cy since 1970 has no doubt 7UDQVSDUHQF\ exposed the American people ur approval rating for our to the hijacking of our democ- JRYHUQPHQW RI¿FLDOV LV racy? Maybe, with less trans- an abysmal 7 percent. Since parency in 2008-2009, the O Riverfront Vision Plan would never have come to pass? I may be called grey-haired. However, in a time where red is blue, war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, right is wrong, and transparen- cy is confused — maybe being able to remember is not such a bad thing. DANI WILLIAMS, ESQ. Astoria No gossip I am writing regarding the Mouth of the Columbia re- YLHZ RI )LUHKRXVH *ULOO ³7KH )LUHKRXVH *ULOO :LWK TXDOLW\ ingredients and proper prepara- tion, Seaside restaurant makes simplicity sing,” Coast Week- end, June 4). My husband, Dennis, and , SXUFKDVHG WKH )LUHKRXVH Grill and took over on May 12. In the review, which hit the stands three weeks later, the Mouth states that we own Dooger’s, and that is not so. I love social media and reviews, which over 95 percent of the time are favorable for the UHVWDXUDQWVZHGRRZQ0F.- eown’s Restaurant and Bar, The Irish Pub at McKeown’s, Nonni’s Italian Bistro and now )LUHKRXVH*ULOO I appreciate reviews because they are normally unbiased per- sonal experiences, and there is always constructive criticism that can be taken and used to provide a better product or ex- perience for people. I do, how- ever, think that the last part of WKH)LUHKRXVH*ULOOUHYLHZZDV focused on hearsay and projec- tions of change and declining food quality. In my opinion, that should have been left out of this re- view, and we should be given 5A the chance to prove ourselves to the Mouth by an actual vis- it or experience, and not what gossip is going around town. NANCY MCKEOWN Seaside &KDQJHYRWHV F our Astoria City Council members (Cindy Price, Zetty Nemlowill, Russ Warr and Arline LaMear) voted to allow developers to construct 35-foot-high buildings over the Columbia River along the western Riverwalk, thus depriving walkers and trolley riders, as well as patrons of the Ship Inn and Stephanie’s Cabin, of the current expan- sive views of the river and bridge. Monday’s council meet- ing includes a required second reading and vote on the Bridge “No Vista” Plan. That offers Councilor Price an opportuni- W\WRFKDQJHKHUYRWHWRUHÀHFW what her constituents have said loudly and clearly — that they do not want tall structures blocking views of the river. It is sad that Councilor Nemlow- ill, who represents the affected area, supported such construc- tion. The council could have voted for a maximum of 25 or 12 feet or even bank-high, but they chose three-story build- ings instead. When Price, Nemlowill and LaMear campaign for re-elec- tion in three years, many of us will recall their votes on this “No Vista” plan, and remind others that they chose to ignore the voices of Astoria’s resi- dents. I doubt that their votes will be featured in their cam- paign literature. 5HDGHUV FDQ ¿QG HPDLO DG- dresses on the city website for contacting council members at www.astoria.or.us/City_Coun- cil.aspx, and the public can be heard at the 7 p.m. city council meeting on Monday. We also need to thank Councilor Drew Herzig for his vote against the plan as cur- rently written. Perhaps he and others can convince our coun- cil to modify and improve this plan before our splendid views of the Columbia River and the Astoria Bridge are merely a memory. MARY LANGLEY Astoria