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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2015)
OPINION 6A 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 new Tapiola Playground opened on schedule Sunday evening, the culmination of a whirlwind building effort that involved the whole commu- nity. Play structures replicating the Astoria Column, the Liberty Theater, the Flavel house, Fort Clatsop and a gillnet boat are among the fanciful play- ground’s uniquely Astorian components. “We actually got all of it done. It was amazing,” said Julia Mabry, a vol- unteer who worked on the project every day and also served as public rela- tions coordinator. Terra Littell, president of the Astoria Children’s Museum board, which sponsored Sunday’s grand opening, said watching the kids play made it all worthwhile. The Seaside Rotary and the Clatsop County Secular Human- ists probably don’t have much in common with each other. But there is one thing that gives them a common bond: litter. Sandy McDowall of the Seaside Rotary and Claude Clayton of the Clatsop County Secular Humanists have been long-time supporters and volunteers of the Oregon Department of Trans- portation’s Adopt-A-Highway program. The program has taken off since its inception in 1991. Since then, residents in Clatsop and Tillamook counties have collected 470,950 pounds of litter off of the sides of the highways. The new Tapiola playground is a phenomenal accomplishment. The speed with which the playground took shape was little short of breathtaking, not simply in terms of this community, but in the context of all communities. Voluntarism is alive and well in Astoria. From dawn to dusk, hundreds of workers showed up at Tapiola Park to make the new playground come to life. Wendy Berezay, president of the organization that installed the play structure, demonstrated a level of leadership that ought to be emulated else- where in the city and the county. Across Oregon for 15 years, adults have been telling school children that they aren’t worth as much as their predecessors. This playground sends the opposite message, and that is very healthy. Creating opportunity for children is one of the measurements of a com- munity. By that index, Astoria is doing very well. 50 years ago — 1965 The last pair of concrete shells for the Astoria bridge piers were cast at Tongue Point and delivered to Pier 12 near the bridge’s north end this week. This was the 16th pair of these concrete bell-shaped shells to be placed for the North Channel crossing just off the Washington shore. Sen. Wayne Morse, D-Ore., told the Senate today that U.S. bombing of Hanoi and Red China would bring Russia into the war immediately and Soviet ¿ ghting would not be con¿ ned to Southeast Asia. “In such a case,” Morse said, “a third world war will be on ... a war from which there will come no victor.” Rep. Wendell Wyatt, R-Ore., demanded Wednesday that the State Department protest to the Soviet Union against Russian ¿VKLQJRIIWKH3DFL¿FFRDVW The Oregon Republican said in a House speech that Russian ¿VKLQJ YHVVHOV ZHUH RSHUDWLQJ ³EUD]HQO\ FORVH´ WR WKH 2UHJRQ shore. A trio of Cannon Beach men braved the icy surf here Friday and swam around Haystack rock. The men, Jon Stachelrodt, Bill Kitterman and Pete Sroufe, made the highly publicized swim at 10 a.m. when the tide was at a low of 1.5 foot level 75 years ago — 1940 LONG BEACH – Blood stained the beach sands and the nearby roads over the weekend as two dead and 11 injured were counted following the three-day northwest motorcycle gypsy tour and beach races, which ended here Sunday. A four-motored U.S. Army À ying fortress bombing plane, the largest bombing ship in the American army today, landed at the Clatsop airport Sunday, where the pilot, Lieutenant T.J. Way, said he was making an aerial survey of available airports in the 10 Western states. Long embarrassed with the location of some 300 buildings on dedicated streets of the city, the Astoria city commission Monday night announced that no further permits for repair of such buildings or the erection of new ones on city streets would be granted. CANNON BEACH — Lester Ordway and Ted Nicholson, native resi- dents here, today made a successful cruise to sea and back in a 14-foot power boat, going out and returning through the surf in a stunt which crowds of skeptical spectators thought impossible. The pair made the trip just for a stunt, breaking through the waves on the south side of Haystack rock and returning to the same point. The trip is believed the ¿ rst successful one of its kind ever made from Cannon Beach. In keeping with time-honored custom, Astorians will take in the Fourth of July celebrations of their seacoast neighbors on the Clatsop Beaches. All the Astoria observance of the national KROLGD\ZLOOEHFRQ¿QHGWRPRXQWLQJÀDJVDQGGDVKLQJRIILQD rush to the beaches where the weather promises to cooperate in SXWWLQJRYHUD¿QH)RXUWKRI-XO\FHOHEUDWLRQ The Seaside girls high school band will play in the afternoon DWWKHWXUQDURXQG7KH¿UHZRUNVVROGE\VSRQVRUVRIWKH6HDVLGH ¿UHGHSDUWPHQWZLOOEHVHWRIIRQWKHEHDFKLQIURQWRIWKHWXUQ around. THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2015 A month to remember W HEN A HISTORIAN examines this era, June 2015 will be a treasure trove of watershed events. Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change, the Supreme Court’s rulings on health care and gay marriage, and President Obama’s eulogy to Rev. Clementa Pinckney sig- nal the shifting of the tectonic plates that underly American culture. The national newspapers have focused on what these events — particularly the health care and gay marriage decisions — mean for the Republican Party as it chooses a nominee for president. But the sweep of these events move well beyond the world of partisan politics. They are part of a rede¿ nition of the American economy and culture. Implicit in President Obama’s speech at Emanuel AME church in Charleston was his blackness. Obama communicated with that congrega- tion and with the African-American experience in a way that a white president could not have achieved. The closest historical parallel one may summon is of President Lyn- don Johnson speaking to Congress in 1965, demanding a Voting Rights Act. In that speech, Johnson bor- rowed the refrain from a civil rights hymn, We shall overcome. Preceded by the bloody Selma march, the period when Johnson made that speech, was also a time of tumultuous change. Coincidentally, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 made the election of a black president pos- sible in 2008. źźź THE RICHNESS OF REPORT- ing for a newspaper such as The Daily Astorian is the variety of top- ics a young reporter may explore. Kyle Spurr lived that experience last week. Spurr’s meat and potatoes diet is crime, courts and county gov- ernment. Last week his workplace nutrition was supplemented with an interview with Angela Meade, the world-class operatic soprano who capped the Astoria Music Festival ‘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/Carolyn Kaster President Barack Obama speaks during services honoring the life of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Friday, in Charleston, S.C. Pinckney was one of the nine people killed in the shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Kyle Spurr had an advantage in interviewing Angela Meade with a Sunday performance. Spurr took this assignment with an advantage. He had known Meade during his job at the Chronicle in Cen- tralia. The phenomenal arc of Meade’s career began in Centralia. Meade spoke to Spurr with a candor that one does not see in the national arts press. As the supporting singers came to the stage, you had the feeling they understood that a Metropolitan Opera star was coming. One by one, they raised the game. Over its 11 years, the festival has produced many memorable af- ternoons and evenings. This perfor- mance was in a category of its own. I didn’t look at my watch, but I sus- pect the curtain calls — in which the singers were called to the stage again and again – went on for almost 10 minutes. źźź THE SUNDAY MUSIC Festival performance of Donizetti’s Mary Stuarda featured a cast of prin- cipal singers who were all on top of their game. The next culture war: Mend the fabric opted for another strategy: ments are strained and frayed. Millions of kids live Fight on. Several contribu- in stressed and À uid living tors to the symposium in the arrangements. Many com- hristianity is in decline in the journal First Things called munities have suffered a United States. The share of the Obergefell decision last loss of social capital. Many week the Roe v. Wade of Americans who describe them- marriage. It must be resisted young people grow up in a selves as Christians and attend and resisted again. Robert P. sexual and social environ- ment rendered barbaric be- George, probably the most church is dropping. cause there are no common brilliant social conservative Evangelical voters make up a norms. Many adults hunger theorist in the country, ar- David smaller share of the electorate. for meaning and goodness, gued that just as Lincoln per- Brooks Members of the millennial genera- sistently rejected the Dred but lack a spiritual vocabu- tion are detaching themselves from reli- Scott decision, so “we must reject and lary to think things through. Social conservatives could be the gious institutions in droves. resist an egregious act of judicial usur- people who help reweave the sinews Christianity’s gravest setbacks are pation.” in the realm of values. American cul- These conservatives are enmeshed of society. They already subscribe to ture is shifting away from orthodox in a decades-long culture war that has a faith built on selÀ ess love. They can Christian positions on homosexuality, been fought over issues arising from serve as examples of commitment. premarital sex, contraception, out-of- the sexual revolution. Most of the con- They are equipped with a vocabulary to wedlock childbearing, divorce and a servative commentators I’ve read over distinguish right from wrong, what dig- range of other social issues. More and the past few days are resolved to keep ni¿ es and what demeans. They already, but in private, tithe to the poor and nur- more Christians feel estranged from ¿ ghting that war. mainstream culture. They fear they I am to the left of the people I have ture the lonely. The de¿ ning face of social conser- will soon be treat- been describing on ed as social pariahs, almost all of these vatism could be this: Those are the peo- the moral equivalent social issues. But ple who go into underprivileged areas We live in of segregationists I hope they regard and form organizations to help nurture a society because of their ad- me as a friend and stable families. Those are the people herence to scriptur- admirer. And from who build community institutions in plagued by al teaching on gay that vantage point, I places where they are sparse. Those are marriage. They fear formlessness would just ask them the people who can help us think about their colleges will be to consider a change how economic joblessness and spiritual poverty reinforce each other. Those are decerti¿ ed, their reli- and radical in course. gious institutions will Consider putting the people who converse with us about fl ux. lose their tax-exempt aside, in the current the transcendent in everyday life. This culture war is more Albert Sch- status, their religious climate, the culture liberty will come under greater assault. war oriented around the sexual revolu- weitzer and Dorothy Day than Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham; more Sal- The Supreme Court’s gay marriage tion. decision landed like some sort of culmi- Put aside a culture war that has vation Army than Moral Majority. It’s nating body blow onto this beleaguered alienated large parts of three genera- doing purposefully in public what social climate. Rod Dreher, author of the tru- tions from any consideration of religion conservatives already do in private. I don’t expect social conservatives ly outstanding book How Dante Can or belief. Put aside an effort that has Save Your Life, wrote an essay in Time been a communications disaster, reduc- to change their positions on sex, and in which he argued that it was time for ing a rich, complex and beautiful faith of course ¿ ghts about the de¿ nition Christians to strategically retreat into into a public obsession with sex. Put of marriage are meant as efforts to re- their own communities, where they can aside a culture war that, at least over the weave society. But the sexual revolu- tion will not be undone anytime soon. keep “the light of faith burning through near term, you are destined to lose. the surrounding cultural darkness.” Consider a different culture war, The more practical struggle is to repair He continued: “We have to accept one that would be just as central to your a society rendered atomized, unforgiv- that we really are living in a culturally faith and far more powerful in its per- ing and inhospitable. Social conserva- tives are well equipped to repair this post-Christian nation. The fundamental suasive witness. norms Christians have long been able to We live in a society plagued by fabric, and to serve as messengers of depend on no longer exist.” formlessness and radical À ux, in which love, dignity, commitment, communion Most Christian commentary has bonds, social structures and commit- and grace. By DAVID BROOKS New York Times News Service C Where to write •865HS6X]DQQH%RQDPLFL (D): 2338 Rayburn HOB, Washing- ton, D.C., 20515. Phone: 202- 225- 0855. Fax 202-225-9497. District of¿ ce: 12725 SW Millikan Way, Suite 220, Beaverton, OR 97005. Phone: 503-469-6010. Fax 503- 326-5066. Web: bonamici.house. gov/ • U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313 Hart Senate Of¿ ce Building, Wash- ington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224- 3753. Web: www.merkley.senate.gov • U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D): 221 Dirksen Senate Of¿ ce Building, Washington, D.C., 20510. Phone: 202- 224-5244. Web: www.wyden.senate. gov