THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2015
Start a business
Amazing
I
watched and listened
closely to the televi-
sion coverage of President
Obama’s eulogy of the slain
Christians in Charleston,
S.C. Of particular amaze-
ment was the president’s
use of the classic Christian
song “Amazing Grace,”
upon which the president
built the entirety of his eu-
logy.
Amazingly, while the
president lamented (right-
fully) the ills of slavery
and institutionalized segre-
gation codified in the Jim
Crow laws, it is noteworthy
he ignored the inspiration of
the very song upon which
he hung his racially oriented
and racially divisive eulogy.
Namely,
“Amazing
Grace” was penned by one
John Newton (1725 - 1807)
who, having been pressed
into British naval service
was, following that, in-
volved in the slave trade
on the high seas. Newton,
having experienced a tem-
pest at sea, cried out to
God for mercy, and had the
eyes of his understanding
opened to the wickedness
of his endeavors in the slave
trade. As a result, Newton
experienced a spiritual con-
versation — he was, in the
Christian vernacular, saved
— and repented of his ways.
Amazingly,
President
Obama glanced over that
piece of relevant inspira-
tion, opting for a clearly
racial presentation, lightly
camouflaged and clearly
designed to promote ra-
cial division. Consider the
president’s juxtaposition of
Johnny (the white) against
Jamal (the black) in the
context of return calls for
job interviews (“Why does
Johnny get the call, and Ja-
mal doesn’t?”).
If there was no intent to
inflame the racial divide,
why not include Jung (the
Asian) and Jindal (the East
Indian)? And by the way,
where’s the reference to
Jenny? That rhetorical ques-
tion to uncover intentional
design, remarks intended to
promote racial division, and
illustrate the foolishness of
political correctness.
Why would the presi-
dent make such a racially
oriented and racially divi-
sive juxtaposition, all in the
backdrop, supposedly, of
promoting Christian grace?
Why? I’ll show you why:
“For they that are such serve
not our Lord Jesus Christ,
but their own belly; and by
good words and fair speech-
es deceive the hearts of the
simple.” Romans 16:18.
Now isn’t that amazing?
GARY M. MAURO
Chinook, Wash.
Support the Regatta
W
e have the hon-
or of serving as the
co-presidents of the 2015
Astoria Regatta Festival,
and follow in the footsteps
of those who held this po-
sition since the founding of
the festival in 1894. The As-
toria Regatta Festival was
designated an Oregon Her-
itage Tradition by the Ore-
gon Heritage Commission
in 2013, acknowledging the
importance of this event to
our region, and the state of
Oregon.
It is amazing to us the
commitment of the many
volunteers, committee heads
and board members who
have volunteered tirelessly
over the years to ensure the
continuity and health of this
festival, and we thank each
and every one of them.
For this year, our theme
5A
A tragedy for hero, victim
O
regon House Speaker
Tina Kotek is no excep-
tion to the general rule that
those most eager to raise the
minimum wage are those
least likely to be paying it
(“Minimum wage bill miss-
es our diversity,” The Daily
Astorian, June 25).
If Rep. Kotek feels so
keenly the justice of raising
wages, she should, as one
of the more colorful Ameri-
canisms has it, put her mon-
ey where her mouth is, start
a business, and pay her em-
ployees whatever her liberal
values prompt.
LOUIS SARGENT
Gearhart
FRIDAY EXCHANGE
W
e are the surviving family of Al-
vin Wiese, who drowned Sept.
3, 1957, at Long Beach, Wash., with
Washington State Patrol Of¿ cer Gene
Bolstad, who attempted to save him.
In addition to Ann and George Ja-
cobsen, Alvin’s teenage cousins from
Vancouver, Wash., Bob Leppaluoto, a
neighbor and Ann’s boyfriend, were
also with him on the day he drowned.
The event was a tragedy for Alvin’s
family in Cottage Grove and Officer
Bolstad’s wife in Long Beach. The
relationship between families when
the hero and the victim die is never
easy. Alvin’s family tried to contact
the Bolstad family, but understand-
ably had no response. Last year, one
of Alvin’s brothers was able to speak
with a Bolstad family member con-
is “Rockin’ on the River.”
Things are going very well,
but we are reaching out to
the community to assist us
in fundraising for this heri-
tage event, and also looking
for more able bodies, aka,
volunteers to jump in and
help us out with the festival
this year.
On the fundraising side,
we did not have a financial
sponsor for the annual Re-
gatta Fireworks which is
held the Saturday evening
of the Regatta Festival, and
sent out a call to action to
financially support this. The
response was overwhelm-
ing from Astoria Downtown
Historic District Associa-
tion member businesses and
generous other businesses
and individuals, but we still
have a ways to go. If you
would like to contribute to
the fireworks fund, simply
go to our website at www.
astoriaregatta.com and you
will see on the home page
how to make a PayPal dona-
tion to this.
For contributions to the
general fund, or the court
scholarship fund, checks
can be made out to “Astoria
Regatta Association,” and
mailed to: Astoria Regatta
Association, P.O. Box 24,
Astoria, OR 97103. To tar-
get a contribution , please
list where you want your
check targeted, and it will
be deposited into that ac-
count.
And most important, if
you can give of your time
and talents to help with the
festival this year as a volun-
teer, simply send an email to
astoriaregattaassociation@
gmail.com and we will con-
nect with you. If you can
give a few hours, that is
great. We are not looking
to overwhelm anyone, but
get more involvement in the
activities, which are a lot of
fun.
We are very open to
ideas and suggestions that
get more involvement in the
festival, and are looking to
have more of our younger
citizens get involved this
year, and for the future. If
you have any questions or
concerns, send an email to
our email address above,
and Kathy or I will respond
to you directly.
With your help and sup-
port, we are looking for-
ward to a great Astoria Re-
gatta Festival.
KEVIN LEAHY
KATHY KOPPEN
DEAN
Astoria
Recognized as equal
M
y family is thrilled to
see the Constitutional
guarantee of equal protec-
tion upheld by a majority
of Supreme Court justices.
Like so many, we work
hard, volunteer, raise our
children, and feel welcome
as valued members of the
community. But starting
this June, we are finally
recognized as legally equal
human beings, as well — in
all 50 states.
However, we remain
aware that local tax-exempt
organizations, including St.
Mary, Star of the Sea, en-
gaged — and continue to
engage — in vigorous po-
litical efforts to deny real
families access to basic
tacted through WSP Fallen
team that fall.
Officers.
We appreciate The Daily
Howard Jacobsen, Al-
Astorian’s publication of the
vin’s uncle in Portland- Van-
Bolstad story after 60 years
couver, on behalf of Alvin’s
(“Local hero, nice young
family, was an active sup-
of¿ cer lost his life on Long
porter of and donor to the
Beach,” June 22). The story
lifesaving equipment fund
brought more details, as well
to ensure its realization.
as some closure on our side
Alvin’s death deeply af-
to the event.
fected our family in 1957,
MARY LOU MCADOO
Alvin Wiese
and for many years there-
(SISTER)
after. Today’s story still
Portland
brings tears to his family.
EARLINE DICKERSON
They collectively have memo-
(SISTER)
ries of his life including his Cottage
DAVID WARD (BROTHER)
Grove High School graduation in
KENNETH WARD (BROTHER)
June 1957, a newspaper route, and
Cottage Grove
golf, at which he excelled and hoped
ANN JACOBSEN (COUSIN)
to play on the University of Oregon
Honolulu
Constitutional rights and
responsibilities, because of
(to quote a certain Catho-
lic jurist) their unfounded
religious “jiggery-pokery”
(literally along the lines of
“my invisible, supernatural,
three-part deity dislikes les-
bians”).
We clearly remember
how the Catholic archdio-
cese, for example, raised
money and campaigned to
successfully pass the odious
and discriminatory Mea-
sure 36, which selectively
limited civil rights, legally
undermined families, and
forcibly diminished the
humanity of many Astoria
neighbors, colleagues, rela-
tives and friends for an en-
tire decade.
Religious organizations
are certainly welcome to
evidence-free prejudice (it’s
pretty much the business
model), but happily they can
no longer use that prejudice
as a legal basis for erasing
any American’s civil rights.
BILL GRIESAR
Astoria
Trade pact a bad idea
T
he Daily Astorian be-
lieves America should
approve the Trans-Pacific
Partnership trade bill, prom-
ising it will allow America
to “set the trade rules for 38
percent of the world’s econ-
omy” and make the U.S.
“more competitive” (“Trade
Bill divides Democratic
Party,” June 29).
Although
appealing,
this is just an echo of the
arguments which ensnared
the U.S. in the World Trade
Organization . Here is a
cautionary tale from cur-
rent events to hopefully
shine some light on the re-
ality of a world controlled
by business, not human,
interests.
The House of Represen-
tatives on June 10 passed
HR 2393, the Country of
Origin Labeling Amend-
ments Act of 2015. This
act, which now goes to the
Senate and is expected to
pass, repeals current laws
regarding country of origin
labeling requirements —
commonly called COOL —
for beef, pork, and chicken.
In Oregon, only U.S. Reps.
Greg Walden (R) and Kurt
Schrader (D) voted for it
(http://1.usa.gov/1GXvp-
bx).
The Country of Origin
Labeling Act exists because
the American consumer
wants to know two basic
things about their food:
What’s in it? Where did it
come from?
Unfortunately,
our
friends in Canada feel that
labels showing country of
origin gives an unfair ad-
vantage to domestic U.S.
meat producers over Cana-
dian producers. They rec-
ognize that Americans will
opt for local whenever giv-
en a choice, and they want
to take that choice away.
So they went to the WTO
and complained (http://bit.
ly/1LB72DP).
In addition, Canada and
Mexico have announced their
intention to use WTO rules
to put around $3.6 billion in
retaliatory tariffs in place to
punish the U.S. for giving its
citizens the ability to know
the origin of their food.
Visit us online at
www.DailyAstorian.com
In voting to repeal
COOL, Rep. Kurt Schrader
said, “COOL may have been
well-intended, but we’ve
lost four times at the WTO.”
So, Rep. Schrader, who
sets American food policy?
Congress or the WTO?
The TPP was negotiated
in secret. What we do know
indicates similar assaults
against our national sov-
ereignty are surely in the
offing. I fully understand
there are broader econom-
ic and political issues at
work here. But Americans
must ask: Is handing trans-
national corporations the
ability to improve their
profit margins by forcing
the U.S. Congress to repeal
or modify our country’s
food, safety, environmen-
tal and health regulations a
good idea?
BILL GRAFFIUS
Astoria
A silent majority?
I
t’s disturbing to me to
see how casually the
voice of the community is
being taken by Mayor Ar-
line LaMear and council
members Zetty Nemlowill
and Russ Warr.
For her part, the mayor
imagines there is a silent
majority who believe as
she does, that the Bridge
Vista p lan is acceptable
as currently written. In
spite of a room full of cit-
izens disagreeing with her
during public comment,
and the objections of coun-
cil members Drew Herzig
and Cindy Price, she called
for a final vote on the mat-
ter.
Prior to that vote a pro-
posal to take a step back to
look at some options was
presented by Price, the only
council member to walk the
section of river in question
who took the time to create
a map of three areas of con-
cern. The mayor, Nemlowill
and Warr all voted the pro-
posal down.
Nemlowill said that
since there had been ample
public input on this mat-
ter in 2009, that there was
no need for further pub-
lic comment. The obvious
problem with that thinking
is that the will of the people
can change. That’s why we
have elections every four
years.
In addition, in 2009 the
country was in the midst
of a severe recession. Fear
for the economic future of
Astoria may have caused
citizens to throw caution to
the wind regarding build-
ing over the water along an
area of the river enjoyed for
its view by many. That fear
has since dissipated. The
demography of Astoria has
also changed significant-
ly since then; inconvenient
facts for Ne mlowill.
Earlier
this
spring
Nemlowill also exhibited
her willingness to ignore
proper procedure on is-
sues of development when
she rightly recused her-
self from the vote on the
e nterprise z one, then the
following week made a
virtual public apology for
the C ity C ouncil vote at a
Port of Astoria Commis-
sion meeting, ignoring her
prior recusal.
I’m not idly picking on
the seemingly well-meaning
Nemlowill, but her enthusi-
asm for development seems
to get in the way of her bet-
ter judgment. We can expect
the same enthusiasm for
development from Council-
or Warr, a current business
owner, whose votes on the
Bridge Vista p lan have been
in sync with hers and the
mayor’s.
Citizens will need to stay
vigilant and exercise all op-
tions available if their voic-
es continue to be ignored.
It’s possible the mayor is
right. There may be a silent
majority who want develop-
ment over the water in the
Bridge Vista zone. Funny
thing is they don’t show up
at council meetings or write
support letters to the editor,
and in my informal survey,
not one person has said they
like the idea.
ROGER DORBAND
Astoria
A unique beauty
I
am not a resident of As-
toria, but I am an artist
who has been painting its
scrappy and majestic vis-
tas for over 25 years. Being
set up to paint on site gives
an artist a perhaps unique
window into the lives of
the people who make their
homes there. Whenever I
am out painting, the people
of Astoria will stop and talk
with me about the pride they
take in the beauty of the riv-
er, and how that beauty is
shared by all — even visi-
tors like myself.
I am disturbed to learn of
the proposed Bridge Vista
p lan for significant chang-
es in the character of the
city views and waterfront.
I have painted along that
Riverwalk for many, many
hours, each time meeting
new residents who will en-
gage with a stranger to have
a conversation about the
shared beauty of a spot, and
tell stories about it.
Many of these people
are out walking along the
river at the end of a work-
ing day. The beauty of
such a place belongs to ev-
eryone — all the citizens,
both rich and poor. Such
views are the unquantifi-
able assets that make life
worth living, attributes
which strangers visiting
such places sense immedi-
ately when they arrive, and
make them feel they are in
a special place.
Selling the waterfront
for commercial develop-
ment which would block
or restrict access to these
views seems tragical-
ly short-sighted to me.
Whatever short term gains
this project may yield for
some, will not compare to
the loss of quality of life
of so many residents who
love those views and visit
them daily.
A “viewing corridor” is
no substitute for those ex-
pansive soaring vistas so
many Astorians (and daily
visitors like myself) enjoy
now as they have for gen-
erations. Taking away those
views is in my opinion a
terrible mistake. When a
town loses its beauty for
commercial ventures, the
town loses tourism, and the
people become dispirited
and sullen. Life goes on, of
course, but something in-
tangible is lost.
Please do not trade a
short-term profit for this
gift of unique, scrappy
beauty.
MARK ANDRES
Portland
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