OPINION
4A
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
Killing ourselves
Treat heroin as a public health crisis
A
n allegation last week that an inmate smuggled about a
third of an ounce of heroin into Clatsop County Jail is
the latest disturbing indication the deadly narcotic is thor-
oughly entrenched in coastal society.
Worse was news in August
about a woman and her unborn
baby dying of a heroin over-
dose in Astoria, a tragedy also
involving methamphetamine.
Week after week, month af-
ter a month, court cases and
news stories testify to the extent
heroin has become a destruc-
tive factor in our midst. Some
— like a 24-year-old from
Seaside convicted in June of
raping and forcefully injecting
heroin into teenage girls — are
the very de¿ nition of ³low-life
scum.” Heroin, however, is an
infamously equal-opportunity
drug, sucking in people of ev-
ery strata, many of them seek-
ing alternatives to replace legal
opioids initially prescribed for
legitimate pain problems.
This isn’t a problem con-
¿ ned to the 3aci¿ c 1orthwest.
It is a nationwide scourge —
even an international one, as
Afghan heroin À oods much
of the world in the wake of
ill-considered relaxation of
8.S. drug-traf¿ cking pol-
icies there. In the Western
U.S., most heroin comes from
Mexico, while much of it
east of the Mississippi comes
from Col ombia, according to
a White House background
report.
(www.tinyurl.com/
WhiteHouseHeroin)
³Two out of every ,
Americans were addicted to
heroin in 2, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and
3revention, double the rate in
22,” the Washington Post re-
ported in August, as the Obama
administration announced a
new initiative to try shifting
from punishment to treatment.
³There were ,2 heroin-re-
lated overdose deaths in 2
the number of such deaths per
, people nearly quadru-
pled between 22 and 2.”
According to the Post’s sum-
mary, the one-year, $2.5 million
plan for the 1ortheast U.S. will
³analy]e trends in the overdose
data and devise strategies for
combating spikes in drug use.
... In addition, the initiative
will train ¿ rst responders on
when and how to deploy med-
ication that can reverse opioid
overdoses.”
The president proposes an
additional $ million for next
¿ scal year to take the next steps
toward intervening in over pre-
scription of opioid painkillers.
Maybe this will begin narrow-
ing the gateway for later prob-
lems with heroin — though
there will be a ¿ ne line to walk
between reining-in overuse of
painkillers and increasing the
burdens on pain-sufferers, who
already jump through regulato-
ry hoops to obtain medication.
American drug policies are
in need of a far more thorough
re-examination than will be af-
forded by $2.5 million — or
even $ million, in the un-
likely event the *O3-controlled
Congress agrees to this plan.
The ongoing bankruptcy of
federal leadership demands
that states, and even local gov-
ernments, begin developing
better ideas. It is time to begin
treating heroin as what it is —
a nationwide epidemic that re-
quires aggressive public-health
solutions.
Be careful what
you wish for
W
All cities and towns have
a carrying capacity
hen the Hood to Coast
manager said the August
run might seek an alternative
destination to replace Seaside,
we stiÀ ed the urge to say
³Don’t let the door hit you on
the way out.”
But Mike Morgan saves us
from such an impolitic state-
ment. The former mayor of
Cannon Beach, in a letter pub-
lished last Friday, states the
problem precisely. In the let-
ter (³Move Hood to Coast”)
Morgan writes ³Why the
Chamber of Commerce wants
to turn Seaside into a parking
lot in late August de¿ es under-
standing.” Being the ¿ nish line
of the Hood to Coast means one
thing above all — traf¿ c con-
gestion that easily strangles the
town.
Morgan suggests moving the
Hood to Coast to late September.
For the host town, that makes
sense. His suggestion to move
Cannon Beach’s Sandcastle
Contest to May or early June is
similarly wise.
All cities and towns have a
carrying capacity — the number
of vehicles and persons it can
accommodate. The two events
that Morgan addresses stretch
the carrying capacity of Seaside
and Cannon Beach to the break-
ing point. There is some pro¿ t
in those events, although some
Seaside merchants would dis-
pute that. But for a number of
full-time residents, there is little
fun in being a prisoner in your
home on a weekend when one is
a fool to hit the highway.
There is wisdom in making
one’s town attractive to full-
time residents. If you do that,
travelers will ¿ nd you. Seaside
and Cannon Beach did very well
for decades without the bene¿ t
of mega-events.
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015
A no-name house in a quaint village
I MPRESSIONS
S
omehow, we must accom-
modate our visitors without
destroying the very thing that
attracts them here.
My beach house doesn’t have a
name.
B Y
Unlike some homes in Cannon
N ANCY
Beach, Seaside, Gearhart and oth-
M C C ARTHY
er parts of the 1orth Coast, it isn’t
known as ³White Sands,” or ³Ocean
9ista” or even ³3uf¿ ns 3erch.”
And, unlike those houses, which
are all listed with either Airbnb or
VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Own- borhood three blocks from Haystack
er), my house isn’t for rent, either. Rock in the quaint village of Cannon
1ot by the night, the week nor the Beach.
month.
There are a lot of people on the
When I spent ¿ ve weeks this 1orth Coast who have given plen-
summer in John Day, my friend, ty of thought to the idea of renting
Deborah, from Bremerton, Wash., out their houses to perfect (and, as
stayed at my house. She invited her it turns out, not so perfect) strangers
own friends to visit. They had a great for hundreds of dollars a night and
time.
thousands of dollars a month.
She would send emails describing
According its website, VRBO has
their adventures. A couple of times at least ,5 vacation rentals on the
they drove to a marina
1orth Coast from 1e-
south of Wheeler where
skowin to Astoria. Of
Pretty
they bought freshly
those, Cannon Beach
caught and cooked crab
has 4 Seaside, 2
soon
and enjoyed a picnic
Gearhart, 2 and Asto-
lunch in the sun. Some-
.
the very ria, The
times — before the lo-
practice of
cal ¿ re ban went into thing that
renting out a house in
effect — they built a
a small town like Can-
attracts
bon¿ re on the beach.
non Beach or Gearhart
They visited Cannon
has proven so popular
visitors
Beach’s farmers mar-
that permanent resi-
ket. They shopped in
dents who live next to
may
Man]anita and traveled
these houses are start-
to Astoria.
disappear ing to complain.
In one email, Deb-
In Gearhart, where
forever.
orah, who apparently
the City Council has
was getting tired of lo-
spent nearly two years
cal streets clogged with summer’s developing an ordinance to regulate
usual array of cars and visitors, vacation rentals, the problem has
wrote to me, ³1ow I know why you pretty much gotten out of control,
enjoy the quiet months.”
according to residents who must
At the end of her visit, she sent listen to the loud parties, watch the
me another email, thanking me for untended garbage À y out of the cans
letting her stay in Cannon Beach for and maneuver around the numerous
a month. Her friends enjoyed their parked cars overÀ owing the streets.
stay, too, and several wanted to re-
Cannon Beach has strict ordi-
turn.
nances regarding rentals, but with so
³If you ever wanted to, I know many visitors in town and so many
you could rent your house out,” Deb- local homes being advertised on
orah added.
the websites, it’s questionable as to
It was something I had never whether the ordinances — especially
thought about, and, frankly, never the one restricting rentals to one res-
want to do. I suppose I could name ervation every 4 days on homes that
my house a ³Forest Fantasy” and aren’t in the city’s rental ³lottery” —
market it as being in a quiet neigh- are being enforced.
With the popularity of vacation
rentals — some allow as many as
people per house — come the
visitors. Of course, that means op-
portunities for local businesses, and
that’s good for shops that have strug-
gled during the slow winter months.
But, sometimes, there’s too much of
a good thing.
One Cannon Beach business
owner, who has run a popular oper-
ation for at least a decade, told me
they had to cut back this summer. It
wasn’t because of a lack of demand
it was because they couldn’t ¿ nd
enough employees.
It’s a story I’ve heard many times
up and down the 1orth Coast. Find-
ing enough staff to work the hours
it takes to serve the number of cus-
tomers coming into a restaurant, a
store or any other establishment in
this area is a challenge for most any
business owner.
Why aren’t there enough people
to be hired? Because, in a vacation
wonderland, where (VRBO) rent-
als average $2 a night in Cannon
Beach, $2 in Seaside and $25 in
Gearhart, there is little housing left
that people who earn an average
hourly wage, or even slightly higher,
can afford.
Homeowners who rent out their
houses as vacation rentals say they
can’t afford to keep their properties
without the ability to offer them up
to visitors. The incentive of earning
money from a house also requires
owners or rental managers to main-
tain the house, and this reduces the
number of neglected properties in a
community.
But the problems are occurring
far more often with the increasing
number of vacation rental homes
on the market. I don’t know what
the solution is I only know there
needs to be some way to balance
the need for visitors with the needs
of the permanent residents, em-
ployees and businesses in our com-
munities.
Without that balance, pretty soon
the very thing that attracts those visi-
tors — our ³quaint villages” with the
quiet beaches cited so often on these
vacation rental sites — may disap-
pear forever.
Nancy McCarthy is the retired
editor of the Seaside Signal and
Cannon Beach Gazette.
Obama’s humiliating Syria debacle
powerlessness — and the
provocation — and a di-
secretary of defense de-
rect challenge to what’s
plores what? Russia’s lack
left of the U.S. policy of
of professional etiquette.
supporting a moderate op-
³Russia hits Assad’s foes, anger- position.
Makes you want to
ing U.S.”
weep.
The whole point of
— Headline, Wall Street Journal, Russian intervention is to
Consider
When
Obama became president,
Oct. 1 maintain Assad in power.
the surge in Iraq had suc-
3utin has no interest in
ceeded and the U.S. had
ASHI1GTO1 — If it ¿ ghting the Islamic State.
emerged as the dominant
Indeed, the second round
Charles
had the wit, the Obama of Russian air attacks
regional actor, able to
administration would be not was on rival insurgents Krauthammer project power throughout
angered, but appropriately hu- opposed to the Islamic State. The the region. Last Sunday, Iraq an-
Islamic State is nothing but a pre- nounced the establishment of a joint
miliated.
tense for Russian intervention. And intelligence-gathering center with
3resident Obama has, once again, Obama fell for it.
Iran, Syria and Russia, symboli]-
been totally outmaneuvered by
Just three weeks ago, Obama ing the new ³Shiite-crescent” alli-
Vladimir 3utin.
chided Russia for its military build- ance stretching from Iran across the
Two days earlier at the United up, wagging his ¿ nger that it was northern Middle East to the Mediter-
1ations, Obama had welcomed the ³doomed to failure.” <et by Monday ranean, under the umbrella of Rus-
return, in force, of the Russian mil- he was publicly welcoming Russia sia, the rising regional hegemon.
itary to the Middle East — for the to join the ¿ ght against the Islamic
Russian planes roam free over
¿ rst time in decades — in order to State. He not only acquiesced to the Syria attacking Assad’s opposition
help ¿ ght the Islamic State.
Russian buildup, he held an osten- as we stand by helpless. Meanwhile,
The ruse was transparent from tatious meeting with 3utin on the the U.S. secretary of state beseeches
the beginning. Russia is not in Syr- subject, thereby marking the igno- the Russians to negotiate ³de-con-
ia to ¿ ght the Islamic
minious collapse of À ict” arrangements — so that we and
State. The Kremlin
Obama’s
vaunted they can each bomb our own targets
The
was sending ¿ ght-
campaign to isolate safely. It has come to this.
Why is 3utin moving so quickly
er planes, air-to-air
3utin diplomatically
ruse was
and so bra]enly? Because he’s got
missiles and SA-22
over Crimea.
anti-aircraft batteries. transparent
3utin then showed only more months to push on the
Against an Islamic
his utter contempt for open door that is Obama. He knows
from the
State that has no air
Obama by launch- he’ll never again see an American
force, no planes, no
his air campaign president such as this — one who
beginning. ing
helicopters?
against our erstwhile once told the General Assembly that
Russia then sent
anti-Assad
allies ³no one nation can or should try to
reconnaissance drones over Western not 4 hours after meeting Obama. dominate another nation” and told it
Idlib and Hama, where there are no Which the U.S. found out about again last Monday of ³believing in
Islamic State ¿ ghters. Followed by when a Russian general knocked my core that we, the nations of the
bombing attacks on Homs and oth- on the door of the U.S. Embassy in world, cannot return to the old ways
er opposition strongholds that had Baghdad and delivered a brusque of conÀ ict and coercion.”
They cannot? Has he looked at
nothing to do with the Islamic State. demarche announcing that the at-
Indeed, some of these bombed tack would begin within an hour and the world around him — from Homs
¿ ghters were U.S. trained and warning the U.S. to get out of the to Kundu], from Sanaa to Donetsk
— abla]e with conÀ ict and coercion?
equipped. Asked if we didn’t have way.
Wouldn’t you take advantage
an obligation to support our own
In his subsequent news confer-
allies on the ground, Defense Sec- ence, Secretary Carter averred that of these last months if you were
retary Ashton Carter bumbled that he found such Russian behavior ³un- 3utin, facing a man living in a facul-
ty-lounge fantasy world? Where was
Russia’s actions exposed its policy professional.”
as self-contradictory.
Good grief. Russia, with its inferior Obama when 3utin began bombing
Carter made it sound as if the military and hemorrhaging economy, Syria? Leading a U.1. meeting on
Russian offense was to have perpe- had just eaten Carter’s lunch, sei]ing countering violent extremism.
Seminar to follow.
trated an oxymoron, rather than a the initiative and exposing American
By CHARLES
KRAUTHAMMER
Washington Post Writers Group
W
Where to write
• U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici
(D) 2 Rayburn HOB, Washing-
ton, D.C., 255. 3hone 22- 225-
55. Fax 22-225-4. District
of¿ ce 225 SW Millikan Way,
Suite 22, Beaverton, OR 5.
3hone 5-4-. Fax 5-2-
5. Web bonamici.house. gov/
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D)
Hart Senate Of¿ ce Building,
Washington, D.C. 25. 3hone
22-224-5. Web www.merkley.
senate.gov
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D):
22 Dirksen Senate Of¿ ce Building,
Washington, D.C., 25. 3hone
22-224-5244. Web www.wyden.
senate.gov
• State Rep. Brad Witt (D)
State Capitol, Court Street 1.E.,
H-, Salem, OR . 3hone
5--4. Web www.leg.state.
or.us/witt/ Email rep.bradwitt#
state.or.us