Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2015)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2015 We deserve better I n their weekly advertise- ment in the Columbia Press, Oregon LNG keeps telling us that Warrenton deserves bet- ter. Well, for once I have to agree with them. Warrenton does deserve better. We deserve to not have a noisy, sulphur, methane spew- ing plant with a 69 to 150-foot Àame making the night sky look like daylight. So much for looking at the stars at night. We deserve to know the whole truth, not just what Oregon LNG wants us to know. And, just because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) thinks there won’t be a problem doesn’t mean that there isn’t one. Anyone who has followed the FERC rulings over the last few years know they rubber stamp everything. What the hey — they don’t live here. If you haven’t been up to the Astoria Column for a while, then go. Stand at the bottom and look way up to the top. Each of the two liTue¿ed natural gas storage tanks will be taller than the column. And those jobs they keep promising. How many will actually go to locals, not to workers that are from Portland, Vancouver, Washington, Idaho, etc.? And where on earth will all those people live while they are working on the LNG plant? We don’t have enough rentals for those in the area, much less for all the people coming into the area to work on the plant. If they ¿ll the hotels, then where are the tourists going to stay, if they decide to come at all with the traf¿c mess that will come with the construction? Yes, Oregon LNG archi- tects say that the plant will be safe and secure during a 9.0- plus earthquake and resulting tsunami. How many of these plants have they designed and tested in a real life major 9.0 earthquake/tsunami situation, in an area such as ours, that they are so con¿dent that they are right? It’s not their lives on the line. What happens if there is an LNG tanker tied up when the earthquake and tsunami hit? As we know, there will not be just one wave but several, that could span 24 hours. The three Democrats run- ning for secretary of state have told the state’s building trades council that, in exchange for the trade unions support, if elected, they will not block the Jordan Cove LNG plant in Coos Bay. Now let’s see — Gov. Kate Brown, a Dem- ocrat, is running for governor in the next election. Makes you kind of stop and wonder why she is not invoking the Coastal Zone Management Act for the Oregon LNG facility in War- renton, doesn’t it? I usually don’t recommend movies, but has anyone seen the movie “San Andreas”? If not, do so. Maybe we should send a copy to FERC and Gov. Brown. Yes, Oregon LNG is right. Warrenton deserves so much better than them. DIANA TALARSKY Warrenton Committed to care I appreciated the timely ed- itorial in Oct. 29 edition of The Daily Astorian, “Dementia takes costly toll on coast.” The editorial accurately discusses the challenges of rising health- care costs for care associated with dementia-related diseases that will not be reimbursed by Medicare. Clatsop County is fortunate to have the Clatsop Care Health District, whose sole mission is to serve the community’s long term care needs. The district receives a small tax base, ap- proximately $500,000 a year, which assists in supplementing services to those who need care and are receiving Medicaid as- sistance. The district currently oper- ates the Clatsop Care Center, Clatsop Care Retirement Vil- lage and recently opened the Memory Care facility in War- renton. This facility was spe- ci¿cally designed and built to accommodate those suffering from Alzheimer’s and demen- tia-related diseases. We are also working on the expansion of in-home care services to serve the Medicaid population in the county. Despite the money received from taxes, the district is still greatly impacted by the leg- FRIDAY EXCHANGE Pet owner thanks local pet hospital T his is Maggie (pictured). We res- cued her in 2005. Since then, she has been seen at Bayshore Animal Hos- pital in Warrenton. They have saved Maggie twice. Once when she had a tumor on her spleen. They removed it in the nick of time. A couple years later, Maggie end- ed up having bloat (a life-threatening condition where the stomach twist and turns). Once again, Maggie was saved. Then she had a heart murmur and end- ed up with liver cancer. Her cancer doctor in Clackamas gave my sweet baby three months to live. Dr. Brad Pope at Bayshore Animal Hospital helped Maggie live an additional 22 months. Nov. 5, unfortunately, Maggie lost her battle with cancer. We had to make the toughest decision and put my sweet little baby to sleep. My Maggie was a strong dog, and I am so grateful to have such an amazing vet, who in my opin- islative changes made at both the federal and the state level. In 2013, the state passed HB 2216, which targeted nursing facilities speci¿cally, and man- dated a reduction of beds across the state. In the bill, the rural commu- nities were held to the same re- ductions as the metropolitan ar- eas, even though communities like ours only have one nursing home facility that serves a re- gion that includes southwest Washington state. The state did not reach its target of reducing 1,500 nursing home beds by Dec. 31, which means that we will receive another signi¿cant reduction of reimbursement rates on July 1. These reimbursement rate reductions continue to impact the services we can provide lo- cally. It forces the district to re- consider services we offer this community in the future. Focus in long term care will be on ex- pansion of community-based care, respite programs such as adult day care, as well as in- home care programs. Despite all the changes be- ing made at the federal and state level, Clatsop Care Health District is committed to con- tinuing to serve the commu- nity’s long term care needs in the most economically prudent way possible. NICOLE WILLIAMS CEO, Clatsop Care Health District Astoria Do your job I see the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners has backed away from adopting a tsunami hazard overlay district because it will impact land use. In Clatsop speak, this means “this will reduce the value of my property; don’t tell potential buyers.” Yes, it would do this, just like it would if your property is in a Àood zone or in a slide area or a high property tax area or in a poorly performing school dis- trict or in an area with contro- versial Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC and Rs). That is why the state of Oregon requires that when property is sold, certain disclosures must be made by sellers and ac- knowledged by buyers. Yes, it can also lead to dif- ¿cult ¿nancing and high insur- ance. These requirements are part of ORS 105.464 item 1G. Where is the state real estate agency? Government has a respon- sibility to study land-planning issues and publish these results. This is not the wild west any- more where sellers and their Realtors can just shine their re- sponsibilities. The county com- missioners should do their job. If commissioners can’t take the heat of making decisions based on what is morally and legally right, then don’t run for of¿ce. Realtors should live up to their responsibilities under the ethical practices required by their licenses. Owners should follow the law. It is quite feasible to utilize property in this overlay zone if it has been correctly designed. The science is quite clear — let’s get on to solving problems, not just kicking the can down the road for the kids to solve. JOHN DUNZER Seaside Backlashed reels I have served as a captain and guide in Alaska for the past Maggie ion is the best in Clatsop County. The staff is awesome and so understanding. 21 years. I take customers ¿sh- ing for salmon, halibut and oth- er bottom ¿sh. But occasionally the joy of ¿shing is erased by a custom- er hitting the wrong lever and bango, there’s a big backlash on the reel, with the lines on the reel snarled and tangled in a big mess. I respond by saying, “Don’t worry, it happens all the time” (under my breath, “How stupid can you be?”). Often, there will be a ¿sh on the line, which then requires bringing the line and ¿sh in hand over hand. Oftentimes it seems like our lives experience a back- lash. In my wife’s and my case, within a short period of time I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, followed by surgery. My wife developed a skin condition which resulted in itching, bleeding sores over much of her body, and to top it off, she had a heart attack that was remedied by a stent in her artery. As I pondered over the sit- uation, the analogy of a back- lash reel came Àoating into my mind. I’m not very good at unsnarling a backlash reel, to I usually put it into the hands of someone more skilled. So in our situation, we were totally at the end of our hu- man ability to unsnarl our sit- uation — so we have handed our backlashed reel over to the Master Fisherman, who said, “Follow me and I will make you ¿shers of men,” and who also said, “Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Sure, life sometimes hands us a backlashed reel — but by the grace and love of God, lines can be untangled, snarls undone. Free spool restored, ¿shing goes on, living goes on. Thank you, Lord. JAMES BERNARD Warrenton Editorial failure T he Daily Astorian’s recent editorial “Why women are the target” (Nov. 2) was nothing more than a third-rate hatchet job. Reasonable peo- ple ought to be able to disagree on hot-button issues without resorting to inÀammatory epithets lacking any substan- tive support. Bomb throwers get peoples’ attention, but they rarely change hearts and minds. The purpose of local edito- rials should be to enlighten and persuade. Unfortunately, this piece did neither. It served only to inÀame the passions of those already in the camp. Instead of the thoughtful de- construction of the faulty logic of an opposing view, the edito- rial took the low road by simply lobbing ¿re at the shadows of the fears of the ignorant: “akin to denial of the 20th century”; “anti-intellectualism that denies modern science”; and, “an ob- session with subjugating wom- en — controlling their lives and denying them opportunity.” What kind of hideous monster is out there? I’ve read numerous edito- rials, on this page, that made sense, and led me to further examination of the issues. This wasn’t one of them. Regardless of my personal political leanings, this editorial failed its readers by failing to offer anything substantive or logical to support its position. If I want to drink the Kool-Aid, I’ll attend a local party meet- ing; if I want to be informed, They have all treated me and my ani- mals with respect and having patience with me. We now have six cats and they will continue to go to Bayshore Animal Hospital for treatment because they are the only veterinarian in this area that I trust, and when I leave my animals in their hands, I feel good knowing they are in good hands. My animals mean the world to me, they are my kids and they will only have the best, and Bayshore Animal Hospital is the best. Maggie is gone from this household but she will never be gone from my heart. I will miss her and think about her every day, and no other dog will ever re- place her. Rest in peace my sweet little angel. Thank you Dr. Pope, Dr. Sheila Kilponen, Dr. Lisa Lewis and their staff for everything you do for me and my an- imals. It is very much appreciated. BERNICE LAWRENCE Warrenton I’ll look beyond this piece of journalistic drivel. ROBERT JOHNSTONE Astoria Veteran housing I n Oregon there are 18. In Washington there are 29. In Idaho there are ¿ve. Among these 52 closed military bases there must be one or two which could be converted to housing facilities for homeless veterans. There would be some in- vestment in updating, but the facilities are there if we could take advantage of them. For singles there are probably bunk room dormitories, lockers and toilet facilities. They could eas- ily be set up on the same basis as many of these veterans had on active duty. Most of these bases may have adequate facilities for families. I am not talking fancy facilities. I am talking decent places to live until employment can provide something better. The places could be organized to provide safety and reason- able supervision for all, and provide jobs for many. There could be all the facil- ities of any small military base, given a little time and money to get them into shape. The residents could provide a great deal of the man power needed to make the places functional, including employment counsel- ing, medical services, recreation, and anything else needed, even libraries and movie theaters. Besides, why should sup- port of returned homeless vet- erans and their families fall to the state? The state did not put them on active duty and into harm’s way. The state is not responsible for their unemploy- ment or homelessness. The state could obtain fed- eral grants to provide the care needed. There are many of these veterans who can pro- vide the administrative abilities needed. If we continue to bur- den the cities with this problem, it will never get done more than half-way. ED GARRITY Seaside Makes no sense T he iconic Oregon Coast is not for sale, we say, as the pressure for fossil fuel export expansion mounts. A climat- ic eruption with criteria that is laden with eminent domain, environmental, occupational, health, and economical degra- dation are at the helm of this proposal. All set and ready to commence with costly and 5A obscene drippings of synthetic crippling material and gases that will forever alter the health and beauty of the bioregion. The iconic Oregon coastline is beautiful and currently public land, and these are a few of the many special features of Ore- gon’s coastline. All watersheds, forests, and green spaces are of value, and their protection is a time honored proven business model that works. All of these community lands are currently owned and accessible by the public, and produced for the public bene¿t. A lique¿ed nat- ural gas (LNG) expansion will not be in the public’s bene¿t for use of these lands. Fossil fuel expansion on these lands will lower access and destroy the biggest growing sector of our local economies, which happens to be tourism, outdoor adventure, wildlife watching, hospitality, and tech- nology — not fossil fuel export. The few, full-time, long- term jobs offered by such LNG fossil fuel land use expansion proposed for Jordan Cove and Warrenton, Oregon, will be miniscule compared to the thousands of current jobs lost in tourism, hospitality, ¿shing, and wildlife watching. It is the sweeping vistas and amazing Àora and fauna all across the state that fuels Or- egon’s current growing econ- omy. Moreover, the beauty of the bioregion, coupled with a healthy environment is the life- blood of our local communities. It is prudent to note that very little of these monies from LNG import/export will stay in the state, so such a degradation will not bene¿t the people ¿- nancially or esthetically, so the costs clearly outweigh the pub- lic bene¿ts. In the end, Jordan Cove and Warrenton are in a tsunami and on a subduction zone, and it simply de¿es common sense for we the public to forfeit our land while bearing all the cost of environmental and economi- cal suicide to boost the pro¿ts of multi-national corporations. This debt ought not to be incurred as Oregon’s new legacy for future generations. Fossil fuel expan- sion in Jordan Cove and War- renton, Oregon, de¿es common sense and Economics 101. NINETTE JONES Portland Getinspired. Meetingmedicalspecialists. Connectwithothers. AllataNovartisMSEducationLinkEvent. AHealthcareProfessionalistalking multiplesclerosis(MS)andtreatment. ______________________________________ November19,2015at6:30PM Speaker:KirenKresaͲReahl,MD BakedAlaska #112thStreet Astoria,OR97103 ______________________________________ Saveaseatforafriend.Accessibletofolksin wheelchairsorwhoneedassistance. Lightmealserved.Validatedparking. Spaceislimited. PleaseRSVPbycalling1Ͳ866Ͳ682Ͳ7491 CatchaWebeventfromhomeatmsͲwebͲ events.com
