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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 2016)
OPINION 6A Founded in 1873 STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager Armed men threaten stability that average people value I F YOU LISTEN TO Republican presidential can- didates, you get the idea that America is going to hell. In fact, it already may be there. CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager But these detractors forget the quality that most Americans appre- ciate and which foreigners envy. The quality is stability. There is enor- mous value in knowing that when you wake up the power will be on, the streets will be clear for travel, currency will be valid and no one will depose the government in city hall, the statehouse or Washington. In a word it is predictability. With- out that, you can’t have a developed economy and a host of things that ÀRZIURPWKDW A colleague who is following the Malheur National Wildlife Ref- uge situation points out that the real business of this protest is not its overt message about ranching. It is really about the parallel universe that a host of right-wing groups have built for themselves. They are tone deaf in their disre- gard for the people who live in the county they have invaded. All of WKRVHRFFXSLHUVÀDVKLQJZHDSRQVRQ their hips and in their hands creates a tense situation that wears on a com- munity. 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 — 2006 O hear us, when we cry to thee, For those in peril on the sea — The Navy Hymn The death of Columbia River bar pilot Kevin Murray reminded us how utterly dangerous that occupation can be. In the dark, Murray was descend- ing a ship’s ladder when he fell into the ocean. His body was recovered two days later. The bar pilots earn their living by virtue of seafaring experience, as well as courage in the face of danger. Some years ago, upriver shipping interests quibbled with the need for specialized pilots at the river’s mouth. Those commercial interests also griped about paying higher pilotage fees in order to support a helicopter op- eration for the pilots. That tactical maneuver, which was all about money, now seems a bit trite. Anyone who wants to make light of the passage across the Columbia River Bar hasn’t been here during this season. źźź Although the Port of Astoria’s lease with Skipanon Natural Gas has a FODXVHVWDWLQJWKHOHDVHFDQEHHQGHGLIWKHFRPSDQ\¿OHVIRUEDQNUXSWF\ that clause can’t be enforced, port attorney Heather Reynolds told port com- missioners Tuesday. ³:HGRKDYHDSURYLVLRQLQRXUOHDVHWKDWVD\VLIWKH\¿OHEDQNUXSWF\ we can terminate the lease, but really we can’t because the bankruptcy code prohibits it,” Reynolds said at a workshop meeting. Suppression of the Astoria bridge foghorn was post- poned at least a day Monday when Pa- FL¿F 1RUWKZHVW %HOO failed to receive a new switch in time. So, although it was a clear night Monday night, the horn sounded at 10 second intervals all night long and into the day. The Astoria bridge, scheduled for opening in August This year, is 94 percent complete, project engineer Robert Ellison of Oregon Highway de- partment told Rotarians Monday. The state supreme court ruled today that most Washington ocean beaches belong to the public, not the adjacent property owner. 7KHFRXUWRYHUWXUQHGD3DFL¿F&RXQW\6XSHULRU&RXUWGHFL- sion which could have resulted in erection of “private property” signs along most of the state’s beach sand. The beaches in question were built up by the action of tides over the years. Under a law passed in 1901, private property lines were frozen at the water line as it existed in 1889, the year Wash- ington became a state. Beach property built up after statehood, technically called accret- ed land, was reserved by the 1901 law for the public. In some places, the accreted beach is as much as three-quarters of a mile wide. 75 years ago — 1941 The Recreation Committee today mulled over preliminary plans for a $100,000 Regatta pavilion and recreation center, to be located between Commercial and Exchange streets opposite Gyro Field. Early in February the New England Fish company will begin canning of crabs at its Pillar Rock plant where 40 cannery work- ers will be given employment in the new industry. 1RVKDUNVDQGERWWRP¿VKKDYHEHHQIRXQGLQ:LOODSDED\E\WKHWUDZOHU Washington of Ilwaco, it was reported here today. ,WLVEHOLHYHGKHUHE\WUDZO¿VKHUPHQWKDWVKDUNVDQGJURXQG¿VKDERXQG in Willapa harbor at certain times of the year, but are obviously gone from the bay now. “Chances for Astoria and the northwest to obtain naval con- struction contracts for mine and coast defense craft are excel- lent,” declared Joe Dyer, manager of the Astoria Marine Con- struction company, who returned from Seattle yesterday with Bill Callan, Astoria Chamber of Commerce secretary. The Astoria port commission Tuesday night passed a resolution, asking the U.S. Navy to construct a drydock at Astoria for servicing naval vessels DQGFRPPHUFLDOVKLSVIUHTXHQWO\FDOOLQJKHUHDIWHUKDYLQJGLI¿FXOWLHVDWVHD of Cabbages and Kings If you need humor on a dark, cold night, this Alan Rickman movie is the ticket. Murray Close/DreamWorks In “Galaxy Quest,” Rickman played a frustrated Shakespear- ean actor who finds fame on sci-fi television series. a military-style inspection. It killed morale and it killed the troop. źźź players such as Stephen Curry talk about what gun violence does to families and neighborhoods. It is a bold move. Margaret Talbot in The New Yorker noted the courage of the NBA players. “The discussion that the gun lobby and the Republi- can candidates who are eager to de- fend it do not want to have is the one about making guns less lethal.” The NBA ads direct viewers to Everytown for Gun Safety, the group ¿QDQFHGE\0LFKDHO%ORRPEHUJ Wrote Talbot: “We didn’t outlaw cigarettes, or eliminate cars, but we have reduced the harm they cause through laws and innovations based on research, and through campaigns that changed norms.” — S.A.F. anyone who fails to genu- Challenged on his policies ÀHFWLQKLVSUHVHQFH (which don’t really exist) or He has meted it out pro- his credentials (which are du- miscuously — and diverse- f your very candidacy and biously applicable to the pres- ly. The megastar Cher is a identity rest on your supposed idency), he whips out his poll numbers as proof of his wor- “loser.” So are mogul Mark talent for victory, can you survive thiness. Sometimes he whips Cuban, basketball player a defeat? them out just for fun. And as Chris Jackson, war hero John McCain. Can you continue to call yourself a he holds them high, he makes the argument that he must The ranks of talk show winner if you’ve been a loser — and if have good ideas, good sense hosts, journalists, pundits Frank “loser” is your favorite way of closing the and good preparation. After and political consultants are Bruni book on someone, your final word, the all, he’s winning! especially robust with los- workhorse in your brimming lexicon of But by that reasoning, losing ers, including Ana Navarro, Bill Maher, slurs, exiting your mouth so reflexively ZRXOGQ¶WEHMXVWDÀXNHMXVWDIDLOXUH Howard Stern and Karl Rove, who’s that it’s essentially your exhalation, your of the body politic to recognize and re- not just a “loser” but “dopey” and a “to- carbon dioxide: “loser,” “loser,” “loser.” ward majesty when they behold it. No, tal fool,” as Trump tweeted. His testy it would be evidence that he’s inferior Twitter feed is his Hall of Shame. It’s Donald Trump has a problem that or at least unexceptional. It would de- where the losers are rounded up and the other candidates for the Republican stroy the brand’s foundation. SXEOLFO\ÀRJJHG His bid for the presidency is all tri- nomination don’t. He’s put an obstacle And his go-to arguments for why in his path that they haven’t. He doesn’t umphalism, all superlatives. It rejects someone is a loser, a dope or a dummy merely assert dominance. He claims any humility. It forbids any humbling is that he or she has made erroneous something close to omnipotence. (Re- ²HVSHFLDOO\WKH¿UVWWLPHWKDWYRWLQJ predictions or been repudiated by the becomes actual instead ratings, the marketplace, the audience. member that laughable of theoretical and Io- A television personality is a loser if not physician’s report?) Neither his image nor ‘Comeback wans crown a champ. all that many viewers tune in. When he kicked off his ego leaves any room if not all that many Iowans kid’ won’t his campaign from the turn So out what for a setback, any allow- for Trump? What if, at the least, throne of Trump more of them choose Cruz? How can ance for second place. fit Trump. gilded Tower last June, he Trump dismiss the precise kind of judg- And as Iowa draws near didn’t merely say that ment and measurement with which he and several polls sug- gest the strong possibility that Ted Cruz he’d create jobs. dismisses everyone else? “I will be the greatest jobs president ZLOO¿QLVKDKHDGRIKLPWKHUHLW¶VWLPH Lately he’s started to hedge, alter- to talk about what that would mean for that God ever created,” he decreed, em- nating prophecies that he’ll win Iowa a self-enamored emperor who pretty phasizing a divine patrimony. with statements that he hopes to. It’s On the day when he and his hair “a little too close for comfort,” he told much insists on his own perfection — move into the White House, “unbeliev- voters in Cedar Falls last week. I’ll say. and who has built his brand on it. At that point, Trump would no lon- able” blessings will rain down on this For other candidates a loss is a part ger be a brilliant exception to the laws parched land of ours. He will be “the of the process, a prompt for self-exam- of political gravity. He’d be someone best thing that ever happened to wom- ination, a cause for a reset and maybe whose lax management of his Iowa en,” “the best security president.” an embarrassment. For Trump it’s an And did you know that he has “the existential crisis. Who is he if he can’t operation was laid bare, whose basic competence was in dispute. He’d be world’s greatest memory,” by his own look down on all of his rivals? What one of many exhausted soldiers, girding estimation? does he become if he has to look up to “It’s one thing everyone agrees on,” one of them, especially if the one is a himself for a muddy slog. That’s not the path he plotted, the myth he’s selling. he added, which is wrong, because natural-born irritant like Cruz? many of us at The Times don’t agree at That’s not how he’s rigged. ³&RPHEDFN NLG´ ZRQ¶W ¿W 7UXPS Other candidates can rack up a few all, especially not after the most recent It’s a middle seat in coach for a titan disappointments. They haven’t made Republican debate, on Thursday night. with his own planes — plural. (His own their cases by pointing to their percent- He was asked then about his proposal, helicopters, too.) If he’s wedged into it, ages, their ratings, their crowds. They made during a recent meeting with the he’ll come unglued. I mean, more than don’t draw such a sharp, unforgiving line newspaper’s editorial board, for a 45 he already has. between winners and losers. They don’t percent tax on Chinese goods brought When he appeared on the late-night equate being on top with being the best. into this country. And his magic powers talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” last Trump does. Incessantly. It’s his of recollection eluded him. month, Kimmel teased him by claim- “That’s wrong,” he said. “They ing to have written a children’s book for worldview, his philosophy, his morality, were wrong. It’s The New York Times. Trump. Its title? “Winners Aren’t Losers.” his tautology. He’s inverted the usual political They are always wrong.” This is my point, and this is Trump’s Except we weren’t, not about this. A pickle. If Iowa’s voters don’t swoon for logic. Typically, candidates cite their TXDOL¿FDWLRQV DV WKH UHDVRQ WKDW YRW- transcript and an audio recording of the him, it erases the whole gaudy prelude HUVVKRXOGDI¿UPWKHP7UXPSDVVHUWV meeting unequivocally demonstrate as to that moment. He ceases to be the WKDWKH¶VTXDOL¿HGEHFDXVHYRWHUVKDYH much. best, the most, the greatest. Trump will We’re probably losers anyway. have been trumped, which means he’s DI¿UPHGKLPRUDWOHDVWEHFDXVHWKH\ That’s the designation he assigns to not the same Trump at all. seem poised to. I Daily Astorian Photo Through the Looking-glass Donald Trump’s existential pickle By FRANK BRUNI New York Times News Service Motorcycle enthusiast Dick Sadler of As- toria is making sure his new Honda 450 is ready for action Sunday when the Lower Columbia Motorcycle club takes to the beach at the South Jetty to prepare for next month’s initial race of the 1966 sea- son. Sadler’s cycle, which sports 444-cu- bic centimeters, is one of the fastest two- wheeled machines in the area. ‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said, ‘To talk of many things; Of shoes — and ships — and sealing wax — Of cabbages —and kings —’ IN THE WAKE OF ALAN Rickman’s death last week, my IN HIS REVEALING REPORT wife and I watched “Galaxy Quest” from inside the armed protest (1999), in which he teams up with movement at the Malheur National Tim Allen and Signourney Weaver. Wildlife Refuge, John Sepulvado Mourning Rickman’s passing, Joe of Oregon Public Broadcasting 0RUJHQVWHUQ¿OPFULWLFRIThe Wall described the soldier wannabe for Street Journal said “Galaxy Quest” is whom this protest is kind of a fantasy one of the funniest movies made. The plot is delicious, with space camp. When those of us who are vet- HUDQVVHHWKHVHJX\VZHVWLÀHDQXUJH aliens seeking out the television ac- to suggest that they could enlist and tors who do a low-budget “Star Trek” kind of series. see the real thing. If you need a mood elevator on Sepulvado also described a for- mer serviceman inside the protest one of these dark cold nights, Neal movement. He was depicted enforc- has this comedy at Video Horizons. ing a sort of discipline on the wan- źźź nabes. That reminded me of a man who THE NATIONAL BASKET- became scoutmaster of our Pendleton Boy Scout troop about 12 years after ball Association has given the guns the end of World War II. He tried to debate a whole new look. In a series relive those days by lining us up for of public service announcements, Gov. Ted Kulongoski toured the scenes of two North Coast storm-related calamities Friday. The governor met with Sheryl and John Toftemark at their slide-damaged home in south Astoria. Earlier he viewed the dike in Knappa breached by high water two weeks ago. On Friday, Kulongoski declared a state of disaster in 24 Or- egon counties, including Clatsop County, setting in motion the state’s request for federal assistance for communities harmed by VOLGHVÀRRGLQJDQGRWKHUSUREOHPVFDXVHGE\WKHKHDY\UDLQV 50 years ago — 1966 THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2016
