OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2016
GUEST COLUMN
Founded in 1873
Way to Wellville looks back on Year 1
By SUSAN CODY
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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
Don’t blow it
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he legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne
was renowned for his halftime locker room pep talks. In
one of those, Rockne says: “And when you get ’em on the run,
keep ’em on the run.”
T
That is good advice for the
Port of Astoria. After years
of bad financial reports, this
year’s audit is worth pause
and praise. Edward Stratton’s
Wednesday story describes
auditor James Lanzarotta’s ap-
pearance at this week’s com-
mission meeting.
In a nutshell, the Port’s ¿-
nancial condition is $1 million
better than at this point in the
prior ¿scal year. The Port has
improved its ¿nancial position
in three of the past ¿ve ¿scal
years. And, as Lanzarotta not-
ed, it is worth remembering that
¿ve years ago the Port had in-
suf¿cient cash to last 1 days.
It is also important to remem-
ber that it took Port Executive
Director Jim Knight more than
a year of ¿nancial digging to
get the Port’s books to a number
that was reliable.
The Port and its commission
were such a basketcase that
civic leaders explored ways to
change its governance.
There is no substitute for
sound management, and that is
what the Port has for the ¿rst
time in a decade. Knight brings
a broad perspective to the Port,
and he has withstood the some-
times bafÀing and demoraliz-
ing arguments within the Port
Commission.
Large challenges remain. The
commission made a disastrous
choice in a management con-
tract for the former Red Lion
Inn property. Instead of choos-
ing experienced professionals,
they chose a relative amateur
with dubious ethics, and they
have bled dollars for that mis-
take.
As the commission takes the
next step in developing a long-
term plan for the hotel footprint,
it must not let cronyism get in
the way of smart management.
To paraphrase Rockne, the
Port’s positive momentum must
not be squandered.
ay to Wellville recently
completed the ¿rst year
of the ¿ve-year initiative to get
Clatsop County and four other
selected communities around the
nation healthier.
W
“We are in a good place after the
¿rst year,” said Nicole Williams, vice
chairwoman of the Way to Wellville
Strategic Council.
The main
focus for Clat-
sop County is
early childhood
education, she
points out, and
there is a plan
in place to exe-
cute it.
“I
think
the biggest ac-
Susan
complishment
Cody
in 21 for all
Wellville Five communities, and in
Clatsop County particularly, is form-
ing a cohesive leadership team,” says
Rick Brush, CEO of HICCup (Health
Initiative Coordinating Council), the
organization that launched Way to
Wellville. Brush and Marya Stark,
chief investment of¿cer, recently vis-
ited Clatsop County to meet with the
Way to Wellville Strategic Council.
“The council has a broad represen-
tation, with ongoing rhythm setting
priorities and is making progress,”
Brush said. “It is a leadership group
that represents the community.”
“We have the same voice in the
community,” added Williams.
“I’m most excited about the fact
that our strategic council represents all
different interests. We have come to-
gether to recognize that prekindergar-
ten education is a great area of focus.
We have come to recognize that this
priority is part of all our initiatives.
“Our partnership with HICCup
has expanded our knowledge of re-
sources outside our community and
state.”
E
trawlers routinely nudged close
to, or even within, our 12-mile
territorial limits.
Basic human behavior, lack
of laws and enforcement, poorly
designed rules and other factors
are all contributing to far more
¿sh mortality than is of¿cially
recognized, UBC researchers say
in their new study. They believe
the UN’s Food and Agriculture
Organization does a decent job
of counting catches from large-
scale industrial ¿sheries, but that
it drastically undercounts the
quantity of ¿sh caught by small-
scale commercial ¿sheries and
subsistence ¿sheries. Discarded
bycatch and illegal ¿shing also
are undercounted.
This undercount, the research-
ers say, totals more than . bil-
lion pounds a year, more than the
weight of the entire human pop-
ulation of the U.S.
They also say that a reported
worldwide decline in ¿sh caught
since the 199s has been much
larger than previously believed.
“This isn’t because the world is
doing less ¿shing, it’s because
over exploitation means there are
simply less ¿sh being caught,”
according to a story by the BBC.
It is time for all nations of the
world to arrive at the same con-
clusions Columbia River and
U.S. West Coast ¿shermen did
decades ago: Long-term survival
requires enforceable rules, coop-
eration among ¿shermen, timely
information about stocks, and a
commitment to common-sense
conservation that ensures deli-
cious ¿sh for consumers and jobs
for future generations of ¿shing
families.
Pam Ackley, Windermere, real estate broker and Warrenton city commis-
sioner
Steven Blakesley, Clatsop County Public Health health promotion specialist
Stacey Brown, Seaside Police Department communications manager
Dan Gaffney, Clatsop P3 coordinator and Clatsop Early Childhood Clinic
director
Jeff Hazen, Sunset Empire Transportation executive director
Chris Holen, Baked Alaska chef/owner
Nancy Knopf, Columbia Pacific CCO community health partnership manag-
er
Paulette McCoy, Providence Seaside Hospital public affairs manager
Debbie Morrow, Columbia Pacific Coordinated Care Organization and War-
renton School Board member
Greg Peterson, Clatsop Community Bank vice president
Jill Quackenbush, Clatsop County Juvenile Department prevention coordi-
nator
Jeanette Schacher , Lower Columbia Hospice and Columbia Memorial
Hospital home health manager
Kristin Tschannen, Seaside Yoga owner
Nicole Williams, Clatsop Care Health District chief executive officer
The main focus for Clatsop County
is early childhood education.
Launching initiatives
Clatsop County Way to Wellville
is rolling out Rx: 4 Play, a program in
which doctors will prescribe physical
activity to their patients who are obese,
diabetic or simply could bene¿t from
more activity. The prescription will
come with a voucher for free parking
at national and state parks and another
voucher for Sunset Empire Park and
Recreation District or Astoria Parks and
Recreation. The program was funded
by a $1, grant from Providence
Health & Services. The national parks
are also planning a prescription pro-
gram for free annual passes.
“We want people to take advantage
of the wonderful natural areas and facil-
ities we have here in Clatsop County,”
said Sydney Van Dusen, coordinator for
Clatsop County’s Way to Wellville.
Looking forward
“In 21, the challenge will be to
form clear goals and metrics, establish
baselines for initiatives, then identify
speci¿c outcomes Way to Wellville
hopes to reach by the end of the chal-
lenge in 219,” Brush said.
HICCup now has ¿ve employees
who will act as “navigators” for each of
the Wellville Five communities. Marya
Stark is the navigator for Clatsop Coun-
ty. She says her expertise is in structuring
¿nancial deals, organizing communities,
and “connecting the dots and making
connections so initiatives are investment
ready.”
“We all see the big picture,” Wil-
liams said of the strategic council mem-
bers. “Even if education is not what we
represent, we can see that investing in
early childhood education has a pos-
itive impact on the areas we do repre-
sent. Down the line, it will affect jobs,
graduation rates and the economy.
“I have always seen that the best
things are achieved through collabora-
tion, and that’s what Way to Wellville is
all about. We can leverage partnerships
for a healthier community with help
from outside sources.”
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My Sarah Palin romance is over
docio rather than solutions,
So I defended her. I as-
and white identity politics
sailed her critics. And then
rather than any kind of
— well, you know what
one-nation conservatism.
s a political journalist, you happened then.
Palin gave interviews
I would like to tell you
never forget the ¿rst time
— terrible, terrible inter-
that this is all the fault of
you stop just covering a politician views. She was in over her
the Republican leader-
and start identifying with her.
head. Her own paranoia
ship — that had they been
more receptive to populist
The ¿rst time you wed your took center stage. She be-
came
her
critics’
caricature,
ideas in 28 or 212, they
high-minded vision of what politics
embracing
a
mix
of
willful
wouldn’t
be facing a Trum-
Ross
should be to a real candidate’s perish-
ignorance and proud ressen-
pian revolt today.
Douthat
able breath.
timent. What was distinc-
That’s roughly the argu-
My ¿rst time arrived in 28. It tive about her Alaskan career was ment that David Frum makes in this
lasted only a short while. Her name subsumed into a much more conven- month’s AWODQWLF, in a sweeping es-
tional sort of movement conservatism, say on the roots of Trumpism. And he
was Sarah Palin.
Let me explain. That spring, in which she picked up from the profes- makes a strong case. A large part of the
between the Republican primary and sional ideologues who rallied to her Republican donor class would rather
the fall campaign, my friend Reihan during her trial by ¿re. And eventually lose with “you didn’t build that!” than
Salam and I had published a book the movement tired of her, the culture compromise on upper-bracket tax cuts.
called *UDQG NHZ 3DUW\ HRZ RHSXE- tired of her, and her act ceased to be It would rather try to win Hispanics
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with immigration reform a hundred
But now that she has re-emerged times over than try to win them once
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As the title suggests, we were to endorse Donald Trump, uniting her on pocketbook issues. It prefers to
calling for the GOP to change but brand with his “Make America Great campaign as though it’s always 198
not to moderate in the way that a lot Again” nationalism, it’s worth revisit- and has little to say to people who have
of centrist pundits favored, returning ing the original Palin, the outsider who lost out from globalization and socio-
to a Rockefeller-Republican model took on a corrupt Alaskan establish- economic change.
of ¿scally prudent social liberalism. ment.
A critique that stops with GOP
A lot of conservatives, elites, though, might let the voting
Rather, we thought the par-
especially in Ted Cruz’s public off the hook. Because it’s also
ty’s opportunity (and the
Palin’s orbit, have acted shocked possible that Trumpism, in all its
country’s) lay in a kind of
or disappointed that Pal- boastful, lord-of-misrule meretricious-
socially conservative pop-
own
in would endorse a ¿gure ness, is what many struggling Ameri-
ulism, which would link
the family-values language paranoia like Trump, who has no cans actually want.
plausible claim to be a
of the religious right to an
That is, at a certain point disillu-
principled conservative.
economic agenda more
sionment with the system becomes
took
But given Palin’s Alas- so strong that no wonkish policy pro-
favorable to the working
center kan past, the endorsement posal is likely to resonate anymore. So
class than what the Repub-
perfect sense. Her you can talk all you want (as Marco
licans usually had offered.
stage. makes
real roots are not in Rea- Rubio’s water-treading campaign has
Unfortunately this mes-
ganism or libertarianism tried to do) about improving voca-
sage conspicuously lacked
a tribune in 28. Mike Huckabee or the orthodoxies of the donor class. tional education or increasing the
Àirted with populism in the primary They’re in the same kind of blue-col- child-tax credit, and people will tune
but never Àeshed out an agenda, and lar, Jacksonian, “who’s looking out you out: They want someone who will
the eventual nominee, John McCain, for you?” populism that has carried arm-wrestle the Chinese, make Mexi-
was an “honor and country” candidate Trump to the top of the Republican co pay for the wall, smite our enemies
who didn’t care much about economic polls. And it’s a populism that the GOP and generally stand in solidarity with
is discovering has a lot more appeal to their resentments, regardless of the
policy.
But in Alaska, there was a young, many of its voters than the litmus tests policy results.
rising-star governor. She was pro-life, of the of¿cial right.
Since this is a recipe for Ameri-
Which means that, in a certain way, can-style Putinism, it’s not exactly a
evangelical, a working mom. And her
record way up north was reformist in Trump and Palin together on a stage is good sign for the republic that it seems
a distinctly nonideological way: She the closest American politics has come to be resonating. But those of us who
was best known for ¿ghting a corrupt to offering the populist grand new par- want a better, saner and more decent
nexus of politicians and the oil-and- ty that Salam and I called for two pres- populism than what Trump is selling
gas industry, tackling crony capitalism idential campaigns ago.
need to reckon with the implications
Except that it isn’t what we called of his indubitable appeal.
on behalf of ordinary Alaskans.
And then, shockingly, McCain for, because we wanted a populism
Maybe — hopefully — there’s
with substance — one that actually of- a bridge from Trumpism to a more
picked her as his running mate.
At which point the chattering class- fered policy solutions to stagnant wag- responsible alternative, as there was
es went temporarily insane. Or maybe I es and rising health care costs, one that between Huey Long and FDR or from
went insane. Who can say? But either could help Republicans reach out to George Wallace to Richard Nixon.
way it seemed like everything I hated, upwardly mobile blacks and Hispanics
But it’s also possible that my fellow
a mix of sneering social liberalism, fe- as well as whites, and so on down an eggheads and I are grasping at a dream
cundophobia, anti-evangelical paranoia optimistic wish list.
that’s already slipped behind us — lost
Whereas Trump-era populism, back in the land of might-have-beens,
and class contempt, was being hurled at
a candidate who seemed to ¿t exactly while it plays very effectively on eco- where the dark ¿elds of Wasilla roll on
nomic anxiety, mostly offers bragga- under the night.
with the “Grand New Party” mold.
By ROSS DOUTHAT
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World doesn’t realize A
we’re in this together
ven the most adamant de-
fender of Lower Columbia
River-based ¿sheries will admit
there was rampant over¿shing
during all of the 19th century
and much of the th. It was a
classic case of grabbing as much
as you could before some other
guy got it. A new study from the
University of British Columbia
strongly suggests that these
wasteful and greedy patterns
continue in much of the world.
In our neighborhood, rec-
ognition that everyone’s liveli-
hood was being endangered led
to some of the world’s earliest
effective conservation mea-
sures. More than a century ago,
the commercial industry acted
in concert with states to declare
some days, and even months,
closed to ¿shing in order to pre-
serve salmon broodstock for fu-
ture seasons. These conservation
steps weren’t perfect, but most
seasons were economically am-
ple. It wasn’t until dam construc-
tion that salmon runs fell apart.
However, rarely if ever in
earlier years was much con-
sideration given to what hap-
pened offshore. It’s clear from
records at the time that ¿sheries
enforcement was problematic
even within the con¿nes of the
enormous Columbia estuary. At
sea, it literally was the wild west
for those ¿shermen willing to
brave the Paci¿c. It wasn’t un-
til 1982 adoption of the United
Nations Convention of the Law
of the Sea that the U.S. really
began enforcing ¿shing laws
out 2 nautical miles. Before
then, in the 19s or example,
Japanese and Russian ¿shing
WAY TO WELLVILLE CLATSOP
COUNTY STRATEGIC COUNCIL