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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 2016)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2016 FRIDAY EXCHANGE Inconsiderate A nne and Clive Clarke are not the only people devas- tated by tree removal at Ocean View Cemetery (“A grave let- down,” The Daily Astorian, March 7). In the fall of 2014, we planted a small crabapple tree above our plot in memory of our son, who had been killed in an automobile accident. This was done with the per- mission of the superintendent and with his encouragement. We chose a tree that would not get very large, would bloom in the spring and produce fruit in the fall for the birds. We tended the tree through the winter and watered it all sum- mer so it would thrive, as we knew it was our responsibility to take care of it. Imagine our surprise and dismay last 'ecember to ¿nd the little tree had been done away with. There were tire tracks from large equipment used to dig a neighboring grave, and it was apparent they had simply run the little tree down and thrown it away. Jonah Dart-McLean did meet with us and explain that sometimes trees have to be removed, and offered us another location to plant a tree, but that is not quite the same as visiting a tree at our own plot. After what has happened, it is hard to trust that anything we plant will be protected in the future. It leaves us with a feeling of a lack of respect for the families who used their sadness to attempt to beautify Ocean View Cemetery. NANCY AND STEWART BERRY Seaside Fight hunger F riends and neighbors: Imagine our community without hunger. We can, and we hope you can, too. Our South County Food Bank, a local food pantry, works seven days a week to provide emer- gency food and hope to over 1,000 community members each month. Each year over 250,000 pounds of food is coordinated, collected, sorted, set out and individually distributed, one on one by volunteers, to our most vulnerable friends and neighbors living in our area. We need your help now to continue this essential work. For the ¿rst time we are send- ing out a call to action bro- chure, in the mail, to all resi- dents in South County. Please take the time to read it and get to know the good work of your food pantry, and the enor- mous challenge we are facing around the most basic need for any person: nutritious food. For more information about our good work, stop by our new building at 2041 N. Roosevelt Drive, call 503-738-9800, go online to www.seasidefood- bank.org or follow us on Face- book at www.facebook.com/ seasideoregonfoodpantry We sincerely thank you for your continued help and sup- port as we work toward a com- munity without hunger. MARY BLAKE Member, South County Food Bank Board Seaside Bad legacy I n the last three Democratic debates, Hilary Clinton brought up the Dodd-Frank Act as the most sweeping overhaul of Wall Street ever. But I knew that wasn’t true, and this is what I found: When Bill Clinton took of¿ce, it was still illegal in the U.S. for commercial banks to merge with investment banks and insurance companies. Toward the end of Clinton’s second term, he signed a bill called the Gramm-Leach Bli- ley Act that essentially cre- ated “too big to fail” intercon- nected “supermarket” banks like Citigroup. In 2008, the failure of a sin- gle investment bank, Lehman Brothers, caused a chain reac- tion that nearly blew up the whole ¿nancial system. This was caused by another Clin- ton-era law, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which deregulated derivatives that were the agent of many of those chain-reaction losses. Under the Dodd-Frank Act bailouts have become institu- tionalized, and are now called bail-ins. Example: A commer- cial bank in Cyprus executed Fighting colorectal cancer T his past September, I asked U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici to co-spon- sor Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer. Thank you, Rep. Bonamici, for co-sponsoring this important piece of legislation. Oregon seniors on Medi- care are now one step closer to being able to access lifesaving colorectal can- cer screening. Colorectal cancer will kill approx- imately 660 Oregonians this year. It is the second leading cause of cancer death a bail-in in March 2013. The government and the banks were delighted with the results. But stockholders, bank depos- itors and the Cypress economy were hurt badly. The larger stockholders were noti¿ed in advance so they could remove their money. Existing share- holders were almost com- pletely wiped out, and 21,000 bank clients who had depos- its of more than 100,000 euros saw almost half of their unse- cured savings converted into stock in a failing bank. The Dodd-Frank Act was written because of the bank bail-out, but it doesn’t stop bail-outs, doesn’t stop banks from gambling with deposi- tors’ money, and the Consumer Protection Act in it is being stripped of most of its effec- tiveness by lobbyists hired by the big banks. The Clintons and the banks have had a long love affair. This is the Clinton legacy: Signed into existence North American Free Trade Agree- ment (NAFTA), which 20 years later has sent one mil- lion U.S. jobs overseas, and increased income inequality, according to the Huf¿ngton Post; created “too big to fail” banks with the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act; and signed into law the Commodity Futures Mod- ernization Act, deregulating derivatives, which were the agent of many of these chain reaction losses. The Wall Street Journal, and many other ¿nancial agen- cies and journals agree that after ¿ve years, Dodd-Frank is a failure. It has crushed small banks, restricted access to credit, planted the seeds of ¿nancial instability, will cost billions of dollars to regulate, and increases government jobs by about 3,000. Actually it is almost impossible to regulate because it is written in such a haphazard manner. Why is Hilary holding up the Dodd-Frank as a beacon of reform? Why would banks and governments be delighted when economies fail? DIXIE GAINER Nehalem and the third most common type of can- cer. It is also the most preventable can- cer. Half of the deaths could be pre- vented if everyone over the age of 50 received the recommended screening, but cost is the biggest barrier. Co-pays have been mostly eliminated by private insurance, but not with Medicare. As a 21-year breast cancer survivor, I know the importance of screenings and early detection. Lives are saved. I have already scheduled my colonoscopy. were able to build a new, and safer, substation in Arch Cape without asking the voters for additional tax increases. Last year with the help of our train- ing of¿cer, the city of Cannon Beach, L & C Timber Co., dis- trict savings and a few other donors, our board was able to procure a brush truck for ¿ght- ing wildland (timber) ¿res. The latest achievement from this board has been the purchase of a 75-foot aerial ladder truck. This acquisition was the joint effort of Board President Sharon Clyde, for acquiring bond ¿nancing; Of¿cer Gary Moon and his committee for designing the truck; and the generous sup- port of our voters, who have trusted the direction of this dis- trict for many years. Each member of this board, not just the ones selected in this recall, have and will con- tinue to provide hours of their time to do the job they were elected to do, which is provide this community a safe and pro- tected place to live. Recalling these directors will not bene¿t this commu- nity or the ¿re department. Acquire the complete facts, then please join me in voting no on this recall. FRANK SWEDENBORG Assistant ¿re chief, Can- non Beach Fire Department The American Cancer Society Can- cer Action Network has a goal to increase colorectal cancer screenings to 80 percent nationwide by 2018. As a volunteer for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, I thank Rep. Bonamici for her leadership in this issue. I hope that U.S. Sens. Jeff Merk- ley and Ron Wyden will follow, and sign on to this lifesaving legislation. LOIS FITZPATRICK Seaside many. Watching the Donald Trump rallies have brought to my mind similarities to the Hitler rallies, as described in the book, as he was ¿rst com- ing to power — particularly the brutality of his supporters. Then other similarities struck me: Trump’s vilifying Muslims and Latinos, and Hit- ler’s hate of Jews and non-Ary- ans (blacks, etc.); and Trump’s “Make America Great Again” rings closely to one of Hitler’s greatest ambitions, to create a great German empire emulat- ing the lost Prussian Empire using force and brutality. Hitler was de¿nitely an egomaniac, believing that he was the only one who could return Germany to greatness. And, although deranged, he was a great orator and told the German people what they wanted to hear; that the Wei- mar Republic was ineffec- tual, and he could bring pres- tige and prosperity back to Germany via military might. Think how that turned out. Trump is saying the sim- ilar things about Washington but, instead of great and con- vincing oratory, he uses ego- driven innuendos and personal insults. Even Hitler didn’t do that. Washington politics are severely bent, but not yet broken; Trump would be the breaker. Be careful, America, what you wish for. Think about mil- itary might in another egoma- niac’s hands. ROD DAWSON Seaside Too similar I am currently reading “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” a history of Nazi Ger- No basis for recall I have attended every board of directors meeting for the Cannon Beach Rural Fire Pro- tection District in the last six years. At each meeting, peo- ple are asked to sign in. This includes ¿re¿ghters, speakers and the public. Not until the November 2015 meeting did we ever see any public attendance. The board of directors meet- ing became so large we had to change our regular meet- ing room to a larger one. My point being, this recall does not have a solid truthful foun- dation of information to build these accusations against the three board members who are being recalled. The public did not attend the board meetings to experience the two and a half year process that evolved. These directors are not paid. They take time out of their lives, away from their business and family to serve their community. In my opin- ion, for the last six years they have done a darn good job. BILLIE STEWART Recording secretary, Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District No beer H aving painfully sat through the Planning Commission meeting of March 10, I could not help but wonder if the “nay” vot- ers had even read the Com- prehensive Plan and under- 5A stood its goals. Speci¿cally, where in the good conscience of anyone does the approval of a “bar” in the heart of the city of Gearhart ¿t the goal of maintaining a “residential community”? The current “residential community” provides a won- derfully idyllic place where families, children and guests can stroll, ride bikes and visit with the rest of the community. Particularly, where our little kids and grandkids can stroll or ride their bikes without worry of being in a safe envi- ronment. I certainly am not going to allow my grandchil- dren to visit in front of a bar. This approval should be reconsidered. The Gearhart Grocery has been a delight- ful cornerstone to downtown and a perfect place for our lit- tle ones to pop in for a treat and not feel threatened. A place that serves beer, be it a bar or a pub, is not a place for minors. Please reconsider what Gearhart has always been about, and do not degrade it by approving the request to open a brew pub. Do what’s right for Gearhart. RICK SABOL Gearhart Not a spruce I want to comment on the photo at the lower right in the article, “The Battle of Punky Spruce” (The Daily Astorian, March 10). The cap- tion reads, “There is no doubt that some of the spruce trees in Bush Pioneer County Park needed to be cut down for safety reasons. This rotting spruce tree destroyed a pic- nic table when it fell during a windstorm in early March.” That tree is not a Sitka spruce. From the parallel fur- rowing of the bark, and the appearance of the foliage, I would guess it to be a Western hemlock. Western hemlock is a much shorter-lived tree than Sitka spruce, notorious for coming down in storms by the time it reaches 80 or 90 years of age. WALLACE HUMMASTI Svensen You don’t have to move to get that new-home feeling. No Eene¿t I have been a member of the Cannon Beach Fire Depart- ment since 1978, and have held the position of assistant chief since 1996. This depart- ment is made up of volunteers, including those who drive the trucks and put out ¿res, and our board of directors, who make and oversee the rules and regulations that govern the business of running a ¿re department. I am concerned about the motives of this recall. A recall should be for failure to do the job that the public (the voters) have elected the person to do. This department is one of the Oregon’s ¿nest because our board, over the years, has pro- vided its members with the ¿n- est equipment, facilities and support necessary to run a ¿re district, which in turn bene- ¿ts our property owners with lower ¿re insurance ratings, thereby providing lower insur- ance premiums. The board members under recall have been instrumen- tal in providing for the com- munity the following: moving the ¿re station to a safer and higher location, replacing two aging ¿re trucks, paying off a bond measure one year early and returning the difference to the taxpayers, and provid- ing the funding for a commu- nity tsunami warning system. Garry Smith, a 28-year volun- teer ¿re¿ghter and now vol- unteer board member, along with retired board member Al Aya, researched, designed and installed the warning system to bene¿t the entire town. The same board members Consider a U.S. Bank Home Equity Line of Credit for your next project. 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