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
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