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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 25, 2016)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2016 Voting for Trump /RJVMREVOLTXH¿HGQDWXUDOJDV J ohnny Depp aside, along with the many other voices in the public square are telling us that we do not have permission to support the presidential campaign of Mr. Donald J. Trump — who may not be, thankfully, an approved Republican — but the essential wonder- ful truth of American politi- cal crux remains that “when I pull the voting booth curtain closed behind me, I can vote for whatever and whomever I wish.” This is what appears to be happening in the U.S. 2016 GOP primaries. The folks who have been able to successfully pull the pup- pet strings on voters for quite some time are aghast. More accurately, they are left Àat footed and bewildered. Defeated? If you thought that the direction of public policy was unalterably set, think again. “We the people” might still be the straw that stirs the drink. Anybody out there want to say that our drink isn’t being stirred? Always pleased with the “Not Me” people ... BOB EKSTROM Scappoose No Trump T he thought of Donald Trump being the next president of this country has me ¿lled with great anxiety and dread for all of us people in this country who are not in his class of the extremely rich. He is not concerned with us, only his millionaire friends. It appears that he has spent millions buying off two of his other opponents this past couple of weeks. He will be a great danger to this coun- try if he is elected and able to negotiate with tyrants like Vladimir Putin of Russia, and turn this country over to him for the millions that will all go into Trump’s personal bank account. Trump has not really said anything about improv- ing the country for the ben- e¿t of the taxpayers and the ordinary people. All he is able to do is bad mouth any- one who opposes him in any way. During the last time he was talking to his sup- porters, there were opposers there, and he told people in the audience to beat the c*** out of them. That is certainly something for his supporters to be proud of this candidate. All in all, this is a candi- date that this country does not need. GERALD D. WINTERS Warrenton Let Obama choose O pen letter to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell: Are you kidding me? Your March 16 press release contained eight references about your of¿ce generously yielding to public choice. That line you’ve been peddling, “Give the peo- FRIDAY EXCHANGE A t one of the Federal Energy Reg- ulatory Commission (FERC) hearings regarding the proposed liq- uefied natural gas (LNG) plant held in Warrenton, a local bank manager posed the question, “If not LNG, then what?” One answer could be another acro- nym, CLT. Cross Laminated Timber, also called mass timber, is hailed as the greatest advancement in construction technology since reinforced concrete. Touted as “plywood on steroids,” it is, simply put, 2-foot by 6-foot boards glued (laminated) together in cross grained layers to form panels. These panels are computer design generated as prefabricated units, similar to con- crete “tilt-ups,” creating beautiful mid- ple a voice in the ¿lling of this vacancy,” rings so tinny that I have to remind myself your comments are disingen- uous, and sadly, you are sac- ri¿cing the credibility of your position and your historical legacy by awkwardly play- ing at politics. The last time I checked, the people used their voice, and they over- whelmingly re-elected Presi- dent Obama. On at least ¿ve occasions, your media release also attempted to piggy-back on the so-called “Biden Rule.” Well, Senator, your effort to cleverly apply a title and tra- dition to a nonexistent rule back¿red if, in fact, your goal was to project statesman- ship. Instead, you displayed an unsophisticated effort at political gamesmanship. If Vice President Biden can create a “rule” simply by stating a political posi- tion from 20 years ago, per- haps your party and its min- ions have no basis to further your judicial efforts in over- riding the president’s use of executive orders? Unfortunately, these anti- Obama political behaviors, which you developed in the ¿rst term of his presidency (reference Time magazine’s coverage on your Repub- lican Party off-site meet- ing in 2009), are the genesis for Donald Trump’s amaz- ing success in the primaries. With that in mind, I wonder who the likely 44th president will nominate to the Supreme Court? To my knowledge, Sec- retary Hillary Clinton hasn’t publicly offered any sug- gestions, but I’m con¿dent that her nominee will be less appealing to you and the Republican Party than the Honorable Merrick Garland. JOY BREWER Astoria sized buildings with ¿nished wood inside and out. The wood becomes a carbon sink, and eliminates the use of concrete, which is estimated to produce 5 percent of greenhouse gases worldwide. The process has been long used in Europe, Australia and Canada, and an example can be seen in Portland at the Oregon Zoo Elephant Lands habitat. Astoria would likely be an ideal loca- tion for a CLT plant, having a skilled work force, local timber and shipping capabilities. A factory to produce CLT would not come cheap, but it wouldn’t require pipelines, river activity disrup- tions, military escorts, or hazardous cargo. I believe the great majority of local The board members under scrutiny have many decades of experience and training. I wonder if you’re aware that the Arch Cape ¿re station was designed and built by the current board, at no addi- tional cost to the taxpayers? No small feat, that. But now, our volunteer ¿re department is required to pay for this special recall vote. Why that isn’t paid for by the petitioners, I don’t quite understand. The pend- ing court case could prove to be an additional expense. And, yet another certain expense would be years and years of trainings for new board members. The fact is we’re getting a new ¿re chief. Nothing’s going to change that now. Are we really going to saddle him with a board of directors whose voting majority has no experience, no training and a large chip on its shoulders? The words “nose” and “face” spring to mind, with a mea- sure of spite thrown in. Let’s remember what’s at stake here, folks. These are our ¿rst responders. And, this is a matter of public safety. I suggest that personal grudges should be aired in the courtroom. And if the peti- tioners honestly believe that residents would welcome a clean indus- try that would provide good wage jobs and utilize local resources instead of extracting them and shipping the raw materials overseas. Picture a ship leav- ing Astoria with a school, an apart- ment building and houses bound for Los Angeles or China. It would be a healthy addition to tourism, brew pubs and pot shops. This is a rapidly expanding indus- try, and Astoria would do well to get in now, in advance of competing interests. Information is all over the Internet — just enter “CLT wood” — and the Mass Timber Conference was held recently in Portland. BRUCE JOHNSTON Gearhart they can do a better job than our current board, then they should have to prove that to us in a general election. Please join me in voting no recall. VALOREE GIFT Cannon Beach Please reconsider O pen letter to the Gear- hart mayor, city coun- cil, planning commission- ers and city manager: We object strongly to the condi- tional approval of a brew pub replacing the Gearhart Gro- cery. What was the Planning Commission thinking, and why weren’t the residents of Gearhart given any advance knowledge of this proposal? Gearhart’s restrictions to growth have been notori- ously strong ever since we can remember. To replace the gro- cery store with a brew pub is below the standards of a com- munity that prides itself on being a good wholesome fam- ily place. Within a mile of city center you have a hotel with bar and restaurant, an excep- tional ¿ne dining restaurant, a good Mexican restaurant on U.S. Highway 101, a Dairy Queen, a Chinese restau- rant and a bowling alley that serves food and drink. By placing an establish- ment that is devoted to drink- ing in the center of our town, you are placing our children and residents at risk for row- diness, traf¿c, drunken driv- ing, unpleasant smells and more. We strongly urge you to reconsider your “condi- tional” approval of this pro- posal. I thank David Smith, Terry Graff and Jeremy Davis for voting against it. NANCY AND JOHN HERPERS Gearhart On Chicago A s I wrote this letter I was watching the pro- test at the Trump campaign — canceled March 11. I lis- tened closely to the narra- tives offered across the main- stream media and the talking head analysis. A good portion of the “blame” is put on Trump. Some analysts go as far as comparing Trump’s candi- dacy to Hitler’s Brownshirts during the 1930s. Give me a break, and if you don’t under- stand this, you are ignorant. Trump’s chief competi- tors call for, paraphrasing, all of us to “remain calm.” More political correctness. 7A Trump is not the cause, he is a symptom. The fault lies with President Barrack Hussein Obama. And do you want to know why? Because deep in our national psy- che we are — get ready — a Christian nation built on Judeo-Christian values. Granted, the nation has fallen from being a Chris- tian nation to a secular soci- ety (by the way, how’s that working out for ya?) but deep in our psyche, that is to say our national conscience, we are tethered to our God- given, Ten Commandment fearing, “yes sir, thank you ma’am” conscience. God — the god of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph, that God — is the source of all goodness. We are created beings and com- ing into this world we are, all of us, lighted by Jesus Christ, the very source of goodness. Allah is not God. Peer pressure is horri- ble to youth and carries on through to adulthood, and in our day and age that peer pressure is known as political correctness. Political correctness — that’s the (secular) issue. Political correctness has hijacked our free speech and with it, our Judea-Christian ethics. Homosexuality has been shoved down our throat (no pun intended) as was, for instance, Obamacare. We don’t bad-mouth police — we revere them. Eight years of a presi- dent who has either no values or values contrary to what our nation, at the aggregate, opposes. And that is what manifest in Chicago. Adult peer pressure. Tol- erance. Political correct- ness that promotes values forced on a nation that sim- ply won’t accept them. Our president has forced a set of values that we simply, at the national level, do not accept, and that is what has manifest in Chicago. The problem is the pres- idency of Barrack Hus- sein Obama — Trump is an afterthought. GARY MAURO Warrenton You don’t have to move to get that new-home feeling. Recall a bad idea I ’m as sorry as the next per- son that we lost our ¿re chief. But the truth is that you don’t lose a job like that without due process. Besides, he has a court case pending against the ¿re department board. Consider a U.S. Bank Home Equity Line of Credit for your next project. With competitive rates and lexible payment options, lasting home improvements could be within reach. Introductory rates start as low as 1.99% APR. 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