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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 6, 2016)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2016 FRIDAY EXCHANGE Kudos to shelter pen letter to the Clatsop County Animal Shelter: Thank you for all for all the time and effort and love that you guys give to the animals you take in. It really does take a special person to donate as much time as you guys do. I am very excited to have the opportunity to volunteer and help the animals at the shel- ter. I absolutely love the fact that our shelter is such a low kill one, even with how small it is. It is awesome that you take the extra time to help the dis- abled animals, knowing that they might ind a special place in someone’s heart. I cant wait to volunteer more, and get to know what you do even more. Thank you for that opportunity. HEATHER BALLARD Astoria O Singled out ow sad and ironic that the tradition of the Warren- ton Warriors mascot, which has been part of the school since around the 1920s to the pres- ent day, may possibly be gone forever. When I saw the newspa- per clipping of the helmet with the spear and feather running through the W, my irst thought was, “what a well done, artistic rendition of the logo” (“War- rior mascot changes, but not enough for some,” The Daily Astorian, April 13). There is nothing offen- sive about it as far as I’m con- cerned, even if someone thinks it’s not accurate. It’s called artistic license to do a rendition of the logo, which some might not consider as being politically correct. Which to me, now, is way overdone, and I ask: What has happened to common sense in this country? What makes anyone think Native Americans are not being honored by the imagery on the district’s Warriors mascot? When I heard about all the con- troversy, I inquired if there were protests or petitions to change anything by the local Native American people regarding the warrior name and mascot, and was told there were none. I question what was the rea- son given by the state board of education to enact a ban on Native American mascots in 2012. Why single out one mas- cot group? I understand all this con- troversy was started by a high school student in another dis- trict in the state, for a senior project, objecting to Native American depictions in schools as being objectionable to him. Why have the views of one stu- dent become more important than the voices of many people who have made their viewpoint known at meetings? VIRGINIA E. (WOFFORD) HOLDENER Warrenton High School Class of 1954 Vacaville, California H Honor his memory n May 22, it will have been 36 years since James D. Shepherd, a sergeant with the Oregon State Police, assigned to the Astoria station, was ambushed on a lonely dirt road in 1980 by Michael E. Sture. He was shot and left to die. In 2006, the Marine Corps League, Detachment 1228 in Astoria was formed. The mem- bership, looking for projects and programs that might help beneit our community and our local law enforcement within C!atsop County, decided to rec- ognize those in law enforce- ment that we felt were both outstanding in their perfor- mance of duties and commu- nity policing. Chosen by the member- ship as coordinator for the Law Enforcement Oficer of the Year awards within Clat- sop County, I, as a life mem- ber in the league, and the staff of Detachment 1228, chose to honor Sgt. Shepherd and to name the award in his name. The Law Enforcement Ofi- cer of the Year was awarded to: in 2007, Kenneth McCoy, Clat- sop County Sheriff’s Ofice; in 2008, Kenneth Hansen, Asto- ria Police Department; in 2009, James Pierce, OSP; in 2010, Michael Nelsen, Sheriff’s Ofice; in 2011, Eric Halver- son, APD; in 2012, Matt Bee- son, OSP; and in 2013, Tom Guest, Sheriff’s Ofice. Additional awards were given for runner-up, superior and outstanding achievement, O Thanks volunteers for a memorable job fair L ast month, the second annual Clat- sop County High Schools Career and Job Fair was held at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds. The focus of the career & job fair was threefold: 1) Employers from throughout Clatsop County hiring for positions for immediate employment, and summer jobs. 2) Sharing voca- tional and career technical careers available that provide family wage jobs, including a pathway through Clatsop Community College and 3) Sharing with our students going away to four year colleges and universities that they can come home after gradua- tion and ind a fulilling career in Clat- sop County. More than 700 students from Asto- ria, Jewell, Knappa, Seaside & War- renton High Schools attended. special and reserve, to the Sea- side, Gearhart, Warrenton and Astoria police departments, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Sher- iff’s Ofice. After I left the position of coordinator, and trans- fered from Detachment 1228 to at-large, the Marine Corps League decided not to continue sponsoring the awards. As the 36th anniversary of the passing of James Shepherd nears, I ask that all who knew Jim will remember who he was, what he did for his fam- ily and community. We send our prayers and blessing to his widow, Virginia Shepherd, who still resides in Clatsop County. We honored Jim through Virginia, who was our special guest each year at our awards event. She is and always will be very special to my wife, Betsy, and I. MEL JASMIN Warrenton Thanks, teachers pen letter to Knappa High School teachers: Thank you for making me feel like I mattered. My name is Andrea Burnard, and I’m a student at Knappa High School. I wanted to do my best in your classes to impress you. Skipping your class or not doing your home- work wasn’t an option because I didn’t want to let you down. I would work really hard on assignments for your class, and I would be extra excited know- ing your class was coming up sometime in the day. You transformed a class I had to go to into a little spot of sunshine in my day, as I couldn’t wait to be in your pres- ence for an entire 50 minutes. You fed me your knowledge, and taught me life lessons. Overall, you made my high school experience really spe- cial, and you have truly helped me prepare for college. Teachers like you are under- valued, but to the students, you mean everything. ANDREA BURNARD Astoria O Fewer nursing beds he recent article “Clatsop Care Center to relocate some residents” (The Daily Astorian, April 25) did a good job of explaining the decision to reduce bed capacity due to T Sixty-eight businesses participated, more than last year. Many companies hired students on the spot! Business evaluations were very positive, and said the kids were very wellorganized this year. The student responses continually stated they were unaware of all the job and career options we have in Clatsop County, and were excited of the potential Clatsop Economic Development Resources (CEDR) partnered with the Oregon Employment Department (WorkSource Northwest Oregon and Paciic NW Works) to organize and facilitate this event, but we could have not done it without the over 20 community volunteers who came to twice monthly planning meetings for months, and of course the schools who invested their time with us to stafing issues. What it did not address is the changes made at the state level that have seri- ous impacts to providing long- term nursing home care in this community. In 2013, the state passed HB 2216, which mandated a reduction of nursing home beds across the state. Rural com- munities are held to the same reductions as the metropoli- tan areas, even though com- munities like ours only have one nursing home facility that serves a large geographic region that includes southwest Washington. Only 309 the initial tar- get of reducing 1,500 nursing home beds by Dec. 31 were achieved. This now means that the state will cut the amount of reimbursement we would have received for care by the percentage that they did not achieve. Closure of nursing home beds shifts care to communi- ty-based care, which is consid- erably less expensive. Commu- nity-based care means a care setting that does not exist pri- marily for the purpose of pro- viding nursing/medical care, but where nursing care is inci- dental to the setting. This community is fortunate to have Clatsop Care Health District and the tax revenues, approximately $500,000 per year, to offset the decline we receive from the state. Cur- rently, over 70 percent of our long-term care population at Clatsop Care Center receives Medicaid assistance. Without this tax money, we would not be able to serve such a high level of Medicaid residents. However, the amount of subsidy we now need to oper- ate beds at the Care Center, and our other facilities in the dis- trict, has exceeded the total tax revenues received and limits the district on providing wage increases needed to compete with other health facilities in the area. The state has been success- ful in their efforts to reduce nursing home beds in the state. Since 2013, they have taken a total of 309 beds ofline. This is ine in regions such as Portland, where there are more choices for placement opportunities for those who need these services. In our community, we continue to be the only choice for nurs- ing home beds, and as a district, make this experience for our kids so memorable Everyone worked collaboratively to ensure success of this countywide event for our students, and inspired all involved! Take a look at www.clatsopjobfair. com for more information. This is the new “go to” website, created by Jim Servino from the Astoria-Warrenton Chamber of Commerce. We are already starting planning for next year, but I could not let the ile close on this year without acknowl- edging our volunteers. KEVIN LEAHY executive director, Clatsop Economic Development Resources (CEDR) and Clatsop Community College Small Business Development Center we stay committed to provid- ing these services despite the efforts from the state to close facilities. NICOLE WILLIAMS CEO, Clatsop Care Health District Goldthorpe is right would like to voice my endorsement for David Goldthorpe for Circuit Court judge. Serving a career in law enforcement in Clatsop County taught me that it is imperative that the right person be placed into a judicial seat who will do the right thing with those who will appear in court. He will apply the law in the correct way and be fair to all, whether guilty or not. He will also be fair towards the law enforcement oficers as they work with the courts to do the jobs that need to be done. I worked my early years with the Seaside Police Depart- ment and Warrenton Police Department before joining the Oregon State Police. I served a full career with the State Police and for the past 20 years of it, I was responsible for or super- vised the handling of all fatal trafic collisions that occurred in Clatsop County. Many of those collisions involved individuals who were impaired or distracted in their driving. Most of those cases were prosecuted by the Clat- sop County District Attor- ney’s Ofice for charges that would include criminal negli- gent homicide to manslaughter. David Goldthorpe had a hand in cases that were successfully prosecuted near the end of my State Police career. I have seen many judges come and go in the many coun- ties that I have worked in. Some of these judges were all talk and no action, while others were very good at their jobs. Believe me, David Goldthorpe under- stands the needs of the people and of law enforcement, and will serve the citizens of Clat- sop County very well. When you think about all that it takes to be a Circuit Court judge, there is really no way not to place David Goldthorpe to the front of the voter’s mind. I give him my full endorse- ment for the position of Clatsop County Circuit Court judge. JAMES PIERCE Warrenton I Care needed here are challenges to treat- ing mental illnesses in Clat- sop County. Columbia Memo- rial Hospital is not certiied to have custody of the mentally ill. The patients have to ind a psychiatric hospital somewhere else in the state, and sometimes it is hard and expensive to ind a hospital somewhere else. It would be nice if CMH could get certiied to have cus- tody of the mentally ill, to make it easier for the patients to get the care they need. HANNAH OLSON Astoria T Thanks for the help he families and friends of the Warrenton Grade School Library are awesome. Fifteen 15 years ago this spring, our library faced a tight econ- omy with little or no district funds for new books. In talking with teacher friends from the Portland area, we decided to try a fundraiser: selling frozen cookie dough. Oh my. It was an amaz- ing success. And, even as eco- nomic times improved, and with renewed support by the district for books and materi- als, we continued the fundraiser all these years with proceeds now also going to support vis- its by authors, illustrators, and/ or storytellers. In looking at our spread- sheets for these past 15 years, I am amazed at the support shown by our Warrenton com- munity: As of this year’s sale, our Warrenton Grade School Library has received over $63,800 since we began this fundraiser. Wow! On behalf of the students and teachers of Warrenton Grade School, I send our fami- lies my heartfelt thanks for such generosity. KATHI MERRITT Media specialist, Warrenton Grade School Library T One of a kind was not compatible and sustainable economic development for Oregon’s North Coast. Thoughtful Clat- sop County citizens are in favor of sustainable economic development which is compat- ible with the heritage, culture L 5A and resources here. Oregon LNG did not it any of those categories. Respected local, regional and national organizations charged with looking at the long term consequences of indus- try to the health and well-being of the Columbia River Estu- ary, salmon and wildlife knew this, as did local citizens, who spent countless hours doing the research and showing up at meetings to testify. Twenty-seven percent of the jobs in Clatsop County are tourism related. Travel dollars coming into Clatsop County in 2002 were $ 300 million; in 2014, it was $516.7 mil- lion. Oregon LNG would have threatened our growing tourism economy. While it might have pro- vided some short-term jobs, there would have been long- term economic pain. These short-term jobs, when over, could have resulted in folks going on unemployment. It was a fallacy that LNG would have provided sustainable jobs for locals. Oregon LNG would have cost jobs and cost us the environment. This place belongs to the world because of the rich his- tory of Lewis & Clark and the vision of John Jacob Astor. It has had an important place on the world stage for over two centuries, and it has a vital and important place now. Today the communities of Astoria and Warrenton are international tourism destinations because of their heritage, culture and beauty. Heavy and dangerous indus- try would have changed the Columbia Paciic region’s char- acter forever and undermined our thriving visitor economy, which is booming now and can continue to grow, provided we are considered a beautiful and safe destination. The North Coast has a responsibility to preserve the Lewis & Clark legacy, our important American history and our unique national story which exists here, in this one-of-a-kind geographic location. Oregon LNG would have destroyed over 100 acres of crit- ical endangered salmon habitat in the Columbia River estuary, done great harm to our water quality, negatively impacted a healthy commercial and recre- ational ishing industry, threat- ened public safety — the list of reasons why this was a bad idea is long. Oregon LNG — with their expensive lawyers and com- promised scientists, smoke and mirrors public relations cam- paigns and questionable ind- ings — shimmered alluringly with promises it would not have been able to keep. Thank you to Columbia Riverkeeper and Oregonians everywhere for protecting what is, in essence, a World Heritage Site. Astoria, which helped deine the west- ern boundary of the U.S., is a rare jewel which belongs to everyone. DONNA QUINN Astoria Very grateful T his is for all low-kill ani- mal shelters, including our local Clatsop Country Shelter: You are truly amazing for donating the time to give the animals a second chance at a better life. I know many shelters believe that once they have hit capacity, some- one has to go. I’m very grate- ful that you don’t think that way. If you did, I would have missed out on the best dog, who has spent 12 years will me, and still counting. My hope is that some day all shel- ters have the heart to stop kill- ing, just because they don’t have room. BAILEY CORDER Astoria Always a Warrior I am writing about the debate to change the Warren- ton High School mascot. Our family has proudly graduated “Warrior” alumni for nearly a century. The WHS logo has always been about school pride in a positive context. If th high school is forced to change their six-generation logo, it will be the perfect example of political correctness gone amuck. JOY (WHEATLEY) MAZEIKAS Warrenton High School Class of 1967 Salem