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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 20, 2016)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2016 FRIDAY EXCHANGE Thank you can’t believe graduation is almost here for the class of 2016. Most of us can say that without many important peo- ple in our lives, we wouldn’t be where we are today. To our family, friends, schools, teachers, coaches and role models: we owe you so much. When bad and heart-breaking events have occurred in our everyday lives, it seems like our communities have grown stronger and closer together. To you, Clatsop County citizens, I say thank you for making a difference in the lives of all 2016 graduates. CHANEL KELLY Knappa High School Class of 2016 Astoria I Take care read, with great interest, two separate articles about the environment in The Daily Astorian (“Speak now on coal exports upriver,” May 3) and The Oregonian, which would have been enlightening to run side by side. The Daily Astorian piece addresses the plan to estab- lish two behemoth coal distri- bution plants on the Columbia River. The terminals would store and deliver large depos- its of coal that will be brought by train to Longview-Kelso, Washington, then shipped to Asia. The proposal speaks to the creation of jobs in the area, tax receipts, and the better- ment of the economy. Little shrift has been given to the potential for disastrous, dom- ino-effect occurrences should one of the container ships hit foul weather, as is predicted. The Northwest isn’t immune to severe weather. The people of Oregon recently turned “thumbs- down” on a proposed lique- ied natural gas (LNG) plant in Warrenton at the mouth of the Columbia River for many reasons, but mostly in light of what a study proposed would happen if a container ship was blown off course. The result- ing explosion would literally wipe out most of the local area from Warrenton to Astoria. This is an extreme exam- ple, and additionally, the deg- radation of building a pipeline and placing a natural gas plant in an ecologically and indus- try-sensitive area is beyond comprehension. The propo- nents stated they could guar- antee safety and preventative maintenance for the plants and the ships, taking natu- ral gas to Asia for sale. Who really beneits from this folly? The Oregonian article is about coral reefs being dec- imated by the acidiication of our oceans. Carbon diox- ide accumulations are degrad- ing calcium-producing organ- isms — such as crab, lobster, shrimp, clams, etc. — and threatening their existence. The increased amount of car- bon dioxide in our oceans has been proven to be largely con- tributed by mankind. Fish species depend on coral reefs to sustain their lives. Loss of this habitat will affect all of us. As the oceans go … so do we. We are all dependent on our ecosystems for our quality and sustain- ability of life as we now enjoy it. I am not a bleeding-heart, liberal tree hugger. I sup- port sustainable business and ecological-friendly business practices. Some businesses are currently working to help nature recover; solar and wind power are but a small part of this endeavor. If each of us recycles, puts compost into a recovery sys- tem and relies more on pub- lic transportation, statistical models indicate our planet would be thankful in so many ways. We either take care of Mother Nature, or she will take care of us — and not nec- essarily in a good way. JOHN CROWLEY Gearhart I Political thoughts t is Tuesday evening on May 17 at 7:21 p.m. I have not heard anything about vot- ing results and I shouldn’t, because there is still time for people to vote and drop their ballots into a special ballot drop box. But what I have heard is very unsettling. Watching I Ring of Fire news on my com- puter, I learned that Hilary Clinton has made a statement that when she is elected she is going to put Bill in charge of our economy. Bill Clinton, the man who sent one mil- lion American jobs overseas, and strongly favors all trade policies which gut American jobs. Bill Clinton who signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act, which led to the big inancial explosion and bank bailout in 2008. Bill Clinton, who signed the Tele- communications Act of 1996, which brought us Big Brother Media (many different voices saying the same propaganda), higher prices for consumers, and caused the loss of half a million jobs. That Bill Clin- ton. Don’t you feel better already? And then, if that was not enough, I watched Mike Papantonio and Thom Hart- mann talk about who is host- ing the Democratic Conven- tion. The 2016 Democratic National Convention in Phil- adelphia will be hosted by Republican donors, corpo- rate executives, and anti- Obamacare lobbyists. Accord- ing to an Intercept article, the 15 member Host Committee is composed of the same old Republican moneybags that bankrolled Republicans in past elections. I left the Democratic party years ago when I real- ized it was corrupt. I suggest that all Democrats who real- ize that the present “Demo- cratic Party” does not repre- sent them do the same. And then for the grand inale of the evening. A forth- coming book by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman, “The Strip & Flip Selection Of 2016: Five Jim Crows & Electronic Election Theft,” all about electronic election theft. Eighty percent of the votes that will be cast in the 2016 general election will be cast on electronic voting machines — which can have their records altered by a gov- ernor or secretary of state with just a few keystrokes. The solution? Observable hand counting of ballots. I think Oregon has one of the best voting programs in our country. But it is still hackable. We should do some- thing about that. It wouldn’t be hard. DIXIE GAINER Nehalem Do your job recent letter “Coal ired” (The Daily Astorian, May 13), was submitted by Tom Harris, executive director of the International Climate Coalition, Ottawa, Canada. It would have been nice had a note been added that Mr. Har- ris is not a climate scientist, but a former energy industry public relations consultant. It might have also been helpful to note that the so-called coalition is primar- ily a climate denial organiza- tion that is funded by a Chi- cago-based front group for the energy industry. Go even further, and you will ind the various members of this “coa- lition” have either zero, or highly questionable creden- tials within climate science, and are all paid by organiza- tions created by and funded by energy industry monies. As a former newspaper- man and editor myself, I A asked myself why would a publication serving Clatsop County publish a letter from Ottawa, Canada, comment- ing on an Associated Press story about the presidential campaign? I understand that exporting coal via the Colum- bia River is a current local issue. But Ottawa? What’s the connection, I wondered? So I did the simple thing any news organization would (or at least should) do — I looked further. It was easy to ind plenty of information about these folks, who are receiving money from the energy indus- try to spread oficial sounding pseudo-science denial about climate change and to support fossil fuel-based industries. It was also fairly easy to ind information about Ottawa, the electric prices, job losses and net job gains (yes, they are up a net 60,000 jobs) as they make the neces- sary transition towards a sus- tainable energy future that doesn’t sacriice the environ- ment for proit today. It’s not the doom and gloom Mr. Har- ris would have you believe. Newspaper people seem to be bafled at why the pub- lic doesn’t trust them. I think this is a good example. You gave this energy industry pro- paganda organization free publicity on an important topic that, as you well know, many of your readers care about. In my opinion, you should have added an editor’s note explaining who Har- ris is, what his organization does and where they get their money. You might ind people trust you better when you do your job correctly. BILL GRAFFIUS Gearhart developed by this contractor for the governor will also be made publicly available. It is unfortunate that your news story created an illu- sion of secrecy where it does not exist. This work group has endeavored to exceed disclo- sure requirements because we believe both in sharing our work product with pol- icymakers and Oregonians, and because we believe this review will ultimately be a tool the governor can use to further strengthen the work and conidence in our state’s transportation agency. SUSAN MORGAN Commissioner, Douglas County Roseburg Energy sense n response, or as a follow-up, to the letter “Coal ired” by Tom Harris, executive direc- tor, International Climate Sci- ence Coalition, Ottawa, Ontario (The Daily Astorian, May 13), we Oregonians should become more aware/informed of fail- ures of the European Union over the past decade. Despite their combined governments’ spending more than 1 trillion euros of tax- I payer money on “Green Sub- sidies,” carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the EU have actu- ally risen. In 2015, CO2 emis- sions from fossil-fuel combus- tion increased by 0.7 percent, compared with that of the pre- vious year. CO2 emissions in Ger- many alone increased by an estimated 10 million tons from 2014 to 2015, in a setback to that nation’s claims about “cli- mate leadership.” Accord- ing to the Institute of German Business, the cost of Germa- ny’s once highly publicized “Energiewende” (“Transition to green energy”) will increase another 31 billion euros (U.S. $35 billion) in 2016 alone: this will further burden the already faltering German economy. Amazingly, last year Ger- many paid wind farms $548 million to close down, in order to prevent damage to the coun- try’s electricity grid. Germa- ny’s wind and solar power sys- tems had provided too much power at unpredictable times, which damaged the power grid and made the system more vulnerable to blackouts. To ix the problem, grid opera- tors paid companies to turn off their wind turbines — accord- ing to the German newspaper Wirtschaftswoche. Energy is, of course, import- ant for economic growth and general prosperity, but don’t we also need to consider reason and common sense? Over the last 30 years, a fresh view of the English “Industrial Revolution” has begun to take shape, which suggests that fossil-fuel energy can be signiicantly used much more than is being allowed these days in “mainstream econom- ics.” This new realization gives further purpose that we should be concerned about reasonable global attempts to reduce emis- sions, rather than blindly adopt- ing renewable energy at what- ever cost. DAN NEBERT Tillamook Reinstating award n a recent letter submit- ted to The Daily Astorian, the importance of honor- ing the sacriices of our law I 5A enforcement oficers, as well as the signiicance of the Law Enforcement Oficer of the Year ceremony was discussed (“Honor his memory,” May 6). Marine Corps League Daniel E. Crockett Detach- ment 1228 was mentioned as having made the deci- sion to discontinue the Law Enforcement Oficer of the Year Awards. We would like to clarify as to why we had to temporarily suspend the pro- gram, so that there is no con- fusion surrounding this. Our law enforcement ofi- cers are near and dear to our detachment; we are com- prised of a number of current and former oficers who have stepped forward to serve and protect their community, and hold others who also do so in the highest esteem — espe- cially those who have lost their lives in the line of duty. At the time we had to sus- pend the program, we sim- ply could no longer afford to carry the program on, as we were operating in the red. This was the only deciding factor in having to suspend the program. For the past seven months, Marine Corps League Detach- ment 1228 has been in the process of reinstating the Law Enforcement Oficer of the Year program. We are well on our way to being able to inancially cover the expenses of the program, and have a committee who is commit- ted to not only honoring our law enforcement oficers on the North Coast, but those in Southwest Washington, as well. We are pleased to announce at this time that there will be a Law Enforcement Oficer of the Year ceremony, to be held at our annual Marine Corps Ball on Nov. 12. Thank you, to all of our law enforcement oficers, for all that you give of yourselves, and we extend our gratitude for the risk you take every time you put on that uniform. LOU NEUBECKER Marine Corps League Detachment 1228 Seaside No secrets am writing to correct mis- conceptions created by reporting in your paper on a management review of the Oregon Department of Trans- portation (“Delay in ODOT review could hamper trans- portation plan,” The Daily Astorian, April 5). As chairwoman of the ODOT Management Review Committee, we are a small working group that was selected to help engage an independent third party to examine the management practices at ODOT. While this group is serving in an advisory capacity to the governor, it is not a deci- sion-making body. Our meet- ings are, therefore, not sub- ject to the notice and access requirements under the Ore- gon Public Meetings Law, nor has the governor told this group, publicly or privately, to close or conduct our meet- ings in secret. Nevertheless, we have worked diligently in the spirit of openness to share this group’s work publicly, and will continue to do so. Our primary task has been to develop a proposed scope of work that will be used to hire an independent contrac- tor to review ODOT. This pro- posed scope of work has been developed with input from legislators and key stakehold- ers. This input, along with minutes from our meeting, is publicly available. Additionally, we will offer a recommendation to the Depart- ment of Administrative Ser- vices (DAS) on a contrac- tor, but it is DAS, and not this working group, that will decide who will be hired. It should also be noted that the inal report I Living with Alzheimer’s: For Caregivers – Late Stage Saturday, June 4 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Clatsop Community College Columbia Hall, Room 219 (1651 Lexington Ave., Astoria, OR 97103) In the late stage of Alzheimer’s disease, caregiving typically involves new ways of connecting and interacting with the person with the disease. Join the Alzheimer’s Association Oregon Chapter for this class to hear from caregivers and professionals about resources, monitoring care and providing meaningful connection for individuals with late-stage Alzheimer’s and their families. This class is free, but registration is required. To register, call 800-272-3900. Offered in collaboration with: