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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2016)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 2016 Thank you Letters welcome I would like to thank everyone who voted for me on May 17 to serve as county commissioner for District 4. It is an honor to be elected. I look forward to repre- senting you, when my four-year term begins in January. I would also like to thank all those who supported my campaign. I will continue lis- tening and learning about the job ahead in order to be as pre- pared as possible. I am grateful to be living in Clatsop County, and look forward to serving as an elected representative of the community. KATHLEEN SULLIVAN Astoria Letters should be exclu- sive to The Daily Astorian. We do not publish open let- ters or third-party letters. Letters should be fewer than 450 words and must include the writer’s name, address and phone numbers. You will be contacted to con- fi rm authorship. All letters are subject to editing for space, grammar and, on occasion, factual accuracy. Letters written in response to other letter writers should address the issue at hand and, rather than mentioning the writer by name, should refer to the headline and date the Surviving together I read the letter titled “Surviv- ing survival” (The Daily Asto- rian, May 27), and wanted to write some words of encourage- ment and give some tips. I lived through a catastrophic hurri- cane on Kauai in 1992, and was the public relations/marketing director for the local hospital at the time. Where I lived, we had no electricity, phone or TV for 2 1/2 months. Clean water was spotty for a while. The letter poses good ques- tions. Following our disas- ter, I became a little hyper-vig- ilant. I obtained a bachelor’s degree in emergency manage- ment, took steps to prepare for future hurricanes, and the les- sons learned remained with me ever since. Then I moved to the Northwest, not knowing what eventually lies awaiting all of us here. The effects of that hur- ricane will pale by comparison to a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. I have a few key points. You can prepare for some of what will happen. You can’t prepare for all eventualities. However, you will be amazed at how peo- ple work together to deal with the problems at hand. You’ll pool your food together. You’ll share key items that can’t be obtained because the stores are closed. Life becomes very com- munal following a disaster. In your preparations, think “old school.” There’s no inter- net for you, no phones, no email, texting, etc. We found the most effective communication was bulletin boards. Using manual typewriters, we wrote pertinent bulletins and posted these on bulletin boards throughout the community. Realize that all of your pub- lic servants (i.e. police, fi re, medical, etc.) are victims, just like you, and are facing respon- sibilities of work while solving problems of shelter, water, food, child care, etc. for their families. By the way, child care following a disaster is a big deal. Schools are obviously closed. If you have to work, what do you do with your children? At our hos- pital, we realized if we expected people to come to work, we had FRIDAY EXCHANGE to provide food and child care. The outpouring of gener- osity and kindness I saw in the aftermath of that disaster far out- weighed any negative. It will always be the fi rst thing that comes to mind as I refl ect on what was an incredible hardship. Survival is instinctive. In a crisis like this, people will work together to solve their immedi- ate problems. Yes, plan as much as you can. Do things that will mitigate problems. But also real- ize that what you didn’t foresee — you’ll work together to deal with in the aftermath. And by all means, talk to those who have gone through major disasters. We can help you think of things you wouldn’t think of if you haven’t been through one (i.e. how do you pay staff when there are no com- puters to do a payroll?). SCOT ROSKELLEY Cathlamet, Washington Budget control? I was dismayed to read about the Cannon Beach budget plans (“Cannon Beach boosts budget by a third,” The Daily Astorian, May 6). Acquiring property in the tsunami inunda- tion zone sounds like a horrible idea. The idea that “as you enter town we want something we can be very proud of” indicates that there will be a massive build- ing project ahead, with asso- ciated tax increases. If the city truly wants to beautify, I would suggest spending the money on underground utilities, bet- ter maintaining landscaping in parking areas and paving streets. Also interesting was money budgeted for a “salary survey.” Will the taxpayers ever see the results, or will it be like the last expensive survey? Since this type of survey is commonly used to justify sal- ary increases, if the results show employees are overpaid, will it quietly be fi led away? How about some transparency here? PHILIP HALL Cannon Beach letter was published. Dis- course should be civil and people should be referred to in a respectful manner. Let- ters referring to news stories should also mention the head- line and date of publication. Submissions may be sent in any of these ways: E-mail to editor@dai- lyastorian.com; Online form at www.dai- lyastorian.com; Delivered to the Asto- rian offi ces at 949 Exchange St. and 1555 N. Roosevelt in Seaside. Or by mail to Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Upgrade lights T here are three main traf- fi c lights in the Warren- ton area, heading south on U.S. Highway 101. There is the light at the main turn into the city of Warrenton, the light at the turn into Fred Meyers and fi nally the light at Mar- lin Avenue. All of these lights are marvels of modern traffi c control, featuring sensors that detect when cars are present and change the lights so that the traffi c fl ow is at its most effi cient. The problem is that they do not sense light, or short vehi- cles, such as some motorcycles. This is a problem, because if one of these vehicles is the fi rst vehicle in line at one of these stop lights, you might as well pack a lunch, because the light will never change, as they do not trigger the sensors. So now, what to do? Would it be legal for the vehicle in question to simply run the red light, after having waited through several cycles of traffi c lights without ever getting the green light, so to speak? I guess with all the dis- gusted drivers lined up behind, honking their horns and work- ing up to a good ole fashioned case of road rage, it would be the prudent thing to do, and I think that the Oregon Driving Regulations might even allow that. If an accident should occur, however, and it was you who had run the red light, let us pause and think just what your insurance company might think about your actions. Anyway, what is the point, you may well ask? The point is that in this day and age, and with lasers and infrared sensors available for this type of thing, perhaps it is time to upgrade the current system and prevent this traffi c snarling situation and, at the same time, make these inter- sections safer for everyone. Just a thought, I could be wrong. DAVID GRAVES Astoria Where to write • U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D): 2338 Ray- burn HOB, Washington, D.C., 20515. Phone: 202- 225-0855. Fax 202-225-9497. District offi ce: 12725 SW Millikan Way, Suite 220, Beaverton, OR 97005. Phone: 503-469- 6010. Fax 503-326-5066. Web: bonamici.house. gov/ • U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313 Hart Senate Offi ce Building, Washington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. Web: www.merkley.senate.gov • U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D): 221 Dirksen Senate Offi ce Building, Washington, D.C., 20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. Web: www.wyden.senate.gov • State Rep. Brad Witt (D): State Capitol, 900 Court Street N.E., H-373, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1431. Web: www.leg.state.or.us/witt/ Email: rep.bradwitt@state. or.us • State Rep. Deborah Boone (D): 900 Court St. N.E., H-481, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1432. Email: rep.deborah boone@state.or.us District offi ce: P.O. Box 928, Cannon Beach, OR 97110. Phone: 503-986-1432. Web: www.leg.state.or.us/ boone/ 5A Lovable Bernie whacks Israel By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER Washington Post Writers Group W ASHINGTON — Part of Bernie Sanders’ charm is that for all of his arm-waving jeremiads, he appears unthreatening. He’s the weird old uncle in the attic, Larry David’s crazy Bernie. It’s almost a matter of style. Who can be afraid of a can- didate so irascible, grumpy, old-fashioned and unfashionable? After all, he’s not going to win the nomination, so what harm can he do? A major address at the party convention? A say in the vice presidential selection? And who reads party plat- forms anyway? Well, platforms may not immediately affect a partic- ular campaign. But they do express, quite literally, the party line, a written record of its ideological trajectory. Which is why two of Sanders’ appointments to the 15-member platform committee are so stunning. Professor Cornel West not only has called the Israeli prime minister a war crim- inal but openly supports the BDS movement (boycott, divestment and sanctions), the most important attempt in the world to ostracize and delegitimize Israel. West is joined on the committee by the long- time pro-Palestinian activ- ist James Zogby. Together, reported The New York Times, they “vowed to upend what they see as the party’s lopsided support of Israel.” This seems a gratu- itous provocation. Sand- ers hardly made Israel cen- tral to his campaign. He did call Israel’s response in the 2014 Gaza war “dispropor- tionate” and said “we can- not continue to be one- sided.” But now Sanders seeks to permanently alter — i.e. weaken — the rela- tionship between the Dem- ocratic Party and Israel, which has been close and supportive since Harry Tru- man recognized the world’s only Jewish state when it declared independence in May 1948. West doesn’t even pre- tend, as do some left- wing “peace” groups, to be opposing Israeli policy in order to save it from itself. He makes the simpler case that occupation is uncon- scionable oppression and that until Israel abandons it, Israel deserves to be AP Photo/Noah Berger Connor Anderson cheers for Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., during a cam- paign rally at the Cubberley Community Center Wednes- day in Palo Alto, California. It is ironic that the most successful Jewish presidential candidate ever should be pushing the anti-Israel case. lefties all use the treated like apart- same wedding heid South Africa planner?) — anathematized, For the old left, cut off, made to Israel was sim- bleed morally ply an outpost of and economi- Western imperial- cally. The Sand- ism, Middle East ers appointees division. To this wish to bend the day, the leftist con- Democratic plat- sensus, most pow- form to encour- Charles erful in Europe age such dimin- Krauthammer (which remains ishment unless Israel redeems itself by lib- Sanders’ ideological lode- star), holds that Israeli per- erating Palestine. This is an unusual argu- fi dy demands purifi cation by ment for a Democratic plat- Western chastisement. Chastisement there will form committee, largely because it is logically and be at the Democratic plat- morally perverse. Israel did form committee. To be sure, in fact follow such high- Sanders didn’t create the minded advice in 2005: Democrats’ drift away from It terminated its occupa- Israel. It was already visible tion and evacuated Gaza. at the 2012 convention with That earned it (temporary) the loud resistance to recog- praise from the West. And nizing Jerusalem as Israel’s from the Palestinians? Not capital. But Sanders is con- peace, not reconciliation, sciously abetting it. The millennials who not normal relations but a decade of unrelenting ter- worship him and pack his rallies haven’t lived through rorism and war. Israel is now being — and don’t know — the asked — pressured — to history of Israel’s half-cen- repeat that same disaster on tury of peace offers. They the West Bank. That would don’t know of the multiple bring the terror war, quite times Israel has offered to fatally, to the very heart of divide the land with an inde- Israel — Tel Aviv, Jerusa- pendent Palestinian state lem, Ben Gurion Airport. and been rebuffed. Sanders hasn’t lifted a Israel is now excoriated for declining that invitation to fi nger to tell them. The lov- able old guy with the big national suicide. It is ironic that the most crowds and no chance at the successful Jewish presiden- nomination is hardly taken tial candidate ever should seriously (except by Hil- be pushing the anti-Israel lary Clinton, whose inabil- case. But perhaps not sur- ity to put him away reveals prising considering Sand- daily her profound politi- ers’ ideological roots. He cal weakness). But when is old left — not the post- he makes platform appoin- 1960s, countercultural New tees that show he does take Left. Why, the man hon- certain things quite seri- eymooned in the Soviet ously, like undermining the relationship, Union — not such fashion- U.S.-Israeli ably cool communist par- you might want to recon- adises as Sandinista Nica- sider your equanimity about ragua where Bill de Blasio the magical mystery tour. It went to work for the cause looks like Woodstock, but or Castro’s Cuba where de there is steel inside the psy- Blasio honeymooned. (Do chedelic glove. OSAA 4A GIRLS TRACK & FIELD STATE CO AST AL CO M IN G JU N E 2016 O U R 9TH A N N UA L Congratulate the Astoria High School Lady Fishermen winners of the OSAA 4A Track Championship Your 3-line message to the Lady Fishermen championship team and your business name 45 $ C op ies d istrib uted throug hout the year to n orth coast hotels, m otels, cham b ers of com m erce, visitors b ureaus, cam p g roun d s, restauran ts an d stores an d in serted in T he D aily Astorian & C hin ook O b server RESERVE Y OUR A DVERTISING SPA CE TODA Y ! D E AD L IN E : JUN E 8, 2016 Con ta ct you r a dvertisin g sa les con su lta n t for m ore in form a tion : OR E GON : 5 03 -3 25 -3 211• W ASH IN GTON : 800-6 4 3 -3 703 • SE ASID E : 5 03 -73 8-5 5 6 1 Deadline: Friday, June 10 Runs: Monday, June 13 in The Daily Astorian Contact Holly at 503-325-3211