THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2016
FRIDAY EXCHANGE
Cemetery campaign
M
y family has 16 relatives
interred in Ocean View
Cemetery, including my grand-
parents, Tom and Annie Nel-
son, along with three of their six
children and my parents. Tom
was a young Norwegian mar-
iner when he irst entered the
Columbia River in August 1881
on the sailing bark Palmyra, 150
days out of New York City. My
grandfather was afiliated with
the Point Adams Packing Co.
for many years.
I am certain that Tom Nel-
son would be appalled at the
demise of the Columbia River
ishing industry, along with the
elimination of multiple canner-
ies. This economic upheaval has
resulted in changes of city mon-
etary priorities with the move-
ment of vital funding to the revi-
talization of the downtown area
and the tourist industry, far away
from Ocean View Cemetery.
Tom passed away in 1948
during a period of time when
cemetery perpetual care car-
ried an entirely different mean-
ing from today. Astoria Parks
and Recreation apparently
deine perpetual care as a one-
time cemetery visit on Memo-
rial Day — my son and I have
photographic evidence to sup-
port our opinion.
It is quite obvious that the
Astoria city government has no
respect for pioneer city found-
ers. My son and I live in Van-
couver, Washington. We have
to load a truck with landscaping
tools and equipment in order to
clean our family gravesites. We
devoted almost an entire day to
this endeavor in September, and
by Memorial Day, Astoria Parks
and Recreation had managed to
cover our family grave mark-
ers with grass from the annual
Memorial Day mowing.
Evidently an Ocean View
Cemetery problem solution
must be found outside the city
government of Astoria. My
family advocates the formation
of a Clatsop County Campaign
to Save Ocean View Cemetery.
Does Clatsop County have an
attorney who is willing to sup-
port this campaign by providing
pro bono legal services?
The volunteer attorney
should seek action to separate
the cemetery from the city of
Astoria and establish an Ocean
View Cemetery Trust. An inde-
pendent CPA irm should audit
It will happen again, and
we conveniently forget the vio-
lent event that happened seven
months or 16 months ago.
Police are here to serve and
protect. Let’s make their incred-
ibly tough jobs easier by leav-
ing your guns locked safely at
home.
PAT WILSON
Astoria
Thank you
I
would like to give a huge thank you to Donny
Van Gundy our Daily Astorian newspaper
delivery man. Perhaps you’ve seen him around
town delivering his papers on crutches and a
motorized scooter.
I’m not sure what happened to him, but our
family so appreciates the extra mile he goes to
deliver his papers. He goes out of his way to
put the newspapers on residents’ front porches,
and always does this with a smile. He’s very
conscientious. He really deserves the award for
best customer service. Thank you Donny and
The Daily Astorian.
KIM SUPPLE
Astoria
Astoria Parks and Recreation
accounts, with the goal of iden-
tifying and separating assets and
funds which are the sole prop-
erty the cemetery.
The trust should be admin-
istered by a board of governors.
Funding will be a crucial prior-
ity in the initial restoration of
the cemetery, and much of this
funding will depend on recov-
ery of cemetery funds from the
city of Astoria.
The Save Ocean View Cem-
etery Campaign will have to
depend on voluntary contribu-
tions in order to build up the per-
petual care fund, and monetary
funds will have to be invested
wisely. The board will be
responsible for the employment
of a cemetery superintendent,
who will establish a mainte-
nance presence at the cemetery.
Ocean View Cemetery is
located within the boundaries
of the city of Warrenton, and the
trust should determine if some
monetary maintenance support
could be provided by the War-
renton city government.
THOMAS E. DENT SR.
Vancouver, Washington
Too many shootings
T
here have been too many
recent shootings. The com-
mon response by the media is
that we need more gun control
and/or more police in the streets.
It’s time to wake up, Amer-
ica. What we need is more fam-
ily values, more people who
know the difference between
right and wrong and more peo-
ple taking responsibility for
their own actions. We have
become so politically correct
that we have banished God from
our classrooms and have driven
patriotism from our schools and
public places.
Many of our young people
are totally adrift, with no direc-
tion in their lives. We need to
put parents back in charge, and
allow them to teach right and
wrong, respect for other peo-
ple and other peoples’ rights and
property.
CLEVE ROLFE
Seaside
Let’s make it stop
T
he recent tragic events in
many cities and towns have
affected many people beyond
the circle of victims and their
family and friends, and are a cat-
alyst for me to pen this opinion
in the newspaper.
I ask: Where are we headed
as a nation? Is gun violence the
new norm? It seems most are
the result of assault rile owner-
ship, and the ability to purchase
them very quickly, along with
large amounts of ammunition.
Of course, smaller handguns are
just as deadly.
Please explain why people
feel the need to leave the house
with a gun and a concealed carry
permit in their wallet or purse.
Are all armed citizens expect-
ing to be that “good guy with
a gun” when another incident
happens? Is it a protection-ori-
ented thought process that per-
sonal safety now has blanket
coverage for you, when armed
in public?
5A
Right to bear arms
I
Donny Van Gundy
I know very few folks I
would trust to pull out a Glock
in a public area to stop an active
shooter. I would ask our law
enforcement oficers to weigh
in on gun violence, and provide
some ideas on how to stem the
tide of such horrible events.
Guns do have a place in the
hunting community, no question
there, because few have armed
themselves to go out elk hunting
with a sharp rock tied to a stick
for a few centuries now. But I
don’t think many “hunt” with
an assault rile or a weapon with
automatic iring capability.
We as a society need to
start somewhere in breaking
the silence. Every time another
of these horrible violent events
happens, it’s another moment
of silence in our country’s halls
of Congress. Instead, you hear
crickets from those same people
we have elected to govern our
system. Are they not outraged?
Yes, the silence is noticed by the
public, but for some reason we
are handcuffed to act in the vot-
ing booth.
OK, then let’s start in a
smaller way by acting locally in
our towns. A simple sign in the
window, “No irearms allowed
inside” or “Not in here.” I ask
our City Council to help in any
way they can. Take the irst step
— many will support you, more
than you might think. Start with
something almost everyone
can agree on, a local gun-free
zone, maybe. This will take a
groundswell of citizens who
have inally become fed up with
the direction these events have
taken us as a nation.
am not well educated and
not too smart. I learned two
things reading Mr. Murray E.
Stanley Jr’s. letter in The Daily
Astorian (“In the dark,” July 1).
First, I learned that democracy
is a system by which the major-
ity can tell the minority what to
do, and to make their lives mis-
erable. Second, I learned that the
Second Amendment is a lie.
I know that irearm own-
ers are a vast minority. There
are reasons for that. Firearms
are dangerous. Legal irearms
are expensive to buy and keep.
There is a lot of responsibil-
ity demanded of irearm own-
ers, and a lot of red tape to get
through if one wishes to buy,
sell, keep or carry them around.
In fact, a irearm owner may
have his or her irearm taken
away for no reason by the
authorities … without compen-
sation, or adequate explanation.
Isn’t it funny that nice safe
places like “gun free” schools
are the places where these sad
massacres — committed by
little, cowardly, psychologi-
cal basket-cases — commonly
occur?
Many more folks than ever
before are arming themselves.
They perceive that the world
today is a dangerous place, even
here in the U.S. Because the
world is what it is, it is bound to
be more dangerous in the future.
More and more people are going
to have to buy and keep irearms
if they want to remain safe.
If you haven’t noticed, it
is the poorer people who are
exposed to the gravest dan-
gers. They are the people who
need irearms the most. Laws
and such that try to restrict ire-
arm ownership always have the
greatest impact on the poor and
needy.
Meanwhile, crooks, malcon-
tents, professional killers and
psychopaths can buy irearms
on the black market, and in
some cases from certain police
departments. Or, for that matter,
they can make their own, for a
fraction of the price charged by
legitimate outlets.
In some cases, it seems that
those who supposedly are there
to guard our safety— from
the local police to a certain
U.S. attorney general — have
been anxious to arm crimi-
nals in order to give the Sec-
ond Amendment a bad name.
They have even armed crimi-
nals outside the borders of the
U.S., where there is no Second
Amendment.
BENJAMIN A. GREAVES
Seaside
Re-elect Rogers
A
fter a successful profes-
sional career as a teacher
and administrator, Steve Rogers
entered public service in local
government. He is running for
re-election as a county commis-
sioner, and I would encourage
Paciic County, Washington,
voters to support him.
Mr. Rogers encourages job
growth in the area by work with
canneries, mills and ports. An
important aspect of the work is
also coordinating with regional
agencies to provide services to
Paciic County residents.
We should also be grateful
that we have three commission-
ers who work well together, and
are dedicated to providing the
best for our county.
BETTY L. JOHNSON
Seaview, Washington
Retirement news
I
am writing because I have
news for Clatsop County
energy residents, and I want to
share the good/bad news. After
almost 12 years of completing
energy assistance applications
for residents of Clatsop County
through the Community Action
Team, and for the past ive years
through Clatsop Community
Action, I am retired as of Thurs-
day, July 14. No more Cheryl to
assist clients.
I have met some wonderful
people, and 99 percent of them
have been wonderful. I will cer-
tainly miss all of them, and want
to thank everyone for mak-
ing my daily job so thoroughly
enjoyable.
CHERYL WAITE
Astoria
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503-325-4321 • www.columbiamemorial.org