OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2016
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
OUR VIEW
Enforcement will
quell complaints
on beach driving
D
riving on the beach on the North Coast and sections of the
Long Beach Peninsula is a privilege and not a right. So is
using the beach in the irst place.
Some beachfront homeowners in Gearhart and Warrenton are
complaining, and understandably so, that beach driving and bad
behavior have been at times, “out of control,” especially on July
Fourth.
The homeowners recently aired their complaints at a town meet-
ing with Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin and U.S. Rep. Suzanne
Bonamici and urged either the elimination, reduction or increased
enforcement of the beach-driving trafic.
The residents say some people using the beach and the neighbor-
ing trails are leaving volumes of disgusting trash; are driving reck-
lessly, doing doughnuts with their vehicles and endangering pedes-
trians; and causing potential environmental and wildlife damage.
While the sheriff acknowledged that enforcement on
Independence Day has been tough through the years, he also
pointed out that closing the beaches to trafic is an idea that has been
loated about every two years and has always been widely opposed.
Only about 25 percent of Clatsop County’s beaches are open to
vehicle trafic and Bergin says closing the beaches would be a mis-
take. And in the sheriff’s opinion, “99 percent of time people pick
up their garbage and obey the rules” and that “it’s that 1 percent who
go down there and cause a problem or two.”
As a result, he says, the majority shouldn’t have to suffer the
closing of the beaches to vehicles because of the few who are caus-
ing the problem.
He’s absolutely right.
But that’s also a double-edged sword. To quell the complaints
an increased police presence with more visibility is needed along
with additional enforcement when necessary. That takes additional
patrols from a limited budget and stretched-thin department, but
Bergin needs to try and manage that more into the Sheriff’s Ofice
operations. To augment the effort, the sheriff should also ask for
more assistance from the Oregon State Police where needed.
Beachgoers need to realize, as Fort Stevens State Park Manager
Teri Wing says, “it’s a beach and not a playground.” And, impor-
tantly, homeowners along stretches where vehicles are allowed need
to remember that the beach belongs to all, not just a few.
Monument idea
needs development
T
urning the under-used land at Peoples Park downtown off the
riverfront into an area that recognizes the long history and
cultural contributions of Scandinavians in Astoria has all the
makings of a good idea.
But it’s only that right now — just an idea — and it needs further
development.
The Astoria Scandinavian Heritage Association delivered the ini-
tial proposal to Astoria city councilors this past week. Peoples Park,
off Marine Drive between 15th and 16th streets, would become
Scandinavian Immigrant Park and would feature a dominant arch-
way along with a maypole and a plaza with bas-relief sculptured
panels that depict early immigrants as ishermen, loggers, cannery
workers and merchants. Scandinavians represented more than a
third of Astoria’s population in the early 1900s and it’s a heritage
worthy of recognition.
As presented to the City Council, the city would remain the land-
owner and the park would be funded by private donations.
But as the saying goes, the devil is in the details, and it’s no dif-
ferent for this project. Still to be worked out are some pretty big
details, including the park’s overall construction costs, the fund-
raising campaign for it, and an agreement on how the park would
be maintained since the city’s overall park maintenance has been a
long-term problem.
Additionally, the city’s master plan recommends that concen-
tration should be placed on preserving existing parks rather than
expanding with new ones.
But it was good to see councilors express initial lexibility. The
city has entered into adopt-a-park agreements with organizations at
other parks in the past, and that may be an option for this proposal
as well.
Councilors responded to the presentation by asking the city’s
park’s director, Angela Cosby, to work with the heritage organiza-
tion and see where the idea can lead. If it does develop, the proposal
would likely go before the city’s Historic Landmarks Commission
for review before the full plan could be put in motion.
In most circumstances, though, anytime vacant eyesore-in-the-
making land can be developed into something the community can
be proud of, it’s a good idea and should get more attention. This
one’s just that and should be developed and vetted.
We’re winning!
By TIMOTHY EGAN
New York Times News Service
L
ooking for refuge from the
gust of insanity blowing across
the fruited plain, I went to the
highest perch I could reach in North
Cascades National Park. I needed a
break from the politician who has
roused the lowest impulses of the
American character.
What better escape from the pri-
mordial muck of Donald Trump
and company than an alpine aerie of
America’s Best Idea? Still, the stench
of his recent prov-
ocations followed
me to the far north-
west corner of the
contiguous United
States. Hints of
assassination from
those “Second Amendment peo-
ple.” Claiming that President Barack
Obama founded the Islamic State.
Sidling up to dictators who kill politi-
cal opponents.
I could hear the bark of his soul-
less pessimism. “We are a country that
doesn’t win anymore,” he said, time
and again. “When was the last time
we won?”
Back at sea level, what joy it was
to behold this: so much winning! OK,
the made-up robbery story by the
male swimmers at the Olympics is a
blemish. But look at the bigger pic-
ture: American women are dominat-
ing the games. Simone Biles, that
sprite of exuberance, has four gold
medals in gymnastics. The women’s
basketball team is crushing it. And a
Muslim fencer, the irst U.S. athlete
to compete while wearing a hijab, led
the team to a medal.
I could mention that the Chicago
Cubs, who last won a World Series
in 1908, when Teddy Roosevelt was
president and more Americans got
around by horse than car, have the
best record in baseball. (I know: Don’t
jinx it).
After the hiatus, a decision: Do I
dare peek at the polls? And here there
is more good news, a broader kind of
winning — for common sense, for
the basic goodness and decency of the
majority of people in this conlicted
and troubled democracy of ours.
In the Cascade Mountains, in
the summer of the centennial of the
National Park Service, I saw waves
of young people of all colors seeking
“Sound of Music” views and nights
with the Perseid meteor showers. And
with the latest polls, I found the best
hope for getting us out of this horrid
spell of Trumpism — the generation
now coming into its own.
Millennials are saving us. Yes,
Trump is loathed by huge majori-
ties of women, Latinos, blacks, col-
lege-educated whites, Catholics, Jews
and religious skeptics. But the largest
generational cohort of all, those born
after 1980, really seems to get what
kind of monster the Republican Party
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
Connor Fields of the United States shows off his gold medal Friday
to fans during a victory ceremony for the men’s BMX cycling final
during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
has loosed on the land. And they get
it with their trademark coolness, the
way they considered gay marriage no
big deal. Their parents are in a lather
of fear over Trump. The kids are —
meh, it’ll pass. Of course, they still
have to vote.
Among young adults, just 20 per-
cent say they are for Trump, accord-
ing to a survey released this week.
There’s more support for a Doritos
Locos Taco at a natural foods picnic
than millennial backing for the narcis-
sist from Trump Tower.
And it’s not just blue states. In
Texas, Trump has a 25-point deicit
among younger voters, and a 52-point
gap with nonwhites. He’s getting bur-
ied by the demographic wave of the
near future. In Texas!
Truth, justice and the American
way are prevailing throughout the
land. Trump has just one in four vot-
ers of all ages in his home state, New
York, lagging the 35 percent that Mitt
Romney got in 2012, according to a
Siena College poll. He’s averaging
about 30 percent in California, under-
performing Romney’s 37, and doing
about the same in Colorado, where
Romney drew 46.
The winning is not necessarily
for Hillary Clinton, though she is of
course the beneiciary. Two things
are going on this year. One is an elec-
tion for president. The other is a rejec-
tion — sweeping, and unequivocal —
of the incivility and dangerous strain
of anti-constitutional bigotry that
Trump represents. People know who
he is: The two words that come up
most in focus groups are “racist” and
“unqualiied.”
I suspect many people share
Obama’s sentiment. “Frankly, I’m
tired of talking about her opponent,”
he said last week. “I don’t have to
make the case against her oppo-
nent because every time he talks
he makes the case against his own
candidacy.”
A desperate Trump is now dou-
bling down on hatred and falsity with
his new hire from the fever swamp of
the far right. Things will get darker,
more incendiary, more preposterous.
What else can a man who has sug-
gested that his opponent may have to
be assassinated do? Just watch. He’s
rooting for economic collapse, fresh
terror attacks, anything to stoke fear
and loathing. Fact-checking will be
even more meaningless to him.
But also watch the Olympics —
for inspiration — and the millenni-
als and their big shrug. Remember Joe
Biden’s line at the Democratic con-
vention: “We own the inish line.”
Trump once said that a time would
come when there would be so much
winning that people would get bored
with it. The winning is happening;
lightness is prevailing. In 80 days, we
can bring on the boredom.
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