THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2016
FRIDAY EXCHANGE
5A
Ditch the lawsuit
F
or many of us, the upcom-
ing vote on whether Clat-
sop County joins the class of
the Linn County lawsuit will
be a defining moment for the
current board of commis-
sioners and the county man-
ager. The vote will be particu-
larly telling of board members
who have claimed to be envi-
ronmentally friendly in the
past. If they vote to join the
class, it will be pure hypoc-
risy to make such a claim in
the future.
By proclaiming tim-
ber harvest as the pre-emi-
nent value in forest manage-
ment, this lawsuit is obviously
in opposition to a balanced
approach that honors all val-
ues equitably. The lawsuit
was initiated and paid for in
its first phase by timber com-
panies. They did so not to
serve the needs of the coun-
ties, but to serve their own
bottom line, the same moti-
vation that keeps them block-
ing improved aerial herbicide
spraying regulations, even
though Oregon’s are woefully
inadequate compared with
surrounding states.
Contrary to spurious
claims that the lawsuit has
only to do with money owed
the counties by the state for
insufficient timber harvest in
the past, it is easy to see that
if the state loses or settles
the lawsuit it would have to
increase timber harvest doing
forward to avoid future law-
suits. Legal battles launched
by environmental groups
won’t be able to stem the tide
of statewide increased timber
harvest.
Increased timber har-
vest means more clearcuts,
destruction of wildlife hab-
itat, harm to water and peo-
ple exposed to aerial herbicide
spraying, blatant disregard for
climate change and further
degradation of forest soil. If
the commission votes to opt
into the lawsuit, or remains
silent on the issue, which is
tantamount to opting in, they
will be supporting the con-
tinuing destruction of Ore-
gon’s natural environment in
favor of industrial tree farms.
The people of Clatsop
County should demand an
open public vote on this issue.
Transparency on county legal
matters is required by law.
Opting out will be met with
broad support for the com-
mission by the majority of
the county who proclaimed in
Clatsop Vision 2030 Together
their preference for balance,
and not increased cutting.
ROGER DORBAND
Astoria
Collapsing fishery
A
m I missing something
here? Are we all suffering
from domoic poisoning, aka
amnesiac shellfish poisoning?
Have we all lost our minds?
Does anyone truly believe that
the way to restore the fishing
industry, is to “pick up with
anchovies where sardines
left off” (“Anchovies pick
up where sardines left off in
Astoria?”) as headlined in the
Sept. 20 issue of The Daily
Astorian?
The sardine fishery col-
lapsed. That’s also where we
left off the salmon industry
— collapsed; though no one
will say that, except to call
anchovies “the fishery of last
resort.” Now we are going
to collapse the bottom of the
food chain, by the unregulated
overharvesting of anchovies.
When the bottom of the food
chain goes, everything above
it starves.
Does anyone actually
believe that sardines and
salmon have a chance of
recovery, in an ecosystem
where the anchovies that they
rely upon for food have been
removed? Really? How does
the editorial in The Daily
Astorian on Nov. 1, “Fish-
ing essential in monetary and
cultural ways” contribute to
improving the prospects of
families, whose livelihood
depends on the health of the
fishery? What hope does it
give to us all, for our future as
a community?
Fisheries managers can
only guess at what amounts
to a sustainable harvest of
anchovies. I am not making
this up. Read the Oct. 3 arti-
cle on the subject in The Daily
Astorian, “Anchovy fishery
riddled with conflict.”
It’s time that we unite as a
community to demand a mor-
atorium on anchovies and sci-
ence-based resource manage-
ment by regulators, instead
of resurrecting tired and divi-
sive controversy over gillnet
fishing.
DANI WILLIAMS
Astoria
More solutions
R
egarding the tsunami sit-
uation: In Seaside, we
are all worried about such a
disaster, because we know a
tsunami would certainly be
one. We are planning to move
our schools to much higher
ground. All the adults would
be killed, but the children
would survive.
Please. If we were really
worried about such a happen-
ing, would we still be sell-
ing and renting property in
the danger zone? What does
such a potential disaster do
to property prices and busi-
ness interests? If we are really
interested, how about publish-
ing in the area newspapers a
map, detailed and easily read,
showing the elevations and
danger zones of a tsunami
occurrence, and start prepar-
ing good usable escape routes
now, none of which already
exist.
On the homeless situa-
tion: We do need to help these
folks. In Clatsop County,
there are any number of build-
ings standing vacant, and not
likely to be filled in the fore-
seeable future. Why not use
eminent domain and build
(remodel) an acceptable shel-
ter? It would help those in
need and provide a number of
area jobs.
That is, if we are really
interested in helping. Tiny
houses seems more like a
small slum building if not run
well.
And as for free college,
not without answers to a lot of
questions.
ED GARRITY
Seaside
Bold excerpt
C
harles Krauthammer’s
Friday column, “Final
days, awful choice” (The
Daily Astorian, Nov. 4), was
commendably balanced for a
Washington Post columnist,
including at least as many
“awful” citings for the Dem-
ocratic presidential candidate
as for the Republican, if not
more.
Yet the bold type excerpt
inserted into the center of the
space, supposedly helping us
needy readers get the point
as to the main theme of the
piece, was aimed clearly at
the Republican transgressor,
not his Democrat opponent.
Now we all know how The
Daily Astorian feels about this
election, and about American
politics in general, but please
try harder to live up to the tra-
ditional honorable standard of
the American press of objec-
tivity and bipartisanship in
the news columns, and in the
gimmicky nudges.
You have your editorials to
push your views; that’s sup-
posed to give you your edge.
We all know that Oregon is,
if not politically liberal, at
least a union-label Democrat
world. Keep your jeans clean:
You don’t need Washington
trickery to win here.
ROBERT KRONING
Seaside
Letters should be exclusive to The Daily
Letters should be fewer than 350 words and
ter was published. Discourse should be civil
must include the writer’s name, address and
and people should be referred to in a respect-
phone numbers. You will be contacted to con-
ful manner.
firm authorship.
All letters are subject to editing for space,
Submissions may be sent in any of these
ways:
grammar and, on occasion, factual accuracy.
E-mail to editor@dailyastorian.com; online
Only two letters per writer are printed each
at www.dailyastorian.com; delivered to the
month.
Astorian offices at 949 Exchange St. and 1555
Letters written in response to other letter
writers should address the issue at hand and,
N. Roosevelt in Seaside or by mail to Letters to
the Editor, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103
A
s one of the winners of
Iron Chef Goes Coastal,
I really could not believe
the article about the event,
“Chefs go head to head for
a cause” (The Daily Asto-
rian, Nov. 2). There was not
one reference to the Peo-
ple’s Choice winners, Sil-
ver Salmon and The Osprey.
These are the people who put
in the work to present food to
close to 600 people, and win.
Instead, the article
describes other presenters,
who all had great food, but
did not win. You would think
at least a little time to inter-
view the winners about what
they prepared, and affording
them some acknowledgment
of the food they prepared, was
important. A photo of one of
the winners, or their booth,
would have been appropriate.
It’s like covering the World
Ding dong
T
o use a quote from “The
Wizard of Oz”: “Ding
dong, the witch is dead!”
E. ROBERT NASSIKAS
Astoria
NOVEMBER 15
John Horvick
was certain — certain
— Trump could not get
elected. Such appalling errors
in judgment, have in the past,
launched me into crisis where
I questioned my views on
everything; after all, if one of
my certainties was in error,
why not another, or all? Alas,
I’m in no mood for crisis, for
doubt, or fear, there shall be
enough of that without mine.
should refer to the headline and date the let-
Winners omitted
Series, and writing about the
colors of the loosing team’s
uniform and finish with the
score.
I can’t speak for the other
competitors, but I hoped to
have received some acknowl-
edgment and explanation.
As a chef, I had a wonderful
time and enjoyed the friendly
competition, however, I did
want to send my children and
grandchildren a copy of what
I did on Tuesday night.
I’m happy other people
took photos that I can send,
and will explain what we all
did. I certainly won’t be send-
ing them the article from
my local paper — it’s sim-
ply embarrassing. I sincerely
think the writer should learn
something about “upping their
game” as he quotes in his
article, and I’ll just keep on
cooking.
JOHN SOWA
Chef/owner, Sweet Basil’s
Cafe
Cannon Beach
An Analysis of the 2016 Election
I
rather than mentioning the writer by name,
must believe will still rule the
day, and whose children will
live the dream.
Winter’s coming, but one
thing we know on the coast
— it’s rained before.
M. ALEX “SASHA”
MILLER
Astoria
What the heck
just happened?!
Faustian bargain
LETTERS WELCOME
Astorian.
I feel for people who have
turned to Trump as their sav-
ior. I empathize with their
plight: a culture that has rap-
idly moved away from what’s
familiar to them; they’ve suf-
fered too, as we all have,
in the emerging oligarchy;
and they’ve been constantly
demeaned ridiculed and
mocked — in popular culture,
in the traditional and social
media, and by family, friends
and community members.
Now they’ve made their Faus-
tian bargain.
Some lessons people
choose to learn the hard way,
and it will be very hard.
I don’t know how long it
will take for the negatives of
this bargain to trickle down
to our little community. And
in that community, where
I’m so small, how much lon-
ger to affect me? I know,
it’s not about me, and that’s
something I wish people had
remembered when they went
to the polls — to vote for the
common good, not selfish
interest.
But there is an enormous
amount of good out there.
There are a lot of kind and
courageous people, of all eth-
nicities, religions, sexual
identities and beliefs; whom I
TO ATTEND:
John Horvick, Political Director
at DHM Research, will review
the 2016 election in Oregon
and nationally. He’ll share his
thoughts about what the
election outcomes say about
our state and country. Horvick
has conducted hundreds of
surveys and focus groups with
Oregonians across the state,
and he’ll discuss some of the
research fi ndings that help
explain why we voted the way
we did, including the values
and issues that were most
infl uential this election.
For Members: Dinner & Lecture:$25 each; Lecture only: no charge
For Non-Members: Dinner & Lecture: $35 each; Lecture only: $15 ea.
Appetizers will be available at 6 p.m. • Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m.
The speaker will begin after the dinner service is complete and non-dinner
members and guests of the audience take their seats.
Forum to be held at the CMH Community Center at 2021 Exchange St., Astoria.
ColumbiaForum
FOR RESERVATIONS OR TO JOIN COLUMBIA FORUM CONTACT:
Holly Larkins at 503.325.3211 ext. 227 or forum@dailyastorian.com by Nov. 11, 2016
Columbia Forum is sponsored by:
The Daily Astorian • Craft3 • OSU Seafood Laboratory • KMUN-FM
Cannery Pier Hotel & Spa