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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2016)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2016 FRIDAY EXCHANGE Spoiled joke ell OK, you tea-baggers, you got Trump elected. Now let’s see you try to get rid of him. I am not kidding. Can you imagine him, and his crew, turning power over constitu- tionally to the next winner in four years? This is the way democra- cies end, my friends. Remem- ber when it used to be mildly amusing to hear the Chi-coms or the North Koreans or an occasional Russian ranting that the U.S. is run by a coterie of gangsters and tycoons? Hmm. You guys sure know how to spoil a joke. JOSEPH WEBB Astoria W Vets say thanks grateful thank you to Asto- ria High School Princi- pal Lynn Jackson, veterans’ event organizer Jessica Preston and her father, Patrick (the fea- tured speaker), Missy Johnson, Gulf War veteran and mentor to Ms. Preston, and all of the faculty, staff and student body who worked together to recog- nize our military veterans on Nov. 11. We all felt honored by the collective effort on the part of so many. We few veterans in attendance that day wish only that more men and women who have worn the uniform could have attended. Again, we hum- bly thank you for your recog- nition of us on Veterans Day 2016. MAURIE HENDRICKSON Astoria A Where’s the light at intersection? ecently at the intersection by Safe- way, at 33rd Street and Marine Drive, a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle. As per my previous letters dat- ing back over a year ago, this was an accident waiting to happen. The city emailed me about their plans to install lighting, and then failed to do so. I do not understand how the Safe- way development was approved without requiring street lights at this intersection. It is a very busy intersection. There are bus stops on both sides of the intersec- tion. The intersection is the only cross- walk in the city without a streetlight. R the education system as well as the culture under which our children are being brought up. Americans have become so litigious, and afraid to praise those who excel, for fear of offending those who have failed, that we can no longer even hold an election because there may be individuals who do not like the decision that the majority of voters made and they, therefore, reject that deci- sion and take to the streets to express their displeasure. For hundreds of years in this country, the voters speak, the successful candidates are elected and control the gov- ernment for their duly elected terms; winners and losers alike work together to make the country prosper. But that was yesterday, and apparently, yes- terday is gone. DAVID GRAVES Astoria Yesterday’s gone Time for decision o, it occurs to me that Amer- icans have lost the plot. I am only glad that Donald Trump has become the president as he is possibly the only politician, or pseudo-politician who has the strength and conviction to possibly right the democratic ship of state. It has become evident, due to the recent reaction to the national elections, that Amer- ica and her citizens are no lon- ger equipped mentally or emo- tionally to survive as a republic with a democratic system of government. This, to me, demonstrates a total failure of T S he Clatsop County Com- missioners will decide within the next 60 days whether to join in a multicounty law- suit that could end up cost- ing local taxpayers. Earlier this week, the commissioners received instructions from the Linn County Circuit Court as one of the potential members in the Linn County class action lawsuit. Now they must decide whether they want to be part of that lawsuit. Basically, the 15 coun- ties along the western coastal region and their taxing districts I have had numerous occasions where vehicles failed to yield when I was crossing this intersection. This is what prompted me to write a letter to the editor, write my councilman Russ Warr, and correspond with the city. The city had approval to install lighting, and at one point the funding, to put lights on the existing poles. The poles were designed for lights, and are simply an additional element. How was this intersection approved without street lights? The Hampton Inn was required to have extensive light- ing for their parking lot, but this busy are suing the state for $1.4 bil- lion for violating the terms of their original agreements when the counties turned over their logged and burned acreage in the 1930s and 1940s to the state to manage. Rather than just maximizing timber revenue, they claim the state added other goals, such as environmental and recre- ational goals, without the coun- ties’ approval. As it was pointed out in a recent letter “Ditch the lawsuit” (The Daily Astorian, Nov. 11), all the legal fees and other fees up to this point in this lawsuit have been paid for by three large industrial timber companies and a industry inter- est groups. The counties claim that they have lost $620,000 in tim- ber revenue since 2000, and will lose $880,000 going for- ward. This amounts to approx- imately $35 million a year set aside to guarantee payments to the counties and taxing districts in perpetuity. Clatsop County, as the largest producer of tim- ber in this class, is projected to receive 37 percent of the total or $13 million a year. Think this seems like a good deal? Should Clatsop County opt in and take the money and run? The problem with this strategy is if the counties win at the Circuit Court level, the state loses. I think given the state’s current financial situation, the state would have no choice but to pick the “lesser evil,” and potentially spend only a few million dollars and years of effort to pursue an appeal. Oth- erwise, the cost for any settle- COM ING IN FEBR UAR Y! 2017 ED ITIO N of th e a w a rd-w in n in g publica tion from th e publish ers of Coa st W eeken d T h e on ly region a l m a ga zin e focused on just th e Colum bia - P a cific region RES ERVE YO UR S PACE TO DAY! Advertisin g dea dlin e: D ecem ber 31, 2016 intersection, both with pedestrians and vehicular traffic, was approved and constructed without typical, standard street lights. Who is responsible for this accident? Anyone who crosses this intersec- tion at night during the winter is advised by me to use a very bright flashlight, if you want to avoid being crushed by a vehicle. Even with a 1,000 lumen-plus flashlight, I have learned to not trust this intersection, it is inherently dangerous by design. ROGER LINDSLEY Astoria ment would have to ultimately come from you and me — the average taxpayers. The plaintiff’s attorney has been quoted as saying he didn’t think any of the counties will opt out of this class action law- suit: “Why would they turn down all that money?” I think the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners should call his bluff and say we will not play this cynical game. This is not “free money”: it is either a hid- den tax, or wasted time and money spent appealing the decision. I would urge all citizens to ask the Board of Commis- sioners to opt out of this frivo- lous and potentially damaging lawsuit. CAROLYN EADY Astoria What’s it worth? ecently there have been two letters in The Daily Astorian, “Ditch the law- suit” (Nov. 11) and “Sued for our trees” (Nov. 25) advocat- ing that Clatsop County not join the Linn County lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Forestry. Maybe I’m missing some- thing — I have been accused of “missing the mark” in the past — but I fail to see how Clatsop County opting out of the lawsuit would change any- thing. The suit will be decided based on the merits of the case; whether or not Clatsop County joins is irrelevant. If the trust land counties win the case, a cash payment would R most likely have to be made to the counties that participate. It is probably true that the current forest management plan would be revised to something similar to the plan that existed prior to 2001. Recreation, environmen- tal protection and other values would still be in place, but not at the expense of generating revenue. Perhaps the writers of the above mentioned letters feel that Clatsop County should “make a statement” regard- ing state forest management, but one would have to ask, in the unlikely event that the trust counties won the suit, how many millions of dollars is making a statement worth? BUD HENDERSON Knappa Deep division he front page headline “Partisanship rises in Ore- gon” (The Daily Astorian, Nov. 16) is certainly the case. But this is not unprece- dented in U.S. history. In the 1850s, bitter partisanship arose between citizens who thought it wrong to own their fellow human beings and citizens who did not think it wrong. The crux of the matter was a differ- ence of opinion about whether a certain race of people were entirely human, and there- fore entitled to protection of their rights under our Constitu- tion. Ultimately, the issue was resolved in favor of the victim- ized race. Our current difference of opinion, rarely discussed hon- T 5A estly in the mainstream media, is this: Does “place of resi- dence” determine whether a certain class of human beings is entitled to protection under our Constitution? What if you are living in your mother’s womb? Over a million of these tiny people are done away with every year in the land of the free and the home of the brave. This causes a very deep divi- sion of opinion on social policy, expressed in a rising partisan- ship. It will not go away until the issue is resolved in favor of the victims. Note: In 1973, our Supreme Court ruled (Roe v. Wade) that unborn humans are not “per- sons.” The court said the same thing about Negroes in 1857 (Dred Scott vs. Sanford). Nei- ther decision put an end to ris- ing partisanship. Quite the contrary. JEAN M. HERMAN Astoria A good thing? n my opinion, The Daily Astorian editorial, “Be pro- active in competing with Walmart, others” (Nov. 22), was way off the mark. In an area whose population den- sity could only justify a Panda Express, to think for a second a Walmart Supercenter would only make smaller businesses stronger through completion is right up there with the opinion that the Electoral College is the best way to elect a president. In the beginning, shopping is great, bargains galore, end- less selections. In the long term, well, just look online and see what happens in rural Amer- ica when a supercenter comes to town. We’re not a Seattle or a Portland, or even a Longview, Washington. We are rural America. Walmart is only interested in Walmart. Supercenter equals closed storefronts. That’s a fact. Supercenters close when prof- its aren’t realized. Where will we shop then, after Freddie’s, Petco, Staples, Costco, Les Schwab (will this supercenter have an auto center?) close. It’s happened time and time again across America. It could very well happen here. That’s a sad fact. KEN MARSHALL Warrenton I
