THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2016
No transparency
y family has owned a prop-
erty on the west bank of the
Skipanon, several blocks upstream
from the Eighth Street Dam, for the
last 44 years.
From 1972 into the late 1980s,
the Skipanon River was full of all
kinds of fish. Perch, crappie, white-
fish, suckers, carp, bass and a few
crayfish and others. Fishing for
these fish was the No. 1 summer
activity for a decade of Warrenton
children.
The Skipanon today is sterile of
small aquatic life. The modification
and removal of the tide gates sim-
ply flushed an entire thriving eco-
system of small wildlife down the
drain and out into the Columbia. It
repeats on every low tide. I would
like to hear Oregon Fish and Wild-
life Department’s take on that.
Our property lost 30 feet of dry
land bank area that used to be above
the high tide from erosion that
started by the change in operation
of the tide gate. Adjacent neighbors
have lost a similar amount of prop-
erty. The erosion continues to this
day. We pay taxes on property that
no longer exists.
The water district denied that
the fish I described were ever in the
Skipanon, and offered no help for
the erosion or the fish.
I echo Kathleen Zunkel’s state-
ment from the paper (“Warrenton
turns to Army Corps in dam fight,”
The Daily Astorian, Dec. 14). There
is a lack of transparency. It’s not
like this dam is in a remote hidden
place.
It is smack dab in the center of
town, and every Warrenton city
official and water district official,
past and present, has had a front
row seat to every change that has
happened to it over the course of
the last five decades. Ignoring an
issue for 50 years, then declaring
an emergency, just does not sound
transparent to me.
One thing I learned is that abso-
lutely nothing happens in the city
of Warrenton without the approval
of undisclosed real estate specula-
tions. Is that the emergency? I have
to wonder.
EDWARD McFADDEN
Warrenton
Support our Oregon culture
M
The good fight
oncerning the article by David
Leonhardt, “The American
dream, quantified at last” (The
Daily Astorian, Dec. 14):
In April 1969, I can home from
the Navy after 3 1/2 years away.
Two weeks later, I was off to Alaska
for Bumble Bee (“join a union”).
When I got back, I went to work
for Unur Fish (“join a union”). In
six months, I had medical and den-
tal insurance. With the $4,000 I had
saved, I had $10,000 plus the GI
Bill to go to college.
We have made a good mid-
dle-class life. If the wife worked,
it was teaching or the canner-
ies (unions). There was money for
college.
Yet only two lines in the article
mention unions and their effect.
There were around 30 unions in
Astoria in the 1940s and 1950s. The
unions that stayed — electrical and
plumbing — are now billing $75 an
hour, and they are the middle class.
My daughter is president of the
Service Employees Union in Port-
land, and giving the good fight.
EDWARD NIEMI
Astoria
C
Russian ties
n a recent interview, Central
Intelligence Agency former head
Leon Panetta said “When it comes
to Russian interference in our last
campaign, 17 intelligence agencies
agree that Russia is involved in that
effort.”
He also said, “We ought to find
I
FRIDAY EXCHANGE
s a very eventful 2016 draws to a close, I
encourage members of our community to con-
sider culture — and the Oregon Cultural Trust — for
their end-of-year giving.
During times of great change, culture helps keep
us centered. Regardless of what is happening in
the world, we have our culture — our music, our
books, our art, our dance and our heritage to bring us
together. Astoria is especially blessed with a bounty
of cultural activity enabling us to connect with each
other.
Here in Oregon, we also have the unique opportu-
nity to receive a tax credit when we support culture.
The process is quite simple: donate to one of Ore-
gon’s 1,400-plus qualified cultural groups, donate the
same amount to the Cultural Trust in addition, deduct
that same amount from your state taxes. You double
the impact of your donation for free. No other state
in the union rewards its citizens so well for investing
in culture.
A
out what Russia’s role was, we
ought to investigate it and ensure
that it never happens again.”
In 2008, Donald Trump Jr. said,
“The Russians make up a pretty dis-
proportionate cross-section of a lot
of our assets.” We don’t know how
much is owed or who it is owed to,
we just know, per Trump Jr., that a
lot of Russian money was “pouring
into” Trump business interests.
Several of Trump’s main advis-
ers have significant Russian ties.
When you look closely at his cab-
inet appointments, the concept
of quid pro quo or pay to play is
clearly at work. Plus, they are all
climate change deniers, pro fossil
fuel extraction and anti-regulation.
Finally, Trump’s nominee for
Secretary of State is a fossil fuel
industry CEO with strong ties to
Vladimir Putin, the Russian oil
industry and numerous Russian oli-
garchs. Fossil fuel supplies have
been used by Russia as a big stick
to weaken NATO and force the
European Union toward pro-Krem-
lin viewpoints.
It is not hard to connect the dots.
Now, consider this: Russia has
more nuclear missiles pointed at the
U.S. than any other country in the
world (nearly 1,800 deployed war-
heads, the vast majority of which
are pointed at us). Also keep in
mind, their submarines regularly
patrol off our East and West coasts.
If the term “Manchurian Candi-
date” doesn’t mean anything to you,
I suggest you look it up. I guaran-
tee you Putin and the Kremlin know
exactly what they are doing, and
it is not in the best interests of our
nation.
BILL GRAFFIUS
Gearhart
Whose money?
he Warrenton City Commission
has hired a lawyer from Port-
land to help them sue the Skipanon
Water Control District (SWCD)
over ownership of the dam on
Eighth Street that the SWCD has
maintained for many years. Who is
paying for this frivolous lawsuit?
We the taxpayers who live in War-
renton? Why is the commission
suing a group of volunteers who
work for another government body?
The SWCD offered to build
a bridge in place of the dam a
few years ago, and the commis-
sion turned them down. For some
strange reason, those with special
interests have accused the SWCD
of wanting to flood our neighbors
and ourselves.
Why is the commission spend-
ing taxpayers’ money instead of
negotiating? How have the SWCD
become the bad guys, after years of
maintaining the dam and providing
for smooth passage of the Skipanon
River into the Columbia? The feds
told SWCD to do what they thought
best with the dam, which they had
decided was ancient and crumbling
T
This year, donations to the Cultural Trust had
a direct impact on our community’s livability and
economy. A total of 149 grants totaling $2.9 mil-
lion were awarded to Oregon’s cultural nonprof-
its, including $9,133 to the Monday Musical Club of
Tillamook; $10,336 to the Clatsop County Cultural
Coalition; $9,030 to the Tillamook County Cultural
Coalition; and $66,940 to the Washington County
Cultural Coalition.
The Cultural Trust envisions an Oregon that
champions and invests in creative expression and
cultural exchange, driving innovation and opportu-
nity for all. Our mission is to lead Oregon in cultivat-
ing, growing and valuing culture as an integral part
of communities.
Please help us protect Oregon’s famous quality of
life by supporting local cultural groups and the Ore-
gon Cultural Trust.
BERENIECE JONES-CENTENO
Board member, Oregon Cultural Trust
and of no use in flood prevention.
How much of our money has
the commission spent so far on this
unnecessary lawsuit? It should be
public information for us taxpayers.
MARGARET HINES
Warrenton
Unsung heroes
adly, many of us take our pub-
lic employees for granted until
some event alters our perception.
As I routinely drive over U.S. High-
way 101 south of Seaside, I’ve
noticed the stretch of road near the
Circle Creek RV Park has been
slowly deteriorating, and knew it
would be expensive to fix, involv-
ing thousands of tax dollars.
But fortunately, someone at the
Oregon Department of Transporta-
tion (ODOT) was thinking outside
the box, and came up with clever
and relatively inexpensive solu-
tion to the problem — they’ve put
up simple signs that state “Rough
Road.” Now every motorist is
warned and able to slow down to
avoid damaging their vehicle or
worse, losing control. And ODOT
has saved taxpayers thousands of
dollars.
I say bravo. More thinking
like this is what America needs
right now. So, whoever it was that
came up with the idea, you are my
unsung hero.
CLEVE ROOPER
Cannon Beach
S
Trump and Sherman
avid Graves closed his letter,
“Hero no more,” (The Daily
Astorian, Dec. 16), asking if he is
wrong. Yes sir, he is so wrong on
so many levels.
First, Richard Sherman was his
hero? The only people who should
have Sherman as a hero are col-
legiate freshman football players
who see him as a Stanford Uni-
versity graduate — someone who
gives back to the community and,
by the way, is a very good football
player.
Secondly, and most importantly,
for God’s sake, do not quote the
Bible when condemning Sherman.
Graves appears to be a Trump sup-
porter, so unlike Sherman, Don-
ald Trump cheated on his first wife
Ivana with Marla Maples, cheated
on Marla while dating her, brag-
ging about cheating to a news out-
let while posing asTrump’s pub-
licist Mr. Baron (it was actually
him), then married and divorced
her. He then was caught brag-
ging about grabbing female ana-
tomical parts while married to his
then-pregnant wife, Melania. He’s
an adulterer, thrice-married, sexual
predator.
Thirdly, Sherman expressed
his personal views regarding
Trump’s unconstitutional views
regarding Muslims and immi-
grants. Sherman does not want a
D
utopian world without boundar-
ies and borders that would cause
chaos. Did Graves get that world
view by watching Fox? He, like
most American believes in a coun-
try that does not discriminate, that
welcomes immigrants who become
assets to this already great country.
Yes, I am one of the many
Americans who are upset that Don-
ald Trump will be our next pres-
ident. I have been labeled words
that are too deplorable to print, the
worst being called a leftard or lib-
eraltard. To my dying day, I will
never understand how my fel-
low Americans accepted Donald
Trump as a legitimate contender
to be president, and then voted for
him.
JANET MARSHALL
Warrenton
Money and politics
e now live in a different
world after the election.
Remember, the world is what we
make it. Regardless of how we feel
about the recent election, our sys-
tem made it possible. If you like
the results, great; and if you do not
like the results, well, elections have
consequences.
Now what? Those who like
what happened need to pay atten-
tion to what is happening, to make
sure it is what you actually wanted
when you cast your vote. People
who do not like what happened in
the election need to seek out what
they can do to get involved, and
help for the next election.
We may find that what we
thought we voted for is not what
we will get in the long run, but
arguing and being upset is not pro-
ductive. Seek what you can do for
the future, and learn from the past,
but do not dwell on that past.
Here are some things that are
facts (not fake news): We have
elected officials who no longer vote
in accordance with the wishes of
those who elected them. I consider
this to be the beginning of our loss
of control of our elected officials.
From George Washington to
the year 1976, individuals giv-
ing money to a federal official was
illegal. The Supreme Court, in the
Buckley case, voted to allow indi-
viduals to contribute to elected offi-
cials. This began the buying of our
public officials, but it really took
off when, in 2010, the Supreme
Court heard the Citizens United
Case, and thus allowed corpora-
tions to be considered as people,
and money as free speech.
This put the buying of our
elected officials on steroids. Now,
in order to get elected, you have to
have big money to win, and that
money most easily comes from cor-
porations and the very rich. Those
people are happy to contribute, but
they always have an agenda that
comes with that money.
We no longer have our elected
W
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officials working for the people
as a whole, but for the needs and
desires of a few — the very rich
and their corporations. If we want
our elected officials to represent
the people as a whole, and work to
the benefit of all, then we must get
money out of politics.
DON WEST
Astoria
Rich and richer
he Electoral College has ren-
dered its verdict. Donald J.
Trump will be our next presi-
dent. Let me give an example of
what his administration is likely
to achieve in the next four to eight
years with Republican support in
both houses of Congress and the
Supreme Court.
Of the newly evolving D.C. cul-
ture, we can expect a “… perma-
nent, unshakable elite overclass,
many of whom are involved in the
process by which corporations and
the rentier rich tighten their con-
trol over the levers of power and
use that control to extract as much
wealth from the nation’s laborers,
taxpayers and natural resources
as possible.” (Quoted from Alex
Pareene, Salon Magazine)
I don’t scare easily, but this
incoming administration causes me
much concern.
BOB POTTER
Astoria
T
The Christmas season
hristmas is a wonderful time
of year. Stores and streets and
many homes are decorated with
beautiful lights, ornaments, dec-
orations and messages, indicat-
ing this to be a very special season.
The air and airways are filled with
sweet sounds of carols and hymns.
Friends, neighbors, co-work-
ers and even strangers greet one
another with smiles and “Merry
Christmas!”
Children line up to sit in the lap
of Santa and present pleas for bikes,
dolls and whatever the latest toy
might be.
And of course, they all confess
to having been good the past year.
We send cards and receive cards
from friends, family, loved ones,
and sometimes nearly forgotten
acquaintances. The cards are
beautiful, often showing appropri-
ate scenes of snow, sleight, Santa,
wise men, shepherds, angels, and
baby Jesus in manger, etc., with
wishes of peace, joy and good will
to all.
It is also a very enjoyable season
for families to gather and share a
feast of good food and express and
display love of one another.
Christmas is in many ways the
most enjoyable season of the year,
but let us not forget, it all points
back to Jesus, the Son of God.
Without Jesus there would be no
Christmas.
And the angel said unto (shep-
herds in the field), “I bring you
good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people. For unto you
is born this day in the city of David
a Savior, which is Christ, the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you;
Ye shall find the babe wrapped in
swaddling clothes, lying in a man-
ger. And suddenly there was with
the angel a multitude of the heav-
enly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace, good will toward
men.” (Luke 2:10-14)
Enjoy Christmas, but help some-
one less fortunate, and pray for our
military men and women who are
serving and protecting our freedoms
and way of life. Attend a church
service and give thanks for Jesus
our Lord. But resolve to let him
be your Lord all the time, not just
during this brief season.
KEN TIPPS
Astoria Church of Christ
C
To regain honor lost in Aleppo, it will be on different battlefield
By CHARLES
KRAUTHAMMER
Washington Post Writers Group
ASHINGTON — The fall
of Aleppo just weeks before
Barack Obama leaves office is a fit-
ting stamp on his Middle East pol-
icy of retreat and withdrawal. The
pitiable pictures from the devastated
city showed the true cost
of Obama’s abdication. For
which he seems to have few
regrets, however. In his end-
of-year news conference,
Obama defended U.S. inac-
tion with his familiar false
choice: it was either stand
aside or order a massive Iraq-style
ground invasion.
This is a transparent fiction
designed to stifle debate. Five years
ago, the popular uprising was ascen-
dant. What kept a rough equilib-
rium was regime control of the skies.
W
At that point, the U.S., at little risk
and cost, could have declared Syria
a no-fly zone, much as it did Iraqi
Kurdistan for a dozen years after the
Gulf War of 1991.
The U.S. could easily have
destroyed the regime’s planes and
helicopters on the ground and so cra-
tered its airfields as to make them
unusable. That would have altered
the strategic equation for the
rest of the war.
And would have deterred
the Russians from injecting
their own air force — they
would have had to challenge
ours for air superiority. Fac-
ing no U.S. deterrent, Rus-
sia stepped in and decisively altered
the balance, pounding the rebels in
Aleppo to oblivion. The Russians
were particularly adept at hitting
hospitals and other civilian targets,
leaving the rebels with the choice
between annihilation and surrender.
They surrendered.
Obama has never appreciated that
the role of a superpower in a local
conflict is not necessarily to inter-
vene on the ground, but to deter a
rival global power from stepping in
and altering the course of the war.
That’s what we did during the 1973
Yom Kippur War, when Moscow
threatened to send troops to support
Egypt and President Richard Nixon
countered by raising America’s
nuclear alert status to Defcon 3. Rus-
sia stood down.
Less dramatically but just as
effectively, American threats of retal-
iation are what kept West Germany,
South Korea and Taiwan free and
independent through half a century
of Cold War.
It’s called deterrence. Yet Obama
never had the credibility to deter
anything or anyone. In the end, the
world’s greatest power was reduced
to bitter speeches at the U.N. “Are
you truly incapable of shame?” thun-
dered U.S. Ambassador Saman-
tha Power at the butchers of Aleppo.
As if we don’t know the answer.
Indeed the shame is on us for termi-
nal naivete, sending our secretary of
state chasing the Russians to negoti-
ate one humiliating pretend cease-fire
after another.
Even now, however, the Syria
debate is not encouraging. The tone is
anguished and emotional, portrayed
exclusively in moral terms. Much less
appreciated is the cold strategic cost.
Assad was never a friend. But
today he’s not even a free agent.
He’s been effectively restored to his
throne, but as the puppet of Iran and
Russia. Syria is now a platform, a
forward base, from which both these
revisionist regimes can project power
in the region.
Iran will use Syria to advance its
drive to dominate the Arab Middle
East. Russia will use its naval and air
bases to bully the Sunni Arab states,
and to shut out American influence.
It’s already happening. The for-
eign and defense ministers of Russia,
Iran and Turkey convened in Moscow
this week to begin settling the fate
of Syria. Notice who wasn’t there.
For the first time in four decades,
the United States, the once dominant
power in the region, is an irrelevance.
With Aleppo gone and the reb-
els scattered, we have a long road
ahead to rebuild the influence squan-
dered over the last eight years. Pres-
ident-elect Donald Trump is talking
about creating safe zones. He should
tread carefully. It does no good to try
to do now what we should have done
five years ago. Conditions are much
worse. Russia and Iran rule. Main-
taining the safety of safe zones will
be expensive and dangerous. It will
require extensive ground deploy-
ments and it risks military confronta-
tion with Russia.