OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2017
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
OUR VIEW
E
ach week we recognize those people and organizations
in the community deserving of public praise for the good
things they do to make the North Coast a better place to
live, and also those who should be called out for their actions.
SHOUTOUTS
This week’s Shoutouts go to:
• Astoria Wishing Tree coordinator Barb
Roberts, who is leaving the charitable pro-
gram after more than 26 years. During her
time with the all-volunteer program, Roberts’
efforts helped galvanize community support
and aided in make collecting, organizing and
distributing Christmas gifts to local children
a more efficient, streamlined operation that
involved volunteers, businesses and sponsors,
Barb Roberts
as well as the families the program helped.
The Wishing Tree program will continue with volunteers Robyn
Koustik and Denise Cleveland stepping up to serve as co-coordi-
nators for the coming year.
• Clatsop County District Court Judge Phil Nelson, who
retired this week after 23 years on the bench. Nelson was one
of the county’s longest serving public servants, and among his
accomplishments, Nelson started a successful drug court pro-
gram that has seen 192 graduates since 2001. Court personnel who
worked with Nelson and attorneys who practiced in his courtroom
all had high praise for the judge, citing his dedication to the law
and calling him “extraordinarily fair.”
• Rinda Shea, a real estate broker with
Windermere Stellar in Gearhart, who appeared
on a New Year’s Day episode of HGTV’s
“Beach Hunters,” helping a Portland couple
find a home on Oregon’s scenic coast. The epi-
sode featured the Portland couple, Alisa and
Jamie Gaylord, searching for a beachfront
home to enjoy time with their two children. In
the episode, Shea shows the couple a selection
Rinda Shea
of homes, with the couple deciding on a beach
residence in Gearhart, and she called it “a great experience and a
whole lot of fun.”
• Darian Hageman, a junior at Astoria
High School, and Jackson Januik, a senior
at Seaside High School, who were chosen as
the top Female and Male Athletes of the Year.
Hageman helped lead the Astoria girls track
team to its second straight state title in May
and was honored as the 4A girls High Point
Athlete with 32.5 points in the four events she
competed in at the state meet. She had wins
Darian Hageman
in the triple jump, long jump and high jump,
and a sixth place in the pole vault. Hageman
was also selected to the Cowapa All-League
Volleyball team in the fall. Beginning last
January, Januik helped lead Seaside to its first-
ever appearance in the state championship bas-
ketball and was named the state’s 4A Player
of the Year for his efforts; in the spring he
won the boys individual state championship
in the 800 meter run; in the fall he was one
Jackson Januik
of Seaside’s top cross country runners, help-
ing the team to place second in the state, and he was also named to
the Cowapa League All-League soccer team; and he currently is
one of the leading scorers on the Gulls’ basketball team which this
week was ranked No. 1 in the state.
• Teddy Townsend, an 18-year-old from Cathlamet,
Washington, who won first place and also received an honor-
able mention for photos in the 2016 Annual Coast Weekend
Photo Contest. Townsend’s winning photo was a stunning silhou-
etted self portrait under the Milky Way, while the honorable men-
tion was for a photo that depicts a pristine patch of forest growing
upward toward the sun’s light. The Top 25 photos from the contest
are featured on CoastWeekend.com.
CALLOUTS
Reality politics, starring Trump
By GAIL COLLINS
New York Times News Service
T
wo big political events this
week. A new Congress started
work and “The New Celeb-
rity Apprentice” arrived on TV.
“Celebrity
Apprentice” is now
hosted by Arnold
Schwarzenegger,
a former action
movie star who
became a gover-
nor and is now recycling back into
entertainment. He is replacing Don-
ald Trump, a former reality TV
star now preparing to move into
the White House. Trump’s Cabinet
choices include one former gover-
nor who transitioned into “Dancing
With the Stars” and is now seeking
to become secretary of energy.
On Wednesday we learned
that Omarosa Manigault, a former
“Apprentice” contestant who’s said
she’s done “20-plus reality shows,”
is joining the new White House
staff.
I think we are seeing a pattern
here. Two major questions:
One is whether we’re going to
wind up getting the next genera-
tion of political leaders out of these
shows. If there were two tracks
to becoming a future presidential
candidate, would you rather col-
lect thousands of signatures to run
for the state assembly or just spend
a month locked in a house with a
dozen strangers and 100 cameras?
OK, you are a serious citizen and
I do believe you would go for the
signatures. But trust me, the future
is not on your side.
The other question is whether the
actual workings of government are
coming to resemble a long-running
reality TV series.
Health care
Senate Republicans began
their year with health care. Their
plan requires brave lawmakers to
vote that Obamacare be replaced
by Something Different. Nobody
knows exactly what Something Dif-
ferent looks like. The Republicans
are just sure it’s out there — sort of
like the hidden immunity idol on
“Survivor.”
“The answer here is bold action,”
said House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Think of it this way: Repeal is Sea-
son 1. To find out what really hap-
pens, you’re going to have to tune
in for Season 2, when Paul and
the gang go off to a Pacific island,
where they will compete to find the
health care plan concealed under a
rock in the forest.
But about the first week of Con-
gress. The House Republicans
started things off by voting to cas-
trate the office that oversees legis-
lators’ ethics. This was such a ter-
rible beginning that you can’t help
wondering if it was staged to gin up
a little excitement and make Trump,
who tweeted his opposition, look
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Omarosa Manigault arrives at Trump Tower, in New York on Monday. A
memorable contestant in the first season of “The Apprentice,” Man-
igault is joining President-elect Donald Trump’s White House staff.
If there were
two tracks
to becoming
a future
presidential
candidate,
would you
rather collect
thousands of
signatures to
run for the
state assembly
or just spend a
month locked
in a house
with a dozen
strangers and
100 cameras?
... bold. It’s like one of those “Real
Housewives” shows where peo-
ple walk into the room and instantly
start telling X what Y just said about
her downstairs.
The important thing was that
Trump expressed his displeasure
via Twitter, which is most certainly
going to be the prime method of
communication in reality politics.
How can you beat it? If the
North Koreans say they’re build-
ing a weapon that could nuke Amer-
ica, you tweet “won’t happen.” Mis-
sion accomplished. If there’s deep
confusion about Russian hacking in
the last election, you announce that
you’ll clear everything up by Tues-
day. When Tuesday arrives you
can tweet that a critical intelligence
briefing had been delayed until Fri-
day. And just to be clear what you
think of folks like the CIA, you put
“Intelligence” in quotes and add
“Very strange!”
This is the future, people. Little
tiny messages that end with a tee-
ny-weeny sentence with an excla-
mation point. Soon we’ll look on
email as an incredibly laborious
method of communication, like our
parents regarded 20-page letters
written with quill pens. Trump saw
the future a long time ago. “Half
of my friends are under indict-
ment right now because they sent
emails to each other about how
they’re screwing people,” he con-
fided to Howard Stern back in 2005.
“They’ll write you a message that
they’re having sex with 15 different
married women. It’s unbelievable.
Email is unbelievable.”
So unbelievable.
GoTrump.com
Trump actually did once have
an email address, MrTrump@
GoTrump.com, which was adver-
tised as a place where you could
both do your travel booking and get
“travel tips and advice” from the
man himself. That business is no
more, like the Trump steaks.
However, the president-elect
does still have a connection to
“Celebrity Apprentice,” where he is
listed as an executive producer. Of
course, anybody can be an executive
producer — you’re reading this, so
you can call yourself executive pro-
ducer of reading. Yet why would the
future president of the United States
want credit for making a cheesy
reality show, currently starring a guy
who supported John Kasich in the
primaries?
If you think of an answer, tweet
it.
Trump’s alleged oversight has
not stopped “Celebrity Apprentice”
from being a pretty pathetic effort at
entertainment. This week it lost in
the ratings to “The Bachelor.” The
new candidate there is a guy named
Nick who has already been on three
reality dating shows before. He has
not found love, so it does seem as
if his life requires a new direction.
I am thinking the next stop is the
Iowa caucuses.
LETTERS WELCOME
This week’s Callouts go to:
• Thieves responsible for a string of vehicle burglaries
on Christmas Eve in Svensen and Knappa, and in rural parts of
Warrenton on New Year’s Eve. Police and sheriff’s deputies said
in nearly all cases the vehicles were unlocked, with many of the
vehicles in darkened driveways, and the items stolen included
anything of value from fishing rods to firearms and from cash to
Christmas presents. Lawmen say they have several leads, and we
hope that when the thieves are caught they will be prosecuted to
the fullest extent of the law.
Suggestions?
Do you have a Shoutout or Callout you think we should know about? Let
us know at news@dailyastorian.com and we’ll make sure to take a look.
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