THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2017
FRIDAY EXCHANGE
Republican legacies
n response to the “Worst
legacy” letter (The Daily
Astorian, Jan. 20): Rush
Limbaugh’s disciple is at it
again. As another writer says,
“I could be wrong,” but in
this case, I’m probably right.
Benghazi, worst lie in
American presidential his-
tory? Oops, forgot about
Richard Nixon and Water-
gate. Remember? “I am not
a crook.” He resigned rather
than be impeached.
Oops, forgot about Ron-
ald Reagan. Remember?
Iran-Contra — how did he
survive not going to prison?
Thousands of documents
were destroyed in a big
cover up. No one talks about
the god of the Republican
Party, who should have been
brought before a court for
high crimes.
Oops, forgot about George
H.W. Bush. Remember?
Out of the loop re Iran-Con-
tra. “Read my lips: no new
taxes.”
Credit given: He was
smart enough to stay the hell
out of Iraq.
Oops, forgot about George
W. Bush. Remember? Talk
about a lie (a real doozie):
Weapons of mass destruction.
Many thousands more
people have died, and mil-
lions are displaced, over that
lie than Benghazi. And $20
trillion in debt — Bush put
his b.s. wars on the taxpayer
credit card. I’m sure the
Bushies said the war wasn’t
going to cost us anything.
And remember good ol’ Paul
Wolfowitz? War in Afghani-
stan for 15 years, Iraq for 14
years — have they worked
out well for you? Got a lit-
tle shock and awe going on
now? Mission accomplished.
Military families have
been used and used, yet only
a few of our politicians on
both sides of the aisle have
family members in the ser-
vice of their country. They
are willing to get into wars,
pound their chests about how
tough they are, but no mili-
tary service or blood is given
by them, or their families.
I read a statement that
has stuck in my mind: You
are entitled to your opinion,
Mr. Nassikas, but you are
not allowed to make up your
own facts.
Another real nightmare
is just starting. The Drumpfs
have arrived. I see noth-
ing good coming from this
entourage.
LARRY and COLLEEN
MORGAN
Astoria
I
Thanks for toys
oys for Tots would like to
take this opportunity to
thank the donors of toys and
monetary value, and the toy
drop places, in this last col-
lection campaign. We raised
$250 to purchase toys and
books. We put smiles on the
faces of 1,225 of children this
past Christmas.
The toys, books and
games given to children total
6,871 distributed items: Asto-
ria received 1,468; Warren-
ton received 1,224; Jew-
ell received 1,089; Cannon
Beach received 1,271; and
Seaside received 1,819.
Remember, Toys for Tots
here on the North Coast cov-
ers Clatsop County only. We
do not distribute gifts, we col-
lect and give them to the pro-
gram coordinators, includ-
ing Barb Roberts (Astoria),
Bev Hopkins (Jewell), Mau-
reen Casterline (Seaside)
and Nancy Teague (Cannon
Beach).
Area coordinators Wil-
liam and Pat Kankkonen, Tim
Flynn, Beverly Neubecker,
Karen Peden, Tanya Wam-
mack, Petty Officer 3rd
ClassTricia L. Lichtenfels and
Staff Sgt. Brad Moore and I
want to say thanks to all of
you.
LOU NEUBECKER
County coordinator, Toys
for Tots
Seaside
T
Dear tree huggers
o all the tree huggers out
there: I can’t wait for my
Chinese toilet paper.
EDWARD A. NIEMI
Astoria
T
Bogart fantasy
would like to inject some
levity into the current
I
conundrum of cacophony over
last year’s election, although
this has absolutely nothing to
do with politics. I have a fan-
tasy about the movie “The
Treasure of the Sierra Madre”
(1948), wherein Humphrey
Bogart confronts Alfonso
Bedoya about government
regulations regarding river
towing issues.
Let’s just assume for a
moment that there is a pow-
erful group of tug boat own-
ers who have taken control of
all shipping on the Columbia
River. Federal requirements
stipulate that all logs must be
transported above the water
line. Bogart is attempting to
float logs down river without
the use of barges.
The head of the tug boat
people (Bedoya) orders Bog-
art to put his logs on floating
devices: “Hola senor. We are
the federales, you know, the
police.”
Bogart responds: “If
you’re the police, then where
are your barges?”
Bedoya retorts: “We ain’t
got no barges, we don’t need
no barges … I don’t have
to show you any stinkin’
barges!”
ROBERT POTTER
Astoria
Move on, ladies
ver the front page photo
of the Astoria Wom-
en’s March was the headline,
“Hundreds gather together in
Astoria to counter Trump”
(The Daily Astorian, Jan. 23).
In the still-serviceable street
corner expression, ladies, you
were “a day late and a dollar
short.”
The time to “counter” Mr.
Trump was in early Novem-
ber — not with hugs, futile
gestures and meaningless
slogans, but with a candi-
date who should have been a
near-certain winner against
the least popular nomi-
nee the even less popular
Republican Party has ever
nominated.
Instead, you ran against
him the only person in
America, with the possible
exception of Charles Man-
son, he could have beaten.
The shame, if there is any,
with this election, is not
with Mr. Trump, but with the
Democratic Party, and with
all of you who assumed that
yet another duplicitous Clin-
ton could connive her way
back into the White House.
In America, you have your
say in the voting booth. You
had your say, you got beat,
now move on.
LOUIS SARGENT
Gearhart
O
Serve stakeholders
o country ever “stole”
a job from the U.S. Not
one. The decision to send our
jobs overseas was made, over
and over, in the boardrooms
of American companies, for
the sole purpose of maximiz-
ing their profits. Nike, Exxon,
General Electric, the list goes
on and on.
The decision was to betray
the workers who had made the
products on which those com-
panies were built, and instead
serve the anonymous stock-
holders, who could indeed
be foreigners, but most often
were computerized invest-
ment funds that knew nothing
about the companies or their
products.
N
Another
word for lying
have loved the English language
for its wonderful number of descriptive words. Prevar-
icate, fallacious, mendacity and obliquity are some really
interesting words that sadly are becoming useful for daily
conversations.
George Bush introduced us to a new word, “mis-
spoke.” We now have the present inhabitant of the White
House introducing his new words,
“alternate facts.”
Back in 1955, in my grade school English class, I was
taught that all of the above meant just one thing: Lying.
CHUCK MEYER
Astoria
I
That’s how we got here,
my friends, and that’s why
the hooey Trump wants to do
about it will never work. It
doesn’t begin to address the
real problem.
JOSEPH WEBB
Astoria
Water concerns
hat are we to make of
the recent reports that
the amount of haloacetic acid
in Astoria’s drinking water
exceeded the Environmental
Protection Agency’s allowable
standard? The EPA consid-
ers haloacetic acid a “possi-
ble carcinogen.” It has caused
cancer in animals, but there
have been no studies demon-
strating that it causes cancer
in humans.
Can we be sure about
the amount the EPA consid-
ers safe in drinking water?
Recently, Deborah Cory-
Slechta, a professor at the
University of Rochester who
is an EPA Science Board
adviser, said “The way that
the EPA tests chemicals can
vastly underestimate risk.”
The Astoria Public Works
Department downplays the
frequency of haloacetic acid
in our water by announcing
yearly averages below the
EPA standard. While admit-
ting that tests in some months
show levels in violation of
the EPA standard, the water
reports don’t tell us how often
this occurs, and in which
months. A review of the
reports indicates the problem
has been ongoing for at least a
few years.
I believe the public has the
right to more comprehensive
reporting of data so individ-
uals can make up their own
minds regarding the health
risk. The warning sent out by
the Public Works Department
states, “There is nothing you
need to do (to treat the con-
taminated water).” At least
this is true, the report says,
unless you are “an infant,
pregnant, have a severely
compromised immune system
or are elderly.” This combined
category represents hundreds
of people in Astoria.
As reported in The Daily
Astorian, “in November the
city exceeded the maximum
contaminant level for the
quarter,” pushing the haloace-
tic level for the year above the
acceptable threshold (“Asto-
ria violated drinking water
standard,” Dec. 12). Doesn’t
this mean that levels were
quite high in other months
as well? It appears that the
public could have been noti-
fied earlier rather than wait-
ing for data pushing the quar-
W
terly results over the top in
November.
Where citizens’ health is
concerned, the city should
caution the public about a
potential problem rather than
waiting to collect data con-
firming what they should have
foreseen earlier.
ROGER DORBAND
Astoria
Reps needed
fficial notification of
my election to the Clat-
sop County Soil and Water
Conservation District board,
Director No. 2 at large,
arrived by mail shortly after
New Year’s Day. I thank each
of the many Clatsop County
residents who took the time to
write my name in for
one of the positions no candi-
date filed for. I greatly appre-
ciate your support and con-
fidence in me, and will be
available to all residents inter-
ested in soil and water con-
servation issues. I can be con-
tacted at http://clatsopswcd.
org
The election was Nov. 8,
yet I received no late night
call announcing my win, nor
did I hear even a month later,
after election results were cer-
tified. Of course, there were
election contests of greater
interest than a humble non-
O
political county office with
responsibilities including soil
conservation, water qual-
ity and eradicating invasive
species (compare that with
strip mining, Obamacare and
ISIS).
So why did I run? My lim-
ited campaign listed my qual-
ifications, but also noted my
dismay that so many local
offices go unfilled each elec-
tion, not just in Clatsop
County, but across the state.
This leaves many boards hob-
bled with vacancies and poor
representation, leaving the
partial board with greater
responsibilities, requiring
more time.
Vacancies may reflect wan-
ing trust in elected govern-
ment as an effective institu-
tion, but also stems from a
lack of recognition by many
that important decisions with
direct effects on services,
economy and quality of life
are made at a local level.
Democracy requires citizen
participation. We will have a
representative democracy for
only as long as we have rep-
resentatives. Please keep track
of which positions are being
ignored, and run for one of
those offices in the next elec-
tion cycle to get involved. The
Nov. 8 election results could
serve as a motivation.
CHRIS FARRAR
Astoria
GMO apples
he Jan. 17 The Daily
Astorian front page head-
line is “First GMO apple
slices to go on sale in Mid-
west.” The article, by Dan
Wheat for EO Media Group,
explains that the apple will be
introduced in the Midwest,
where concerns about GMOs
are not so strong.
We are shown a photo of
a pretty yellow apple, along-
side the article. The apple has
been modified to not brown
when cut. I personally do
not know enough about the
genetic manipulation that
allows the apple to not brown
to know if I should be wor-
ried, but a genetic alteration
T
5A
that would allow farmers to
spray unlimited herbicides
and pesticides on the pretty
yellow apple would have my
attention.
The GMO crops —
opposed by environmental
groups and by a large portion
of our scientific community
worldwide, as well as con-
cerned citizens everywhere
— are engineered by Mon-
santo to withstand upwards
of seven applications of
Roundup each season, and
make up 80 to 90 percent of
many of the nonorganic crops
we eat.
Visit the Union of Con-
cerned Scientists web-
site for a better understand-
ing of what falls under the
heading of GMO. The arti-
cle confuses concerns about
Roundup Ready crops and
GMO labeling.
Look, a harmless GMO
golden delicious apple, from
Canada, won’t brown when
you cut it. What’s not to like?
BETH HOLLAND
Cannon Beach
Plant emissions
et’s get rid of natu-
ral gas.” Since I drove
into Clatsop County 14 years
ago, this has been the rally-
ing cry heard from every side.
My Seaside home and my hot
water are heated with natural
gas, and my electricity is gen-
erated using natural gas. What
to do?
Oregon environmentalists
support an immediate elimi-
nation of all fossil fuels. Use
only renewable energy they
say, ignoring the lack of 24/7
availability, lack of an energy
storage solution, the costs of
rebuilding infrastructure and
increased consumer costs.
They do this with good inten-
tions, because they are rightly
concerned about global
warming from emissions.
Huge advances have been
achieved by the government’s
clean power program in cap-
turing and profitably using
power plant emissions. Today
it is feasible to eliminate Ore-
gon’s largest source of emis-
sions — the natural gas-fired
electrical generating plants at
Port Westward — and reduce
consumer electrical bills
doing it. We might actually
create several hundred fami-
ly-wage jobs.
OK, what’s the catch? The
state and Clatsop County say
they are not interested in pro-
cessing permits without a
court order. Your elected lead-
ers just want to talk about
reducing emissions, but when
they might actually have to
consider anything smacking
of change, they hide under
their desks.
Think I’m a crackpot? Ask
the Clatsop County Commis-
sion to give me 15 minutes on
their agenda. Ask the Oregon
Department of Energy and
our elected state representa-
tives to comment on propos-
als. Ask The Daily Astorian
to publish a column about the
project. Ask the environmen-
talists to actually listen, rather
than riot.
JOHN DUNZER
Seaside
‘L
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