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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 2017)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 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 GUEST COLUMN A day for devotion to what? By ALEC CHAPA For The Daily Astorian T Luke Whittaker/EO Media Group Warrenton junior Robert Barber came to the county’s job fair dressed to impress. “I would like to be an ER doctor,” he said. • Clatsop County Economic Development Resources Director Kevin Leahy and organizers of the third annual Career and Job Fair, which attracted more than 800 job seekers this week at the county fairgrounds. More than 70 employers participated in the successful event, which has grown in size and attendance each year since its inception. • The Cannon Beach Community Church and local residents who reached out to assist those displaced from a North Larch Street apartment building destroyed by fire last weekend. The church created a GoFundMe account and has been conducting fundraising efforts to help the three residents who were dislodged and lost their belongings in the blaze. As Emmas Lindsay, owner of Dogs Allowed, said after creating the online fundraising appeal, “It’s a very small town, especially in the winter months. We’re one big family. Everybody’s got everybody’s back.” • Ted Langdon, the Astoria Riverfront Trolley’s volunteer scheduler, and to all those who volunteer their time and efforts to keep the trolley running. As the spring season approaches the vol- unteers are preparing Old 300 for its upcoming track time. At the peak of the season, it takes about 28 conductors a week to keep it running, and the Astoria Riverfront Trolley Association is seek- ing additional volunteers for conductors and for maintenance. The 103-year-old trolley is one of the unique attractions on the North Coast and will make between 900 and 1,000 runs between spring and fall. • The Baked Alaska restaurant and Tongue Point Job Corps Culinary Arts program, which teamed to conduct a “Pay What You Can Pop-up Lunch” each day this week at The Baked Alaska Annex as part of the “Chef Outta Water” program. The event gave Job Corps culinary students an opportunity to learn and gain expe- rience, while it also offered a dining experience for guests from all walks of life regardless of their income level. “Chef Outta Water” is a global membership program of events that celebrate food and travel through chef exchanges, and the pop-up lunch took students out of their normal comfort zones and gave them the opportunity to learn from professional chefs on the front line. • Ilwaco High School senior wrestlers Jack Odneal and Alec Bell, who each won a state title and led their team to a third place overall finish in the Class 1B/2B state tournament last weekend. Odneal won the 138-pound division while Bell topped the 220- pound weight class. Additionally, Ilwaco junior Cheyenne Brent was in the limelight, being chosen to sing the national anthem at the championships. • The state No. 1 ranked Seaside High School boys bas- ketball team, which wrapped up its Cowapa League season as league co-champions earlier this week with a victory over Valley Catholic. The team has a bye through the play-in round of the state championships this weekend and will begin its playoff run next week. Two other regional teams also made the playoffs. The Knappa boys team will be in a play-in game today at 5 p.m. at Imbler, while the Seaside High School girls team will be in a state play-in on Saturday at home against Junction City. CALLOUTS • A bill in the Washington Legislature to eliminate Daylight Savings Time in the state. Only two other states, Arizona and Hawaii, stay on standard time year-round and changing would separate Washington state from Oregon and California on the West Coast and all others in the Northwest. Washington has had Daylight Savings Time since a ballot initiative in 1960, and sim- ilar bills that were filed in recent years that have all met a timely defeat. 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. hroughout the year, we in America celebrate the usual holidays recognized by Hallmark or Congress: Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year’s and so on. With the inauguration of Donald Trump, however, we had a new holiday ordered by the president: the National Day of Patriotic Devotion. It was Jan. 20, 2017 — Trump’s Inauguration Day. When you read the words “patri- otic devotion,” many things might come to mind. This holiday stands apart from Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Presidents Day and Independence Day, all of which have a particularly holistic American sense to them. Are we then to infer that a patriot is none of those things; that any one of those respective individuals we celebrate couldn’t be patriotic? I suspect many people would say quite the opposite. And yet, the fact that patriotism could have such variety leaves me wondering: What exactly does it mean to be patriotic? Certainly this is of national importance, given that the National Day of Patriotic Devotion was declared a national holiday by the immediate course of an executive order. Common ground There appears to be some com- mon ground between the existing holidays. Veterans who served in the armed forces are collectively known as the federal military. Those lost in battle, celebrated on Memorial Day, are the counterpart to veterans — the ones who didn’t make it home. Although their honor always has a human face to it, whether living or deceased, the other essential aspect of that honor is the collective in which they were a part. That same collective quality is essential for Independence Day, when every person of the 13 original colonies stood together as one uni- fied nation, and for every president that has ever led our nation. Without that broader unity, these holidays would lose their national significance. That unity is part of Jennifer Jordan/Submitted Artwork “The Patriot” what the holidays celebrate. More specifically, patriotism has a deep sense of collective unity. OK, fairly obvious, but the head turns sideways when we admit that such a vague sense of patriotism doesn’t make much of a holiday. If you say “I’m a patriot; I support my country,” one would ask, “And what country is that?” Different countries stand for different values, so if we are going to penetrate that vagary — if a person’s patriotism is going to mean anything whatsoever — we must go further to ask “What country do you support?” We must ask what values the country stands for, so we may see what values that person defends, thereby manifesting their patriotism. Same values When turning to America, the scope of patriotism becomes broader, and more difficult to confine. Do we all share the same values? And are we required to if we are going to be patriots? While it’s unclear what values would be set forth for America, backed of course by the most patriotic of citizens, one thing is certain: Without some common values, we cannot hope for a national day of patriotism to have national significance, much less to bring national unity, as Trump called for. There are some people who might see such questioning into American values as undermining the very nation they are proudly a part of; however, these concerns are mis- placed. If a common value treasured by all is what unifies a population, how could digging further into that value dismember such unity? It would seem the opposite has to be true: such deep questioning could potentially shed light on and create a deeper connection to a common value, and as such, create a deeper connection among those who share it. There is a danger in ignoring further questioning of such inherent values that we are expected to hold clearly as a nation. Just as words have a technical definition and a cul- tural understanding, so does a value. “Patriotism” means very different things when considered as a word and as a living, breathing charac- teristic. Unless we collectively take the time to delve into the word and come up with solid, definable values and traits that unite a population as a country, then it could mean anything. If something so relevant to our political and cultural lives is so much up to interpretation, there could always be a gap in common ground. By allowing such ambiguity, we run the risk of losing not just the mean- ing of patriotism, but the standard to which we would hold any patriot. Alec Chapa is a student at Clat- sop Community College studying philosophy and education. He is from San Antonio, Texas. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Thoughts aid recovery I wish to extend my sincerest appre- ciation to all those who have sent cards (some with cash donations to support the mission of Penny- Wise Thrift Store, some accompa- nied by gifts or flowers), visited, and expressed their support for me during my recent hospitalization and sub- sequent recovery from my fractured hip surgery. Your prayers and the thought that you cared enough to inquire as to my status or took the time to visit me — both at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Port- land and at Clatsop Care in Asto- ria — inspired me to work harder on removing myself from those loca- tions and return to my home for my follow-up physical therapy. I would gladly name each and every person who has taken this time but, unfor- tunately, the forum is only one page long and I am sure that The Daily Astorian would hate to lose all of their revenue to print that list in the entire paper. I would like to personally thank all the personnel in both the medical, transportation and care facilities for their professionalism and empathy during my period of trauma and sub- sequent road to recovery. Although I am not yet at 100 percent and ready to re-assume my “seat of power” at PennyWise Thrift Store, I am recu- perating at a much more rapid rate than had been anticipated. I look for- ward to seeing you all there, as I am in sore need of all of my hugs and conversations. PATRICIA FESSLER Astoria Clatsop Care questions A fter reading last week’s article about the Clatsop Care Health District, “Bringing Clatsop Care Cen- ter back from the brink,” The Daily Astorian, Feb. 17), I am still left with some questions: Why did the administration have trouble retaining certified nursing assistants ? How can reducing the number of beds filled relate to improved finan- cial stability? Why did all senior manage- ment staff leave within a five-month period? Why do they still turn potential patients away? Medicare and financial issues are not new to this facility. How did the situation get so out of control? How does handing off the admin- istrative function allow an outside organization to create financial health from no more money, and the same service level? Admittedly, this is a complicated service to administer, but it has been done in the past. Out-sourcing the management appears to take the high- er-paying administration jobs out of the local economy, and causes local taxpayers to provide a portion of an outside management company’s overhead. Already, the board agreed to out- source the food operations, losing those well-paying jobs to a manage- ment firm, and losing the opportuni- ties for feeding locally-sourced foods to their residents. Local providers also lose the ability to sell to the dis- trict. This is the rippling effect of such an economic decision. I hope that it is only a temporary measure, so that local control is protected. Something has jeopardized the viability of this public district, and it is a loss to our community. JAN MITCHELL Astoria
